Novels, Schedules, and a New Short Story

photo credit: Daniel*1977 via photopin cc

I recently wrote about embracing a new mindset for the New Year, but I was a little hazy about the details. That’s because I was still sorting them out. I needed to sit down and really think through what needed to happen to start achieving some of my novel-writing goals. So, here is a more detailed look at what I’m tentatively planning.

Based on some good advice I saw over in the 20BooksTo50K Facebook group, I decided to break down my novel-writing plan into quarters. I estimated that I could probably write about 2000 words a day/6 days a week on a given novel. Using that as a starting point, I also assumed that life would interfere and editing would take longer than planned, so I scheduled no firm writing projects for the last quarter of the year. That gives me some breathing room if I fall behind schedule.

Since I don’t want to overpromise, my tentative schedule through March looks something like this:

Q1

Jan. –  Complete Jericho Lott #1

Pick up on Hartworth #2

Jericho Lott Prequel short/novella

Feb. –  Continue Hartworth #2

Prewriting for Jericho Lott #2

Editing Lott #1

Complete/edit Lott Prequel short/novella

Mar. – Complete Hartworth #2

Start Lott #2

Prewriting for Lott #3

There are various and sundry other things that will happen in there, such as some short fiction for Patreon and blogging, but that’s the core of the schedule. Even if I fall disastrously behind schedule and accomplish nothing but what’s on that list, you can expect at least two or three books from me this year. If things do go according to plan, though, that number will likely double.

For the Sam Branch fans out there, writing Book 4 is tentatively scheduled for Q3. In the meantime, though, you’ll see a new Branch short story go live on Amazon in the next few days. Keep an eye out for the announcement.

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