Category: Writing Goals

Posted in Chapter Books, Kidlit, KidLit Craft, mentor texts, Online Class, Workshops, Writing Goals

2025 Goal: Write a Chapter Book

Posted on by beckylevine
Photo by Bich Tran on Pexels.com

At the end of last year, I set myself a few 2025 writing goals. One was to draft my first chapter book. I wasn’t sure when I’d get started or how I’d get an idea or how I’d learn the genre craft (other than, as always, mentor texts). Well, all that has changed.

  • I got started. I read a pile of first books in various chapter books series and fell in love with some, recognizing a bit of what I want to include in a book I write.
  • I got an idea…for a chapter book series. I’m in love with this idea, and–if I can do it–it’s going to be full of adventure and humor and conflict and at least one “aww” moment per book.
  • I’m starting to learn. Yes, yes, yes to mentor texts, but also–with magical timing–I signed up for Marcie Colleen’s two-session workshop on Planning & Plotting a Series for Young Readers, in the Inked Voices community. The class is finished, but if you are even considering playing around with chapter books or early/beginning readers, keep your eyes open for any learning opportunity with Marcie. I learned SO much!

I am in love with this idea and, already, with my characters. I know that first book often (rarely!) make it to bookstore or library shelves, but I honestly believe that my premise, at least, is something kids will love. I realized that I wanted this book/series to be active and energetic and positive and funny. I totally believe that kids need escape stories, especially when they’re learning to read for themselves, and I also totally believe that this author needs escape writing–especially when they’re learning to deal with the next four years. I’m happy when I’m brainstorming ideas for these books, I’m happy when I’m doing character studies, and I’m happy when I’m playing with plot. And I am realizing, as I get further into things, that this is going to be a series which will make kids feel seen and heard, which will validate the importance of anything that is important to them.

So…on I go. I added a Chapter Book Series board to my Pinterest page, with the first book in my favorite series there for you (or the young readers in your lives) to discover. While I was there, I also updated several other boards and added a couple of boards for grownups (slim pickings on these, since I read so little of these books; on the other hand, if a book is on a grownup board, you know it’s GOOD!)

Happy reading & writing!

Posted in brainstorming, Dreamscapes, Getting Organized, Picture Books, Writing Goals

Getting My Dream Ducks in Order

Posted on by beckylevine

As good as I am at multi-tasking, my natural, happy mind-state is to think and act in a linear path. One thing at a time, put it down, pick up the next, work on that, repeat. And for many years that has worked for my writing. Until recently, I was never popping with story ideas–I could pretty much put all my focus onto wherever I was in whatever novel I was struggling with at the time.

Then picture books came along to say, “Hi!” Storystorm is a huge part of my idea generation, but also–these days–some muse (maybe the Muse of Overwhelmedness) sends ideas to me on a regular basis. And you know what?

I CAN’T WRITE THEM ALL AT THE SAME TIME!

Add to this that I am moving toward querying agents. And while I would like to just dive in head-first, some very wise people recently reminded me of the important steps involved in a smart agent search. And..guess what?

I CAN’T DO ALL THE STEPS AT THE SAME TIME!

And once more piece–now my looking-forward is a mix of dreams, goals, and actions. That’s about as non-linear as you can get. Some people could work it into a flow chart and feel comfortable dropping onto any arrow. But not me.

I CAN’T FOCUS ON MULTIPLE BIG-PICTURE VISIONS AND TINY DETAILED TASKS AT THE SAME TIME!

It was a busy week at the day-job, and I had to push the ALL down to the bottom of my brain for a few days. (No, of course it didn’t stay there, which is why I ended the week feeling like I had gone ten rounds with…Yes. The Muse of Overwhelmedness.)

So…I went to bed early last night, and I slept in this morning. I let my mind gently roam its way to a couple of Storystorm ideas, and I had breakfast and caffeine. And then I played with dream-scaping.

Dreamscape 2

Typically, these brainstorming-circle tools don’t work for me. The fact that this one has, at least in having filled up a page with bright colors and actual text, is–I guess–reassuring. In an oh-good-I-am-finally-deep-enough-into-this-writing-thing-to-have-my-head-explode way.

