Bootcamp Check-In

I'm now one week into YA Buccaneers Spring Writing Boot Camp, and it's time for my first check in.

After several months focused far more on publicity than wringing, I set a goal to finish revising my current WIP, The Evolution of Emily, by the end of March, and send it out to beta readers the first week of April. Last week, I set a goal of finishing polishing up through chapter 20 of EoE.
I am proud to announce that the first 26 chapters of The Evolution of Emily are now clean. I exceeded my goal by 6 chapters. It’s amazing how much progress I can make when I actually spend time writing. As a result, my goal for this coming week is to finish The Evolution of Emily, by next week.
I know, I know, my original goal was March 31st, but I think I can actually make this new March 17th deadline. So I’m going with it. I will finish my WIP this week. Keep me accountable to that.
The YA Buccaneers Spring Book Camp lasts through until the end of May, so I should probably set some longer term goals too. Here is my new writing plan for the next three months.
March:·         Finish The Evolution of Emily. Even though I want to do this in the next week, I will need to read through the whole thing again at least one more time before sending it off to beta readers. So my March 31st goal is still somewhat in place.·         Begin thinking about my next project. I’m a pantser, not a plotter, and refuse to outline. But once I’m done with The Evolution of Emily, I’ll let myself start daydreaming about my SNI more.
April:·         Send The Evolution of Emily to beta readers. If you want to be one of those beta readers, let me know.·         Start drafting new project.
May:·         Design cover for The Evolution of Emily.·         Incorporate feedback from beta readers and make final revisions to The Evolution of Emily.·         Continue drafting new project.
The biggest reason why it has taken me forever to finish The Evolution of Emily is because I spent a lot of my writing time focusing on Counting to D the entire time I was supposed to be working on it. Intentionally dividing my time between two projects again feels like a huge endeavor. But I know it’s something I have to do. If I want to make a career out of writing, I need to write faster. I need to have two projects going at all times.
I do have a shiny new idea that I want to make the third book in the Kennedy High series. And now that EoE is so close to done, I’m starting to get really excited about writing it. Hopefully I can get most (or possibly even all) of the rough draft done this spring while I’m waiting for feedback from beta readers. It would be easy to take April off and focus only on the business side of things while waiting for revision notes, but that’s not what I’m going to do. I’m going to write my next book. And I think it’s going to be a really amazing story.