Finish my novel.
This was my goal, every year for the last twelve years. And here’s how that went:
2010 Tried Nanowrimo. Got deep into a book, but did not finish.
2011 Revised the Nano novel, even though it wasn’t finished.
2012 Got stuck, and skipped to the end and wrote the last chapters. Did not finish.
2013 Stuck. Stuck. Stuck. Did not finish. Wrote a short film instead.
2014 Sent 50 pages to professional editor to see where I stood. “Good writing, but you need to start somewhere else.” Did not finish. Wrote a play instead.
2015 Bored with the story, did not finish. Wrote a feature film script.
2016 Stress. Did not finish.
2017 Officially put the novel in the drawer. Wrote a tv pilot.
2018 Started a shiny new novel. Joined a writing group.
2019 Turned novel idea into a script.
2020 Next level stress. Got serious about novel, and hired a book coach. Finished Draft One.
2021 Finished the novel. Seven times.
2022 Finished the novel several final times (editing, copyediting, proofreading) Pursued publication.
2023 Finished the novel one last time, to fix a mistake found in proof. Book release will be Feb 2023. New goal - Finish five novellas.
Let’s go.
If you find yourself not finishing a goal, but continuing to list it as a goal - trust that you will or will not do it. Goals are arbitrary.
Preorder THE GIRL IN THE ZOO here:
Hi Jennifer, I just finished reading "The Girl in the Zoo" over the July 4 holiday. It was quite enjoyable. Thank you. Any plans for another novel in the future?
Love this post!