Running Out Of Time - A Goals/Progress Post

My year of learning is coming to an end. And it has been so VERY worth it.  I've taken a HUGE number of classes since January, and unless something surprising comes up, I'll only be taking one more before the year ends (see below for details on it :D).

My deadline to submit my complete nonfiction manuscript to the One Hope contest  at Write Integrity Press (which I finalled in! Winner gets cash and a publishing contract!) is only two months away, and I still have me some work to do. And I do NOT like turning things in at the last minute.

But enough about how short time is. How did I do in October, and what are my plans for November? Read on to find out

Here are my goals, direct from last month's goals/progress post.

• More research for Handmaiden to a Princess
• Keep up in the Mastering Goal, Motivation, and Conflict class at Savvy Authors
• Keep up in October's free ACFW course on characterization
• Prepare a chapter of Handmaiden to a Princess for the free edit Cindy Vallar (teacher of the writing and researching historical fiction class I took) offered to all her students.

 I kept up in both classes - and both were WONDERFUL learning experiences. (check out tomorrow's writing craft recap post for some of what I learned) They helped me think out some stuff - plot, character, action, etc - for HtP, and have caused me to actually feel READY to write/plot out this book - which is going to be QUITE different than what I thought in the beginning way back when (or even at the beginning of this year!). Actually looking forward to moving forward with it. Soon :)

I did SOME research, but not a whole lot. Checked a couple books out from my local library, and have found some others at a local college library that I'll investigate later. Started taking a bit of notes too.

I did NOT prepare the chapter for the edit - but his was a deliberate decision. With all the changes I'll be making to the plot and such, I'd rather get a critique on a chapter that at least resembles what I'd be submitting to agents/editors eventually. Here's hoping I get that chapter written in a timelyish fashion. But not in November.

Speaking of that-month-that-starts-tomorrow...

Here are my goals.

• Take notes necessary in Plants of the Bible by Michael Zohary and The History of Ancient Israel by Michael Grant (my two library books) for Handmaiden to a Princess.
• Keep up in ACFW's November loop course on weaving the spiritual thread into your story.
• Fix up Ailing Body, Nourished Soul for the One Hope contest, based on my dear friends' read-throughs. Would LOVE to be ready to submit by my next goals/progress post.
• Do some plotting (snowflaking?) on Handmaiden to a Princess with the new ideas I have. Thinking serious writing may begin either in December or January.

So, there ya go. I'm optimistic (as usual) that I'll make this progress. With God's help - and YOUR wonderful encouragement - I just might! 

So - How was YOUR month?

 
Traveling Rough Roads With God's Strength