Friday, August 15, 2008

Just One Year (JOY) Plan

My friend Andrew told me a story about a graffiti artist he interviewed for a magazine article. The artist had been trying to make a go of his art while working full time, but his art career was kind of stalling and he was getting depressed. (Sound familiar?) Anyway, this artist decided to commit 100% to his creative work for one year – long enough to make big change, short enough not to completely freak him out. He struggled at times, sometimes needing parental bail-outs when rent got tight, but that year brought him to self-sufficiency as an artist.

Welcome to my year. It secretly started on August 1st only I didn't tell anyone. It needed time to brew. It's a loosely-structured plan, which I anticipate will shift and change, but here is the skeleton:

AUGUST
Work on first draft of Paris dreams memoir
Develop a routine/habit of writing every day
Develop proposal for publishers/agents

SEPTEMBER
Complete memoir draft for September 15
Banff Centre residency – learn a ton, gather contacts
Either let memoir rest and focus on screenplay (remember that?)
OR
Revise memoir and begin submitting to publishers/agents
Begin French class
Sell car

OCTOBER
Memoir submission con't.
Submit screenplay to producers/agents
Begin outlining/brainstorming novel
French class

NOVEMBER
NaNoWriMo – 50,000 words in 30 days
Keep working on and playing with narrative form
Submit screenplay, memoir or short pieces
French class

DECEMBER
Submit. Submit. Submit.
Write 2 -4 short pieces
French class

JANUARY
24-Hour Playwriting Competition
Develop dialogue skills
Submit. Submit. Submit.
French class

FEBRUARY
Leave for Paris
Rework memoir with new editor and new publishing contract
OR
Work on Draft 2 of novel
Meet as many publishers, editors, producers as is humanly possible
French class in Paris

MARCH
Writing
Submitting
Meeting people
Speaking French

APRIL
Writing
Submitting
Meeting people
Speaking French

MAY
Writing
Submitting
Meeting people
Speaking French

JUNE
Boyfriend arrives and meets all my new weird French friends
We stay in Paris
OR
Take off to villa in south of France or Spain or Austria or Italy
Write and submit

JULY
Write and submit
Watch Tour de France with Boyfriend

AUGUST
Come home...or not

1 comment:

Shea said...

This is absolutely fabulous. I love it. I am one part envious and three parts impressed! And, inspired, on top of that. Very nice. :)