It's a new year! And that means it's time for a new progress thread. My main focus this year is the first season of my cozy paranormal mysteries, thus the title. I'm setting a smaller goal than last year to give me more time to focus on editing, marketing, reading, and relaxing. Not sure that I won't just go hog wild like I did last year since I tend to get sucked into my writing, but hey. We're gonna try. So here goes.

Word Count Goal: 500,000

green strikethrough completed
bold gold in progress

Writing Goals
     The Caelish Order
       1. Edit The Watchful Void

     Wicker Street Paranormal Solutions (cozy paranormal mysteries)
       1. Write New Book 1
       2. Edit New Book 1
       3. Edit Book 2
       4. Plan Book 3
       5. Write Book 3
       6. Edit Book 3
       7. Plan Book 4
       8. Write Book 4
       9. Edit Book 4
       10. Plan Book 5
       11. Write Book 5
       12. Edit Book 5
       13. Plan Book 6
       14. Write Book 6
       15. Edit Book 6
       16. Top level planning for season 2
       17. Come up with titles for all of season 1

       Stretch goal: Plan, write, and edit Gray's novella

     Rory & Bianca [working title] (fairytale retelling)
       1. Finish writing book 1
       2. Edit book 1
       3. Outline book 2

       Stretch goal: Write book 2

     Deep Space Salvage [working title] (sci fi for sure; maybe action, maybe thriller, maybe light Lovecraftian horror--it's still in the very early stages)
       1. Character work
       2. Worldbuilding
       3. Generate series ideas

       Stretch goal: Figure out how much time I have left in the year and maybe start writing some of this once TCO, WSPS season 1, and R&B are finished

Business Goals
     Publication
       1. Bloodlines (TCO #3) - February
       2. The Watchful Void (TCO #4) - April
       3. Wicker Street Paranormal Solutions season 1 - a book a month from June to November
       4. The Snow White Assassin (Rory & Bianca #1) - December

       Stretch goal: Gray's novella (WSPS side story)

     Marketing
       1. Sign up for BookFunnel and run promos there
       2. Trial Amazon ads at any point after all four TCO books are published
       3. Start using BookBub and try to figure out their ads

Reading & Research Goals
       1. Read 24 novels [0/24]
       2. Read 12 nonfiction books [0/12]
       3. Research conlangs



This is basically what would get me to my initial 500k goal (Wicker Street books are ~50k plus ~5k each in planning and I have ~75k left on TSWA, plus ~15k for Gray's novella and ~10k planning for Rory & Bianca 2. That leaves me 125k to share between planning Wicker Street season two, planning Deep Space Salvage, and potentially writing R&B2. Or whatever side projects crop up along the way.) If I blow past my goal/finish this whole list, then I'll figure out what my next priorities are.

I'm also expecting to spend about a quarter of the year editing various projects (I'll have 8 books of varying lengths that I need to get publication-ready throughout 2021.) So I'm setting a baseline monthly goal of 50k. That gives me two months this year that can be either entirely editing or vacation *cough*December*cough*, but otherwise I'll be aiming to spend about a week every month on edits (sometimes one isolated week if a project doesn't need much attention, often the last week of one month and first week of the next for more involved revisions.)

January Goals

2021 has officially begun! And I'm still playing Breath of the Wild haha Well, I'm still setting my goals for the month, they're just going to be a little bit flexible, and we'll see how it goes.

Word Count Goal: 40,000

Writing Goals

1. Finish editing The Lingering Spirit #2
2. Finish rereading The Watchful Void
3. Edit TWV
4. Keep writing The Snow White Assassin

Non-Writing Goals

1. Bloodlines cover reveal around the 15th and newsletter
2. Start posting on Twitter again (whoops)
3. Read 2 novels and 1 nonfiction book
4. Format Bloodlines files and get them submitted to all stores by the end of the month

Aiming a bit lower than my standard word count goal to start with this month because I'm going to be focusing pretty heavily on edits for the first week or two. I probably only need another day or two on TLS2, and I'm about halfway through the TWV reread, having found only minor fixes so far. BUT I left the ending basically unfinished. I'm expecting at least 10k of rewrites/new additions to TWV by the time all is said and done. Hopefully that will happen by the 15th so I can spend the rest of the month getting back into TSWA

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Weekly Goals

1. Finish editing The Lingering Spirit #2

2. Finish rereading The Watchful Void
3. Start TWV edits
4. Post at least 3 times on Twitter
5. Start reading Master of One

(And of course the unofficial goal of finishing Breath of the Wild lol. I'm close! And once I beat it, I'll be able to devote more focus toward writing again.)

i got breath of the wild for christmas and haven't started it out of fear of being sucked in forever!
i like how detailed you have your plan laid out for this year.
you're set up to b e very productive. good luck!

