Goals four V.38!

Thanks for the tip, disgruntledpeony, I will be sure to do that!

My goal is to submit a new unique story each quarter and learn one thing new about writing with each piece.

I officially started writing last November (didn’t know about WOTF till February) and when I started it would take hours to get two or three sentences written... three days ago I wrote 1000 words in a couple hours.

During my first year I learned that short stories need a character, in a detailed setting, with a problem. That I, as the writer, need to make a promise to the reader within the first two pages, have a great ending with a bow tied around it.

I also learned to not write a bunch of stuff and then write as, as much, Not to start so many sentences with adjectives and to never kill off your character or have them commit suicide as that is the cheap and easy way to finish a short story.

Best of luck to everyone with your goals!!

I plan to submit a story to every quarter for volume 38. Unless I get a win in the first three.

Good luck with your goals everyone! They all sound great.

My goal is to submit a new unique story each quarter and learn one thing new about writing with each piece.

I officially started writing last November (didn’t know about WOTF till February) and when I started it would take hours to get two or three sentences written... three days ago I wrote 1000 words in a couple hours.

During my first year I learned that short stories need a character, in a detailed setting, with a problem. That I, as the writer, need to make a promise to the reader within the first two pages, have a great ending with a bow tied around it.

I also learned to not write a bunch of stuff and then write as, as much, Not to start so many sentences with adjectives and to never kill off your character or have them commit suicide as that is the cheap and easy way to finish a short story.

Best of luck to everyone with your goals!!

This sounds great if you haven't read any books on writing, I highly recommend doing so. When I first started reading them I learned way more than just one thing per story. The Red Sneaker Writers series is a great one to start with in my opinion if you need any suggestions.

Awesome and thanks... I’ll check those out Eagerink.

Awesome and thanks... I’ll check those out Eagerink.

I haven't read them all, but my favorites are the dialogue and the style ones.

I've always tried to focus on making my writing goals things that I can control (writing and submitting), rather than the things that I can't (acceptances, winning, etc.), but I like the idea of thinking about what I can do that could potentially affect the outcome in a positive way. I haven't missed a quarter since 2007 so submitting isn't really a problem for me, but lately I tend to write the stories right before the deadline, which means my submissions are probably less polished than they could be. I'm doing something different for Q1 (collaboration experiment with Dustin!), which will leave me a window of cushion room this quarter. So my goal for V38 is going to be to draft my Q2 by the Q1 deadline, and Q3 by the Q2 deadline, and so on. That should give me some extra time to get feedback and revise before the actual deadlines.

I've always tried to focus on making my writing goals things that I can control (writing and submitting), rather than the things that I can't (acceptances, winning, etc.), but I like the idea of thinking about what I can do that could potentially affect the outcome in a positive way.

Now that's an admirable attitude!

I love the idea behind this thread! I just heard back last week on my first submission to the contest. My goals for next year are to:

1) Submit every quarter this time.

2) Hopefully get above an HM somewhere in there.

3) Get better at my second round of revisions. I'm good at pumping out the first drafts, doing the first round of revisions, and then getting critiques, but I've had three stories languishing in the second revision phase pretty much all year, which is why I only made one sub to the contest this year and four subs overall, all for the same story. And this has prevented me from moving on to new projects, too, which is an obvious problem.

4) Finally finish that novel I've been tinkering with since 2015.

Goals I can control

1. Submit four times

2. Actually workshop and revise my stories twice each before submitting

3. Read at least two full anthologies of winning stories (I already own one)

4. Revise and submit each of those four stories to other publications should they not top 3

Wishes

1. Top 3 a quarter and get invited to the annual awards ceremony

2. COVID-19 goes away

3. Firefly returns

Wishes

2. COVID-19 goes away

Seriously!.... Forget the contest lol.

Never thought I'd use that smiley for such a thing....
(And good luck kn your other goals, they sound great!)

Here is my oath to submit a fresh story each quarter of V38. (Places butter knife to palm. Applies pressure. Decides blood oath is optional.)

Here is my oath to submit a fresh story each quarter of V38. (Places butter knife to palm. Applies pressure. Decides blood oath is optional.)

Great goal, Pezel. Make it so!

So my goal for V38 is going to be to draft my Q2 by the Q1 deadline, and Q3 by the Q2 deadline, and so on. That should give me some extra time to get feedback and revise before the actual deadlines.

I just wanted to report in that I maybe probably accomplished my first V38 goal, which was to draft my Q2 by the Q1 deadline. I wrote a story on the 31st to submit to another market, so technically, I drafted a story that could be my Q2 by the deadline, but if that story does well at the other market, then I'll have to write a new Q2. So, I guess eventually I'll know whether I'm off to a good start to accomplish my V38 goals

I'd like to add a goal for myself:
Granted, we only have 6 months plus 10 days left in V.38, but here goes:
Submit 20 stories to non WotF markets.

Now you're probably asking, how is that a goal four 38?

WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! to quote Martin.
It's all connected.

I've stalled on my Q3. Looking around my writing room, the walls are suddenly very interesting (wisps of abandoned spider webs dance in the warm breeze of my electric heater).

But I've got 19 more stories to submit. Now ain't that a kick in the pants?

I'm sitting here working on my Q3, because I need MOAR STORIES!

See?

Now, fingers crossed I don't get 20 rejections, but if so, c'est la vie.

