Okay, so, I’m not doing too much lately besides writing. I’m 21k into the second book of my duet, and I’m liking the story. The loose ends I left in book one are just enough to anchor book two, and I have a pretty good idea of where the book needs to go and how it’s going to end. I don’t always have the end scene in my head when I’m starting out, and I need to get back to doing that. It makes things a lot easier for me.
In the spirit of planning, I bought a large grid calendar for 2022.
I want to start planning out my releases and along with the releases, figure out a launch plan for each one. Tentatively, for 2022, I’m going to release book one of my duet in March or April, release the other one in about 10 weeks after that, a standalone that I’ve already written 10 weeks after that, and a billionaire Christmas novel in November because I’ve never done a novel specifically for Christmas and I would have plenty of time to write it.
That brings me to my releases for 2023, and all those books are written (though I will need to proof them, format them, and do the covers), and as I release my six book series during that time, I’ll finish the other series I started (two books in, four to go).
It feels good to have a plan, and the schedule of three-four books a year will give me breathing room to keep writing. I never want to be in a position where I write and release, write and release. That’s too much pressure to keep consistency going, and I would feel better to stay ahead in case something happens and I can’t write. To keep a schedule going requires motivation, discipline, and organization and that is something I’m going to work on in the years ahead. Banking books has helped, but I have to admit, the thought of dumping them all on Amazon has an appeal.
I’m still working through some of the 20booksto50k videos on YouTube from their giant conference in Las Vegas in November. My favorite one so far has been with Sarah Noffke. She really is so inspiring. I think I might have mentioned once before, but if I have and you haven’t watched it, I hope you do. It’s worth your 45 minutes!
There are still a lot of amazing presentations I want to listen to, but because I have such terrible tunnel vision, the only things I’ve been working on right now are book two of my duet and this blog. I’ve missed some webinars, and I need to watch the one I paid for via Jane Friedman and her courses. There was another one that I signed up to watch live, but because I was writing when Zoom notified me it was beginning, I skipped it, too, but luckily it’s part of the Author’s Guild Business Bootcamps for Writers, and you can watch the replay on YouTube here. Also if you want notifications of when things like this happen, bookmark this site!
What am I loving this week?
Two things about editing caught my eye, one is the course hosted by Jane Friedman with Tiffany Yates Martin. I love anything that involves Tiffany, and I signed up for this course right away. I hope I can watch it live. There are so many people who are “editors” these days, some have a legit business, while others offer the service when they shouldn’t be editing a gallon of milk. (Hey, if your book has a review that says you have typos and/or grammar and spelling issues, you shouldn’t be offering to edit someone else’s work–especially if you intend to charge them for it. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.) With that said, even if you find someone who knows what they’re doing, you may not know if they are a good fit for you. Hiring an editor is an investment in your book and your business and you don’t want to waste that money! Take a look at this class about finding an editor that is a good fit for you!
If you want to register you can do so here.
The other thing that pertains to editing is Roz Morris’s blog post on dealing with feedback and accepting developmental edits for your book. Getting edits back at all can be really hard on any writer, myself included. A while back I did my own blog post on how I reacted to feedback, and you can read it here. I’ll probably be all about editing for the next little while because even though I’ll be jumping right into a reader magnet (no really, I can’t keep going without one) I have a lot of books to edit and in the words of Elana Johnson, package, in the next little while.
It’s nice to be busy, and I’ll be more careful than I have in the past with lists and trying to be organized. If I find something that works, I will pass it on to you!
Have a great weekend ahead, and I hope you find these resources helpful!
Thanks for reading!
Vania Margene Rheault 