How I turn this dreamscape into process(es), I’m not sure. In my past, free-to-be-linear life, my lists were a straight line of numbered tasks, and I got to happily cross off each one as I finished it. This new world is filled with tasks that connect to each other backward and forward, get to be repeated time after time, and play a role in various and sundry scenarios. It’s as if a nice, simple If…Then statement met up with Wile E. Coyote.

But I think this is my new normal, and it’s a normal I have been aiming toward for years. So I’m celebrating by being grateful and breathing deeply. And I’m keeping the nice paper and pretty pens near at hand.

Posted in The Writing Path, Writing Goals, Writing Tools

Leveling Up on Craft (Hopefully)

Posted on by beckylevine

I wrote this post just before the election. And since then it has felt off and unimportant and irrelevant to be sticking it up on the Internet. It felt all of that to even be prioritizing my writing. But as I talked about here, creativity is still important, even if all it does is let us fall into a good place for a while so we can step back out and do battle. And maybe it’s important for the impact it has on our readers.

Anyway, I wrote a little bit last weekend, and that did help. This week and next are regular-life-busy, and I think still having all this other crud in my head makes the focus and time commitment harder. But regular-life will settle down and I will carve pieces of time and focus out to stick with my WIP and make progress. Because…and here’s what I was thinking about way back when.

I had a realization the other day. Well, kind of a two-fold realization. The first part was that I love this WIP enough and am writing some stuff in it that, I think, means it could be–if not The Book that gets me out there–the book that takes me to the next level of my writing.

The second part of the realization was that it could just as easily NOT be. I feel like I’m at the point where I can make just about any scene work–as a scene. I can create conflict, I can pull the balance of dialogue and action together, I can polish the words until they shine in an actual good way. But…I also feel like I could be doing that into infinity and beyond, over and over and over, without somehow making the story work as a whole. I can make tension build to a turning point in a chapter, but I’m not all that sure I can do it well/right over the story as a whole. I can produce, if need be, a set of perfectly fine, even good, chapters that still don’t make a book that holds together, that engages over all the pages, that keeps people reading to the end.

And I kind of want to do that.

So this next year is about getting off the plateau I’m on and climbing to the next peak.

climbing

The first step in this path, I can identify: Finish this draft, with care. I’m on Draft 3, and it’s the first one that feels like…something. I’m making myself slow down, get to some actual depth in each scene, reach for that truth about my main character and his journey. So steady progress on this, but without rushing, that’s where I’m at.

And then…I don’t know. I know there’s a new/different kind of learning for me here, and I know that recognizing the goal is a good thing. But I still don’t see the steps of the path clearly. I will probably do some more reading/re-reading of craft books–so if you have any new ones to suggest, please stick the titles in the comments! I am looking into more in-depth workshops and learning programs–specifically, I’m waiting to hear about next year’s Nevada SCBWI mentoring program. I may end up hiring a good editor, but that may stretch the old budget a bit too far. And I will ask my critique group and possibly some Beta readers to do a whole-manuscript read, focusing on the connections and the overall story arcs.

So I expect I’ll be exploring all this here at the blog. And I’d love to hear from any of you who have found yourself at a place where you wanted to level up–what you tried, what worked, what didn’t…it’s all helpful and good to hear about!

Posted in Activism, Politics, Writing, Writing Fears, Writing Goals

Writing in the Midst of it All

Posted on by beckylevine

Okay, my thoughts here are going to be nothing new and certainly nothing profound. But I’ve had a block in my writing all week (Anyone else? Yeah, I thought so.), and I’m hoping processing it here a bit will free me up to get back to my story. Which needs to happen.

My Facebook feed is filled with posts from other writers, because, well, that’s one of my biggest tribes. And I’m hearing so much the past few days about how we need to write, we need to keep putting out words, we need to give stories to children–stories that help keep their hearts and minds and arms open. And I believe this.

Except, I don’t always believe it. Partially, this is probably because for me, reading has always been more of an escape than anything else. Books do inspire me about writing, but I haven’t ever had that connection so many other people talk about–that a book turns their life around. Okay, wait, no–Martha Beck’s Finding Your Own North Star did have a profound influence on me. But that’s nonfiction, and I was in my forties before I read it.

