Setting Goals
I often have friends and other authors ask how I get so much written. A simple answer is because I'm a writer and that's what I do.
Though I don't write down my goals they are fixed in my mind.
I write two series, so I must write two books a year.
This is how it works:
At the end of the month or the beginning of next, I have a new book coming out in my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series called Invisible Path. I am planning the book launch for it right now, including a blog tour.
I have another Deputy Tempe Crabtree done which I'm now reading chapter by chapter to my critique group. When I'm done with that I will do a final and thorough edit and send it off to Mundania Press for fall of 2011.
I'm in the process of writing another Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel. When I am through with the chapter by chapter reading of the Tempe book with my critique group, I'll start reading the new RBPD novel to them.
In the meantime, I'll be thinking about a topic and hopefully something about the Indians or the reservation around me that I can incorporate into another Tempe Crabtree mystery. I've already collected a few ideas but have nothing definite yet.
The same thing with the Rocky Bluff P.D. stories. All year long I collect ideas about police officers and their families, unusual crimes, things that happen in beach communities. Ideas begin to perk, so when the time comes, I'll have a head start on another book.
Of course I'll be taking time out to go to book festivals, giving library and bookstore talks, places where I can talk about and sell my books. Even then, when hubby and I are driving I run ideas by him and we brainstorm.
On these trips, besides having the opportunity to meet new and interesting people, I usually get to see author friends--something I really look forward to.
When I get up in the morning, I already know what I'm going to do. (Yes, I include housework, cooking, sometimes having to go to town to shop--or just taking a day off to go to a movie.)
No, things don't always work out like I'd planned--but they do often enough for me to accomplish my goals for the year. Remember, I'm a writer, so I write.
Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com
Though I don't write down my goals they are fixed in my mind.
I write two series, so I must write two books a year.
This is how it works:
At the end of the month or the beginning of next, I have a new book coming out in my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series called Invisible Path. I am planning the book launch for it right now, including a blog tour.
I have another Deputy Tempe Crabtree done which I'm now reading chapter by chapter to my critique group. When I'm done with that I will do a final and thorough edit and send it off to Mundania Press for fall of 2011.
I'm in the process of writing another Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel. When I am through with the chapter by chapter reading of the Tempe book with my critique group, I'll start reading the new RBPD novel to them.
In the meantime, I'll be thinking about a topic and hopefully something about the Indians or the reservation around me that I can incorporate into another Tempe Crabtree mystery. I've already collected a few ideas but have nothing definite yet.
The same thing with the Rocky Bluff P.D. stories. All year long I collect ideas about police officers and their families, unusual crimes, things that happen in beach communities. Ideas begin to perk, so when the time comes, I'll have a head start on another book.
Of course I'll be taking time out to go to book festivals, giving library and bookstore talks, places where I can talk about and sell my books. Even then, when hubby and I are driving I run ideas by him and we brainstorm.
On these trips, besides having the opportunity to meet new and interesting people, I usually get to see author friends--something I really look forward to.
When I get up in the morning, I already know what I'm going to do. (Yes, I include housework, cooking, sometimes having to go to town to shop--or just taking a day off to go to a movie.)
No, things don't always work out like I'd planned--but they do often enough for me to accomplish my goals for the year. Remember, I'm a writer, so I write.
Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com
Comments