The 30 Day Writing Challenge

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Well, I’m still recovering from Swanwick and have lots to think about over the coming week. What way to go with my novel “Still” and exactly how to go about implementing all the suggestions given to me on “Tangled” by the RNA.

You may remember recently I said I was bored with my blog? Well I did lol….but I’ve stumbled across Chrys Fey’s 30 Day Writing Challenge and I’m going to give it a go 🙂 I won’t be doing the whole thing over 30 Days though, I’ll probably post a couple a week and in the meantime there won’t be a To Do List on Mondays…all say awwww.

Speaking to Kate McCormick last week she was telling me about her daily writing schedule. Kate works on different projects throughout the day and allocates time slots for each one. Even if shes really getting into something and comes to the end of the time slot, she stops.

I’m not sure my weekly to do list is working for me anymore. I think I need to do one every evening, plan what needs to be done the following day, as I’ve been finding that I’m crossing less and less off the list lol.

These are the things I need to do every day and that’s not including the food shopping, laundry, errands and general ‘housey’ stuff!

Perhaps I’ll have to split the week up and work on the novels on separate days?

Today I’m off up to London to meet a fellow Blogger for lunch (very exciting!) and then I’m off to a Faber group meet. As usual, it’s all go 😉

Any tips/suggestions on a daily writing schedule would be much appreciated! I just don’t seem to be able to focus these days.

Must Do’s 5th to 11th

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Firstly, I’ve had about 10 comments that ended up in my Spam folder (that definitely shouldn’t have been there!) I’ve approved them, but now I’ve lost them! so if you’ve recently commented to one if my posts and I didn’t reply could you point me to which day? Thanks 🙂

Have you noticed my To Do Lists seem to be getting shorter and shorter? Lol

I’m still writing every day (morning pages – The Artists Way and using Natalie Goldberg’s Wild Mind) but I’m not feeling very focused. I’m ok with that though, I’ve got a lot on my mind at the moment (you’ll see what I mean when you read Wednesdays IWSG post) and I’ve also been planning (mentally) my Nano 13 novel, which I’m actually quite excited about!

So last weeks ridiculously simple list ended up like this:

1. Sort out rewards Blog Post Ummmm, nope, I looked at it a few times, but, it’s still sitting in my draft folder. If you nominated me for an award recently, I haven’t forgotten, it’s just that I’m not gunna be able to post it live this week or next anyway 😦
2. Do Artist Way stuff Done, although there was one task, “Visit a sacred place” that I didn’t do, and I know just the place I want to visit 🙂
3. Start indexing my notebooks Ahhhh, well I did up to number 3, which I was quite pleased about 🙂 It’s blooming hard work…but interesting.

On Saturday I’m off to Swanwick The Writers Summer School. My 3rd year and I’m really looking forward to it 🙂 More about that on Friday, and suffice to say, the To Do List this week reflects that 🙂

I’ve also got a book launch to attend and then of course, Friday I’ll be packing!

So have a good week guys….mine will be a little frantic, and now, I’m off to make packing lists lol

What are your plans for the week?

Must Do’s 29th July to 4th August

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Well, it’s been a hectic week. I met up with the Faber gang, my writing group and attended my sons graduation. Lasts weeks To Do List was fairly successful 😉

1. Sort out rewards post. Nope lol…it’s still sitting in my draft folder, I just need to do some nominations and then it will be ready to go.
2. Print out and finish critiques. Done
3. Do Artists Way stuff. I did most of what I was supposed to, but there will be some things carried forward.
4. Sort out stuff for dog training class. Done
5. Enrol on a drawing class. Ok, I’ve narrowed it down to 2 classes, but I can’t make up my mind which one to enrol on lol
6. Find out about an auction to attend. Again, I’ve done some research, found a place that looks good, now I just need to arrange a day to go lol

So this week is looking pretty ok. A couple of writing type thingys and a Boxing Day 🙂

Today is the last day of the 10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge (all say awwwwww). I’ve really enjoyed it, I hope you have too 🙂

So what are your writing plans for the week?

Must Do’s 22nd to 27th July

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Ok, well i for one am fed up with the hot weather lol. I’m not a sun lover for starters. pale and pasty that’s me 😉

So last week I felt a bit meh and I think that’s related in the To Do list. Last week I was supposed to:

1. Post Tangled. YAY, it’s gone!

2. Do Artists Way stuff. Yep!

3. Start decluttering cupboard under stairs. Couldn’t face it.

4. Finish packing kitchen & dining room. *shakes head*

5. Sort out drawing class and enrol. Well, I found one, but, bloody hell soooo expensive! 😦 I need to find out if I can pay in instalments before I commit.

This week is gunna be hectic (and another hot one) so the diary looks like this:

I’ll definitely need my Boxing Day come Sunday 😉

So what are your plans for the week?