Also, while I am extremely aware that words won the Presidential election (empty, empty, nothing words, from my pov), I also know that there were wonderful, strong words on the other side, my side, and they didn’t win the election. So, I don’t know…I’m a very inactive person who is realizing she had darned well better find some actions to do, soon, and I’m struggling with believing that my words can do enough.

But…oh, you knew there would be a “but.” I have to write. I believe in self-care, and I know that a me without writing is not a me who’s going to be happy or strong enough to do much else. And, like I said, logically (and usually emotionally), I totally know that words have power.

So here’s what I’m telling myself. I am working on a story these days that has a hero I love. He is not diverse, in any of the ways we often use that word. But I think he is part of a personality population that sometimes, maybe often, does get overlooked, ignored, not understood and not recognized. And if, if, I can tell his story in a way that one day, one child, might actually see themselves in this hero and feel better, then…well, maybe doing that is a part of all this–this active fight that I think we have to take on. So I’m coming back to the commitment I made earlier this year–to write more slowly and write more deeply and paint this true character onto the page. As best I can. Even if, for now, the only one who benefits is me.

Posted in The Writing Path, Writing Goals

Balancing Love and Ambition

Posted on by beckylevine

Last week, Jordan Rosenfeld blogged about getting back to the joy of writing. She posed the question: “What would it be like if you wrote because it made you feel worthy, bigger, and joyful?”

This is a very important question, I think. My basic answer was the one I always come back to–the dreams I have about getting published are impossible to guarantee, so if I’m not loving what I’m doing (at least overall!), I’m in big trouble.

But I think my answer there is a bit too simplistic. Because, yes, I do have the dreams. I think most of us do. The dreams about getting published–whether it’s via agent/traditional publishing house or by way of our own self-publishing journey. We want to see our book in print, on a shelf that isn’t our own, in the hands of other readers than our family & critique group (as wonderful as they all are!). We want to know that someone else thinks it’s good.

As I said, there are no guarantees of this dream. We can work and work and grow our craft, strengthen our skills, revise our little hearts out, and still…we may still “just” be writing. Which is, I believe, the important part–at least for my happiness.

I also believe, though, that while I try to rest in the joy of the writing act, I need to take as many steps as I can to forward the dream–or to put it in more practical terms, to push my ambition. It’s actually hard for me to think of myself as an ambitious person–it brings up visions, for me, of having to become seriously competitive, to work past my emotional limit-switches, to put aside other things in life that are important to me. I have to remind myself that ambition can be a good thing, that it can hold us to a level of commitment that we need to grow, that it can bring out a professionalism in ourselves that can supplement what we’re learning about the art of writing.

I can read blogs to find out what’s happening in the market. I can make sure that a decent % of the books I read are recent publications. I can attend conferences and take webinars that teach me both craft and strategy. I can, obviously, continue to turn out chapters and send them to my critique group and really listen to their revision suggestions. I can think as I write, trying to feed what I’ve learned in the past few years into the story, so that I don’t just sit, too comfortably, at the same writing level I was back then.

So, yes, there are times when a publication goal seems so far away as to be overwhelming, scary or depressing enough to threaten our writing brains with shut-down. There are times when focusing on what we’re “supposed” to do can poison our ability to find the truth in the story. There are times when we have to pull the shade over that future vision and just write. And then there are times to look ahead, dream, and do something about it.

Jordan is absolutely right–writing without the joy is bloodless. I don’t believe that for me, that approach would ever bear fruit. The trick, I think (hope!), is finding the balance. And, somehow, staying sane as we go for it all.

Posted in Picture Books, Thankful Thursday, The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, The Writing Path, Uncategorized, Writing Goals

Thankful Thursday: Ideas

Posted on by beckylevine

I think I’ve talked here before about how I used to be a one-idea person. I had one idea for many years, and I wrote on it and wrote on it and wrote on it and sort of revised, and–honestly–it never went anywhere.

So I was really glad when another idea came along. And that idea turned into a story I write and learned-about-revising on, and that I hope–someday–someone will love as much as I did.

