July- End of Month Review

 That’s July – another month ticked off on the writing calendar. I read an inspirational letter recently from a freelance writer who embarked on her journey of success this year as well. She is successfully writing a column.

 

WOW – makes me feel like I haven’t been trying hard enough for the last 2 months. I haven’t even finished a writing schedule since May – July’s was barely started. I will forgive myself and promise to get committed to the writing plan again, at least I have NOT GIVEN UP or STOPPED WRITING!

So whatever you are writing KEEP GOING! Don’t put that pen down before you have explored all avenues and opportunities.

July Writing –

I was mainly involved in writing 2 short stories for Camp NaNoWriMo – a vampire story (1st attempt at this genre) and a Romance. (Also 1st attempt but am widely read in this genre.)

I have managed to nearly complete the Vampire story which could even begin to be classified as a Novella – I need to tighten it up and edit!

The Romance story is barely written but I have started it!

There is a market for a polished version of the Vamp Short and I will finish writing the Romance this summer if I can.

I also went to a regional Write In for NaNo this month in the city – which was fun!

I worked on rewriting the children’s picture book manuscript this month too and attended my 1st Critique Group in the city – where I learnt that I have a lot more work to do before even thinking of submitting – also a first attempt.

I have researched and read articles on writing – and looked for summer opportunities.

I also found out about an amazing weekend workshop – Link to follow – which has inspired me to create a writing event this autumn.

Half way through the month I started my Online Writing Course – Stunt Writing too. I have submitted the 1st two assignments for that. And am currently posting a DAILY GRATITUDE as part of my stunt – *use the category tool and ‘Daily Gratitude’ to read them all.

Maybe start your own!

I have managed to participate in blog writing challenges and am finally back ONLINE after being offline for 10 days or so over the moving period.

 

I have moved house, started to declutter, unpack and finished working. It has been a really busy month all round, regardless of the writing schedule. And the weather has been awesome – time in garden and allotment too.

The End of My 2nd Camp

So July draws to a close and there are a lot of happy writers around the world who have WON their epic writing camp word count! What an achievement!
Personally my 1st camp (in April) I had more time to write and get involved, I posted on the forums, joined regional NaNoWriMo groups and wrote over 54K words!
However, with everything happening in July – including nice sunny, let’s be outside weather, the end of my job, moving house, hosting a friend, unpacking etc. I didn’t have the time to get involved.

• I checked the forums just twice.
• I did have a much more ACTIVE cabin – not sure how many cabin mates are WINNERS now though – we all seemed to struggle a little.
• I decided to LOWER my 35000 word count in the final week as I knew I had 1000’s of words to write but wouldn’t have time for 15000 in a few days!
• I changed it to 20,000 and slam dunked with 21110! Hurrah!
• I managed to attend one live write in event in the city with NaNo Regional members!

FINAL STATS

Average Words Per Day 646

Your Average Per Day 681Words

Written Today 0

Target Word Count 20,000

Total Words Written 21,113

Words Remaining 0

Current Day

Days Remaining

Event Finished

At This Rate You Will Finish On August  2, 2013 – not sure about this as I WON on the 31/7

Words Per Day To Finish On Time

Gratitude Stunt Writing Journal – Day #10

Gratitude 10 #

I am grateful for the unconditional love of my mother.

The Cost of Peace and Wellbeing

I have nearly completed my Nano mission – so as with all writers when we are working on ‘overload’ and steps away from achieving our goal – I venture onto Social Media – just for a quick glance at everybody else’s lives today!
I came across a couple of links which inspired this article.

I am a fan of Iyanla Vanzant   her visions, methods and books! I have a few and have read many others. During the depth of my illness last year her book on Empowerment really helped me survive.

I found out about the ‘Wonder Woman Weekend’ –  in Washington DC at the end of October. My interest was peeked and I went to check it out at the website – the workshops and ideas for the weekend look fantastic and if I lived anywhere near I would probably find a way between now and the autumn to raise the funds. However, I would have to factor in a flight as well.

I am tempted. But it raised this question of expense. The only comments on the Social Media link so far have been from women begging her to bring the cost down.

Now I bet it will be worth every cent – but it is a little on the ‘Oh My – How Much?!’ side of things. Anyway whether I go or not I have bookmarked the website. This year we aren’t having a holiday because we have just bought the house, moved etc. and this is more than I would budget for a week’s holiday for us.

However, I can’t help but be inspired and she has inspired me to run an event for writer’s and followers of this blog! So SPREAD THE WORD – more information coming soon.

Some quotes from the great lady herself;

“So many of us invest a fortune making ourselves look good to the world, yet inside we are falling apart. It’s time to invest on the inside.”
― Iyanla Vanzant     

“When you stand and share your story in an empowering way, your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else.”
― Iyanla Vanzant

“ choice is a divine teacher, for when we choose we learn that nothing is ever put in our path without a reason.”
― Iyanla Vanzant

“Everything that happens to you is a reflection of what you believe about yourself. We cannot outperform our level of self-esteem. We cannot draw to ourselves more than we think we are worth.”
― Iyanla Vanzant

2460 Words to Go – Over in Camp NaNoWriMo

 

Average Words Per Day 646
Your Average Per Day 565
Words Written Today 2,640
Target Word Count 20,000
Total Words Written17,540Words
Remaining 2,460
Current Day 31
Days Remaining 1
At This Rate You Will Finish On August 5, 2013
Words Per Day To Finish On Time 2,460

Here are my latest stats, I know what I need to do today! I entered the word count today but that is the grand total of the last few days in between unpacking and living! And must finish in time to validate – it has been a battle due to my hectic schedule and not because of the writing. It means I have some unfinished work by the end of camp. I have also found out about some writing opportunities with a close deadline so will turn my energy straight onto them as soon as I have managed this end word count! And then maybe I will prioritise and get the flat on the market!

Off to Camp for the 1st session of the day- with marathon writer head on!