I haven’t been writing.

I have a confession to make.

(Yes, another one. My computer screen might as well be framed in wood and have a little decorative grate over it with all the confessions I make around here. Seriously.)

I haven’t been writing.

At least not real, stretching-myself-and-reaching-for-my-goals writing, anyway. Just the obligatory blog posts and magazine articles that I am committed to producing.

Meanwhile, the writing conference I went to last year is looming on my calendar for this October, and I vaguely remember promising myself, in that blissful, post-writing-conference dream-filled honeymoon period, that I would have my MS finished and ready to go this year.

*shifts weight from one foot to the other and looks down, trying to avoid eye contact*

Well, it’s not. It’s...it’s a hot mess.

But. I have decided that it’s time to pick myself up. Mostly because I didn’t know what to write for a post today and when I visited my “post ideas” file on my computer the words “Summer Goals” were written there. So I said, “Why not? Let’s make some Summer Goals!”

Yes, let’s!

Okay, so I’ve decided I’ll do this in baby steps and break it down week by week.

Week 1: Finish reading the book on story crafting that caused me to rethink my whole manuscript in the first place. (I was so startled and flustered by that development that I shoved the book in a drawer and haven’t touched it since. I think it’s time to face my fears.)

Week 2: Rewrite my outline to reflect changes I want to make. 

So, since I post every other week, we’ll start with those and see how it goes. I would really love some company on this, guys, so if anybody wants to jump in and set some Summer Goals, post them below! I’ll keep checking in on Facebook during the week and we can keep each other accountable. As the weeks (and my goals) progress I’ll throw some writing sprints in the mix too. Because those are super fun. :-)

C’mon, you know you want to get in on this! What is your writing goal for this week?