March Status Report: 2012 Goals

March has proven to be a busy in terms of the goals I set for 2012. This month was all about building my platform, which gave a few goals a nice jolt of progress.  However, the time and energy that went into platform building took time away from other projects on my list.  While frustrating at times, the lack of balance was a necessary evil.  The business of writing, (or in my case learning the business of writing), often asks writers to step back from the process of writing.  It’s painful to do, but I’m hoping it’ll pay off in the long run.

1) Submit five pieces of writing to contests, journal, literary magazines, or the newspaper.

When I wrote The Last Page I thought it might be something interesting to submit to some of the literary journals and magazines I have on my list.  It received good feedback and I’m encouraged to take it a step further after doing a tad more revising and editing. Thanks so much to everyone who left comments!

2) Finish minor changes in my first novel.

This is one of the projects that went untouched.  It’s going to get much more of my attention in April, mainly because of the progress made on Goal #4.

3) Work on my second novel.

Novel #2 kept me up at night with brainstorming and writing due to an almost constant stream of inspiration!  The story is moving forward with incredible speed, (I’ve never written anything this large so fast!) and I love how the plot line is coming together.  In addition,  the characters continue to evolve in amazing ways and I am so excited to be their chosen writer.

• Starting word count: 49,651
• End word count: 50,831
• Total for March: 1,180

4) Send out five query letters and be ready with a synopsis.

The big news on this front is the fact that I finished writing a synopsis draft.  At the end of February I set a deadline of March 15 and that seemed to do the trick.  I was actually done well before that date and have already begun revisions.  In early April, I plan on sending a revised version to several beta readers.

As a result of completing the synopsis, my query letter got a total makeover.  Once sentence continues to bother me, but that will be resolved soon enough.

Seeing as deadlines seem to agree with me, I am setting a deadline of sending out my first query before the end of April.  Hold me to it!

5) Keep up with my blog.

Yet again, this goal has not been a problem.  I find so much inspiration and encouragement in the blogosphere!  I wrote and posted 25 blog entries this month and I appreciate everyone who stopped by to read and comment on them.

6) Network more with other writers.

Thanks to the Fourth Writers’ Platform Building Campaign, March was another banner month for my networking goals.  I’ve continued to meet and connect with so many wonderful people in the writing community.

In the campaign, my second entry (See Fatespeak), was shortlisted, but I have yet to hear anything more.  As soon as the site of the campaign is updated, I’ll have more information.  Regardless, I’m pretty excited to make it on the short list.  It’s the first time my writing has ever been recognized beyond the first round of judging in any competition.

UPDATE:  I found out this morning (thank you mywithershins and Melissa Maygrove for telling me!), that I won the Second Campaign Challenge!! I wish a had a better word than “excited,” but at the moment I’m too busy doing a happy dance to think of one!

As for social networking, my circle continues to grow as I follow writers, agents, and publishers.  I’m so honored to see my numbers grow on both Facebook and Twitter.  Thanks so much to everyone who follows me.

• Facebook – I’m thrilled to report my Facebook page has experience another jump in followers, from 32 to 41.  My page was recently given a make-over to the timeline layout.  It looks amazing!  You can see it by clicking on the link: http://www.facebook.com/C.B.Wentworth. I appreciate all Likes so much. Thank you to those who have already clicked that button!
• Twitter – 81 to 156 followers.  This was a huge a jump and I’m so excited to reach triple digits! While, I’m still learning Twitter lingo and etiquette, I’ve really enjoyed connecting to so many fellow writers.
• If you are on Facebook or Twitter, follow along and I’ll follow back as long as you’re not a spambot. Shortcut buttons for both are on my sidebar.

Recently, I joined the World Literary Cafe, (see the button on my sidebar), and I plan on exploring this network over the next couple of weeks.  It looks like another golden opportunity to network with readers and writers.

7) Inspire other writers to keep writing.

As always, I can only hope I inspire those around me!

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c.b. 2012