The Approaching End – My Goals and Deadlines for 2012

 
My Writing Goals for 2012 are simple, possibly the simplest writing goals I've ever set for myself:
 
Writing Goal #1 – I complete 4 novels this year.

1st novel first draft completion deadline: 31 March
2nd novel first draft completion deadline: 30 June
3rd novel first draft completion deadline: 30 September
4th novel first draft completion deadline: 31 December

 
Writing Goal #2 – Toward the goal of completing my novels on schedule, I write 1000-2000 words a day, 5 days a week.

I do my writing first thing in the day, after my workout and shower.

 
What could be simpler?
 
It helps that I already know the first 2 novels I will write this year. Gunwitch2, which I spent November outlining; and GoSH2, which has been about 1/3 to 1/2 outlined.
 
It probably helps as well that both books are sequels.
 
I have tentatively set novels three and four for the year to be sequels of both sequels, but I'm open to the possibility of writing other books.
 
What I like about these goals is that my daily writing quota can vary. My target word-count for Gunwitch2 is about 100K (the same length as Gunwitch: A Tale of the King's Coven). That means I need to write about 10000 words per week to be done in 10 weeks (because I want a couple weeks off between books). Writing 5 days per week (because I like weekends), that's 2000 words per day. If I need to, though, I can also write on weekends, or use my buffer weeks, and reduce my daily word quota some.
 
My target word-count for GoSH2, though, is only 60K (the same length as GoSH1). So after 3 months of 2000-word days, I can ease up a bit and target 6000 words per week (1200 words per day, 5 days per week).
 
Writing isn't the only thing I do all day. I still have to work on The Journal, both maintaining the current version and working on the new version. So I'm pleased to have a way to have both writing and The Journal peacefully co-existing in my workday while still achieving some significant progress.
 
I also have a Publishing Goal for 2012. Here it is:
 
Publishing Goal #1 – I publish my novels within 6 months of completing the manuscript.
 
Six months should be more than enough time for the completed draft to be:

Ignored for a month;
Edited;
Handed off to first readers for a couple months
Edited again;
Formatted for publishing (including creating a cover); and, finally,
Published.

 
Plus, I plan to publish more of my existing short stories as singles, like I did back in November.
 
My planned publishing schedule for the year is:

GoSH1 published by 31 March.
Gunwitch2 published by 30 September.
GoSH2 published by 31 December.

 
If everything goes well this year, I'll continue these goals and deadlines into 2013, and even 2014.
 
I created a "road map" for The Journal this year that extends into 2013 (possibly 2014). Now I have road map for my writing and publishing that looks somewhat similar. In a way, it feels weird to "predict" what I'll be working on so far in advance. I tend to distrust long term scheduling, as I mentioned in The Approaching End – Part 1 earlier this week. But, barring the slings and arrows or outrageous fortune, this should be do-able.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
The Approaching End – My Goals for Indie Writing/Publishing in 2012My 2010 Writing GoalsRe-Tooling