Reaching into the future

2010. What will it bring? Many things none of us can predict or control, but there are others we can influence.

I'm wary of New Year's resolutions or wishes, because they can undermine confidence if we set them vaguely or too far out of reach or dependent on someone else. Scottish author Nicola Morgan wrote a smart post on this.

So I've decided to set goals that I could achieve if I work at it. One of my favorite quotes comes from Thomas Edison: "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

I've printed my plan and will hang it near my desk. Under a big, fancy font reading Goals 2010, I've written these items:

Write at least 1,000 words a day on Sea Daughters. Write at least half of those words before blogging, reading email or other business.

Start revising as soon as it is complete, which should be end of January or beginning of February. Use cool tips from other writers to ease this process, such as Laurie Halse Anderson's fun advice to chart the scenes on huge artist paper, using colored pens to make notes on emotional arcs and plot elements.

By March, write short and long pitches and a query letter. Put letter on Public Query Slushpile, or if I'm feeling insanely confident chum it to the Query Shark.

Research agents for best fit and start sending queries in spring.

Now that I've shouted this plan out to the world I'm more likely to stick to it. I think that's why NaNoWriMo worked for me. I said I would, so I did. Then when it was over I let other things distract me from finishing. I'm putting my overalls back on. How about you?

P.S. Almost forgot!!! A big thank you to Wendy Prior at On Words and Upwards for the Kreativ Blogger Award. As I have been honored with it before, I shall add her name in the sidebar of awards. If you aren't already, you must read her blog. She is so talented and funny.

Once there was a goal

Once there was a goal strong enough to build this tower. I hike often up Mt. Rubidoux in Riverside, Calif. At the top is the Peace Tower and Friendship Bridge. Kids love to climb up the castle-like stone stairs. People read the plaques.
In 15 years it will have been a century since this was built by residents of the city to honor a local leader who tried to promote world peace. It was in the wake of World War I, which was called then the War to End All Wars. It wasn't, as we know all too well.
But the goal of peace, the desire, the motivation lives on as people are reminded whenever they climb up and see this monument.
Motivation is the backbone of novel writing. If your characters don't have it, you've got an empty shell. Sure, you can write compelling action and lyrical prose, but without motivation it goes nowhere.
There's a great quote attributed to Kurt Vonnegut: "Every character should want something even if it's only a glass of water."
If that character is tied up by kidnappers in the desert and hasn't had a sip to drink in a day, that desire becomes critical. The story needs a Big Picture goal as well as smaller ones that lead to it. So that once the character escapes the kidnappers and gets that drink of water he can go back to stopping the alien invasion of the planet or whatever.
On the Literary Lab, Lady Glamis did a great post on the dangling carrot. She developed a motivation map to track how she is driving her characters and creating tension.
I'm reminded of all this as I strive for my own goal of writing 50,000 words of a brand-new novel this month. I've made motivation lists for my characters in hopes I can keep those threads strong as I go. It's a huge challenge, and I don't know if I will make the word count or if I will have written something viable by the end. I do know that it's another invaluable experience.
As of last night, which was the seventh day of writing, I had reached 14,511 words. I'm motivated, and hopefully, my characters are, too. How about you?