At the start of 2011 I did a post about My Goals for 2011. Before I do the same for 2012, I wanted to look at how I did last year.
Feature Scripts
A year ago I decided that one goal in 2011 I would rewrite the three scripts I did in 2010 and write two new scripts. I didn’t do that. Early on I decided that I would write some “longer” short stories to practice writing for a longer format. I did start to convert a couple of my short stories, The Abattoir Project and The Crying Woman, into scripts.
My First Feature
I didn’t set a goal to start a feature this year and I didn’t make one.
Short Films
I set a goal to complete a short film in 2011. I did better with this goal. I completed two shorts for the $100 Film Festival: “Some Days…” and “Contingency.” It is the 20th annual festival and the organizer asked me if I could do a film. I shot both on 16mm. I still need to do a little more work on them before they are ready to screen. The festival runs in early March, so need to get that done early in the year.
I wanted to finish My Most Difficult Case and submit it for distribution. At first I made progress, but then a person I hired to help took my money and didn’t do the work. I sued him in small claims court. I got some of the money back, but all distracted me from the film. Patrick Aull gave me some good advice that will help me get it done.
I did a sound track for Extra Special Care and put it on my website.
Short Stories
My goal for 2011 was to complete three short stories I had started in 2010, and if that turned out well, I would try to do enough to publish another book. I published five stories:
The Abattoir Project: A Ken Walker Adventure,
The Crying Woman and
Book Review: Sharkbiter – The Secret to Success.
The Glencoe Project and The Gladstone Barrier were part of a larger project idea to do a book or movie about transportation planning. I hoped that it would be easier because I had 30 years experience in the field. It proved to be more of a challenge than I expected. I’ve put it on hold for a short time so I could work on other projects.
I stopped posting my short stories on Triond and Wikinut. I decided that in the long run I would be better off with them on my own site.
Articles
I published 13 articles this year on Triond, 11 articles on Bukisa and 8 articles on Wikinut. That is more than I planned to do. Actually, I didn’t plan to write any. I didn’t make much money. I did better early in the year, but then views dropped off later.
Part way through the year I decided not to post to Wikinut anymore. I get a lot of people who read my posts there, but it doesn’t pay very well. I feel that posting there just undercuts views on my other pages. I haven’t posted much to Bukisa recently. I intended to report reworked versions of some of my blog posts, but never got around to it.
Note: I no longer use any of these websites. Triond and Bukisa seem to have shut down.
Blog
My 2011 goal was the same as 2010, to post at least one blog a week. This will be blog post number 78. I would like to have more people read my blog.
Writing Skills
Several people had suggested that I work on my characterization and dialogue, so I made that a goal for 2011. I did some reading on the subject and did some exercises. I think I improved my dialog a bit.
Website and Promotion
I’ve done made some changes to my website. I enjoy the work on my website, but I don’t think it helps draw people to the site.
My Goals for 2012
Next week, after New Years Day, I’ll do a new set of goals for 2012. The results this year were mixed, but I still felt it was worthwhile to set the goals.
Note 2022 September 12: I fixed some missing and broken links.
