A Round of Words in 80 Days

I'm contemplating participating in A Round of Words in 80 Days, sponsored by Kate Nolan. The idea is to set a word (or other accomplishment) goal to be done in 80 days, four times a year. I think she's got a great idea, and if I can pull myself into focus for these short but realistic periods, I might be able to advance my writing career a little. The first one doesn't start until January 3, so I'll be figuring out the goal between now and then. We'll see.

Setting New Goals—What Comes Next?

Okay, I have two new novels written, what’s next? I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of trouble taking the next step. I’ve written nine novels and one play script since 2004. Yeah. Cool huh?

One novel has been published. For Blood or Money was published in 2008 by Long Tale Press. One novel has been polished and submitted to one agent. Gutenberg’s Other Book won second prize for thriller in the PNWA Literary Competition this year. It is time to start sending it to more publishers/agents now. The first of those will go out this weekend. I need to put this on a schedule of one submission per week until someone bites and puts this up. If it has not been picked up by March, I’m taking it private and will self-publish. It will be available next summer one way or another.

I have a rewrite to do on the play, an adaptation from two of my novels, Steven George & The Dragon and Steven George & The Terror. Those were NaNoWriMo novels in 2007 and 2008. They’ve got good bones, and if the play is picked up for production in 2011-12 season, I’d like the books available by the time we go into production. Those are definitely self-publish eligible.

So, priorities. What do I do first? (Especially when I’m already thinking of another novel idea in the back of my head. Down boy!)

1. Weekly submissions of Gutenberg’s Other Book shouldn’t be that difficult to orchestrate.
2. Polish first 25 pages of The Volunteer and prepare it for two submissions. This summer I had an editor express an interest in it, so I’ll send it to him. And it will be my entry into this year’s PNWA Literary Competition. Both should be ready by YE2010.
3. Finish polishing The Volunteer over the course of the next few months so that it is ready to hand over if I get a request at the next PNWA conference or from the editor. This should be top writing priority.
4. Start putting the two Stn. George novels in shape for publication by fall. They should be ready for Holiday season 2011.

Well, the question now is whether I can exercise the discipline it takes to focus on “only” these tasks, while writing blog articles, stories, and presentations that might mean actual payment for work instead of bread and water. Here’s hoping.

EDIT: 12/11/2010 As to number three, I've accelerated that item to have a polished draft before Christmas because I have an editor request to see it over the holidays. That should simplify my objectives for the next two weeks!

2010 NaNoWriMo is Victory 7 & 8

Well, It's all done. I finished both "The Volunteer" and "Stocks & Bondage." Here is the wordmap for "Stocks & Bondage":

And here is the wordmap for "The Volunteer":

Grand total of 101,000 words plus change.