Today is Sunday, and I never really expect to get a full day’s work done on a Sunday. I plan for it, but only because I likely wouldn’t do anything if I didn’t do that. So, today I will just list what I did accomplish rather than what I planned to do:

• Keep working on the Wendigo Novel 1 outlining process, this time with the plan in Karen Wiesner’s “First Draft in 30 Days“. Today I completed Day 3, which is coming up with a basic plot sketch for the story. This includes everything from stating the novel’s story goal, the subplots, any romance, points of tension in the plot, areas where that tension can be released, the black moment, the resolution, and any wrap-up to the resolution. Subplots is one area I’ve always struggled with when writing longer pieces, but I was able to come up with close to 10 basic ideas for this story. Some are mutually exclusive to one another, while others will be weaved together. It’ll be interesting to see what else comes up during the outlining process and then the actual drafting. It’s got me excited, and that’s one of the goals!
• Finish editing my “Ultimate Evil” short story. The story is finished, and submitted. I was able to pare it down to right at 1,000 words. Again, I don’t consider it a hilarious piece, but hopefully its tongue-in-cheek nature will provide some amusement. This is my first short story of 2015. A very short one, but it was a short week. Next week begins a longer tale that should take the entire week to write.
• Finish reading Rayne Hall’s “Writing Fight Scenes“. Success! All in all, a book worth picking up. Some of the information is common sense, but we all know that common sense ain’t so common. The chapter on euphonics was very interesting, as were the fight scene examples that she put at the end of the books. Makes me want to go pick up Storm Dancer now… And I just did.

Tomorrow begins the first full week of 2015. I plan to make use of every day this week, from completing a new short story to completing my WOTF entry to carrying on with the outlining and planning of the Wendigo novel. Also, I will begin reading a new pair of books: Writing the Blockbuster Novel by Albert Zuckerman and Volume 30 of the Writers of the Future. I’m looking forward to it all!

Here are today’s numbers:

Blog Posts: 435
Planning and outlining: 1,800
Short Fiction: 0
Novel Fiction: 0
Salable words: 0

Total Fiction for Month: 0

Total Salable for Month: 1,000

Total Fiction for Challenge Year: 0

Total Salable for Challenge Year: 1,000