Now that I’ve reviewed how last year went (pretty well, I’d say), it’s time to look at the year ahead of us. I have a couple of writing goals in mind so we’ll get into those below. What it boils down to is that I have a lot of work ahead of me…and I’m looking forward to it.
Drawing from the Well
I got some work on editing Book III done this week. As always, I wish it was more, but progress is progress. We’ll talk about this more below, but once this edit is done, we’re changing gears…back to Book II. It’s time to start pressing on the gas.
Arc I: 64/64
Arc II: 60/60
Arc III Part I: 24/24
Arc III Part II: 31/31
Arc IV: 44/44
Arc V: 21/59
Interstitia: 0/11
Total: 242/291
Filling the Well
First week is down and I’m ahead of pace. Hooray! Here’s hoping I can hold onto that lead throughout the year. This year, I bumped up my goal. In ’21 and ’22, the goal was 100. This year, I aim for 105, small stretch at 108, and big stretch at 110. So far, it’s been working through the rest of the Aliomenti Saga, which has gotten better and better and is primed for a killer finale in Convergence. I also read a summary of Power, For All which was really interesting about giving and taking power in business situations. Good stuff and more to come.
4/105 for #ProjectBookworm2023
We’ve almost finished our rewatch of The West Wing. It’s so good and I will miss it, again, when we finish it. We’re looking ahead to other shows, including rewatches, but life is good. I’m also going to jump into a rewatch of the John Wick trilogy soon with my son. That’ll be great fun.
Another week of good news. Dragonflight is great and I still love it. There’s not much to tell here so I think I’ll cut this section going forward. If anything new comes up, I’ll mention it. Otherwise, the gaming section will be blank going forward.
Well Chat
I hinted at what I’m doing this year above, but let’s get specific. You all know I’ve been working on Book III for a while. Why Book III when Book II isn’t even published yet? Well, frankly, I’m a slow writer. I work so hard on the plotting and am so deliberate and brutal in my editing that everything takes a while. Plus, this is a side gig for me. I hope one day it is my main job, but that’s a ways away. For now, I write as much as I can.
As far as long-term planning, though, I can’t wait for Book II to be out in the wild before I start work on Book III. In all truth, work has already begun on ALL the books in this series because of the way I plan, but Books II and III are the furthest along. I want to publish consistently (yes, I’m looking at you GRRM) so I have to plan ahead for that. If there’s a bit of a longer wait between the last two books, that’s acceptable to me, but the rest should be reliable. I’m aiming for 18-24 months per release. I know this sounds slow to a lot of people, but considering that it takes me 30-36 months to write a book, this allows me to work ahead. By the time Book II comes out, I want IV to be in production.
So where things stand right now is that Book II is ALMOST ready for the professional edit. I was convinced that it was ready…until I was editing Book III and realized that II needed just a little more work. That’s why I mentioned changing gears above. Once Edit I, the Brown Edit, for Book III is done, we’re going back to Book II. And this brings us to my first goal of the year: finish Book II. This includes completing the final draft through all remaining edits, including the professional one, and at least starting on the cover and other materials. I’m really excited about my cover idea for Book II and can’t wait to unveil it to all of you.
But what about Book III? Is it just being left behind? Yeah, a little.
At least in the short-term, yeah, once this Edit is done, III is on the back burner. I don’t intend to spend the entire year on II, though. Once that is off to the editor, I’m going back to editing III on my own. My real Goal 2 is to get through all the self-edits on III well in advance of the end of the year.
And Goal 3 is starting IV. There’s A LOT baked into that, but we’ll talk about that much later. Beyond that, I want to get involved in more book signings, which I’m working on, but that’s a much looser goal.
So there ya go. That’s how ’23 will look to me. What are you up to this year? What are you goals, hopes, and dreams?
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG