Writing Update – January 7, 2015

Almost wrote 2014 into the title of this post! I am still not on 2015 time yet :) So I have a few things to talk about today about my current writing situation. Let me just make points on each.

I am trying to write 1000-1500 words per day for all of 2015. I know, crazy, right? I'm allowing myself to bank words and to take off a few days per month but that's about it. I'd like to have around 350k – 400k worth of stories written by the end of of 2015 so I can go into 2016 with plenty of material for publication.

I am not writing anything that I won't publish. If I don't think a project will go anywhere, I'm abandoning it before it gets too far and moving on. HEAD DOWN AND WRITE.

I've switched around my publishing schedule for the year. I've decided to concentrate on getting Nogiku Book 4 out to readers as soon as possible, so I'm now reading it through and making lots of notes on what needs to happen in the next round of revisions. So far, I'm pretty happy with what I've written. Sanaa is such a different character now than she was in REMOVED. In Book 1, she was young and confident, and her favorite phrase, “No one tells me what I can or cannot do,” was something she lived by. I have slowly beaten that out of her with the last few books. Lol. In Book 4, she is more proactive about her role in society and more willing to do things for others without thinking of herself. She has a few things she wants and keeps, but that's about it. Book 4 is about selflessness and accomplishing goals. It's not about what makes her happy, it's about what makes other people happy. A marked contrast from RELEASED when she was lonely and, because everyone insulated her, she could only think of herself.

The contemporary romance I'm writing (Code Name: Tokyo Run) finally has a new title I'm happy with and is just past the midpoint at 48k. I have outlined the second half of the book and I hope to have it done by the end of January. I'm juggling writing this with read-through-and-revisions of Nogiku Book 4. Tokyo Run will be a stand-alone novel, and I doubt I will do many more series in contemporary romance. I'll save series for my scifi romances. I'm enjoying the story behind Tokyo Run a lot. It's soooooo much simpler than my Nogiku books and it gives my brain a break. I like that I write these two different genres now. Flip-flopping between the two prevents me from burning out.

And that's about it! Lots to do. Lots of writing and revising to happen. And who knows where my brain will take me next :)