Do you realise that at the end of next week, this Challenge has finished?
At the beginning, 10 weeks seemed like a loooooong time. Just goes to show how quickly time passes. (And that realisation brings with it two messages:
- No matter how difficult a challenge seems, as long as you know the start and end dates, it will come to an end.
- If you don’t commit to finishing a task, it will never get done. In terms of writing a book, this means that you can procrastinate forever, thinking: “I’ll put aside a block of time later…” and later never comes.
As I’ve kept saying during this Challenge, it doesn’t matter if you adjust your goals.What matters is that you KEEP GOING FORWARD.
What can you achieve in the next 2 weeks?
How about setting yourself a mini challenge for the last two weeks? Think of it as a brand new challenge – but this time, it’s just 14 days. Or to be precise, until the end of June, it’s a day or two less than that (depending on whether you’re in the northern or southern hemisphere.)
In the next two weeks, I intend to:
- Upload a CreateSpace Publishing Kit for those who would like to create a physical book on Amazon’s CreateSpace to go with their Kindle e-book
- Finish and upload The Busy Writer’s One-Hour Character to Kindle
- Move house (!!!!!)
Now I’m going to go and pack a few boxes. I’m working on just a few each day.
As usual, it’s over to you… what do you plan on accomplishing by the end of next week?
Marg 
i just realized that in these 8 weeks i have done 3 weeks of reading and organizing my work and now am on pieces 7 and 8 of my collection of mothers and sons stories (and, one week was a mental heakth week to alaska!)…i have a group working on critiquing the work and they are doing a great job…some are very serious and are working as hard as i…others are taking their time…them taking me seriously had raised the bar!
what is revealing to me is how seriously i have taken the challenge..the time must have been right…and, how fun it has been to get back to creative writing…
i am worried about getting it pubklished and find marge’s take charge of the industry attitude amazing…after the writing is done…i am primed to begin the exploration of the brave new world of self publishing as well as try traditional routes…we have been exposed to so much, a lot i have not had time to explore…the next challenge!
the next few weeks for me are more of the same…i have 5 pieces to re-write and a new piece to write…my biggest problem is i am on tour taking 60 students to and through seattle, victoria and vancouver…so my work will continue after the challenge…i will miss the big finish…fireworks for all!!! and, i shall return..thanks marge, et all!
monica
On tour with 60 students???? Good grief! No wonder you won’t have time to do much at the end. But wow, haven’t you done a lot in the past 8 weeks! Congratulations. I feel like a slacker next to you, Monica! Don’t forget to sign up for the Write a Kindle book updates list – I’ll be focusing heavily on that after the Challenge!
Today I cleaned out filing cabinets and drawers almost all day and did 3 runs over to the new house with carloads of stuff. Exhausting! (We do have removalists coming, but I’d rather do some of the transfer ahead of time to ease the ‘moving day’ load.)
and, once i would like to make it through my comment without a typo…but, alas…my volunteer copy editor (and, i actually have one, a good one!) is not on the job yet!
perhaps, this is that post!
until we meet agian! good luck all!
monica
What typo? LOL
Thanks for this Challenge, Marg. I am now back to writing, setting my timer in 40 minute blocks (sometimes I go over if I’m on a roll). I have also found 3 writing buddies who will, no doubt, keep me on track. All the best to everyone.
That sounds fantastic. And I’m so glad you’ve got 3 writing buddies to keep you on track. One of the Busy Writer series will be about belonging to and starting up critique groups/writers groups. This will include ‘buddy’ arrangements… all input welcome!
Yes to writing buddies! It’s a great way of keeping going and hearing other people talking about your characters is so encouraging!
Also got in touch with Rose and her website. Though still nobody has contributed to mine
I have at the moment writing two buddies, though we haven’t met for a few weeks due to various ‘life’ issues!
The whole writing group thing is funny . I joined a group in our town but for me it didn’t really feel right. But with two other women who are like me, and are interested in the same issues, it works for us. I think the group was too dominated by older men who enjoy doing small competitions. Not for me.
Since the Challenge began I’ve written more than 20000 words and developed the plot in a new direction, and got back into the rhythm of writing.
I always seem to do better before breakfast. I too set a timer for about 40 minutes but often go over it.
My hope for the last two weeks is to keep going at this pace, and finish Part 2 of the novel. …still it’s a draft and will need polishing and so on.
Sometimes I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew really, but with small achievable targets , I seem to be getting there.
So thanks Marg for your briliance and optimism. I love that you are in the midst of the chaos of moving and still are conducting this on-going writers’ seminar or is it a webinar all over the world. It’s been a fantastic boost.
Jeannie.
Good Luck with the move!
Thanks for all the effort that has gone into the ten week challenge resources, Marg.
I’ve achieved some of my goals and made changes to what I can manage each week but I’m feeling great that I have achieved quite a bit.
The ten week challenge has definitely helped me to focus on what I wanted to get done.
The ‘to do’ list has had a great workout.
I feel like I’m back on track with my writing time and am looking forward to exploring more information in the resources you’ve shared.
It’s been an absolute pleasure. I love working with other writers. Especially when we’re all doing our own thing and reporting on it!
I had to laugh at the number of to-do lists I unearthed today when sorting through all my paper.
I figure if the Fairfax empire can go digital, so can I – OUT WITH ALL THAT PAPER!
I even found a romantic suspense novel I started years ago that I was hunting for and couldn’t find – think I’ll finish it and put it on Kindle.
Unfortunately, I can only find the printed copy – the computer file has gone walkabout.
All the best for moving house, Marg. I’ve started on a major re-write of a manuscript and hope to get it well underway in the next 10 days. Many thanks for the work you’ve put into the challenge. There are a lot of resources I’ll use later.
Congratulations to all those who’ve achieved what they set out to do and to those who’ve made a good start.
Thanks Helen. It’s total chaos here at the moment, but Friday next week will pretty much see the end of it. (That’s moving day. The last Friday of the Challenge. Great timing, Marg!)
I’m sure we can all work out a way to stay in touch and keep posting new achievements. Good luck with your manuscript rewrite. Keep us posted!
I see you’ve set yourself some big challenges this week Marg. Just wanted to let you know I’ve been working through your one-hour plot with a story that needed drastic revision, and I’m finding it a great help. Like the time blocks as they work well with someone who’s inclined to be a bit disorganised. Thanks heaps
Well here it is coming to a close. This has been a great 9 weeks, I have achieved a lot. Thanks so much Marg.
Writing has taken a place firmly on the back burner until things settle down – if they ever will.
sorry but can’t say the same for this week. With a sister -in-law having a major three hour melt down on the phone Tuesday night a family member having a car accident Wednesday night and finding out on Thursday that a very very dear friend was killed in Thailand you could say this week has been a real bitch.
My goodness, what a terrible week for you, Gale! I’m so sorry. I hope things get better from here…