Don't be blind sided in 2023, create a writing plan that actually delivers, inspires you, and easy

Story ideas I hope to tackle in the f... What is an Alpha Read?

Don't be blind sided in 2023, create a writing plan that actually delivers, inspires you, and easy

New Year New Writing Plan

I love this time of year, not for the holiday’s hustle and bustle, but because of the sense of possibility. I’m a planner making goals and lists. If you want to find success in your writing, a plan is where you want to start.Out of all the parts of my life I make goals for I start with my writing plan for the year. I’m going to talk you through how I make a writing plan and you can too, even if you haven’t published yet.

No matter what you are trying to publish, we all can start from the same place. Pull out your writers’ notebooks, notes, scraps of paper. Organize everything into their projects. Start with the projects that are in the drafts stage or beyond. You want to see how many books are in the writing/draft stage (including outline, 0 draft, 1st draft). The next stage is revision, then the editing stages. Don’t forget to add the read stages (alpha, beta, and arc.) I would make a setup in your notebook for your project stages. Across the top place the stages in an order like this; brainstorm/idea, outline/draft, revision, read stage (A for alpha, B for beta, and R for ARC), editing, and publishing. Then you can use sticky notes or pencil to put in your projects under their stages.I have 5 in Brainstorming/idea stage, 1 book in the draft/writing stage, 9 books in the revision stage, and 4 books in the editing stage. Once you have your known projects in some order. You can decide which projects will move to their next stages.

Here are a few ways to make these decisions.

What are my most important deadlines for the year? Do you want to take part in any of the NaNoWriMo events? National Novel Writing Month holds 3 events throughout the year. Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July and then the big November event. These events are a chance to take part and work on a project with massive support. Are you planning to publish your book this next year?

Here are my important deadlines for 2023:

Love Rules (alpha read) Feb. 1-28th (sign up here)Draft Book 5 of the Fire Series April 2023 for Camp NaNoWriMoMoonstone, a P.I.R. novel (alpha read) June 2023The Nights will Flame with Fire (beta read) August 2023Planners for 2024 October 2023Book 3 a P.I.R. novel drafting in November for NaNoWriMo2023 Raven’s Cookbook for Charity December (you can preorder our 2022 cookbook here)Publish If the Seas Catch Fire book 3 of the Fire series December 22nd

How to balance productivity and self-care?

It’s important to give yourself some time off. Spend time refilling your well and finding inspiration. Keep your writers’ notebook handy because you never know what will inspire your next project. I have a few months that I’ll be prepping and outlining which isn’t taxing for me.

Shifting the stages.

Now that you’ve marked your hard deadlines and set aside some time off. Look back at your list of projects and project ideas. How can you schedule out time to move them on to their next stage? For instance, I’ll be taking Love Rules, a standalone novel from its draft stage to the revision stage in January to prepare it for its read deadline in Feb. NaNoWriMo dates are a great time to take some of your project ideas and run with them. I know that I’ll be publishing If the Seas Catch Fire in December this year, so counting back 6 months, so in June I’ll start launch tasks. One of those tasks is preparing a novella Code of Fire to be given away as a free newsletter read. I so enjoy moving a project from one phase to the next.

Here is how I keep track of my projects and their stages.

I set up a writing rotation page in my writer’s notebook, my notebook just so happens to be on Notion, the productivity application. I have my categories at the top and each project on its own card. When I’ve finished a stage on a project, I move it to its next stage. This gives me a bird's-eye view of where my projects stand. It’s a great tool for planning out your writer’s plan every year. If you would like more ideas for how to do this and other writers’ notebook ideas, take my upcoming Free workshop, The Writers’ Notebook Jan. 13th-15th.

Get it all into a plan.

Now it’s time to get it all into a plan from January to December. Like, a college student with their assignment list counts backwards to when a project needs to be started, to finish on deadline. Leave yourself some grace for life and unexpected needs. Always remember this is a plan and is subject to change as needed, let it happen without feelings of shame or disappointment.

My plan for the next year!

January Revision Love RulesFebruary Body of Work projectsMarch Prep for Camp NaNoWriMoApril Draft book 5 of the Fire SeriesMay Revision of Code of Fire novellaPrep for Moonstone’s Alpha readJune Moonstone Alpha ReadStart of Launch for If the Seas Catch FireJuly The Nights will Flame revision for Camp NaNoWriMoAugust The Nights will Flame Alpha readSeptember Code of Fire format and uploadOctober PreptoberPlanners for 2024November Book 3 a P.I.R. novel draft for NaNoWriMoDecember 2023 Raven’s CookbookPublish If the Seas Catch Fire 12/22/23

What does your writing year look like? Share it with me in the comments. Current project

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Free Workshop sign up before Jan. 10th

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