I worked a lot during the holidays (Christmas Eve, Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day) and I’m excited for a tour off of vacation later this January. Blah blah blah work is dumb but I’ve been off this tour because I’ve been sick most of the month. I thought I was better last tour, but either it came back or something else hit me when I was down (Not C—- I am borderlining on Strep. I think I may be a strep carrier) but I think at long last this is finishing up. I was supposed to be a lot further ahead on everything and go ice skating at Pineridge Hollow last weekend, so I don’t have time to be sick any longer.
If you are following me on Facebook or Twitter, you know I got the offer for Titan’s Ascent with Champagne Books. I want it to be a series, but if Rogue Healer ends at trilogy I will be happy. I know I said it’s a prequel series, but that’s where Usurper comes in. I think I’m a good enough writer to finally handle the main project the way it was meant to be, but easier said than done.
How I did for end of the year goals:
Finish Clayheart (Nope!)
Edit another book (Nope!)
Self-Publish Underman (Nope!)
Finish Puppeteer Book (Nope!)
But… all of the above can be done relatively fast, with the exception of Puppeteers, because let’s face it it’s a novel and I can tell I’m going to goof around and cut ideas and put them into the second book. The good news is it’s coming together and I really like it. Given that I thought it would be in the shorter to regular novel length and now it’s over 100k, it’s now regular plus.
To put it into perspective:
Tower of Obsidian was just over 110k
Dreams of Mariposa was 77k
Witchslayer’s Scion was around 135k.
I’ll talk book length and all that in a different post; the short of it is that fantasy tends to be more weighty than their other genre counterparts, but I’ve read plenty of literature that’s pushing big lengths too. Different projects require different lengths; Magus Gambit and Titan’s Ascent are both floating around 130k which is as long as Champagne really wants to go, so I’m honouring that.
I can probably get all of the above done by the time I’m done my vacation in January. Now, assuming that Titan’s Ascent won’t be a thing for a few months, I can then focus on other projects. Clearly a signed project with a deadline and everything will take precedence, but there should be time before I get into those edits.
The other goals I had were fitness and finance – my plantar fasciitis is getting better finally (I suspect it’s actually moved on to heel bursitis, but even that is clearing up) and I’ve been working out pretty consistently. I read somewhere that carbonated beverages affects arthritis – now whatever is in my toe is probably that and I don’t drink that much soda besides as mix, so I’ll just have to make daiquiris. Finance could be better but I’m not any worse off – well, other than I bought a car but I knew I had to replace my previous one.
How about I aim for the above projects to be done besides me being fru-fru fro puppeteers for end of January, and for 2023 (Writing/Artsy):
Learn to draw horses well
Rewrite Usurper and send it to Champagne.
I asked my publisher what she’d like, and she gave me a few ideas for a Wish List, so let’s see if I can’t do that.
Self Publish Derelict Knights (Novel). If Magus’ Gambit goes ahead for Spring, then we’ll post Derelict Knights for Fall. If MG is later in the year, just have it ready to go but wait at least 3 months for it. I’m honestly cool waiting for 2024.
Start Either Puppeteers 2 or Rogue Healer 4. Or just kind of do both.
Find three shorts markets with ideas that interest me and submit the shorts I write for them. (One is already done!)
Revise Puppeteers Draft. This will take a while; assuming I finish it during vacation I like to let the drafts percolate for three months then go back and be hard on them.
I think I also found a decent publisher for my steampunk MG books, so get that done for their submission window, which is the summer.
Busy busy, plus like I said I need to get over the sniffles. Take care in the meantime.
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