Writing Year in Review
I started 18 new Scrivener Projects in 2012. This shows a lot of restraint on my part. (I have double that and change in my 2011 writing folder)
- That breaks down to 5 novel projects, and 13 short story projects.
- Novels this year (numbers are rounded for expediency):
- 102k on Sam Kane Book 2 (Cold as Ice) for a completed draft.
- 118k on Epic Fantasy (working to finish this before year’s end, but that’s where I am as of this writing).
- 43k on Space Opera – this is a decent chunk of the story but I expect the book as a whole to hit around 130k before everything is said and done.
- 3,000 on Sam Kane Book 3 – this comprises the first couple of scenes. I actually have the entire book outlined, but I don’t include those words in the word count.
- 2,000 on Unspecified SciFi Novel Project. I say that because it’s just an idea and I wanted to write it down. My process is that I keep a long running list of story ideas. If something has more meat and substance, I will give it its own Project and type the idea out, maybe even knock out a scene or something – that’s what I did with the ‘unspecified’ project – wrote the opening scenes.
- Total Novel word count for the year: 264,576
- Short stories: 19,092 on various projects. I finished a whopping 2 of those. Sigh.
- According to my spreadsheet, I’ve written 283,668 words of fiction this year. That’s fiction, and doesn’t include blog posts here and abroad.
- With the power of Excel, I can say that I averaged around 750 words a day this year.
Progress:
My Sam Kane novels found an agent but not a home this year. Book 1 is very strong, book 2 is a strong draft but could use a rewrite and book 3 is still mostly just an outline, but the agent took them to market this year and the rejections piled up. No one hated them (or at least, said that they hated them). No one told me to get a life or not to quit my dayjob (um… out of my control?). Comments made include: well written, pro quality, good story, good characters. Rejections included: Not for me right now, not interested at this time, not what I’m looking for right now. So, as rejections go, those aren’t terrible. The books just aren’t what they are looking for at this time. Unfortunately, we’ve gone through everybody on our lists trying to find the books a home and no one is biting, so onto plan b for 2013.
Space Battles came out in April and my short story, First Contact, has been well received. I get a lot of compliments on it and only a few people haven’t liked it (or at least, haven’t liked it and said something somewhere). A couple of reviewers even pointed to it as one of the high points of the anthology, which is nice and pumps up my fragile writer ego.
An Uncommon Collection has only just been released and I don’t know if it’s being sent out to reviewers. My short story is titled Charisma and features the title character who is a sort of relic hunter. On a run through Nevada with just such a relic in her possession, she gets ambushed. She has some secrets up her sleeves, though, and isn’t going to just let the relic be used for evil. I think this is a fast-paced, fun read. You should check it out.
Conversations with my Cat was released at the tail-end of November (the 27th, I believe) and immediately sold 5 copies. December sales have tripled. You can do the math. I know you can ;-). This is a success considering that I had no expectations of selling a whole lot. There is every possibility that word of mouth and my continued marketing efforts will push sales into the mid to high twenties… I consider the entire thing a success for also teaching me about the creation of eBooks, a skill I have wanted to cultivate for some time now. I believe I have a much better understanding of the process and intend to push more work out in the coming year. Plus, I now have a skillset that I can market to other authors who are looking to publish their own works via Kindle and ePub.
2013 Goals
Secure gainful employment. First and foremost on my list.
Do more freelance work. It helps to have that income boost.
Release more fiction. I feel like I’ve been talking about my writing without showing you my writing. That is due mostly to not finding homes for my fiction, so maybe if finding a home isn’t possible, I need to start building my own house and inviting you in. This could mean audio releases, eBooks, etc. Who said hybrid author? *stares at you*
3,000 words a day. Yeah… this is gonna be hard, but I think it’s the next step. If I can do 3,000 words a day, then that’s 90,000 words a month… 1 million words a year… It’ll take serious discipline to accomplish but I am serious about being an author and earning a living doing it, so, yeah… Part of me wants to tally up all the blog posts I’ve written around the web this year and add them to my yearly count just to see where I am… BUT NO! Down that rabbit hole lies madness… MADNESS!
Specific Projects I’d like to complete: Sam Kane Book 2 rewrite/new draft, Sam Kane Book 3 first draft, Space Opera draft, Unspecified SciFi Novel Project draft. Ambitious? Probably. Insane? Who said that? WHO SAID THAT?
There you have it. 2013 should be an interesting year.
~P
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