Okay, here it goes: I am a scatterbrain. All the books I read, the shows I watch, the half-finished projects laid by the wayside... It was something of a miracle to actually have somebody to work side-by-side with me on getting Princess of Undersea published, because, knowing me, I am fairly certain it would not have happened without somebody telling me, "Okay, if we want to get published by this date, you need to have XY and Z done by this date." Somebody who knows the ins and outs of the process, and who can stay on task and keep me accountable.
Now that it's done... What next?
"So is this going to be a series? What about a sequel?"
Boy, am I getting this question a LOT! Well,
it was technically supposed to be part of a group anthology, so other
people are re-telling other fairy tales... So: No, I was not intending
this particular novella to be a series all on my own.
However..
The only thing ruling out a sequel right now is the fact that the last
thing a scatterbrain like me needs is to start a WHOLE NEW idea when I
have so many unfinished already. Because, as anybody who has watched the
Suggestion Box series unfold knows, I am fully capable of coming up
with a feasible and compelling plot in literally seconds, so no issues there—FINISHING
something, on the other hand, only happens when I can convince myself
that there is a good reason to focus on that ONE thing, prioritizing it
above all others.
Yeah, so that's rare.
"What's Next?"
At this point, all of the half-started projects that I "really ought to get back to" are:
The Prince and The Rose (and various other sundry "flash fictions")
Now,
out of those, only a few are actually close to finishing. The
Commander's Courage has only 3 more chapters to go. The Water-Man has 4.
The Prince and the Rose has 3 more parts, which will certainly be
shorter than actual chapters. The Amazon Triangle is possibly the
longest, since I am at this point a full 9 chapters from the end, at least according to the plan I made. The
Last Inkweaver and Merely Meredith are both needing rewrites, though
some part of me just wants to get through the last 6 chapters of the
pre-planned plot in the latter before I resort to going back and dissecting it. Then
there is also the short story I am writing for a charity anthology this
year, somewhat based on a previous story I wrote, but updated with elements from this other story to give it a more sci-fi feel!
Resolution: Finish Forward!
In the interest of accountability and helping myself keep focus and make progress, I believe the best thing for me is to take all these projects and make them the "Focus of the Month," at least as far as the next six months are concerned. For example:
January: Commander's Courage (And perhaps "The Prince and The Rose", if I finish Commander's Courage quick enough)
February: The Water-Man (Sorry to those who are only on my blog and won't really get to actually see the progress on this one... but Wattpad is free and you can have an account and just be a reader, that's fine! We will still appreciate you!)
March: "The Starborn Legacy" (the anthology story I mentioned; this is the only one with a deadline, so I thought I would give myself enough time to get it read and edited before it has to be submitted)
April: The Amazon Triangle (Again, not going to see this one on the blog much, since I have it going on Wattpad...)
May: Merely Meredith (At last! Man... I will feel so good if I can actually manage this, because that will mean I have FINISHED no less than 4 stories by this point!
So what does this mean for YOU, my followers/readers??
Now you know what I plan to do--help me stick to it! I want to get back to blogging more often... I sort of stopped doing it over the month of December because of releasing "Princess of Undersea"... Did you miss me? Let me know!
Currently, my plan is to have regularly-scheduled "Writing Check" posts, where I update you all on how the stories are going. Now as for which day that would be, that depends on what else I would be writing in conjunction with these. What else besides excerpts or check-ins do you want to see? More How To posts? Other articles or Top 10 Lists? Would you be interested in seeing the Clan of Outcasts series continue on Saturdays? Give your input in the comments, or on my Facebook page. And please do continue to leave comments, share the posts you're interested in, and help me keep focused and stay faithful to my resolution! I really appreciate the help; I really wouldn't be writing much without your support!
Here goes everything-or-nothing!
Catch You Further Upstream!
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