Okay, I'm a bit behind on the "six month" update. I listed my goals for the year on December 31, and I'm doing pretty good so far.

I have:

• edited one novel and sent it off for crits
• submitted one novella (today)
• finished writing and editing one novelette and sent it off for crit
• reoutlined my 2007 NaNo (which will probably be my second novel edited for the year)

Still on the agenda:

• second novel edited
• one novel out to agents
• novelette submitted
• new novel for NaNo 2009

I'm hoping to send out the novelette soon, and then there's family vacation. A good reward for good progress!

Debbie Ridpath Ohi, aka Inkygirl, has started the 1,000 Words a Day Challenge, a year-long challenge to keep yourself writing. She says she's open to having a 500 Words a Day badge, too, if enough people are interested.

The rules are simple: Try to write 1000 words a day, at least six days a week.

As long as you're honestly trying, it counts -- even if you don't reach it. How's that for cool?

I could do it now, but we're going on a long vacation starting next month, so I won't put the badge up until we get back.

If you want some motivation or encouragement, go check it out.

First day of summer vacation, and did I get to sleep in? It is to laugh!

At six, the toddler (henceforth to be referred to as CG) starts fussing. Wanted to ignore CG, but then the dog gets up and starts pacing in our bedroom, his toenails going click, click, click on the laminate floor. CG hears the dog and cries louder. Grumbling, I get out of bed. I'm most of the way to the door before I realize the dog was also peeing while pacing.

So I get CG settled, clean up the floor in our bedroom, and go ahead and get dressed. Then I let the dog out, brew some tea, pick up CG (who is fussing again) to plop into the high chair with Cheerios . . . all of this before seven. I don't even usually get up until seven-thirty!

Today, in case you hadn't heard, is National Donut Day, and Dunkin Donuts was giving out a free donut with purchase of a beverage. Off I went to DD with the 7yo (henceforth to be known as T-bug) in tow. We got Munchkins, half a dozen donuts, a hot chocolate for me, and the free donut. I was thrilled to discover that the DD here has finally learned that a lemon-filled donut should be covered with powdered sugar, not sickly white frosting and toasted coconut. Lemon-filleds are my favorite -- so I got one in the half-dozen plus one as the free one. Yum! Back home before eight . . . but the lemon made it worthwhile.

I am one of those people who believes that word order matters. "He only wanted a cheeseburger" means something different than "He wanted only a cheeseburger."

In the critique of my story, "Family Man," she said she didn't like "the silence stretched like an elevator cable" because [s]ince elevator cables are among the noisiest things I've heard (particularly stretched ones), I found this an odd simile for silence.

But to me, "the silence stretched like an elevator cable" tells me that it's stretching, under a lot of tension, and something bad's going to happen when it breaks. It does not mean the same thing as "the silence was like a stretched elevator cable" or "the silence was like an elevator cable stretching," where I could see the silence (or lack thereof) of the elevator cable being pertinent.

The fact that she didn't see it this way says that my choice wasn't clear and would cause some readers to stumble. I know that, and when I edit it, I suppose I'll look for another way to convey all that meaning that I wanted with that phrase. However, I'd just like to know . . . am I wrong? Does using the elevator cable in the way I did automatically mean I am (or should be) referring to its silence?

I'm open to opinions. And I even promise to do my pouting privately if you all tell me I'm wrong.

Ellsea recently posted on her blog about Rejection: the death of hope. I replied over there, saying in part:

I always find it hardest when I really believe in a story and think that it has a shot. For example, the first year I submitted to the PARSEC short story contest (on a whim, almost, not expecting much), I got third place. When I didn’t even place the next two years, it hurt. (And really hurt when a friend won, though I was happy for her, too.) Now I’m waiting for the results of this year’s contest . . .

Today, of course, I got the results. Two stories submitted, neither of them placed. Again.

I only got the details for one of the stories; it didn't even make the short list. I seem to be getting worse at this instead of better. I already know what next year's theme is going to be ("The Color of Silence"), but right now, I don't know if I'll even bother trying. Whether I'm getting worse or the competition's getting better doesn't really matter, does it? What matters is that this particular brick wall is winning, and I just pulled my head away with a pulped-in section of skull and blood leaking out.

Now, having vented, I reconsider. Scalzi's one of the judges for next year. He liked "Rise of Kencha"; he had it short-listed for the issue of Subterranean he guest-edited, even though he eventually decided against it. Maybe I have a shot if I can get past the screeners. I've always said I don't do the rejecting of my stories; that's the editors' job. Not writing and not submitting -- those aren't my jobs.

Probably later this week, I'll look at "Family Man" with the feedback I got and do another edit pass on it, using some of the things I've picked up from reading Fire In Fiction by Maass. Then out the door it goes again. Because my job is to write and submit.

So . . . goals. I've certainly posted about my own goals here before. Clearly, I am in favor of setting them. But this post is going to dig a little deeper into the what and why of goals, prompted by two recent articles (on the same research) and a blog post by a literary agent.

