I’ve been working on my new series all year and I’ve realised I made one significant mistake.
I didn’t set myself any deadlines.
I see this as the main reason why I haven’t published at least the first book of the series by now. I had no date to stick to, so I’ve been doing a bunch of other things as well and slowly plugging away at the novels. Nothing to Fear has been structurally edited and I’m working through the feedback at the moment. I’ve also ordered a cover for it, which I’m looking forward to revealing as soon as I get it. But I still have to get it copyedited and I’m searching for a copyeditor now. All of this should have been booked in months ago so I had deadlines.
The next book in the series, Nothing to Gain, has been written, but I still need to edit it, and I’ve started thinking about the plot for the third book Nothing to Hide.
I’m going away on a writers’ retreat soon and I need to decide what I will focus on. Editing, writing, plotting… I have a couple of interviews lined up with professionals who can help me make sure the information in my stories is correct, but aside from that, I don’t know what I’ll work on. I’m a little overwhelmed.
Part of me wants to start on something new while I’m on the retreat. I’ll have uninterrupted hours with no internet to get a lot of words written – but I’m not entirely sure what book 3 is going to be about. And if I’m going to get any of the series out this year, I need to finish the edits on Nothing to Fear and book in my copyeditor.
OK, so writing this blog post has really clarified things for me. I need to set new goals – as soon as I’ve hired a copyeditor and proofreader I’ll set a release date and put it on to the website. And while I’m at it, I’ll book my structural editor in to edit book 2. No more messing about, deadlines here I come!
