Goodreads | Cathy C. Hall Writes

file00025755561 I don’t have a lot of accountability these days.

My original and hard-working critique group broke up, my second critique group didn’t work for my schedule, writer friends moved away…even Mister Man, who, if we’re being perfectly honest refused to read any of my writing but would listen to me talk about it as long as there was food involved, up and left me. And so it’s pretty much up to me, what (or if) I write.

Then I thought about you, dear writer friends. You can be my accountability! And then you can say, “Oh, yes, Cathy, that sounds fabulous!” Or, “Really, Cathy, you can do lots better than that.” Maybe even, “Sounds good to me, pass the garlic rolls.”

And so here I go:

I finished 30 ideas with Storystorm! It’s a list of the good, the bad, and the ugly, but I did it.

I made a goal over at Goodreads to read 50 books this year, and for January, I read four books. (I didn’t make my reading goal last year but whee! It’s January and I’m on track. So far.)

I talked to my Lovely Agent about 2017 and the direction we could go. I have Stuff To Do; I haven’t quite started on that stuff yet.

I wrote up…let me count that again…yes, um…one, er, one story and sent it out into the world. It seemed like a big deal at the time, y’all.

I had an SCBWI writer’s workshop–awesome author Heather L. Montgomery presented–and it was well-attended and lots of fun! (P.S. She was here doing quite a few school visits and kids LOVE her, so if you want a science geek author for your school, contact Heather!) The first of the year is busy in my position at SCBWI; lots of organizing, lots of emails, lots of planning, but I got it all done. That’s probably why I didn’t get much writing done. Yeah, that’s it. That’s the ticket.

Oh! I finally finished my latest Darakwon book! Whew! I had started it back in the spring, I think, so yeah, it was beginning to be like The Song That Never Ends.

You know, I wasn’t feeling very accomplished twenty minutes ago, but I feel a bit better, now that I see my January Wrap Up. All things considered, right?

So how about you? How’s your January started? Brag a little, whine a little, and pass the garlic rolls. You’re with friends here!

So March 31st already–holy cow, 2015 is zipping along! And it occurred to me, looking at the March calendar page above my desk, that I’d actually accomplished ~~all~~ most of the tasks I’d set for the month. Some of which I’ve been blah-blah-blahing about or asking for your help with, so I thought I’d share results:

The Wisestamp email signature (and thanks for your input!) ended up like this:

The Middle Grade work-in-progress (first draft) is stick-a-fork-in-it done! I’ll let those 40,000 words simmer a bit before tackling the revision in April. And though I don’t like saying too much about a story before it’s really finished finished, I will share that it’s a funny, contemporary mystery. (Again.) And there might be a ghost. (Again.)

And all those books I wanted to read before the SCBWI Springmingle conference? Read ’em. Thoroughly enjoyed them, too. If you take a look at my Goodreads shelves, (the widget in the sidebar only lists what I’m currently reading) you can find out more.

Wait. What? You’re not signed up for Goodreads? But you’ll love it! It’s free and fun and just the task to start off your April. And if you’d like to share what you accomplished in this runaway March, toot away.

Um. You know what I mean.