Happy Holidays! Did the holiday season pass as quickly for you as it did for me? I’m as busy as ever and have been working hard on preparation for 2024. I recently watched a YouTube video from the 20 books to 50k group called The Power of Focus. I recommend you watch it if you have trouble focusing on tasks throughout the day. I made some changes as a result of watching it and hope to see the benefits over time. The video serves more as a reminder of things I’ve heard before. It’s not new, but it’s still great.
I am back into rock climbing. Last night one of my friends asked me to climb and we lead climbed for three hours. It was so nice to think about nothing but the climb. I don’t know if I’ll improve a ton at my age, but I love it.
My own fitness has taken a back seat. Mostly because I don’t have any real goals. All my energy is tied up in getting books out so I can eventually be a full-time writer. I’m hoping to get 20% of my income from my books by the end of next year and in five years be at 100% so it’s my only required job. I don’t think I’d give up running fitness classes / PT. For now, the exercise I get running classes and rock climbing will have to do.
Writing Status
Writing and editing are going well. I worked hard on Christmas Day and Boxing day to edit over 50 pages (not so good pages I’ll admit) to hit the Boxing Day deadline for the Developmental editor for the book currently titled Unlocking the Dead. Although I’ll be changing that title.
My goal of publishing five books next year seems almost unrealistic with how much work it is. But I’m hoping with enough daily focus I can do all the things I need to do. In the end, I think I’d be happy with three published novels by the end of 2024.
Books on the Go
The Genesis Project:
Cover Art: The first draft of the cover art came back and went through reviews. It needed a lot of work so it’s off with the artist for round 2.
Manuscript: I received the copy edited draft and will begin going through edits tonight. Once I’ve completed edits, I will be moving to book formatting.
Unlocking the Dead:
Manuscript: Currently with a Developmental Editor. Should be getting it back January 5th. Then I’ll go through it and start working on the next major revision for the book.
Knights of Truipis:
Manuscript: The first draft is completed. I’ll begin working on the second draft after Genesis and Unlocking the Dead is complete.
Armageddon’s Descendants – Book 1: The Collective
Manuscript: The first draft is complete. I will be working on plotting the second and third book before sending this book out to a copy editor in case changes are needed. I expect to be working on the outline for this in late January.
Date of Death:
Manuscript: I’ve reached 42,000 words int he first draft of the manuscript. I expect it might be half way.
As always, I’ll leave you with some December dogs (and cats)!
