Success breeds success, because if you do well one day you’ll want that great feeling again, so you’ll try to replicate it. That’s why I set goals and do my best to keep at them day after day.

Right now I’m asking myself to spend at least 1/2 hour daily on each of four projects. Quite often my 1/2 hour small bite of work will blossom into an hour or two, but if I require only 1/2 hour it helps me get started.

My current four projects are:

(1) Critique of a novel for a friend in my Silverweb Children’s Writers Critique Group. (By the way – we’re looking for new members – I’ll tell how to apply at the end of this post.)

(2) Oja – my NaNoWriMo novel needs to be finished. I’ve been working on plotting and character issues that need to be resolved before heading into the writing of the third and final act. I’m using the Snowflake Pro software to do this.

(3) River Girl – my 2004 novel, a short MG, is going through a fourth or fifth revision (I lost count!) My critique group friends went over it earlier this year and I’m now including their suggestions. I think this one is just about done.

(4) The Alyssa Project – I wrote this YA in 2002 and am working on the second revision. There’s still a lot of work left to do on it. Yesterday I revised chapters eight and nine… out of 63 short chapters. Once I get done with this revision I’ll use the Snowflake Pro software to improve the characterization and plot.

When I hit a home run, meaning: when I manage to get work done on all four projects, it feels so good, I want to do it again and again. I love that I’m getting so much revision work done. Reviewing my earlier writing and watching my characters develop gives me a charge unlike any other.

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Now then, if you’re interested in joining a friendly critique group for YA and MG novelists, send a short bio and a writing sample of less than 1000 words to us at silverwebcritiquegroup[at]gmail.com. We will let you know whether or not you’ve been chosen to be in the group. We’ve got seven members now but some are inactive. We don’t have requirements for forced submissions or critiques… it is done on an as-needed and goodwill basis. Friendships before rules! Members can submit either full novel manuscripts or stories/chapters. So, if you’re interested, don’t be shy… we would love to know about you and your novels.