Welcome to June and the monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group! This month's co-hosts include Murees Dupe, Alexia Chamberlynn, Chemist Ken, and Heather Gardner. I recently read Susan Kaye Quinn's Indie Author Survival Guide, and it got me thinking about how I should plan my long-career as an indie author. One of the goals I decided on was to publish at least two books a year through 2020. This will allow me to build a backlist, complete a series or two, and establish a reliable schedule to keep fans happy. In a few years, I'll reassess how my career is doing and decide if I should change my strategy. I already published one book this year and hope to publish Fifth Season, the next book in the Season Avatars series, by the end of this year. Once my son's birthday party is done, I'll read the rough draft and start revisions. It's going to be challenging to keep this pace up for an extended period of time while continuing to improve my craft and fulfilling all of my other obligations. Of course, have I ever backed down from such a challenge?
There will be trade-offs required to meet this goal. These trade-off may include focusing on certain projects at the expense of others. For example, I came up with an idea for a short story after coming home from WisCon. I'm not a natural short story writer, probably because I read many, many more novels than I do short stories. I may still put this project on the back burner, along with several other short stories in progress, and work on it in between novels. However, I think in order to meet my goals, I'll have to develop longer projects and prioritize them.
Have you ever had to trade off writing projects? If so, what were your reasons? Feel free to share them in the comments.
Misha Gericke has a similar plan. I admire your dedication.
ReplyDeleteTrade off on projects? Like between writing or not writing? Yeah, sad huh? My goals have more to do with the IWSG and my music, although I'm still toying with writing more short stories.
It's all about the long term, eh? I've got a plan but it's not been going quite how I anticipated--physical complications. I have SO many stories sitting on the backburner that have had to wait because of deadlines. So many. It all comes down to deadlines these days.
ReplyDeleteI have a big project that is waiting patiently for me to finish some other, smaller projects first. It's a little bit frustrating. The upside is that I think this big project will continue growing and developing in the back of my mind over the next few years. Hopefully it will benefit from that extra gestation time.
ReplyDeleteWe're on the same wavelength! I'm trying for one book a year, which is pretty ambitious given my day job and my children. But, yes, it *does* mean that I have to trade off projects. Even though I have some other stories I'd like to explore, they are staying on the back burner until I'm "finished" with my superhero stuff, since it's the stuff that has an audience at this point. It can be like trying to choose between your children!
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Balancing Act
I'm always trading one chore for another in order get ahead or meet a deadline, but when it comes to writing, I write toward what excites me first.
ReplyDeleteI tend to always finish what I start so if I start a novel I have to finish it, even if other chores are waiting for me.
I publish two books a month, though they aren't as long as yours so maybe that doesn't really count.
ReplyDeleteYou have to do what works for you and also makes sense. I'm still trying to juggle stuff but I know I need to prioritize.
ReplyDeleteAs JL (above wrote) you have to do what's right for you. I've been publishing 2 books a year--one mystery and one sci-fi romance. Considering how far into the year we are, I don't think that's going to happen this year. Oh, well.
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