Updated January Update: Revisions

That first post of the year is always a lot to process. It makes me feel a little overwhelmed, and I worked myself into something of a standstill, not sure where to start. So, only about a week after my accomplishments and goals post, I'm already coming up with a somewhat new plan for the year.

I mean, not all that new. Revised, a bit. And a bit more organized. Rather than just saying I want to get x, y, z done this year, I've actually sketched out a rough timeline, breaking down the year into quarters. This year, I've decided to set quarterly goals, alternating writing and editing quarters. I don't know why I had this sudden urge to make this distinction, but I've decided that it is important to my process.

So. First quarter is editing. I want to get a solid pass on book three done so that it's ready for beta readers. I also want to do the final push on Druid Wars so that's ready for querying before I start on SP for Camp NaNo in April.

Second quarter is writing. Start with Camp NaNo, then hit Chain Letter Choice hard. I may poke at it a bit during the first quarter editing months if I feel like writing, so I don't necessarily have to write 30k-40k in two months, but if I need to, I can.

Third quarter is a mix of both writing and editing. I'll start with another SP adventure for Camp NaNo in July. Then I'll probably spend a month or two with Love and Demons in Los Angeles. I may take a break to poke at Once We Were Witches when the autumn nostalgia hits, but that feeling is fickle, so I hold no delusions that I'll be able to write that for any solid amount of time. Besides. The Pandemonium series has been pushed back several times now. I need to finally dedicate some time to it, and taking a quarter to focus on editing between writing quarters is probably a good way to recharge my creative batteries.

Because then, fourth quarter is back to writing, with NaNo proper hitting in November. In October, my plan right now is to try to write a third SP adventure. Unless work is going well on Pandemonium, then I might keep working on that. Or, depending on weather and mood, I might write (or write more) on Witches. But then I dive into crazy writing month, and then December is...well, we've seen what December is the past few years. I call it my wrapping up projects month, but let's be real. December is hibernation month.

The other big change is that I've decided--for now, at least--to put off self-publishing MystWatch indefinitely. I got to thinking that it might not be a bad idea to wait until I find agent representation or get in with an editor at a publishing house before I decide what to do with MystWatch. Agents kept telling me book one was too long for a debut author. So, what if another one of my books gets published and does well? Would they reconsider book one then? I decided it might be worth holding off for. That way, too, Rachel has some more time to focus on her own books and business and not have to worry about me bugging her with my self-publishing journey. Quite honestly, as much as I fantasize about covers and royalties, the time doesn't feel quite right. Of course, the longer I wait, the more chance it'll never happen, I realize. It's a risk, but one I'm willing to take right now. I wrote the books. Even if nothing happens with them, I'm happy to have written and edited them. Nobody can ever take that experience away from me.

I'm slowly shaking off my January funk (where I was debating whether I even wanted to be a writer anymore--it's sure been awhile since I had that fight with myself!). These revisions, this more concrete schedule, has helped perk me up a bit. It doesn't seem as overwhelming, looking at it this way. I still haven't started anything, but I'm still not even two weeks into January. It's not a foregone conclusion yet. I just need to get to work. On something. At this point, I'm not picky which project I pick up. But I'm ready to get creative again. Process planning uses the other part of my brain, which I need to exercise now and then, as well, but writing about writing isn't writing.

It's time to get started.

January Update: Accomplishments and Goals

I had a total slacker December, managing only to get my Cafe story written. I did write a narrative for work but didn't end up submitting it. It's been a slow start as far as January, as well. I have my annual New Years cold, so most of my energy has been focused on feeling better and recovering from all the holiday travel.

I'm finally ready to face this year's goals. But first, a recap of my 2018. Here were my goals for 2018, and a note in parenthesis as to whether they were completed or not:

• Finish writing Scions of Mythos (DONE)
  
• Send Druid Wars to beta readers, incorporate feedback, and hopefully start querying (received beta reader feedback, made editing notes, then stalled out)
• Edit Online Dating for Demons (pushed back to 2019)
  
• Write at least four stories for the Confabulator Cafe, and keep it running (DONE)
• Start a brand new project for Nanowrimo (DONE)
• Finish the first adventure in season two and start the second adventure for Sally Prescott (DONE)
• Volunteer at ConQuest (decided just to drink and enjoy the con)
• Write at least one blog post a month here. (DONE)

I made really good writing progress. Steady progress. In 2018, I:

• Finally finished writing the third book in the MystWatch series.
• Beta read two novels for writing group friends.
• Wrote a short story for the 24-hour short story contest.
• Wrote a short story for ConQuesT's story-in-a-bag.
• Wrote four short stories for the Confabulator Cafe.
• Had a short story published (and was paid for it).
• Sent queries out to publishers for MystWatch book one.
• Wrote one (and a half) Sally Prescott adventures. Put together a query for Carina.
• Poked at Suddenly, Zombies! and Once We Were Witches. 
• Brainstormed two new book ideas (one I wrote for NaNo), and a few short story ideas.
• Finished the line edit on a BCP book.
• Overall, wrote 196,400 words and spent 161 hours editing.

