Goals for 2015: Introduction

Well, it’s that time of the year when I start working on my resolutions for next year. One of the keys here is an article written by Dean Wesley Smith a little while ago, about writing speeds, and paradoxically, the answer I’ve been seeking to increase my output might actually be writing a little more slowly. At the moment, I write in long bursts, with gaps in between; this year, I managed seven novels writing that way. Next year, the plan is to concentrate on writing an average of three thousand words a day, every day - to put that into context, that is about two hours work at the keyboard. The rest of the time I can spend editing, researching, planning, or just thinking.

Which leads me to my primary goal for the year - to publish one million words of material. This is at least theoretically attainable, though I won’t be disappointed if I don’t make it. As the old saying goes, ‘a man’s reach must exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?’ I agree completely with that - aiming for a million and falling short by a quarter of that is still ten good novels in the year. Having said that, though, I would like to try for it, and I think that it is possible. The key to this business is to sit at the keyboard and do the work - and that might be easy to say, but it often is very, very hard, especially when there is that blank screen in front of me.

I know I said this last year, but I intend to blog more often than I have, at least once, preferably twice a week - I’m going to set a target of eighty non-book release posts for the year. Having said that, I still intend only to write when I actually have something to say - I’m not planning to provide constant status reports of my writing targets, though I likely will do ‘end of month’ reports. I want to write a little more about the craft than I have, especially with some of the other things I am planning for 2015, so hopefully I will manage to come up with something interesting.

Last year, I tried a fantasy novel, ‘Swords of the Damned’, and while I’m proud of it, the book hasn’t exactly set the world on fire. I’ve been thinking a lot about writing fantasy novels lately, but if I’m truly honest, I haven’t got anything in mind that is singing to me, at least not at the moment. A few concepts, but nothing that I really feel ready to put into print. That’s something I might consider for 2016, or later. It’s strange, because I would actually like to write fantasy, but whenever it comes to the concept and development stage, I can’t manage anything that really satisfies me. I am intending to branch out into a new genre, having said that, with a release potentially as early as the end of February - for more on that, take a look at my post on Saturday.

Just as last year - though I am hoping with considerably more accuracy - there will be three pages of posts on my writing plans for the year, with what I have in mind for Alamo this year coming tomorrow. Last year, I planned to write four novels and ended up with five, so there at least I exceeded my targets - though the less said about Spitfire Station and Adventures Dark and Deep the better, I think! Rest assured, Alamo will go on, and while I will be going into a little more detail tomorrow (well, a lot more detail, having to fill up a whole post) the short version is that you can continue to expect an Alamo novel every other month during 2015 - which means six next year, building nicely - four in 2013, five in 2014, six in 2015!

As for the rest, well, there is a post that might come as a bit of a surprise on Saturday, and on Sunday I’ll be looking at the ‘bits’ - projects that I am currently seriously considering, but which might not get beyond the ‘pilot’ stage. I do intend to get another science fiction book series going next year, though a lot of the specifics are still not nailed down - more on that on Sunday. So, coming tomorrow - the fate of the Battlecruiser Alamo…

1 comment:

  1. Pheeeew! I'm worn out just reading that lot. Try not to work too hard, all work and no fun makes Rick grouchy!

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