2016 Writing Forecast – August Update

by | Aug 29, 2016 | Books, General, Goals, Writing

2016Well I said the second job might kill me and I was nearly right. I’ve had to quit due to my really horrible feet requiring more surgery (in just about 2 months now!). What that means is that I am finally getting on a roll toward these crazy lofty goals. In the past couple of weeks things have picked up steam. I released The Chief, the third in The Tribe series. I finally finished Red Zone and it’s been through edits. I’m revising the second to last existing Dominion Falls book, and working on The Child (The Tribe 5).

So things are going a little wacky crazy here in a good way for a change. 2016 may turn around yet.

For a brief period of time I lost my precious notebook with pages of notes for all the series, the 40+ planned books, and ideas for character names…but fortunately it turned up right as I was about to throw in the towel and cry my eyes out. And of course it was right in a place I looked 20 times. So with that stress gone I got on the ball and worked hard this week.

Onto the update!

First, my overall goals for the year…

  1. I’ve challenged myself to write 600,000 words in 2016. (at 317,514 as of 8/29/16. Finally crossed halfway, but way behind.)
  2. I will build my audience and work harder at promotion. (This is going GREAT. Had a couple of real surges due to some promo opportunities I got in on. Excited for it to continue!)
  3. I will regain my focus. (Really kicking off now. The younger kids are back in school, and while I’ve picked up more hours at the bank, I still have free days for work. Past two weeks have been stellar.)
  4. I will face my demon/salvation – the one story I’m afraid of. (Nope, not even a little bit yet)
  5. I will decide by July if I will return to Lake Point in 2017. (So…it’s past July…and I’m still not 100% sure. I know I am doing some revisit/recap stories of the existing books…and have story ideas for more books, but haven’t figured out when I will return to this lovely town.)
  6. I will prep all the things for print. ALL. The. Things. (Tribe and Wolf are in print. The Chief is giving me fits, which I hope to fix soon. Next is The Raven. I’m still working on others on the side.)
  7. I will update my author website. (Haven’t gotten much further, and need to add pages for The Chief and The Raven, among others. Again, slow going…but I’m getting there.).

And next is my list of projects. The list seems small without all the Lake Point books of the past on it, but I’m sure it will change and grow over the year. The books in ORANGE are current works-in-progress. The books in BLUE are new to the game.

  1. Into a Mirror Darkly (Morgana Chronicles 1) – 100k (~10k done)
  2. Dust Raiser (Dominion Falls 6) – 100k (Title Change!!)
  3. Dead Man’s Switch (Dominion Falls 7) – 100k
  4. Red Zone (Dominion Falls 5.5) – 40k (DONE 8/10/16)
  5. The Raven (The Tribe #4) – 85k (DONE 5/15/16)
  6. The Child (The Tribe #5) – 85k (~7k done)
  7. The Seer (The Tribe #6) – 85k
  8. Auld Lang Syne 1 (Lake Point 12.5 ~ Revisiting Year 1)
  9. Auld Lang Syne 2 (Lake Point 12.6 ~ Revisiting Year 2)
  10. Untitled Project (Hand Delivered Book 1) ~ 40k
  11. Escaping Humanity (Co-authoring w/ Mary Terrani) – 100k (60k done)
  12. Masked Hearts – Create new cover and re-release this one last SCP book (Plan to work on this in September)
  13. Fall (Hidden Senses #1) ~30k

 

 

2016 has definitely been a struggle and a half for me. I am glad to see things picking up, and look forward to much more. I have plans to make some more money on the side to make up for my lost job, but I don’t expect those things to take too many hours out of my week. I still plan to meet the lofty goals I set for myself, and can’t wait to continue to tackle them all!

Now, off I go to editing. I have a book due to release on October 4th.

2016 Writing Forecast – June Update

by | Jun 17, 2016 | Books, General, Goals, Writing

2016June has been up and down for me. I made some major progress, but then crashed and burned when once again real life took a bite out of me.

The Wolf was released and is picking up in sales for it and The Tribe. I’m a hair away from finishing Red Zone, and made myself a list of all planned books (totaling 40, for the record).

So, when the real world stops getting its rocks off by kicking me in the teeth, I’m doing pretty well. I just wish I had a lot more time for writing. This second job is going to kill me…but the bills must be paid. ~sigh~

Onto the update!

First, my overall goals for the year…

  1. I’ve challenged myself to write 600,000 words in 2016. (at 229,644 as of 6/16/16. Not a huge leap from last check-in, but it’s only been 2 weeks, so I’m not disappointed.)
  2. I will build my audience and work harder at promotion. (This is going GREAT. Been talking with my publicist guru and she’s gotten me many new reviews, and given me great ideas on how to build. My sales are slowly starting to be impacting by the efforts.)
  3. I will regain my focus. (Getting better. Kids out of school and here all the time is throwing me off. Still, doing my best.)
  4. I will face my demon/salvation – the one story I’m afraid of. (Nope, not even a little bit yet)
  5. I will decide by July if I will return to Lake Point in 2017. (Still not a clue)
  6. I will prep all the things for print. ALL. The. Things. (Tribe and Wolf are in print. The Chief is next. I’m working on a few other things on the side when I can.)
  7. I will update my author website. (Just started. It’ll be slow going, but I have pages up for The Tribe series, which are my front runners right now. As I go, I’ll be adding all the books again).

And next is my list of projects. The list seems small without all the Lake Point books of the past on it, but I’m sure it will change and grow over the year. The books in ORANGE are current works-in-progress. The books in BLUE are new to the game.

  1. Into a Mirror Darkly (Morgana Chronicles 1) – 100k (~10k done)
  2. Dust Raiser (Dominion Falls 6) – 100k (Title Change!!)
  3. Dead Man’s Switch (Dominion Falls 7) – 100k
  4. Red Zone (Dominion Falls 5.5) – 40k (~32.5k done)
  5. The Raven (The Tribe #4) – 85k (DONE 5/15/16)
  6. The Child (The Tribe #5) – 85k
  7. Auld Lang Syne (Lake Point 12.5 ~ Revisiting Old Stories)
  8. Untitled Project (Hand Delivered Book 1) ~ 40k
  9. Escaping Humanity (Co-authoring w/ Mary Terrani) – 100k (60k done)
  10. Masked Hearts – Create new cover and re-release this one last SCP book (Plan to work on this in July)
  11. Fall (Hidden Senses #1) ~30k

 

Definitely still a big struggle this year. By making a list of all my books really has helped me find some more focus. Now if, like I said, real life would stop kicking me in the teeth I might get more accomplished. I have two more Tribe books scheduled for release in the coming months. I have more planned, and I have plans to release the re-vamped Dominion Falls series as well as getting some new books in that series on the way, and another series planned, not to mention the Lake Point series.

Many plans, but still struggling to find the time to get it all done. But I will. One way or another.

2016 Writing Forecast – May Update

by | May 25, 2016 | Books, Challenge, General, Goals, Writing

2016How is it that it’s already May?  My last update was in February…and then March was the month of sheer, utter hell around these parts. The bad sh*t kept happening. So there was little-no writing of any kind. By April I was working two jobs, and working too many hours at them…

Around Mid-April I started to get my ducks in a row finally. Then this week I set about really putting my big girl panties on and getting back down to business.

Through all of the chaos of my home life…I still managed to accomplish some good things like an ebook/print release in March (one sure shining spot), a few book tours that got me a bunch of lovely reviews, and another release coming up in about two weeks. Plus, this week I’ve actually gotten some words on the page again!

So, let’s see where I am in the goals I’d set. I hardly remember what I said, so this is going to be a journey to get through these for me. 🙂

First, my overall goals for the year…

  1. I’ve challenged myself to write 600,000 words in 2016. (at 212,324 as of 5/24/16. Running behind, but catching up.)
  2. I will build my audience and work harder at promotion. (This is going GREAT. Been talking with my publicist guru and she’s gotten me many new reviews, and given me great ideas on how to build. My sales are slowly starting to be impacting by the efforts.)
  3. I will regain my focus. (Struggling here. I lost my mojo–and the practices I’d put in place to keep on track. I’m re-establishing several of them now and trying to get back into the game.)
  4. I will face my demon/salvation – the one story I’m afraid of. (Nope, not even a little bit yet)
  5. I will decide by July if I will return to Lake Point in 2017. (Still not a clue)
  6. I will prep all the things for print. ALL. The. Things. (Tribe is done, I have The Wolf all set, and it’s onto the next. This is going on! I have a LOT of books to get through yet, but I have my print-formatting basis down. Loving it.)

And next is my list of projects. The list seems small without all the Lake Point books of the past on it, but I’m sure it will change and grow over the year. The books in ORANGE are current works-in-progress. The books in BLUE are new to the game.

  1. Into a Mirror Darkly (Morgana Chronicles 1) – 100k (~10k done)
  2. Switchback (Dominion Falls 6) – 100k
  3. Dead Man’s Switch (Dominion Falls 7) – 100k
  4. Red Zone (Dominion Falls 5.5) – 40k (~18k done)
  5. The Raven (The Tribe #4) – 85k (DONE 5/15/16)
  6. The Child (The Tribe #5) – 85k
  7. Auld Lang Syne (Lake Point 12.5 ~ Revisiting Old Stories)
  8. Untitled Project (Hand Delivered Book 1) ~ 40k
  9. Escaping Humanity (Co-authoring w/ Mary Terrani) – 100k (60k done)
  10. Masked Hearts – Create new cover and re-release this one last SCP book (Plan to work on this this week)
  11. Fall (Hidden Senses #1) ~30k

Clearly this year has been a struggle for me. I’m really determined to make sure the worst has passed. There will be days I don’t write, depending on editing, formatting, and the slew of other tasks I have to complete, but if I stay on target and write some every day, and keep my editing deadlines instead of pushing them back–I could see everything on my lists accomplished.

Now if only I could find those elusive EXTRA hours to add to my day. Any clue where to find those?