December Shift - New Goals, 50k Words and the Liminal Zone

I was once a Classical Studies major. It just seems right to me that between one year and the next there should be an eight-day period that is a part of neither year. The previous year's business should be finished up by the end of December 23, and new business should start on January 2.

In between you are on the threshhold (the "limen"). This is a time for celebration outside of the limits of normal constraints. But it's also an excellent time for contemplation and planning. A time to review the past, assess the present and plan for the future. I have long celebrated the Liminal Zone, and I realize that should be a part of my on going novel dare.

So I'm reframing my December goals to reflect that.

Goal 1: Fifty thousand words by the end of December 23.

I have 26k+ at the moment, so this will be about a thousand words a day - but it will be tough, because these next two weeks are the toughest time of semester. So I'm going to start out getting behinder and behinder. Can I catch up on weekends and when the semester ends? We'll see.

I will not do illustrations for the remainder of this particular novel dare. Also, the writing I'm doing right now is pretty raw. Part of this phase of the goal is to pile up the raw material for the real drafting later.

Goal 2: Daily Posts from The Liminal Zone (December 24-January 1).

I hope to keep these posts interesting, as I assess past, present and future not only of my career and goals, but of what I see in publishing, both as a reader and a writer.

This is a time for figuring out where I need to go next, and by the end of this period, I will set up a schedule for the January and February Dare goals.