How about a ~writing self-accountability~ post

Okay, so back in October I had what I'll generously call an "ambitious" plan for writing. The month actually started out pretty well, and I got a decent chunk of my goals done. (Then work got stressful and things sort of went to hell.)

November didn't have much of a plan beyond NaNo, but at least I succeeded!

But now I've got a handful of WIPs, and it's been between one and two months since I worked on any of 'em, plus I'm stuck in that post-NaNo fog where the relief of not having to write 1667+ words/day means I write 0 words/day.

I've got two WIPs that have bits posted up on AO3, so those are my priorities.

(I can't remember if I mentioned it here, or just thought about it, but those have DEFINITELY reaffirmed that I don't like posting as I write. Some people find getting feedback as they go motivating, and find writing and posting one chapter at a time to be easier than writing a whole fic without sharing it...

Maybe that's true for writers who get a lot of feedback, but unfortunately, that's not me, haha. Instead it just makes me feel guilty that I'm not posting regularly. Plus it's harder to go back if I decide I want to lay some breadcrumbs for a later plot point/twist, or if I decide that a hinted plot thread actually isn't going anywhere, etc.

Plus with fics that I start to feel burned out on, or don't know how to continue, I could just give up on them and not disappoint anyone, lol. I know it's not like... illegal to abandon a fic just because it's been posted, but I don't want to do that.)

SO. Here's the list of writing things to be done:

Connections of the Heart (the Unconventional Courtship fic)
- make a cover/moodboard thing
- write chapter 5
- write chapter 6
- 2nd draft of chapter 3
- post chapter 3
- 2nd draft of chapter 4
- post chapter 4
- 2nd draft of chapter 5
- post chapter 5
- 2nd draft of chapter 6
- post chapter 6
DONE!

Island Territory (the Vampire/Monster Hunter AU)
- reread chapter 1 and the two earlier oneshots
- write chapter 2
- write chapter 3
- write chapter 4
- 2nd draft of chapter 2
- post chapter 2
- 2nd draft of chapter 3
- post chapter 3
- 2nd draft of chapter 4
- post chapter 4
DONE!

Beyond that:
- write the last part of the bodyguard AU? If I can remember where I was going with it, lol
- cover/moodboard for All Strange Wonders
- final edits on ASW
- finally start posting ASW!
- 2nd/3rd draft of Outbreak (the Silent Hill fic from 2016 that I held off on posting because it's about a contagious disease.)
- HORRIBLE IDEA for a Christmas/holiday rom-com type AU. I meant it as an offhand unserious passing comment and then there were plot bunnies. Considering I haven't ever watched all the way through any of the Hallmark-style holiday rom-coms, I don't even know if I could write one. It's not a thing I even really like, it'd just be cute for my OT3. :( And if I write it over the course of 2022, I could have it to post next December.
- The fairytale world-hopping monstrosity? It has so much idea debt behind it at this point, but I still want to write it, despite it having been in various stages of progress for more than a decade.

I have not figured out a true schedule or set myself any soft deadlines on any of this yet.

But tentatively...
- make the cover/moodboard thing for CotH by Tuesday, Dec 14
- get chapter 5 of CotH written by Saturday, Dec 18 (or at least be a couple thousand words into it)
- get chapter 5 and 6 first drafts absolutely done by the end of the month. Hopefully before that.

I may refine those goals and come up with some more specific deadlines, but at least for now, that's what I'm going with.