Blog of Monica Valentinelli, Writer & Content Consultant

Posted on November 30, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli

Let the December 2009 Writing Marathon Begin!

Are you ready for a marathon? I am!

My goal this month is to work on my revisions for my urban fantasy novel, which is loosely entitled ARGENTUM, a little bit each day, regardless of what else I have going on. This year has been a good year for me, because it’s helped me understand where my limits are and just how difficult it is to balance paid work with speculative work. However, knowing where my boundaries are isn’t the same thing as exercising within them. I’m hoping December will be “that” month that helps me get back into a routine, which is why I’m hoping to get through a chapter every other day.

So my December word count goal is focused on my speculative work. I hope to achieve a minimum of 20,000 words of non-contract, original fiction while I’m working on other projects. If I don’t work on my original fiction even a little bit during a particular day, then I’ll suck it up and do…FILING. *gasp*

Hopefully I’ll be off to a good start this week. For me, it’s about re-establishing a balanced-yet-productive schedule one day at a time.

From reading your goals and those “things you don’t want to do,” I see that we could all use a little bit of balance in our lives. While this is a marathon, don’t forget to enjoy yourselves, too. Okay? Even though the words need to get down on paper or through your keyboard, sometimes the quality and the love of what you’re doing matter more than how many words you’re burning through. Still, it can’t hurt to practice writing faster. After all, you can’t revise if you have nothing written!

So get ready, get set…and let the words start flowing!

Read Other Goals by These Marathoners

We had a few people opt to fill out the form I created to help decide your writing goals; you can read the results there, too.

Here are a few goals that people sent to me to link in this post. If I missed you, don’t worry! You can still participate anonymously.

• Ken Marable
• Merc Writer
• Liz Danforth
• Jennifer Brozek

Good luck!