Introduction:

Thank you all for joining me in today’s post, the September 2023 newsletter. This month I want to continue the focus on character craft, but also start looking at your writing goals. We’re on month 9/12 and that January 1st marker will get here faster than you think. One of my goals with Myers Fiction is to promote my writing, sure, but also to help promote other authors and creators. I want to thank the writers that have reached out with their books and let you know I will get the reviews up for all that I’ve responded to. But that’s enough of that for now. Let’s dive into September, and what you can expect.

Latest News:

The Scroll of Stone is coming along, though August was a slow writing month for me. I spent the first week reading over the first half of the second act. I’m hitting that muddy middle part and with a book this large, I’m learning that I can be a plotter. (Don’t tell any of my pantser friends.) With that said, September is a new month, and I’m planning to get some good work done on this novel. I look forward to bringing a few new magic systems to you, and some old, but all in a world that will take you out of ours.

What to Expect:

September 2023 will begin the lessons on conflict, and how you can use it to develop your characters. You’ll first get a conflict overview in “Understanding Conflict in Fiction: A Guide for Writers.” This post should give you a nice nudge into the sphere of conflict. Then you’ll get the first deep dive into an aspect of conflict, “A Focus on Internal Conflict”, which will address one of the strongest points of conflict to keep your readers looking at the page instead of their phone.

The September Book Review will be Anna Mocikat’s Fallen Angels, which will be unique because I listened to it instead of reading a copy on my kindle. And if you haven’t delved into audiobooks yet, I highly recommend it, as it completely changes the experience of the story. I look forward to sharing my experience with this story, but also another great story from Anna Mocikat.

Turn your Dreams into reality with goals

Denzel Washington said that, “Dreams without goals are just dreams, and they ultimately fuel disappointment. Goals on the road to achievement cannot be achieved without discipline and consistency.” You’re reading this in the last quarter of the year, and I know that the hallowed New Year’s Resolutions will arrive faster than you think. If you’re a writer, a creator, or someone with a dream, I want you to look at those dreams now.

There are so many people who daydream about their dreams, but never act on them. But I’m not expecting you to go out and be the best at whatever your dream is right away. That’s why the second part of Denzel Washington’s quote is almost more important than the first. Discipline and consistency are two of the driving factors in anyone’s success. There may be others, but we’ll focus on these two this month.

For the writers, your dreams are probably to publish a book, memoir, short stories, or poetry. Your discipline and consistency might be word count, time spent writing, or even just showing up at the desk a certain number of times each week. For 2023, I’ve been doing a daily word count goal. Since I didn’t get as much writing in during August, I’ve kept September’s goal at 1100 words a day. Some days, this is easy, and others, I might as well have the keyboard imprinted on my forehead. Choose what will work best for you, and then try to grow by at least 10% each month.

For creators, you may have a masterpiece in mind. (And this next bit goes out to everyone.) But your discipline and consistency may look different before you reach that magical 10,000 hour mark. Use other people’s achievements, processes, and practices as a reference more than a guide. You will fail many times as you try to refine your own process, and the one that works for a while might now work in your next stage of life. Read books about successful people to find the methods that best relate to your goals, and then tweak them to turn them into what will actually work for your needs.

Overall, turning dreams into goals, and then successes, is a process that will take time. Use the last few months of the year to begin your research and get ready for day one of 2024.

Closing Thoughts

I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read these Newsletters and all other Myers Fiction posts. Don’t forget to check in each Tuesday for September’s posts about writing and books. If you have a dream that you want to share with me, your friends, or your family, then drop a comment on this post, or tag #myersfictiongoals in your own social media links. I’ll find you and support you the best I can. Thank you all, and as always, stay fresh, my nugs!

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