What Were Your Writing Highs And Lows This Month?

August has 31 days and sometimes that makes it feel like a long month. Strange how one extra day does that. I've been pondering what I've accomplished in my writing life during this 31 days of August. Should I be satisfied, proud or ashamed of what I've done? 

The Good:

1.  I checked my Submissions Record and noted that I'd sent out 5 stories and poems. 

      2.  I wrote the first draft of two personal essays

 

      3.  I critiqued several submissions in my online writing group

     4.  I did all 4 Random Word exercises in my online writing group

     5.  I wrote a blog post 5 days every week this month

    6.  I made two submissions to my online writing group

    7.  I encouraged another writer

The Not So Good:

1. I didn't work on pieces I subbed to my writing group that had been critiqued

      2. I didn't read much of a new book on creative nonfiction that I'd purchased

      3.  I did not succeed in getting a new member or two for my writing group

      4.  I didn't spend as much time on writing as I could have

      5.  I had no acceptances from earlier submissions

      6.  I wasn't inspired as much as usual

How about you? What were your highs and lows in your writing life this month? Some months are better than others for various reasons. Maybe we should keep a record for the 12 months each year, listing our good and not so good happenings. I think we'd find it of interest when looking over the list at the end of the year. 

There will be months when our life outside of writing throws us some curves or is incredibly busy. When that happens, it definitely affects our writing life. There's no way around that. Maybe we should also note on our list what else was going on that month that may have hindered or helped us in our writing life. 

Writing is our passion but the record keeping part is not so much fun. Even so, it's imperative that we keep a record of our submissions, acceptances, rejections, amount paid, date of publication and maybe now this monthly accomplishment list, too. I guarantee that you will find your records of interest at the end of the year. They will tell you a story about your writing life for 2017. Read that story carefully if you want to improve in 2018. 

So, good bye to August. Tomorrow we begin a brand new month with opportunities available to us if we take advantage of them. As writers, we are the captain of our own ship. We choose where to sail and for how long.