Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Half Done

The year, I mean. Which is actually more than half done.

MJ does a midway check in of her yearly goals, and I thought that was a good idea, so even though it’s a few weeks late (anyone else wondering how it can possibly be July?), here’s my progress report for my 2014 goals.

2014 Goals
1. Get my newest book, REMEMBER, to the point where it can be beta read.
            It’s still pretty rough right now (the first draft still isn’t done), so it will take a lot of work to get it there.
            Not even close, as I got distracted by a shiny new project. However, I’m back at it again, so I could still make it by the end of the year. Possibly.

2. Start working on a (gulp) query for COLLAPSE.
            I have a few rough copies, but I doubt any would entice readers. Ooh, this is the most terrifying goal.
            Yeah, I did this. It’s not exactly going well, but I did it.

3. Try to find some way to post my progress on my goals, both yearly and monthly.
            I’d like to see how I’m doing and whether I need to work harder.
            Monthly, yes. Yearly…well, I guess this counts, right?

4. Read more dystopian/apocalyptic/paranormal YA.
            For, you know, research. This is probably going to be an easy goal.
            Truly, I’ll never read enough : ).

5. Think of ways to make my blog posts more interesting.
            And implement them. That last “Informal Poll” thing was a huge bust. I have some other ideas in mind, but who knows if they’ll be successful.
            I guess not…but it hasn’t gotten less interesting, has it? I could stretch that into a win.

6. Try to start a movement to simplify the English language.
            Seriously, is the letter C really necessary? And don’t say we need it for the “ch” sound. We can use Q for that and not for “kw”, which is weird anyway. Every other use of C can be replaced with K or S. I’m also not a fan of using G for the “juh” sound, but one thing at a time.
            Blast people who want to keep English the way it is!

7. Get over my doubts about selling an apocalyptic story in a glutted YA market and just DO IT.
            I feel like this one is self-explanatory.
            Sigh…Well, I’m trying…

I guess I’m not doing that bad. The REMEMBER one is the only one I haven’t put a lot of effort into, but at least I have another first draft to show for my wasted time. And there is still six months (almost) left. Maybe I’ll make it.

Seriously. We don’t need C! If we all agree to just stop using it, we can lower language confusion by like thirty percent!

7 comments:

  1. If we get rid of the letter C, I have to rename a lot of characters. It took me a long time to settle on those names, so I'd really rather not...

    I think you're doing very well with your goals. Here's to a strong second half of the year for both of us!

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  2. I'd ask if we really need the letter x, but then again, X does mark the spot, and sex would be a lot less interesting as a word if it was just se.

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  3. I'm all for making the English language simpler.
    And I think your posts are interesting. Win there.

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  4. I just saw on Mental Floss a list of the letters that have been deleted from the alphabet (I think the article was older, though). For example, I did not know that & used to be a letter.

    But it's been a while since any letter was deleted, and my brother might take exception to losing the first letter of his name (which is Chris).

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  5. No! Don't change it!
    At forty(something), I'm finally getting a handle on it!

    I second MJ and William. :P

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  6. LOL! Part of me thinks that efforts to change the English language will be a bust, since America wouldn't even convert over to the metric system that the rest of the civilized world uses.

    The other part of me thinks texting has already started to change our language. Who knows -- maybe C will be gone in 50 years. ;)

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  7. That's a great idea to review your progress for the year! I'm almost kinda partially to the removal of the letter C. People always try to spell my name with a C, but it's a K. It bothers me.

    I don't know if I'm doing well with my goals, but I am keeping up with my goals! :)

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Please validate me.