New Year, New Novels, New Plans

Happy New Year to you. I hope 2016 has been good to you so far.

This is going to be a great year, as we’ve got one extra day to make it awesome. I was actually born in a leap year, so I find them to be wonderful.

Last year was fine, but not quite up to my expectations in terms of sales and production. I got a lot of writing done (429,000 words; yes, I kept a tally), but I didn’t get as much published as I would like.

I set goals that focused on daily word counts, but they didn’t actually factor in editing and production time. So, a lot of the writing I got done didn’t get sent out into the world. So, this year, I’ve decided to focus less on just writing — daily word counts–and more on overall project production.

When mapping out my plan for the new year, I decided to focus on the projects I have, and when I’d get them out the door. So, I’ve got a loose production calendar, with the goal of getting five books out this year: the three book Virus series, a book called Scented and a mystery book. All the books are YA except the mystery. The virus series is dystopian, so fans of Life First should enjoy it.  Scented, is different, but a lot of fun. It’s paranormal.  The good news is, I’ve got a lot of content due to my heavy writing last year. The first two books in the virus series are done, though the third book needs to be rewritten (I started it as my NaNoWriMo project and had a horrible time with it). Scented is about three-quarters written, and just needs to be pulled together and filled out. So, the only thing I’ve got to write from scratch is my mystery.

I’ve been writing under a pseudonym and hope to put out two books under that name this year, which is a fairly minimal commitment, as the first book is about 90 percent complete, so it would just call for writing one additional book for that pseudonym. However, I’ve got a rough outline for that.

I’m feeling really good about 2016 being an excellent year. I think it’s all going to come together well, as I’ve finally figured out how to plot a writing and editing schedule that maximizes output and productivity. I intend on producing fewer words, but getting more titles out this year. My writing schedule should also allow for me to get out some titles next year that I’ll have written this year.

So, what are you planning for 2016? Do you have good feelings about this new year? Or am I just overly excited about my extra day?