Self Imposed Deadlines
Happy November everybody! I hope your Halloween weekend treated you well. (See what I did there?) I have a day off and thought I would give an update on where we are in this crazy author’s world I’m swimming in. The year is almost over and I have to look back and decide if I am proud of what I have accomplished. The answer is a resounding yes. In 2021 I completed my second full novel (Paws of the Sphinx) and have gotten the Prepared project moving in high gear, so I have put in quite a bit of work.
It’s not good enough! I believe that if you are not constantly trying to improve yourself then why the hell do you get out of bed? What are you striving for? Maybe a question we should all ask ourselves going into yet another new year. Time waits for no man. Just ask Fin, The Immortal Templar. (A character from Paws of the Sphinx. If you are intrigued, just drop me a line on the contact page to become one of my Beta readers, “The Eyeballers”.) Anyway, to that end, I have set some deadlines for myself for the rest of the year and 2022.
The first one is to finish the Prepared novel by March 2nd, my birthday. A little gift to myself. I am currently cranking out over a thousand words a day working on my lunch hour, after work and my days off. This is a very doable goal since I am already almost halfway through if you put any stock in word counts. This one is centered around the twelve year old son of hard core preppers. A disaster occurs killing almost everyone. This story is about how this kid (Gavin) deals with surviving after his parents are gone and the relationships he forms. They left him with the necessary tools but how will he cope with the sudden life or death reality? This is a big departure from the adventure tales of Indigo Oats but fun to write. I actually started this one back in 2017 but felt I wasn’t ready for it. Now I am.
Next is to go back and use all the writing things I have learned over the last year or so on my completed novels. I have discovered a great editing tool called Pro Writing Aid that goes into the grammar and structure things that are such a pain in the ass. I didn’t know I hated passive verbs so damn much, but here I am. I am in a unique position (or at least I think its unique) where I will have several books completed by the time I get published. One truth of being a writer is that your first book sucks. Everyone’s first book sucks. This is because it’s your first book and writers only get better with practice of their art. So, to that end, I will be going back and doing a final edit on Shiva’s Eye and Paws of the Sphinx. I have set the end of the year as the deadline for Shiva and April 2022 for Paws. I will be doing these as a side to the actual writing that I do everyday.
Another goal is to have three more novels completed by the end of 2022. This will include Prepared, so I have a head start on this one. Still, it’s a very high bar that I have set for myself. I am not a full time writer and have a day job. I haven’t decided what the other two books will be yet. I have been working on an outline and plot points for some titles. Chopped is about a celebrity chef turned spy. I envision this one becoming a series. There’s Death’s Construction about Death’s right hand man opposing his boss when he decides to up the quota on killing everyone. Who knew Death had an assistant? This one will cover everything from ancient battles from history right up to present day. Another one is tentatively titled Stranglehold where a team of scientist come up against an ancient force buried deep within the earth. The twist at the end is something I am really looking forward to writing. One of the characters in this one is a cryptozoologist and I can see this guy becoming a spinoff series. Who doesn’t need more cryptozoology fiction, right? Imagine an adventurer going after Big Foot or a Chupacabra and meeting them face to face. Then there is the book Rules: So You Don’t Look Like a Jackass! Basically a humor book full of the things that piss me off. This one is my self therapy. I write it down and it goes away.
Jump on the contacts page and send me an email telling me which ones you think I should work on first. I have been having a lot of fun brainstorming these titles and there are more popping into my brain everyday. I now carry a voice recorder with me at all times so that I don’t lose them when they smack me up side the head.
Some other miscellaneous goals for 2022 are: Attend one writers conference. If you’ve read the blog post on this subject you are probably saying WTF? I have decided to try another one but I’ll go into it with open eyes this time and less gullibility. I am also planning on attending at least on Con this coming year as well. It might be a comic con or a scyfi con or something else but I’m just ready to get out of the house and it not be to go to work.
The last, but not least, goal for 2022 is to be agented by the end of the year. This means sending out a lot of query letters and sample chapters to try and get an agent’s attention. Thick skin is a must during this process. I have sent out several of these over the past few years and have a nice pile of rejections. That is not such a bad thing, however. Everyone gets rejections. I read somewhere that Stephen King was rejected over three hundred times before getting a yes. One of my favorite authors, Larry Correia, was rejected over a hundred times. This is the least entertaining aspect of being a writer but must be done if I am to get traditionally published. I know, I know. You’re saying why don’t you just self publish to Amazon or Kindle? Well, the short answer is… Any jackass can do that! Maybe I’m old school, but I want to hold my book in my hand. I want you to hold my book in your hands. The publishing industry is in a huge state of flux right now and traditional publishing may be a dying dinosaur, but until I am forced to go the self pub route I’m going to try to do it the old fashioned way.
Remember, if you would like to join my growing army of beta readers (The Eyeballers), go to the contacts page and drop me a line via email. The projects page gets you only one sample chapter. The Eyeballers get the whole enchilada.
Anyway, go out there and set some goals for yourself. Otherwise your just killing time until it kills you!