Do You Have A Goal - December 2016

It's been a year! Can you believe it? I jumped back on this blog hop earlier this year (You can just out my first DYHAG blog post here: January 2016) This is my original focus:

1. Complete revising NIGHTMARE CHRONICLES into a full-length novel
2. Complete ATTICUS
3. Complete HELL HOUNDS
4. Blog more frequently
5. Read at least 10 books

I'm going to go through this list and let you know what my progress was like for each goal. Let's start with number one!

1. Complete revising NIGHTMARE CHRONICLES into a full-length novel

I had high intentions of revising this and making it into a full novel. I truly did. Unfortunately, I never got that far. I did began revising it, but in the middle, I decided to work on ATTICUS and HELL HOUNDS; most of that focus was on ATTICUS. Setting NIGHTMARE CHRONICLES to the side wasn't something that bothered me too much because my other two stories were heavy on my mind. So this first goal was a...FAIL.

Now, let's move onto the next one:

2. Complete ATTICUS

This goal started off strong, very strong to be honest. ATTICUS is such different story altogether that it was very fun, and challenging, to work on. This particular novel is a YA psychological fantasy, a mixture of Death Note and Inception. I know that's a weird combination, but that's the first comparison that comes to mind. 

It's a unique combo, at least to me it is. Originally ATTICUS had a totally different concept. Instead of it being a YA genre, it was a new adult psychological story. I feel like my new concept is 10x better than the original. I still have my same main characters, but a few were removed. Even though I was working hard to finish this manuscript, once again, I stopped and started to work on HELL HOUNDS. 😞😞😞😞

I know. I know. I'm a failure, a complete utter failure. T__T I'm going overboard, but I am being serious that I really failed that due to my own distracted mind. ATTICUS is a series that I really have to sit down and really have 100% focus on due to its complexity. 

Now let's move onto number three:

3. Complete HELL HOUNDS

Surprisingly enough, I can finally say that I did complete this goal. It took me a while because HELL HOUNDS is a manuscript is something that I have been working on and off for the past 2 or so years. A number of times that I have changed the concept is ridiculous, lol. Nonetheless, I finally completed the story and I was so relieved. The first thing I started doing was sending off queries during the #DVpit pitch party and a few other literary agents. After the weeks rolled in, I began receiving rejection letters. It didn't bother me as much as I assumed it would, and eventually joined a secret workshop on Facebook formed by the author and PR Manager of Inklings Agency, C.M McCoy. When I joined and stated what my word count was, I discovered that my low word count (50,100) could be the reason why I was receiving rejections. My word count for the genre HELL HOUNDS is very low. The workshop really helped me out A LOT! I began realizing my writing mistakes, some of which that I repeatedly made. Towards the middle of the group, I decided to change my concept of HELL HOUNDS. What was once a dual POV alternating between Asmodeus and Charlie, changed to Asmodeus and Belial (Asmodeus's twin brother.) Charlie is still a featured character, but the focus on Asmodeus and Belial made more sense, advice given to me by an editor that did the partial of HELL HOUNDS. 

I'm still in the process of revising HELL HOUNDS, but I'm hoping to finish it by the end of next month. Then I'll be sending it off to beta readers and then I'll continue querying again. 

Now onto number 4:

4. Blog more frequently

This goal was more so a flaky one for me. I had moments of consistency, but then I would fall back and only updated once a month to do this blog hop. Blogging is something that I do enjoy doing, but I find myself to be a "lazy blogger". My burst of inspiration to work on a blog post comes and goes. I truly want to add that to my list for 2017, especially if I plan on doing YouTube. Consistency is needed when blogging or doing videos on YouTube. It's something I want to work on for the upcoming year.

And finally number 5:

5. Read at least 10 book

I can safely say that I have read at least 10 books this year. At least I assume I did. Let us count together how many books did I actually read during 2016:

1. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage | Haruki Murakami
2. The Strange Library | Haruki Murakami
3. Zodiac | Romina Russel
4. Cinder & Ella | Kelly Oram
5. Legend | Marie Lu
6. Norwegian Wood | Haruki Murakami
7. Catching Fire | Suzanne Collins
8.  Eleanor & Park | Rainbow Russel

Hmm....

I suppose I didn't read 10 books like I assumed, lol. Although I could have sworn I did. Unless I'm missing a few books. If that's the case, I'll have to come back and edit this, lol. 

Anyway, this concludes my goals for 2016. I plan on continuing my goals for my novels. So stay tuned for another segment for Do You Have A Goal next month. 

Everyone have a good New Year! :)