Mid-Year Review of My Goals for 2014

At the start of this year I laid out my goals for 2014. With the year more than half gone now, I thought it was time to review and revise my goals. This year hasn't been as productive as last year.

"Felix"

I set the rewrite of "Felix" as my top priority for the year. I thought that would take me a couple of months. While I have done some work on it, I am nowhere near a completed rewrite.

I must admit that it isn't a very original idea. It began as a rewrite of a H. P. Lovecraft story. Although, as I worked on it, it did drift away from the original story. I don't want to do a bad imitation of Lovecraft.

I have been very erratic in my work habits, which I think is the main reason I make so little progress. I need to get into a writing routine. That is a mater of will power.

Sometimes I find it easier to write in long hand rather than on the computer. I'm not sure why, but it feels more creative.

"The Barrier" / Replace Xtranormal

The primary barrier to my work on "The Barrier" was the discontinuation of Xtranormal, the program I used to create it. Xtranormal does seem about to return, but hasn't been rereleased yet (see http://xtranormal.com/). I don't want to put much effort into the project until I know for sure that I can continue to use Xtranormal, or a compatible program.

I have done some work with Blender (see: http://www.blender.org/) to animate some scenes that I can't do very well in Xtranormal. There are a couple of scenes that I can do that way with out Xtranormal that I think would improve the movie and it may be worthwhile to do that to give me more of a final version of "The Barrier".

A movie about transportation planners does have a small audience, so I can't expect to redo it as a even a low budget movie. Best to stick with Xtranormal, if I can.

I will hold off on this project for now and see what develops.

"My Most Difficult Case"

I think I have left this project too long for any serious chance of getting a sale. Even when I contacted a distributor five years ago, they thought it was almost too old to get a sale. I'm inclined to do a quick fix up and post it on-line.

I'd like to try out one of those pay-per-view sites. I want to do that with the final version of "The Barrier", so I want to get my feet wet. "My Most Difficult Case" might be the film to try. Hopefully, I can avoid some missteps later with "The Barrier".

"Bright Freedom"

I have thought about this project from time to time, but I don't see that I'll do anything on it any time soon. It is hard to write a story where the protagonist is a woman and you've never been one.

"Pete's Plan"

I submitted this story to several Science Fiction magazines in 2013. I thought it was good enough to get published, but no one was interested. One person that read said that it seemed to be more of a treatment than a story. It is short, about 1,000 words, but it says all I want to say. I planned to submit it to other magazines, but held off on that.

As I've thought about it, I think it would be better to rewrite it as a first person narrative. It would force me to focus more on the hero and how he feels as he executes his plan. What I have now may be too detached from the character.

Other Projects

Over the year a number of other ideas have popped up in my head. I usually write up the idea for later. Sometimes I forget the idea before I get that done. I think some of these ideas have a lot of potential, but I don't want to delve into them until I get a few of my current projects put to bed.

One idea I've toyed with is another "transportation planning adventure" story. I've come up with some ideas and would like to move on with it. I plan to write it as a story, and if things work out, I would develop it into another movie like "The Barrier".

My Priorities

My first priority is to get back into a writing routine. Even an hour a day will help me accomplish something, if I keep it up consistently.

My second priority will be to finish off the rewrite of "Felix" and get some feedback.

My third priority will be to finish off "My Most Difficult Case", post it and promote it.

After that, it will depend on what happens with Xtranormal. If it is available, I would like to do a new version of "The Barrier". Otherwise I would work on the rewrites of "Bright Freedom" or "Pete's Plan".

I will also allow myself to go with the flow when the spirit moves me on other projects.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog