Today's Writing Goals

As I blogged last week, I emailed a partial revision to Chris. Later that night, I sent him a synopsis of the remainder.

Since then, I've hesitated (read: refused) to keep revising until I hear back from him. I should have confidence in my work, and I do think what I've done will make the story better. But Chris knows the market (and good work), so I'm reluctant to keep on keepin' on till I know I'm on the right track.

Which means Chris saying something like, "You're on the right track. Now fix this and this and this. Also, for the love of Pete, this."

I have to do something in the meantime, though, and I'm off today, so in the interest of appearing to move forward, I have two small goals for the day: come up with a new logline for the revised story, as well as a one-paragraph summary.

When I have them, I'll post an addendum here.

*UPDATE*

Logline: To find answers about his missing father, a twelve-year-old boy enters an enchanted forest he knows he can never leave.

Paragraph Summary: For years, Jack Sweet wanted to know what happened to his father, who disappeared the night Jack was born. The problem: there aren’t many places a person can disappear to in a town completely surrounded by a briar-bound Forest. Still without answers and becoming a troublemaker, twelve-year-old Jack breaks into the school janitor’s office, where he finds an ancient Book and unwittingly becomes its next Custodian. Soon after teaching Jack how to care for the Book, whose Tales are a living history of the Forest, the janitor suddenly vanishes, leaving Jack the Book and a cryptic note: FIND THE W—. Though he knows he can never leave it, Jack enters the enchanted Forest, where his search for the W brings the Tales to life, until he is face to face with the Forest’s oldest resident: a huge, gray Wolf. When the Wolf points Jack to the final Tale in the Book — the janitor’s — Jack learns the old man was responsible for kidnapping Jack’s father. After confronting the janitor, who lies dying nearby from an attack by an unknown assailant, Jack learns his search for answers has only begun.

Assignment for tomorrow: create loglines and 1-paragraph summaries for both main supporting characters.

Do you set writing or work goals? Do you tend to keep them small (e.g. attainable and check-off-a-list-able), or go big with one overall goal per project (e.g. "finish the project")? Are your goals realistic?

[image via Student Hacks]
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