Opening, Goals, and Process

Opening: 

This is a new blog that I am starting to keep myself accountable to my writing by publicly posting my progress on a weekly basis and forcing myself to write about my own process of writing.  This will likely not be a very entertaining blog, but it is meant more for myself than for anyone else.  

Goals:

First, I am training myself to write fiction.  I have a long history of writing academic and critical non-fiction but have always wanted to write fiction.  I took some creative writing courses in college and tried to jump into fiction many years ago but have not kept up with it.  I have been keeping notes for different ideas for years now and I want to follow through with some of these ideas.  Based on my experience in writing and on the reading that I have done about writing (as well as just common sense), I believe that the best way to become a better fiction writer is through practice.  I need to learn to write consistently and to do it even when I don't want to.  This blog is meant to keep me accountable by forcing myself to track my writing.

Second, I want to continue to develop my academic and critical writing.  I am confident in my critical writing abilities and in my ability to plan and draft this wort of work.  I want to continue to hone these skills and to accomplish some goals within this arena.  I want to write to present my ideas in academic conferences.  This is something that I have done in the past and want to return to doing.  I also want to continue to expand my bibliography by writing reviews and other critical pieces.  This blog is meant to help me track my progress in these areas.

Third, I want to write privately to express myself.  In other words, I want to journal privately in order to explore my thoughts and feelings.  

Finally, I want to write about the process of writing.  I want to use this blog as a tool to develop my ideas about writing for myself and as a resource for teaching.

Process:

In the first two categories, I am going for volume.  I am going to count and track words written daily and then each Sunday I will draft a post detailing my progress.  I will use this blog to write about the projects that I am undertaking, the progress that I have made, and next steps that I need to take.  I may use this space to write about goals and targets or about any other aspect that needs attention.

I will not track the third category here.

I will draft on the fourth category occasionally and when I see it is appropriate.  

That's it.  This is a blog about writing and about my own progress.