Year in Review – 2017

Can you believe we’re almost into the year 2018? It’s like I blinked and suddenly my year was gone!

2017 was a flurry of activity for me, both in my writing life and in my personal life. However, as this is my writing blog, I will concentrate on my writing victories. My friend L.J. Cohen, author of some awesome YA Science fiction (Derelict is my favorite), got me started on this annual assessment of my writing time.

For those who don’t know the rules, this is where I look at what I projected to have done in 2017 and see what flopped and what managed to get finished. So! What did I say I wanted done in 2017?

1)  Final edits on Usurper – Not only was this done, I got it in to the publisher and it

went through 2 more edits with in-house editors and is scheduled for release on February 1st.

 

2)  2nd Edit of Dead Weight – A big green check mark here.

3)  Begin Song of Swans – I am slowly making my way through this novel. It has been started and I am looking at a longer timeframe to get it completed in because the story is so big.

4) 1st Edit of Ashwood – Currently I am neck-deep in revisions for this novel. A lot is changing so this is the more intensive edit and I believe I will be working on it well into 2018.

5) Outline Inmate 87101 – Nope. Not a jot. Double Red XX Marks on this one. I didn’t even think about this novel.

OK… So 4 out of 5 of my goals were met. I’m going to call that a win.

What’s in store for 2018?

Well, in the Spring I am looking at a big move and once that happens I will be looking at a lot more writing time. With that in mind, I have big plans for 2018.

Big, intimidating plans.

Plans that might bite me in the batoosh before the year is over, but I will do my best to get them done.

1) Complete Ashwood edits 1-3 and begin shopping it around. This is my paranormal romance ghost story… thing. I wrote it for NaNoWriMo 2016 and enjoyed telling a love story amidst all that weird ghosty-mayhem.

2) Complete Dead Weight and release it the Fall. This is the sequel to Tapped. It follows our hodge-podge family of military deserters and religious refugees introduced in the first book.

Also, there will be a 2nd Edition of the original Tapped novel released sometime in the summer. My intention is to give a Fact vs. Fiction version that has some of the research for Pluto/Europa and our solar system in the back. This is purely for fun. Nothing major will change in the story.

3) First Draft – Song of Swans. I am calling this my long project because it is so big, but I hope to have it finished by the end of April.

4) First Draft – The 13th Month. I cannot wait to get my hands on this book. It has been simmering in the back of my head for a while now and I will begin it June.

5) First Draft – Inmate. This is the third installment of the Tapped Series. I will begin work on it in October and finish out the year with it.

Also! In relation to the Tapped Series, I have begun outlining and exploring books/novellas that will span the Galactic Wars and show our intrepid Tango Five in action. I’ll know more about these as I work.

Essentially, I’m looking at 3 first drafts and 3 completed novels, giving me a total of 6 projects done by the end of the year.

Bring it on, 2018.