But when I was done, then I was sort of staring out into nothing. No more ideas. And this, as you can imagine, was pretty scary. I’d sort of known this possibility was lurking there all along, especially as I wrote and wrote and wrote on that first book and didn’t have any story characters poking at me, asking for my attention. But I had something I was working on, and so I didn’t let myself worry too much about that something maybe not being enough. Until…it wasn’t.

What changed? A couple of things. Caro called to me from the pages of a history book, demanding a place in a real-life moment. I got the contract to write The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, and, in the course of that project, I had to come up with many passages from “fake” stories. I used these passages to show my readers what to look for as they critiqued. When I went to think of a picture book idea, I got one–and it turned out to be one that I didn’t want to be fake. It was a story I wanted to write, for real. That idea turned into the picture book I’ve been working on this year. Which, if not done, is at least well on its way to that point.

Somehow, having two projects to work on seemed to loosen the latch on my idea door–I’m now at the point where I have several I’d love to dig into, when I have time. A friend of mine talks about “princess problems,” and I think having too many ideas fits under that umbrella-so no complaints here!

But…I’ve never been in the position of having to actually think of an idea. (I know, another one of those problems!) And I’ve decided that–guess what? I want to write another picture book. There are a few reasons behind this want:

  • I have figured out that I like writing in this genre.
  • I’ve heard recently that some (all?!) agents want a writer to have several picture books in the done pile before they’ll consider signing that writer. (No, I’m not letting this scare me, but I’m accepting it as a possible market reality.)
  • I like having not just more than one idea, but having more than one project I can actually work on at–basically–the same time. I like switching between the two. The thought of doing that with two novel projects pretty much blows my mind, but I do feel like I’ve been able to make steady progress on this picture book and my YA in the past few months. Which is good.

So…the other night, as I was heading into sleep, I let my brain drift. I don’t even know where I was sending it, just…out there. Maybe I was hoping for a visit from the muse, maybe just reassurance that I hadn’t turned back into a one-idea writer (or at least a one-picture-book-idea writer). I went to sleep without the visit or the reassurance, but I’m learning not to let that stress me out too much.

The  next day, I didn’t worry at it, but…sometime in the afternoon, I opened up a new Scrivener file and popped down the basic idea for, yes…another picture book.

Is it magic? Is it just being open to possibilities? I’ve heard this is the most frequent and challenging question authors hear–where do you get your ideas?

As of today, I have no clue. But I’ll tell you one thing–not knowing is definitely a princess problem.

Posted in Getting Organized, Writing Goals

Don’t Drop that Chainsaw; Put it Gently Away for a While

Posted on by beckylevine

My husband has this analogy (metaphor?) he uses frequently—juggling cats and chainsaws. I think, to him, this activity actually sounds like fun. To me, it’s just a great image for those days when you feel like you not only have too many balls in the air at once, but that most of them have claws and teeth, motorized and otherwise.

Yes, you do know the days I’m talking about.

It’s so easy, maybe too easy, to keep adding things to our calendars. To our lives. Books to read. Movies to see. Workshops to take. Fun trips with our families or friends. Writing projects.

Writing projects we really want to do.

And pretty soon, we’ve got chainsaws flying, along with a Siamese, a Tabby, and a Manx we sure hope started out without that tail. We only have two hands, but the sky is filled with a half-dozen felines, way too many bright-yellow power tools, and…watch out for that electrical cord!

The other morning (aka the wee hours of the night, just past midnight), I took one of those chainsaws from my list and turned it off. It was a project that, I hoped, was going to get me started on a new learning curve. As I lay awake, I had one of those moment of clarity that you really wish came to you at noon, or even dinnertime, but never do. I said to myself, “Oh, yes. And when, exactly, do you have time, right now, for a learning curve?” You can guess what I answered.

I didn’t lock the chainsaw away. I just wound up its cord neatly and tucked the whole thing into its plastic case, then latched it shut. And I put it on the shelf. Not too high–I can reach it easily. And those latches are so lightweight; I can flip them open any time I want.

Just not, you know, this month.

Guess what? I went back to sleep. Was there disappointment? Sure, a little. Was there relief? Oh, you bet. Because, by taking one of my chainsaws out of the air, I get to keep the others running and save all those kitties that I love so much. Nothing’s going to come crashing down around me, nothing’s going to hit me on the head, and nobody else is going to lose a tail.

