The Weekly R.A.P #14
Writing Goals Check-In for August 27, 2023
Reminder: The Weekly RAP is a gentle tool for staying accountable to your writing goals. If you set a goal with us in the comments of last week’s newsletter, check in about how it went by adding a comment! If you’re just joining us this week, ignore the first two questions of the RAP sheet and just set a goal for next week.
Good evening on this, the penultimate weekly RAP post in this 100 Days of Summer experiment!
How’s it going?
Quite honestly, I’m toggling between dread that I won’t finish the book by the 4th and feeling fired up that I may just make it—my book’s not done but I had a breakthrough1 about the structure of the final chapter and I’m (finally) clicking along. The question is whether I have enough days left to finish all the clicking!
How about you?
How’s your summer writing goal coming along?
If you can’t face the looming September 4th deadline, then let’s stick to the basics: how was this past week?
THE WEEKLY R.A.P #14 — August 27, 2023
RECKONING—If you set a writing goal in the comment section of HIBOU’s August 21st post for The Weekly RAP #13,2 did you achieve your goal? Yes? No? Partially?
ANALYSIS–What went well this week? What was a challenge? What insights did you learn about your writing this week? Looking ahead to next week, can you repeat what went well? If the coming week has similar challenges to last week, how might you adjust your writing schedule or your goal? Are there any new challenges to take into account this week?
PLAN–What is your writing goal for the coming week (8/27 - 9/4)? What’s your plan to get it done? How will you reward yourself for the work you complete? A friendly reminder that smart goals are (s)pecific, (m)easurable, (a)chievable, (r)ealistic, and (t)ime-bound.
Copy and paste the template above into the comments, replace the questions with your answers, then hit post and check out what other HIBOU subscribers are up to and cheer them on!
Remember to be kind to yourself if you didn’t make your goal!
Today is the start of a fresh, new week!
P.S. Not to pile on as you’re trying to meet your summer deadlines, but this is a great week to spend a little time thinking about your priorities for the fall. If you want a container to help you think, here’s a link to the planning module from May. I’ll be setting goals for the fall myself, but I may retire the Weekly RAP to the chat.
P.P.S. Just a photo of Shiloh cheering you on or cheering you up—your choice.
Breakthroughs almost always mean discovering a way to compress and simplify the meandering-ass first drafts my brain seems addicted to serving up. You’d think I’d catch myself when I try to pass a convoluted mess off as a viable plan, but as much progress as I’ve made on this front—I’m pleased to report that novel has been through two structural overhauls that cut what would have been hundreds of pages of dead ends BEFORE I worried them onto the page—I think I’ll always be a writer who comes up with have a dozen beats when she only really needs two or three max. Stephen King would classify me as “taker-outer.”
Click the link if you need to refresh your memory!
RECKONING—Didn't finish the book. Breakthrough on how to restructure the final chapter before the epilogue.
ANALYSIS–I'm clicking along. I just need more time.
PLAN–I've cleared a couple days this week for a mini deep dive and I'll be pushing hard to finish a rough draft of the book. Plan is just to get it down in rough form at this point. After doing one scene long hand, I also switched to drafting on the computer because there are too many disparate notes and pieces to feasibly draft this longhand.
I have some work writing to do, but also working on a new short story. Right now, I have six characters in a room just kind of looking at each other. Four antagonists, and I've got a handle on them. But I don't know who the two protagonists are. Trying to watch movies and read for inspiration, because I really want to write this, and I think the characters are tired of waiting for me. Might have to do some writing prompts centered around character and see if those produce anything.