The references (Feel free to go read them first, then come back here. Or skip them. Either way.):

Does Announcing Your Goals Help You Succeed?

To Score, Keep Your Goals to Yourself

A Post About Dedication

When this subject was brought up over on Forward Motion, Zette chimed in with a discussion of not making your goals dependent on other people for their fulfillment. That's *not* what these articles are talking about, and I'm not going to address that here.

The first article describes the experiments, performed on law students, which measured their perceptions of themselves (as given by questionnaires) against their actual behavior (study of difficult criminal cases). A second study rated intentions for work versus perceived status. In the first case, those who talked about the questionnaires did less work; in the second, those who talked about their intended work habits rated themselves as better jurists.

The second article talks about the application of these results to all issues of identity and high-order goals.

If you talk about something -- and you get the acknowledgment of the work you intend to do -- you may be less likely to do the work. For example, if I say I'm going to start getting up at 5:30 so I have time to do a full yoga workout each morning (not likely! I barely got out of bed in time to make the 7yo's lunch this morning before the school bus came.), the approval and "Atta girl!" comments will make me feel as if I've already done it -- so then, why do I need to do it?

However, that second article points out that it's not true for everyone. It quotes a life coach who credits feedback from others for motivating her to run a marathon and write a book. She says, "Where (public) recognition might get in the way of the goal is when people aren't ready to take on this new and improved aspect of themselves."

The blog post? That takes the opposite viewpoint: "the saying of it makes it real. Makes YOU accountable." However, she does make allowances for being uncomfortable with being public. She says even writing it down in a calendar allows us to dedicate ourselves to the task.

I would even say that how publicizing our goals makes us react may be different from goal to goal for the same person. For example, I have no problem posting my goals and progress with my writing in all its various forms -- outlining, writing, editing, brainstorming, whatever. I talk about them here, I talk about them in chat, I post on the goals threads on Forward Motion.

On the other hand, the two times in my life I got serious about losing weight, I never said a word to anybody. I did it for approval, yes, but I didn't want to tell the person whose approval I sought that I was doing it. That might have led to crushing personal rejection. My personal image couldn't afford the risk involved in talking about it. I didn't keep an exercise diary, I didn't note what food I ate or didn't eat, and I didn't measure myself and record the changes. But the weight and the inches came off.

I think the truth of the matter varies for every circumstance and person. If you feel that it will help you to share, do it. If you're better off holding the cards close to your vest, go with that. And if you find that you're not making as much progress as you hoped with whichever method you chose, try doing it the other way around for a while.

Found via YumSugar: Mars is giving away coupons on Fridays through September for bags of Twix, Dove, etc.

Check out RealChocolate.com. If you're one of the first 250,000 on a given Friday to visit (or the first 500,000 today), you get the coupon! Or that's the theory, anyway. I did the registration, but didn't get any coupon to download. Maybe they're going to send it to me via mail?

UPDATE: I received an e-mail this morning saying that yes, I do get the coupon . . . it will be mailed to me, and I should see it in about six weeks. O.o

. . . specifically, the knowledge of magic and magical creatures.

Three basic models exist that I can think of:

1) Only the select few know that they don't live in a mundane world. Examples include Buffy and Dresden Files (by Jim Butcher).

2) The truth is out, and everyone knows that there are non-humans out there. Examples include Laurell K. Hamilton's work, both her Anita Blake and Merry Gentry novels.

3) The truth is sort of out there, but not necessarily all of the truth. Mercy Thompson's world (by Patricia Briggs) is a good example of this.

I'm starting up my revision of Witchy Woman (aka Pepper, aka NaNo 2007), and it has occurred to me that I'm not sure which model holds true. Having done the read-through, it seems that the concept of magic is not foreign to everyone, but even those who've heard of its existence don't believe in it. Mostly. But there are bits where no ones heard of it. So I need to make it consistent, and to do that, I need to decide what the truth for Pepper's world is.

I'm hoping for feedback here: Are there models I've missed? Do you think some models intrinsically work better than others? Do you have a favorite type you like to read (or write)?

Thanks!

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Please note that examples are representative only. I could've included many others, such as T. A. Pratt's Marla Mason books, robgoodfella's Cal Leandros books, etc., etc., etc. You want detailed lists, go see fangs_fur_fey.

I have two articles in the latest issue of Vision:

Editing Tools in Microsoft Word

and

Website Review: NASA Website

If you've never worked with Track Changes, or you're not sure what those funny balloons are when you get your manuscript back from your crit partner, check out that first article.

Oh, and there are articles by lots of other people, too, including marfisk's regular market review (Strange Horizons this time).

Go check it out!

suzannemcleod is celebrating the mass-market paperback release of The Scent of Blood and the upcoming release of her second book, The Cold Kiss of Death, with weekly giveaways. This week, win a signed proof copy of The Cold Kiss of Death.