Must Do’s 15th to 21st July

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Well here in the UK summer has finally arrived, and as we’re all sweating our nuts off, being typical Brits it won’t be long until we’re all moaning about it *snigger* 😉

Sticking to my To Do List this week has been difficult…who wants to follow a stupid old list of stuff to do when you can sit in the garden and read? Plus, Albie’s arrival has kinda turned my world upside down and I smell of “dog” 😉

So last week this is what I was supposed to do…

1. Finish reading/critiquing Faber work for meet. Did that and had a lovely evening catching up 🙂
2. Decluttering/sort out hallway. Done, I had to, for Albie.
3. Take Tangled to the post office. *sighs* It’s still sitting in its envelope at the bottom of my bed…but…I’m going TODAY!
4. Clear up desk and writing stuff. Nooooo, fraid not, it was too nice outside to sit at my desk in the corner of my stuffy bedroom 😉

I started doing The Artists Way at the weekend. Spent all day Saturday having a major catch up session so I can take part in the FaceBook group I’ve been invited to join. This will be my 3rd time of doing it now and I’ve gone back to Morning Pages. Just gotta make sure it’s not a 3 page rant every morning lol 😉

So this weeks list looks like this, but I also have some Artist Way stuff to do…

What are your writing plans for the week?

Must Do’s 8th to 14th July

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Well, last week was a wash out 😦 I think I left the house, what, twice, between Monday morning and Friday afternoon lol….so annoying!

So nothing from last weeks list got done lol, although “Tangled” is now in it’s envelope lol.

It will be going off Wednesday morning (it’s the earliest I can fit in going to the post office) and I have spent the weekend decluttering. So the plans for this week are:

It’s gunna be a good week, a few nice “writerly” type events to look forward to, especially after such a poxy week of illness.

What are your writing plans for the week?

Must Do’s 1st to 7th July

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Pinch punch! 😉 Can you believe it’s July already? Wow, before we know it it’ll be Christmas lol

Ok, well there was only one thing on my “To Do List” last week…

Get Tangled sent off to the RNA!

I didn’t exactly do it *snigger* But only because it’s a pretty complicated processs and I didn’t realise I had to have 2 copies of a Synopsis. A synopsis that didn’t even exist! Lol

So I threw something together (which actually sounds more like a blurb lol), have printed it all off, bought the Jiffy bag, filled out the forms, and now, all that’s left to do is take it to the post office, weigh it, put some stamps inside (and an SAE) and say goodbye to it as I hand it over 🙂

And here it is, just to prove its all ready to go 🙂

I haven’t done any writing this week (apart from blogging and in my journal) so I spent an hour yesterday doing a schedule. I’m so unorganised at the moment. I’ve got a lot going on (more news on that at a later date) and although it’s exciting, it’s clouding my head lol

So here is this weeks “To Do List” which is nothing stressful, the main thing I want to do is actually write 🙂

What are your writing plans for the week?

Must Do’s 24th to 30th June

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Well, I’m back from The Lake District 🙂

Everyone said it was a beautiful place, and it is. But, it’s very wet *snigger*

You can sum up the Lake District in 5 words…

Wet
Green
Sheep
Hills
Lakes

But if you’re looking for a relaxing break with no mobile phone signal and intermittent Internet access (via the hotel) I can highly recommend it!

We did some sightseeing (of course) and the highlights were Beatrix Potters house and Rydal Mount, home to William Wordsworth. In the garden is a summer house where Wordsworth wrote most of his poems (a post coming up about that soon).

So now it’s back to the real word and this weeks to do list. I didn’t do much writing when I was away, and i didn’t do any reading. I was up at 5am most mornings, just wandering the hotel grounds pondering life lol. I didn’t actually come to any conclusions, but, the peace and quiet and time with my thoughts was relaxing.

So this week there is only one item on my to do list…..

1. Get “Tangled” off to the RNA New Writers Scheme for its critique.

I meant to do it last week but my printer has run out of ink, and then The Hubsters (at work) keeled over too so he had to order a new one. As soon as he’s got that set up I’ll be emailing him the MS for him to print.

I also need to send off my first assignment to The Writers Bureau and continue to work on my 2nd, but that’s not a priority… What is though is catching up with about 400 emails, blog comments, Twitter, FaceBook…..

What are your writing plans for the week?

Wordsworth & The Lake District (kmlato.wordpress.com)
www = wordsworth was write! (peacockstewrat.wordpress.com)

Must Do’s 10th to 16th June

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

This past week has been hectic. I’ve got a couple of things going on at the moment that are rather exciting, but I can’t say much more, now, because I don’t want to jinx it 😉 Will tell you soon though, I promise!

The problem is, I’ve had so much on my mind this past week, and because of that I’ve found it really hard to focus. Still been writing everyday, just not doing the things I should have been doing *frowns*

So the list last week looked like this:

1. Submit 1st assignment to Writers Bureau & start 2nd. Nope *deep sigh* but I did work on it.

2. Continue to work on Faber 25 word pitch & reading. Yep, but it’s still not finished.

3. Edit at least 1 chapter of Tangled. Nope, but I’ve decided to send it off to the RNA in first draft form.

4. Declutter the dining room. Started….it looks even worse now than before I started lol

5. Sort out outfit for Faber event. I have decided what I’m going to wear. I don’t want to look too posh lol….so I’m just going to go as me! I will need a new pair of shoes though.

6. Look at Adult Ed classes for September. Nope, but, there is a good reason why I didn’t do that….I just can’t tell you about that at the moment lol

Sooooo, a disappointing week, but I guess I should have known that I wouldn’t be able to focus. The Faber event where I have to read in front of 30 agents is this coming Friday (14th) and the nerves have set in already. I’m feeling a bit stressed and looking at my diary for next week it’s no wonder lol

I’ve tried to keep my To Do List very simple this week because I feel that anything I add won’t get done anyway lol