Accountability Check-In #4
August 15 - September 15 2024
My accountability check-ins, while important to me, I feel, aren’t as exciting as I hoped they would be. So, if you don’t mind, for this one I’m just going to riff a bit. I’m going to just talk and walk through what I’ve been up to the past month. And hopefully it’s a bit less cookie-cutter and more real for you.
First, let me start out by saying that these check-ins are really for me. No one is harder on me and my output than I am on myself. I use these check-ins as a way to remind myself that I actually did writerly things. There are days I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing with my own personal fiction and that kind of self-doubt can be crippling. Having a place where I get to list out my accomplishments, however small they may seem to a stranger reading this, they add up to a great thing. And, I guess, until I can feel this accomplished on my own, I need to continue to write up these accountability check-ins.
First up, my 100 Word Stories! The most important part to mention here is that I have crossed the 500 consecutive days milestone! YAY! But with much to do on the horizon, I hardly have time to really stop and celebrate. As you all should know by now, the 2nd Annual Pentober event kicks off October 1st so I’ve been keeping busy preparing a pretty awesome list of word prompts for the occasion. For those of you who may not know what Pentober is, firstly, its’ a riff off of Inktober. But, instead of illustrating, our mission is to use pen and paper to handwrite our 100 word stories. Down with technology! We don’t need it!
I have unearthed the little notebook I used last year to write my stories to write the next batch. We begin with some practice days that kick off tomorrow, September 16 and run through the end of the month. I’m very excited to share the prompts that we’ll be using and I can’t wait to see how those of you who participate will interpret these prompts.
Next up, Tales of Stonehaven. This is one of three universes I will be talking about and sharing with you along the journey. Right now, we are in the middle of reading the first book in a series I hope to expand to 6-books and 5 novellas! But this universe of Stonehaven actually have dozens of spin-off ideas and more, all ready to go! This first book, Daxton, will take us to the end of 2024.
What are your goals for the next month? Share them here and let’s check back in with each other mid-July to see how we’ve done.
It's easy enough to write a story with pen and paper, but posting it requires more technology, and more awkward technology, than writing it on the computer in the first place. I'm going to try Intober this year for the first time, and I'm thinking of doing a microfiction to go with each illustration. Makes a change, since usually I'm choosing an illustration to fit the story.
Just to prove I read to end, check in ‘mid-July’! Pentober, looking forward to scribbling a few offerings again. My pen is warming up with daily Beth Kempton journalling. Well done on your 500-story milestone.