Hello, hello, hello!
So I was finishing up some tasks yesterday and a friend talked about our ongoing goal with a novel we're editing - by the end of the year, we're aiming to have a draft strong enough that we feel confident sending out query letters. That got me thinking about some of the goals I made not only in January (I don't really do the New Year's Resolution thing but something similar) and the more "official" list I'd made in December.
One of my personal goals was to write more - well, mission accomplished, which is great!
I also wanted to get my Driver's License last year and that definitely went by the wayside....
So I think my March "goal" is to take some time and revisit the resolutions and things I want to achieve this year, making sure to acknowledge which ones are entirely in my control and which ones require a bit of intervention from luck/fate/right time right place/circumstances lining up/whatever you want to call it.
How about all of you? Any goals that need refreshing, or that you've already achieved? Or that you're keeping on track for?
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Hi, Dawn Prato. Congratulations to you and your friend on the progress with the novel! And congratulations on writing more! I hope you and your friend finish the draft by the end of the year, and I hope you reach your March goal and all your goals!
That's one of my goals for the year is to read more scripts, which I have. One of my other goals is to read more books. I haven't started that yet, so that's my March goal.
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I love this, Dawn Prato! Taking the time to check in on our goals and adjust as needed is such a great practice.
I’m actually on track with my goal to read 52 books this year—I started book #7 this week, so I’m feeling good about that! I was also on a great track with my own novel writing until this week when life got so busy that I had to put everything else on hold. Hoping to carve out time this weekend to jump back into it, but we’ll see how it goes.
Also… since we’re sharing, here’s one I don’t talk about often (mostly out of shame and my perfectionist tendencies), but I also don’t drive. I technically have my license, but I haven’t been behind the wheel in years. Overcoming my anxiety around it and getting comfortable driving again is always a long-term goal, but when it comes down to it, I avoid it like the plague.
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The screenwriting gig, as ironic and paradoxical as it sounds, is out of my own control. If my scripts are finished and ready for criticism, that's all there is to it.
I don't really have "resolutions" to follow in 2025. Hopefully, it will be a better year than the dumpster fire that was 2024. More downs than ups. Nevertheless, if I had one "resolution" that I try to follow, albeit with difficulty, is this one: "know when to put your big boy pants on and breathe, dude! Just breathe more."
Congratulations on reading six books and starting the 7th one this week, Ashley Renee Smith! And congratulations on the progress with your novel! I'm cheering for you to get comfortable driving again and reach all your goals!
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Hope you have a better year than last year, Marcel Nault Jr.!
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These are all fantastic goals and accomplishments! Consistency definitely helps - and Marcel Nault Jr. I SO hear you about putting on the big boy pants! (Or big girl, in my case). Sometimes I have to remind myself to do the same, and know when to push and when to sit back and take a break.
Thank you all for sharing!
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I wanna try to hit 60 pages for The Elysian Rhapsodies tomorrow. Currently at 53 :D
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Congratulations on getting to page 53, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh! You got this!
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Congratulations on your goal of writing more Dawn Prato - with life getting in the way, that's always easier said than done so mucho kudos to you for reaching that goal. My goal for the month of March is to have completed a voice over reel up and available. For the year, my goal is to fine-tune the screenplays I currently have in my portfolio and polishing them up. That is, unless I have any more dreams with stories in them. We shall see. I'm on track so far with both goals. A personal goal is to exercise more. I'm with Marcel Nault Jr. - I need to breathe more. With some of the personal trials experienced in the last few months, more self-care is needed.
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Congratulations on the progress you made with your goals, Leonardo Ramirez! I'm rooting for you to reach your March goal, year goal, and personal goal!
Rooting for you as well my friend Maurice Vaughan!!! Thank you!!
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Thank you Maurice Vaughan! It’s going pretty well other than being a wee bit tricky (trying to keep the fever dream elements to a minimum lol), I’m hoping to have it written out and table read by summertime :D
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You're welcome, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh. Fever dreams are fun. To write, not to have. Haha Are you planning on getting actors from Stage 32 for your table read?
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Indeed Maurice Vaughan, I'm just having fun and not concerning myself too much with the finer details (unless of course they're important enough to write right now lol) so long as I get the spirit of the work down. And I actually didn't know I could do that! I've got the beginnings of a relationship with Wildsound for my table reads (at least for Finding Elpis, they've done the first two), so I plan to have them do TER as well. But in due time I'll be sure to find actors from here as well for a future project :D
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Doesn't Wildsound record table reads, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh?
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Yes they do Maurice Vaughan, I have both recordings :)
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Great, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh. I was gonna suggest recording your table read and watching it again to see if you missed any notes or things during the table read. I've been at a mini table read where the group read one scene of everyone's script. I'd like to do a full table read. Maybe for the feature script I'm rewriting.
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For sure Maurice Vaughan, I've been watching them in little bursts. Incidentally reading the script out loud also helped me find errors here and there (for about twenty minutes RoP's narrator's power went out so I stepped in to do it--lots of fun and honestly something I wouldn't mind doing going forward; also helps that everyone can hear me pronounce the more uncommon names, and also helps me to overcome my nervous stutter lol). Table reads are just so much fun, even if my stuff never makes it to the big screen it's cool that I have a sorta movie series to watch for myself :)
And yes, definitely do a full reading of your next script, it's a whole other sort of high :D
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Great question Dawn Prato! (I think what stood out to me was why it's taking you until the end of the year to edit your novel. No judgment, pure curiosity. Is it a spare time thing? Editing and helping writers, write, edit, and often format is my jam, and I usually have things done quickly. So I was just curious.) For myself, I do make New Year's resolutions, but I tend to start them before the new year and lately, I focus on one word that embodies my biggest goal. Last year was making sleep a priority (which changed my life) and this year my word is networking. I have been in creation, production, and survival mode for about 15 years. Time to take a break from those :) Speaking of driver's licenses, I suppose it is another goal to help my daughter get hers. Neither of us is in a hurry, but she's 19, so it's time. My March goal is to stay consistent with my writing and music and have fun running the Couve Clover 5K.
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Hi Kat Spencer - thanks for asking! It's definitely a scheduled spare-time thing for both of us. Our day jobs take up a majority of our time, I have a few other projects I'm either collaborating on or being paid to write, and she loves physical activity and prioritizes spending time with her partner. So, while it's not quite a hobby/for fun thing we're doing, it's more of a, "we want to pursuse this as professionally as possible but recognize we have limited time" thing :) So far, we've been pretty good at sticking to meeting via Zoom once/week and meeting in person on a weekend day, so we're trucking along slowly but surely haha.
@Banafsheh and @Leonardo, congratulations to you both as well! Everyone here is doing amazing, and I love that we're acknowledging personal/physical/non-writing-related goals as well - balance is so, so hard to manage sometimes, but we're all trying :)
Have a great Sunday, everyone!
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Have a great Sunday too, Dawn Prato!
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Dawn Prato Thank you for your answer! I wish you the best with it and congrats on keeping it in your mix. I am an advocate for a balanced life. What is the novel about? (If you don't mind sharing)
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Kat Spencer I'm so sorry I missed this! I haven't been able to pop on here as often as I'd like (or should) lately.
The novel is about a girl caught by Fae, the changeling who replaced her, and the Unseelie squire sent to try and bring the girl back when she escapes :) They have to figure out how to work together (and figure out where they belong) while navigating two Faerie courts, internal politics, and little things like how to get along so they don't get killed.
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Dawn Prato Only a few things to figure out. hahaha. Sounds like a fun read!