Fall Quarter Goals

Three months left in 2017!
The year has gone by so fast.

And finally, we are in my favorite time of year...fall and winter.
October = Halloween and DH's Birthday
November = Thanksgiving
December = Christmas
January = New Year and my Birthday

I'm also thinking about my goals for the last quarter of the year. Looking back at my goals for the year, I've accomplished about half of them. Not too bad. Some of the goals have shifted as I started looking at my writing schedule and plans for various books I want to write.

One of the big things for me, is that I'm a plotter. The story has to be planned out from start to finish. I used to write the outline and then start writing the story and taking care of problems as they came along. Now, I write the outline and put it away while I'm working on another project. Then when I'm ready to write the story, I pick up the outline and revise it.

I did this with book #2 in the Durant Brothers series. In fact, just a few days ago, I finished the revised outline and started writing. I did do something I never thought I would do. I used index cards to do the outline revision. (I wrote a little about this in my last blog.) I honestly never thought I would used index cards to do an outline. My first experience with index cards was in high school back during the Dark Ages, and it was not a very good experience. After that, I stayed away from index cards. Even when I started teaching myself how to plot a story, I shied away from them.

But I decided to give them a try when my current way of outlining wasn't working. I laid out all of my major plot points and as I looked at the cards, I immediately saw the problems...an light bulb moment for me. Will I keep using index cards? Probably in some way. I think they will definitely be incorporated into my outline process as I revise the outlines for the next books I plan to write.

So what are my goals for the Fall Quarter?

1. Write book 2 in the Durant Brothers series. (Wes and Emma's story)
2. Revise the outline for book 3 in the Durant Brothers series. (Hank's story which will complete the trilogy, though the problem that seems to have followed them will wreak havoc on Bryant Station and the people who live there.)
3. Revise the outline for Phoenix, Brimstone Heat series book 2.
4. Finish and/or start initial plots for book 2 in the Undead series, Onyx and Diablo's stories for Brimstone Heat, and Bryant Station Curves book 9.
5. Jot down all the ideas swimming in my head for new stories and series.

I realize I may not get to all the items on my list, especially all the outlines I want to do, but I will keep putting them on my goals list until they are complete. I have to get them done because they are some of the books I'm planning to release in 2018.  I have general ideas as to when I want to have each book finished and released. The day job and life tends to put dents into my writing schedule, so that's why when I do give release windows, they are "soft" time frames just in case my writing schedule goes off track. My day job is notorious for sucking time and energy from me, but it's needed to help pay the bills. Gotta have coffee and cat food. LOL!