What about you? Are you juggling just fine, catching flaming torches easily between your teeth? Or is there one item you want to take a second look at, catch it gently and see if maybe, just for a while, it doesn’t belong in your routine? We each run in our own personal circuses, and I toast your act—whether it’s tossing two beanbags back and forth, or catching swords as you ride bareback on a pink-feathered horse.

Just, if you’re waking up too many hours before dawn, consider sliding one of those swords into its scabbard. 🙂

Posted in New Year's Day, Writing Goals

If It’s 2010, I Must Be…

Posted on by beckylevine

Determined.

(Ha! Thought you were going to get an age there, didn’t you?!) No, you get determined, which I’ll talk about in just a little bit. First, I feel like mulling about the actual year.

2010. It’s really an incredible number to have attached to a year, I think. My son, even though he was born in the last millenium, has no conscious memory of any 19xx year.* His life is the 20xx’s and always will be. And yet, for me, that all still feels so recent.

I feel like I’ve settled into this century well. The turn of this century has been good to me; I met my husband and started building my family, my serious commitment to my writing career, and my life as the person I truly wanted to be, all in the 1990s. And the last decade has brought me increased health, happiness, friendships, and self-understanding–all with a huge dose of luck that I am incredibly grateful for.

So what about the coming year? What about 2010? Well, here are my thoughts.

Laura Purdie Salas sets a theme for herself every year. She says she failed on her last year’s one, but I think just stating it as a wish, as a recognition of a need is a success in itself. (Really, Laura!) Because the first step in getting what we want, what we need for our growth, is seeing what that need is. And writing down this want, stating it out loud or writing it out, reminds us that it’s important.

So I’m going to borrow the theme idea from Laura this year. And my theme is determination. 

When I picture that word, as an image, I see a backbone. A strong spine, helping me walk through this life I’m creating, helping me sit straight in my writing chair, helping me balance the marketing for The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, the writing for my YA historical, the revision for my picture book. I see the spine staying with the exercise and healthy eating I’m finally bringing back to myself, supporting me through the transition of watching my son move into High School, and giving me the flexibility to spend happy time with my family and friends.

In the past, in the 19xx’s, it was too easy for me to sit on one accomplishment, to let time pass without looking for the next. It was too much of a pattern for me to worry about the future, rather than stride forward to meet it, even to impact it. I’ve changed this about myself in the last 20 years, and I am determined to stay on this path. I am determined to watch for and take new turnings as they come along, even to get out my bulldozer and start shoving dirt out of the way for a new road, if that’s what I decide I need to do.

What do you do with the new year? Do you set goals? Do you visualize dreams? Do you pick a theme? And what does this solid, rounded number 2010 make you think about?

Happy New Year to everyone, and may it be an incredible one!

*Of course, when my son read this, he says he DOES have a memory of the 1900s. He can see a big 1999, in bright yellow construction paper, probably on the room of his preschool classroom. Okay, fine. But I swear I’m right about everything else in this post!

Posted in Blogging, The Writing Path, WIP, Workshop, Writing Conferences, Writing Goals, Writing Projects

How Many Balls Should You Juggle…and Which?

Posted on by beckylevine

Last year, I guest-posted over at Shrinking Violet Promotions about the pluses of saying Yes. I believe firmly that it’s a much better word than No. Especially when you’re talking to yourself.

But how many yes‘s can you handle? As you move further along your writing path, opportunities are going to multiply.  Here are just a few things you may want to jump into as you get deeper into your writing and your writing community:

  • Writing on multiple WIPs
  • Taking writing classes
  • Going to some writing conferences
  • Volunteering at a writing club or conference
  • Writing a blog
  • Getting out onto Facebook and/or Twitter
  • Contributing to a newsletter
  • JOIN A CRITIQUE GROUP 🙂

And there are 24 hours in a day?

How many times can you say yes without feeling like those balls you have in the air are transforming into chainsaws and unhappy cats? How do you pick which things to say yes to, without a crystal ball to tell you how it will all work out.

You listen to your gut and accept that Baby Steps can win at “Mother May I” just as well as Giant Steps.