I learned that I can consistently write 15,000 words a month, at least on average. I had some months where I didn't write much at all but compensated by writing more than that other months. And while I didn't get all of my original goals accomplished, I'm really pleased with what I did get done. Especially winning NaNo. I wasn't sure I'd ever be about to hit 50k in a month again. I also managed to gracefully shift all of the things I didn't accomplish forward on my project timeline. So!

My goals for 2019 are to:

• Edit MystWatch book three for beta readers, incorporate their feedback, and send to my brother and sister by Christmas.
• Incorporate beta reader feedback for Druid Wars book one and begin querying.
• Start edit for Pandemonium book one.
• Write at least two Sally Prescott adventures.
• Write for the Confabulator Cafe as needed. No minimum.
• Participate in NaNoWriMo (for the 15th year, holy cow).
• Write an average of 10,000 words each month.
• Write at least one writing blog post a month.

Those are my main goals. I lowered my word count goal since I'll be working on edits for three different books this year rather than writing. That being said, though, I also want to throw in work on some other projects. I may try to work on Once We Were Witches (probably in the fall, since so much of that book is fall nostalgia), and Chain Letter Choice. I can probably finish Chain Letter in about 30-40k words, so it's worth it to at least consider throwing some words at it. And I always poke at Zombies! when nothing else strikes my fancy.

All that might be too ambitious, but right now, I'm following where my motivation leads me. So I want to leave myself open to working on other projects even as I'm wrapping up some projects that have been on my plate for awhile.

No goals as far as self-publishing for now. I may get a quote from an editor, maybe a cover artist, but as much as I'd dreamed of self-publishing MystWatch in 2020, I don't really have the funds for it, so I may have to put it off another year. Besides. I'm still holding out for DAW.

My biggest worry is that my burnout from doing a 50k NaNo will continue through this month. But at the very least, I need to get a beta read back to Amanda. I think, though, that once I dive into MystWatch book three, I'll be into it. I was daydreaming about the world today as I was trying to take a nap. So yeah. It's there, at the edges of my consciousness. I'll go back there soon.

December Update: Epicness

November was an epic month for me.

I finished the first-pass editing treatment of book three, to get a lay of the land. A few scenes need major revision and I need to write one more scene, but overall, the edits aren't as bad as I feared. Well, to get ready for beta, anyway. They'll give me a whole other set of things to fix, I'm sure.

I finished that on top of participating in NaNo. I counted my book three outlining words toward my NaNo goal, as well as some brainstorming and a short story, but that allowed me to hit 50k. I truly did not think I would be able to, but I did. And I ended up with about 40k on a new novel.

A short story I sold to a magazine went live on November 9. I subscribed to the magazine when they accepted me, and it was surreal to see my name in the subject line of their newsletter! They're a great magazine. I will definitely submit to them again. Also submitted two short stories, although one has already gotten me a rejection.

Still waiting to hear back from DAW.

I've written a few Cafe stories the last few months. Working on one for December. It's interesting how writing always turns into me working through my life stuff. The story I want to write for December turns out to be an allegory for my recent crisis of faith. My NaNo was working through grief of Kevin's passing. All of MystWatch was me working through grief over losing Mom. I asked my friends if I could ever just write something for fun, but apparently that's not how being a writer works. Oh well. What was it Greta said on that last day of NaNo? Things don't have to be real to be true. They say write what you know, and I know feelings. That's mostly what I write about.

Anyway. I'm still trying to figure out my December plans. The last couple of days I've done nothing, and it's been glorious. Although I'm deep in the post-NaNo blues where I feel like something is missing in my life, so I'd like to get back into writing again soon. I'd originally thought I might spend two weeks on Druid Wars so I could keep my promise to my brother and sister and give them something to read for Christmas. But I still don't know if I'm up for diving back into that world. I might poke at it a bit and see, but if it doesn't captivate me, then I'll push it back to next year as I'd planned last month, as I was sketching out my project timeline for next year.

I also thought about spending two weeks on SP, since December is always for "wrapping up" projects, and that is the other big unfinished one. I'm skeptical that will happen, because as I learned last year, getting anything done in December is a crapshoot. I think my one big goal is to be sure to get my Cafe story written. And if SP and Druid Wars don't catch my attention, I may poke at my NaNo novel. I also need to beta read for Amanda. I do have two weeks off at the end of the month, although there will be lots of travel during that time, so I hate to expect too much from myself. We'll see.

Anyway. I think that's it for this month, and this year! I will plan on doing the year recap and upcoming year goals in the January post. Although I did want to note real quick that I am up to almost 200k words written this year, thanks to my push for NaNo. And, stunningly, 91,500 words of that were on book three alone. That feels pretty awesome.

Anyway. Happy holidays! See you next year!