You're doing so great! Good luck with everything!

Good luck Nonny!

I totally feel the 'video games getting in the way of my writing' problem. That was me for most of December.

Best of luck in 2021!

So, uh.... The 2020 Epilogue sure has been something, huh? Especially for those of us in the U.S.

Yeah.... It's been a weird couple of weeks. I finished Breath of the Wild on January 5th (at 105 hours of play time lolol) all ready to dive back into writing the next day after work. And then the 6th happened, and the next week was alternating between scouring news sites and social media for updates and desperately searching for distraction (I've already read my two novels for the month! Silver linings!) I did finally start to ease back into productivity towards the end of last week. Wrapped up edits on The Lingering Spirit #2, then stalled again a bit at the prospect of rereading The Watchful Void, which I'd gotten so stuck on by the end of the draft that in my mind, it had turned into a horrific monstrosity of shoddy character work, slow pacing, and utter crap.

The good news? I finished that reread today and there's far more good than bad in there. Quite a bit to fix, but not so much that I'm not still planning on finishing it up this month. Honestly, I think TLS2 was more of a mess, it was just shorter to begin with, which made it seem more manageable.

However, in light of how the first half of the month went (and considering I'm expecting to be holding my breath all through inauguration day at the VERY least), I'm cutting out the word count goal I set for this month. I'll write words. How many? Who knows. Any new words I get down are a bonus tbh, and I'm more concerned with finishing my edits and getting Bloodlines ready to launch next month.

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January 16 Update

Writing Goals

1. Finish editing The Lingering Spirit #2
2. Finish rereading The Watchful Void
3. Edit TWV
4. Keep writing The Snow White Assassin

Non-Writing Goals

1. Bloodlines cover reveal around the 15th and newsletter
2. Start posting on Twitter again (whoops)
3. Read 2 novels and 1 nonfiction book
4. Format Bloodlines files and get them submitted to all stores by the end of the month

---

Weekly Goals

1. Get through all the minor edits for TWV and start on the major edits/rewrites/new scenes
2. Bloodlines cover reveal on Monday or Tuesday, along with newsletter
3. Final Bloodlines reread
4. Choose a nonfiction book for the month and start reading it

Stretch goal #1: Bloodlines final edits including Grammarly (maybe try out Pro Writing Aid?)
Stretch goal #2: Bloodlines formatting and upload files

you're already making such great progress on your goals!
(even despite what's going on around us...)
keep it up!

January 23 Update

Weekly Goals Progress

1. Get through all the minor edits for TWV and start on the major edits/rewrites/new scenes
2. Bloodlines cover reveal on Monday or Tuesday, along with newsletter
3. Final Bloodlines reread
4. Choose a nonfiction book for the month and start reading it

Stretch goal #1: Bloodlines final edits including Grammarly (maybe try out Pro Writing Aid?)
Stretch goal #2: Bloodlines formatting and upload files

Weird week this week. Didn't make it as far as I wanted to on TWV edits, but I'm 100% done with Bloodlines and have it all uploaded and ready for release, so that's a fair trade-off in my eyes. Was going to start reading my nonfiction book for the month and continue edits today but I woke up sick. Not sure if it's COVID yet (I should have my test back tomorrow), but ugh. Today was a very blah day and I spent it staring at the TV.

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Monthly Progress

Writing Goals

1. Finish editing The Lingering Spirit #2
2. Finish rereading The Watchful Void
3. Edit TWV
4. Keep writing The Snow White Assassin

Non-Writing Goals

1. Bloodlines cover reveal around the 15th and newsletter
2. Start posting on Twitter again (whoops)
3. Read 2 novels and 1 nonfiction book
4. Format Bloodlines files and get them submitted to all stores by the end of the month

---

Weekly Goals

1. Finish editing TWV
2. Read 1 nonfiction book

Stretch goal: Spend any remaining time getting back into TSWA.