If something sounds fun or you really think it’ll help your writing (craft or career), say yes. If an opportunity has a sour “taste” to it, think twice. Or thrice. Either way, though, if you decide to go for it, remember you can go slowly. You can start with one class, not three. You can pick a local, one-day conference, not a four-day event that requires two days on a plane and another for recovery. Ask your conference coordinators if they can use another person at the registration desk, the day of the conference, instead of offering to handle catering for the entire event.

If you inch forward, even several inches at once, you get a chance to try things out, to test your gut with the reality, not just the picture your nervous imagination is painting. You’ll see what you enjoy, what you’re good at, and what makes you feel like you’re moving forward…versus hitting a dead-end.

You’ll be doing more and you’ll be enjoying it.

What about you? What yes’s are you considering this fall?

Posted in The Writing Path, Writing Fears, Writing Goals

And Here Comes School

Posted on by beckylevine

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I consider the actual New Years Day to be August 25th. Or whatever day school starts.

Wednesday, we go pick up my son’s class schedule. Next Tuesday, we head back into the school year. Eighth-grade, at the same middle school, so there shouldn’t be any big surprises. (Of course, now that I’ve said that…). His routine starts up again.

And so does mine. Five hours to focus on my novel. And my picture book. And marketing the critique book. And developing workshops. And thinking about other nonfiction projects I want to go for. This is going to be one of my busiest years in a long time.

I could panic.

Instead, I’m just reminding myself how good it is that all this is happening and that, yes, it’s what I’ve been working toward for years. And I can do it. At least most of it.

I’m working out a new schedule for those hours. One that’s based on the pay-me-first premise of finances, that says you pay your retirement plan first, then take care of the other expenses. This year, I’m paying my fiction first. This does not mean that I’ll be shirking my other projects, like getting the critique book out there to people, or organizing writing classes and conferences, or sending out proposals for more writing. It’s just that–honestly–I always get that stuff done. And pretty well. It’s the fiction that gets pushed to the bottom of the to-do list and, too often, off the list.

So…here’s the plan, guys.

  • Get up an hour-ish before son (whose school starts later this year, so he can actually sleep in till 7:00–woo-hoo!). Take that hour to read email and blogs. Say “hi” to you all over on Facebook and Twitter. Write up posts for my own blog.
  • Take son to school.
  • Come home, TURN OFF THE INTERNET, and work on my fiction for a minimum of one hour. Depositing words into the novel or PB account. (I say fiction here, but it really means my most creative work, which may include that nonfiction, biography PB that’s stewing in the back of my brain. I say writing, but it will also mean doing research, working on character development, or just standing and staring at my white board.)
  • Work on everything else. That being anything from to marketing biz and nonfiction projects to grocery shopping, paying bills, shopping for b-day presents, or adding new lead to the mechanical pencils. Life.
  • Exercise. I really prefer to do this earlier in the day, but when I exercise in the morning, well–somehow the morning disappears. As does the writing. So…this gets pushed later on the schedule chart. 🙂
  • Pick up son. We’ll be carpooling in the afternoons, so there will be a couple of days with a bit of extra time. More pencil leads. Or perhaps a nap.
  • Hang out around son. (I don’t say hang out “with”, because he’s 13, and we’ve prettymuch gone back to parallel-play  these days.) Clean house. Think about dinner. Check in with the Internet. More writing-biz stuff. Putter as productively as possible.
  • Dinner/Family time.
  • Before bedtime, try and re-orient on fiction, if only for a few minutes, so that I’m more ready to dig in the next morning. And with the usual hope, typically fruitless, of sparking some wonderful dream that will iron out all my plot knots and create amazing arcs for my characters.

Next day, rinse and repeat.

Me, a control freak? Ha! But truly, that hour a day is the thing that keeps my fear levels down, the fear that says I’ll make progress on everything but my fiction this year. When I look at it this day, I know I’ll keep moving forward, that I’ll be giving myself the space and time I need to grow this novel and any other creative projects I dip into.

Will it work? Check back with me at Thanksgiving, and I’ll let you know.

Do you have a plan that already works for you? Are you playing with one for this year? Drop a note into the comments and share!