This year has been very disappointing for my writing. No new books were finished. This isn’t because I didn’t have books to work on – there are six of them. Perhaps setting writing deadlines will get some of these finished.
Word Counts Won’t Work
Out of the six books, three have rough drafts mostly done, two are picture books with the text done leaving only one needing a draft written. Rewriting isn’t new writing with word counts. Setting writing deadlines will entail chapters, not words.
Even more, setting writing deadlines can be publishing times. I want to finish Life’s Rules by mid March for personal reasons. It needs rewriting, translations, ruthless cutting as it is far too long. It will be the primary focus now.
Once this book is done, I will return to “The Carduan Chronicles”. March is a good time to get back to Ship Nineteen as all the spring plants will be growing. Which are edible? Which would be easy for the crew to find and use? The draft may be written, but it needs a lot of setting work included in the rewrite.
“The Carduan Chronicles: Ship Eighteen” only needs the rewrite done. Even the current draft is close to final. The rewrite will be mostly an edit.
Setting Writing Deadlines
I would like the first two books of “The Carduan Chronicles” ready to publish this fall. They do have one problem: the third book. It is little more than a list of bullet points right now.
There are other writing projects to slip into any free moment. There are two website posts to write every week. Goodreads gets at least four picture book reviews every week. There should be three book reviews every two weeks to reach my goal of 70 books read over the year. And there is a book review for my local public library every month.
If I want to stress out, I can add illustrations for the two picture books and chemistry teaching units. There is the picture book writing workshop planned for the summer.
The New Year will be busy.
