Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Winning & Backsliding (at the same time)

So I have great news. The Poetry Foundation selected my manuscript Half-Hazard for the Emily Dickinson First Book Award and Graywolf Press will publish it in October 2018. I've been working on my first poetry manuscript for twenty years so this is a thrilling development. But it also means that I haven't made much progress on my Summer of Projects. Technically it's not summer yet. Technically summer begins on June 20th. So here's the deal. On June 20th I will commit to working on my Summer of Projects three hours a day. Six days a week. No matter what. (I like to think I'll have one day off each week. It is summer.)

I'm going to post my progress here. Wish me luck. By the end of summer I should have:

1) A finished villanelle
2) A finished middle-grade Animal novel 
3) A completed YA Comedy/Romance/Adventure
4) A completed mystery project written in the correct point of view

I know it seems like a lot. But don't worry about me. I actually think I can do this. I'm a burst writer. And I wouldn't state my goals publicly if I didn't think it was possible for me to achieve them. Or at least I don't think I would. Below is a snapshot of the current state of my writing desk. I'll order the disorder tomorrow. Wish me luck.