Assessment – 1st Quarter 2012

The first quarter of the year came to a close a week ago.  That means I’ve got some assessing to do.  So let’s have at it!

First, a sales update, just because:

Now, bear in mind not all sales outlets have reported for March yet.  But I don’t expect much to change.  So things are creeping along, with emphasis on creeping.  But that’s ok.  Marathon, not sprint, remember?

Ok, on to more important matters.  How did I do this quarter toward my goals?

Annual Goals

1. Karate – while in San Diego, we tracked down a nice looking dojo just a couple blocks away from our house-to-be.  It’s a different style than I’ve trained in before, but that’s ok.  The instructors seem cool and they have programs for us and for the kids, so it looks like that will work out nicely.  We’ll see next month when we get to town and get started, but so far we’re on track.
2. Slim Down – I was down 3-4 pounds before the trip out west.  I haven’t weighed in since returning yet; Monday is my official weigh-in day anyway.  So we’ll find out tomorrow, but I’m making progress, slowly.  And that’s ok. 🙂
3. Triathlon – Well I’ve been running a lot.  And biking using my indoor trainer device.  It’s starting to warm up around here, so I’ll switch to the streets this week probably.  And as I mentioned in my last post, I’m going to either run or bike in to work in San Diego.  Mission Bay, which is an area just a couple miles north of our house, has lots of triathlons throughout the year, so I’m on track here, too.

Quarterly Goals

1. Finish the first installment of The Pericles Conspiracy – Yeah… Well as I mentioned a while back, that goal quickly shifted on me when I got to 50k words and realized I might as well just finish the whole damn book in one shot, since it’s a novel already.  So much for a couple or three novellas.  I only got 22k or so written on this story, though.  More than I initially planned, but not enough to finish.  So we’ll call this one not met/deferred.
2. Submit to Writers of the Future – done.  I squeaked in right at their word count limit after trimming 1,300 words or so from the story, but still, done.
3. Begin the Masters of the Sun sequel – not done.  Since Pericles is taking longer than expected, I didn’t even think about getting started here.
4. Go to DWS’ character voice workshop – done.  And well done.  Awesome in fact.

So it’s a mixed bag on the goals.  Let’s look at word count.  First Quarter Writing:

1. The Pericles Conspiracy – 20,492 words (in progress)
2. The Champion – 18,162 words (complete)
3. Who Ate My Sock – 2,064 words (complete)
4. Grandfather’s Pendant (Larian #4) – 3,886 words (in progress)
5. The Wattery Tart – 1,422 words (in progress)
6. Daddy’s First Date – 3,258 words (complete; horror pen name)
7. The Billionaire’s Daughter – 5,902 words (complete; mystery pen name)
8. Character Voice and Setting Workshop Assignments – 12,000 words (complete)

Total for the Quarter – 67,186 words

Avg words/month – 22,395.33 words/month

Avg words/day – 738.31 words/day

So word-wise, it was a pretty good quarter.  Just a hair below the 75,000 I’d need to get to 300k by the end of the year, but more than I thought I would get, considering I expected a move.  Turns out the move isn’t til next month, so a good check of next month will be a wash for writing.  With all that in mind, I need to revisit my plans for the 2nd quarter.

I said I would finish the Masters sequel, the second installment of Pericles, and submit to Writers of the Future.  Well there won’t be a second Pericles installment – just the whole thing.  So here are the new 2nd Quarter Goals:

1. Finish The Pericles Conspiracy
2. Publish Glimmer Vale (finally) – it’s just about ready to go
3. Submit to Writers of the Future
4. Begin the Masters sequel

Right.  Guess I’ll get to it, then.  Until next time!