Forgive the Pun: I’m Booked!

This post isn’t really for anyone other than myself, but feel free to read along as I try to manage the chaos that is 9PM on a Wednesday. I make planning fun!

My current class at SNHU is having us schedule all of our writing time so that we can keep tabs on how much content we write/create over the span of the quarter.

I have personally set a goal to write 600 new words a day. A small feat for some, maybe. However I am factoring in things like work, family, social media/platform building, and planning for new content.

I’m two days in. What have I accomplished so far? Well, besides listening to the Lord of the Rings Soundtrack about twelve times…

I have managed to stick with my goal. I’ve found it to be a very reachable goal.

And 600 words a day at two months will be an additional 36,000 words.

Now why is that number important?

I’m currently sitting atop of 55,200 words. Yes, two days ago I had 54,000 words. If I stick to this goal I should have a 95,000 word manuscript by the end of March/Early April. This is perfect because I’ve already reached some of the major milestones of the text so far.

You should also know that this is one of the final drafts I am working on. The first seven were really building up to this one. This is the one I will send to editors/beta readers/ agents, and yes, maybe even publishers.

Or you know, I might turn the whole system on its head and try for the whole self-publishing fad. I’ve seen/heard from many sources that this is the recommend for debut novels, especially in a series.

All jokes aside, I actually do respect the publishing business as a whole. The whole reason this platform exists is that one day an agent or publisher may give me a chance. I am going to actively pursue the traditional route. However, I also have no qualms with self-publishing. I know of authors who make steady salaries through this option. There really has never been a better time to be a writer.

What I mean is there are a myriad of options out there for someone like me. I enjoy this thing I do. So much so that I am willing to keep to a strict schedule as I try to adhere to it.

And speaking of schedules…

I want to stick to a weekly schedule with posting content here. See? This is what I meant about this post being for me. But it was fun including you. I had some ideas about this. What if I broke each month into 6 day increments?

Increment 1: Fantasy Posts: This is where I will talk about the fantasy genre as a whole. I will muse about some of the things I enjoy, and some things that I think can be vastly improved on.

Increment 2: Ranked Lists: Like them or love them, I really enjoy ranked lists. And since there are so many to choose from in terms of the genre, I think this would be something I’d like to pursue over the week. For example: Check out next month when I discuss all nine Tarantino movies. That’s right, if there’s one guy who knows how to make a movie feel like a fantasy, it’s Tarantino.

Increment 3: Featured Post: This will be the big one. Most likely it will include original work. I will most likely be sticking to placing my characters in situations that won’t be found in the main novel, but still have merit as something that could happen on the side. If you’ve ever seen the greatest episode of Avatar The Last Airbender entitled: “The Tales of Ba Sing Se” then you know what I mean. Fantasy vignettes using characters that I am still rounding out as real, lifelike characters.

Increment 4: Book Review: I had great success with my book review of Hannah Tinti’s novel The Good Thief. I say great success because she actually retweeted me and said she enjoyed the review. *wipes tears. (Thank you Miss Tinti, Thank you!) So I was thinking of doing more book reviews. Next month I’d like to take a look at a lesser known Stephen King book called The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. I say lesser known because as of this moment the book doesn’t have a film yet. But I hear that is soon to change.

Increment 5: Wild Card: I’m actually planning on reserving this spot for analyzing fantasy movies/tv shows/video games, etc. I also might include a little fanfiction (every writer does it, okay) and I might even give just general updates about my journey so far.

So if this sounds like a good author plan for producing content, and if you’ve bothered to read this far, be sure to leave a comment. As always, you could win yourself a totally fab gift card at the end of the month for participating.

I thank you oh wonderful readers. And the writing community in general. I’m learning so much from all of you on this journey, and I hope you can tolerate my sense of humor along the way.

Hey…little girl that’s probably a hundred right now…shut up.

Peace out! Write strong, write long, write on.