You are doing a great job!

Get well soon!

Hey, look! I'm back.

Turns out I did have COVID, and now, nearly two weeks later, I'm FINALLY feeling back to normal. I had a relatively mild case, thankfully--none of the scary symptoms and no need for medication beyond a little bit of acetaminophen and some cough suppressants--but the fatigue was absolutely unbelievable. I couldn't focus on anything for more than 20 minutes until yesterday, and despite sleeping 10-12 hours a night, I was exhausted by dinner every day.

I finally wrote again for the first time yesterday, something I only managed by throwing all my expectations for 2021 out the window. Forget editing the book I plan to release in April. Forget writing the book I planned to write this month or the series I wanted to be 2021's main focus. I started entirely from scratch on a brand new project that has me excited, and until I get back into the swing of things, that's all I'm going to let myself worry about.

So without further ado:

Personal Challenge: Keeping Platonic in February

It doesn't count for the official WriYe KWIF challenge since I'm doing basically the opposite, but that's fine. I'll just track it here. Because I'm a grinchy aro who rejects all things romance throughout the month of February lol. No shade on folks who enjoy romance--you do you--but I'm indifferent about the romance genre at best, and this time of year when stores are shoving an avalanche of pink and red hearts down my throat, the reactance is strong. Thus KPIF. Which may need to become an annual tradition, because I'm on day 2 and it's already making me so happy.

The gist is simple: Write anything but romance. Not as the main plot, not as a subplot, not an ounce of UST or a dash of spice anywhere in sight. Every relationship I write in this month's story is (queer)platonic or familial. No exceptions.

So I sat down yesterday and generated a new ensemble cast post-apocalyptic fantasy concept that is fully and unapologetically focused on found family. (I know me, and this will probably be a long series, and down the line there will probably be a couple of queer romances on the side if only because the cast will probably grow exponentially. But among the 6 main characters? No romance. Because I deserve some self-indulgence after surviving 2020 and COVID-19 haha)

Anyway, that's basically it. Goal is 50k on this project (including both planning and prose) by the end of the month.

Current Progress: 11,159/50,000 (22%)

• Idea generation
• Freewrite
• Plot sketch
• Worldbuilding
• Magic system
• Character sheets
• Season 1 outline
  
• Episode 1 outline
• Draft episode 1

Like I said, this is self-indulgent AF, and I am LOVING it. I plan to finish prep work tomorrow and get started on the draft by Friday. Not sure yet exactly how I'm going to structure it. I'm thinking a serialized format with 15-25k words per episode, but I won't settle on that until I get through the outlining steps. I'm trying not to think too far ahead about how I might release this. The point is to have fun and write something for me.

Until next time, and here's hoping I can keep up the momentum!

Oh no! Glad you're feeling better.

I love the idea of KPIF. Platonic and family relationships are just as important! One of my goals this year is to write better friendships between characters and not just half baked romantic subplots, lol.

Feb 4, 2021 20:20:54 GMT -5 Mel said:

Oh no! Glad you're feeling better.

I love the idea of KPIF. Platonic and family relationships are just as important! One of my goals this year is to write better friendships between characters and not just half baked romantic subplots, lol.

Thank you!

Platonic relationships are great, and they're so much more natural for me to write, seeing as I have to write romance by more or less piecing together what information I've picked up second-hand haha. So my romance plot lines always end up feeling a little half-baked to me. Like, romance in stories is great. I enjoy it from time to time, and I enjoy using it to make readers happy (when I can pull it off.) But it can be tiring, especially since it's rare for me to get personally invested. (Thus the self-indulgent "don't worry about that right now; just write what you know" approach this month.) But friendships are awesome, too, and I love when other writers go out of their way to give platonic relationships the same love and attention as romances. So feel free to steal or adapt the KPIF idea! (And if you ever need prompts, I'm sure I can dig up some platonic prompt lists I've used and loved in the past.  )

Glad you are feeling better.

I'm glad you found something to write that makes you excited! I know KWIF isn't for everyone.

And sometimes, writing something self indulgent is just needed (and fun).

Oh man, I really feel this. Romance is so hard when you're on the ace/aro part of the spectrum! I hope it's going well.