November is all about Gluttony, even in the writing world!

I just found out that this week is National Short Story week in the UK.

National Short story week? I love the idea. Short stories are my favorite form to read and to write. And, sadly, they seem to be dropping in popularity. I would love a week to celebrate the short story. Just not right now! There's way too much going on in November and December as it is.

Thanks to a Google search, I discovered that May is National Short Story Month. That works out perfect, because I've been working on some new goals since diving back into the writing life, and I can use it to my benefit. My current game plan/goal list:

Get NaNo novel up to 90-100K (so it's novel-size when it's ready to be edited);
Let NaNo novel "rest" for at least a month;
While NaNo novel is resting, begin revisions/edit of the fantasy novel I wrote a few years ago;
Once fantasy novel is done and I begin shopping it, I plan to return to the NaNo novel and begin revising/editing it.

The goals are great. The problem is that it takes me away from my first love (short stories) and makes my work very novel-centric for the next few months. So I've been trying to figure out a way to work in some short story work, too, without overloading myself and trying to do too much.

Short story month might be the way. I saw a goal list somewhere where the goal was to write 4 short stories in one month (not revise or edit; just write). Maybe I'll set that up as my reward system: if I get my NaNo novel up to the right word count, and get my fantasy novel edited (or excellent progress made), maybe I'll give myself May as a month off and try and write four short stories during that month.

Revision and Editing is definitely the "stick" part of writing work, for me. Perhaps I'll use National Short Story Month as my carrot!