I like the idea behind this thread. I feels like it helps us focus on what we want to do and how we want to grow as writers. That being said, here's my main goals for this year:

1) Submit a story for Q2-Q4 (Missed out on Q1 due to school obligations)
2) Get a story ranked higher than HM
3) Write at least 3-4 more short stories beyond what I write for the WotF contest
4) Finish at least the first draft of my book.

So...no pressure, right?

Learn how to write right.
JK.
But seriously, learn how to plot. That's my goal. Too often this past year have I written 10K of a novel idea to only have myself cornered into a big fat nothingness. No more pansting. I'm done with it.

For that ill, try Take Off Your Pants! by Libbie Hawker.
Seriously, I can't recommend it highly enough.

For that ill, try Take Off Your Pants! by Libbie Hawker.
Seriously, I can't recommend it highly enough.

Thank you. I've ordered it. Checking it out.

Currently, I'm in David Farland's 318R class which is great. He's a master of understanding story.

I've also been recommended "Story Genius" by Lisa Cron. I'm unpacking it now. A lot of good information.

Another book that's helped me is Chuck Palahniuk's "Consider This". If nothing else, it's helped with tight prose and how to write in a modern stream-of-conscious way.

And lastly, Stephen King's book on writing was just interesting. That's all. And that you can't wait on the muse.

Secrets of Story by Matt Bird is rapidly becoming my favorite writing book. Damn Fine Story by Chuck Wendig is a fun read, as well.

I've just come to the conclusion that my goals for V.38 need to be submit something each quarter, and not to get too picky about any of it beyond that point. It became apparent after the first quarter that my time was going to be shuffling back and forth between this and other things, so my main goal is simply to not get out of touch with what I'm trying to do here, but to manage to do that without screwing up/screwing over the other things that I'm also giving my time to.

It's being a bit of a messy year, all told, but feels like a good one despite this, with progress in a multitude of directions. I can live with that.

I've just come to the conclusion that my goals for V.38 need to be submit something each quarter, and not to get too picky about any of it beyond that point. It became apparent after the first quarter that my time was going to be shuffling back and forth between this and other things, so my main goal is simply to not get out of touch with what I'm trying to do here, but to manage to do that without screwing up/screwing over the other things that I'm also giving my time to.

It's being a bit of a messy year, all told, but feels like a good one despite this, with progress in a multitude of directions. I can live with that.

I totally get where you're coming from. That's why I tried to keep my goals simple.

I do have one goal I hadn't stated openly before, and that's to get the 4th and Starlight anthology out by the end of the year (preferably in the late summer to early fall, but that depends on a variety of factors--everything from how quickly the toddlers let me get the cover art and interior illustrations done to how well the Kickstarter goes). It's a lot of work, but I'm excited for it.

"Currently, I'm in David Farland's 318R class which is great. He's a master of understanding story."

I'm in that class too and am really glad I managed to get in. I am getting a lot out of it but will be ordering the above mentioned books too. I have written two books and several half books with pantsing but I feel like the editing that goes in to make it worth reading and fix plot holes takes more mental energy than it needs.

My goal for this quarter, and the next two, are to plot my stories before I write them and then stick with it. I've already devoted more time and energy into this quarter's story than any previous submission, per Dave's advice.

I'm just hoping it pays off. Fingers crossed.

Q37: R, HM, SHM, HM

"Currently, I'm in David Farland's 318R class which is great. He's a master of understanding story."

I'm in that class too and am really glad I managed to get in. I am getting a lot out of it but will be ordering the above mentioned books too. I have written two books and several half books with pantsing but I feel like the editing that goes in to make it worth reading and fix plot holes takes more mental energy than it needs.

My goal for this quarter, and the next two, are to plot my stories before I write them and then stick with it. I've already devoted more time and energy into this quarter's story than any previous submission, per Dave's advice.

I'm just hoping it pays off. Fingers crossed.

Q37: R, HM, SHM, HM

Nice! I'm in the Saturday class.

Yeah, this coming submission deadline, Q2 I guess, I've done the three try-fail with the reversal on #3. Hopefully, it works out.

Posted by: @dustin-adams

For that ill, try Take Off Your Pants! by Libbie Hawker.
Seriously, I can't recommend it highly enough.

For the record, this book was helped me immensely. 

Thank you for the recommendation. She writes in a way that clicked for me. 

Good stuff. 

With less than 7 days remaining, I thought I'd check in on the Goals! four folks.

I wanted to co-author every story this year, but work got the better of me and I barely got my own entries in V3 and (any minute now) V4. I did however co-author for Q1 and Q2. Both SHM.

I enjoy the heck out of co-authoring and hope to do more in the future.

As an aside, I will have four stories in V.38. Only ever gotten a 4'fer twice. In 2011 and 2012 when I got 8 quarters in a row. Q4 will be #5 in a row. Hoping to break my streak records (unless I win of course). 

@axeminister I had two goals. First I had wanted to have 4 consecutive quarters with an entry. I met that goal in Q3. I also wanted a submission for all quarters in a year. I'll be hitting that one too.

I don't know how many times in a row I've subbed. I do have plans to enter every quarter possible.

Not sure if I technically managed this or not. My new stories I wrote this year already had some scribbles in notebooks. But I think I wrote enough new content between those and at least one complete overhaul of a story to say I managed to hit my goal. And I am in for all 4 quarters this year which is better than the previous 2 years where I only submitted in 3 quarters.

Me neither. I have many stories in my trunk, so I can keep submitting for years, literally. But I've never wrote specifically for Wotf. Maybe at a technical defeat?