December is nearing the end which means it’s time to start thinking about the new year. Specifically, goal setting. I have created a printable PDF that you can use to help plan all your writing projects for 2019. For writers I think this is super important because the production of a novel can take a while, from writing to editing to marketing and then publishing its a long journey and it’s important to plan ahead of time. Everyone has different methods for how they like to plan out what books they will write for the year but I provided a template that might help you along the way. I like to plan how many books I am going to write, what dates I am going to be doing each step of the process and then plan what my day to day is going to look like. I’m a pantser so I don’t usually have titles for my books so it usually goes something like this:
Book One: Example
Begin Drafting:01/01/2019
Finish Drafting:02/15/2019
Self Edits:03/02/2019-03/06/2019
With my editor: 03/10/2019-03/22/2019
Revisions: 03/22/2019-04/05/2019
Copy-edits: 04/06/2019-04/23/2019
Marketing and publication: 5/8, 5/10, 5/15, 5/23 Publish: 6/1
Then from there I write all those dates out on my calendar. If you are a plotter you might want to add a extra line for plotting and fill in those dates. When book one is with my editor and when I am letting it rest before self- editing that is when I usually start on book two then I repeat this process. I don’t write what time of the day I’m going to be writing or editing because I always work on my books in the morning before work. This way when I get up I can open my planner, clearly see what I need to do today and get to it. That is how I have found the most success with keeping myself organized. Don’t forget you will also need to plan for days off. I try to take a couple days off a month at least. Taking days off is hard for me but I know it’s important. If you work a lot and you have a family you may have more days off or less time you can spend on writing. That is fine even if you only plan to publish one book this year. Its important to schedule time to write, time to edit and time to market that book. I hope this helps when you are planning for the new year. I‘ve created a printable where I give examples and created templates to help you organize your goals. Sign up for my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dF1a0D . and you will receive it in your email.
Planning so goes in hand when being prolific. I think it also serves as motivation to see goals being accomplished, especially at difficult stages in writing ( whichever stage that may be for that individual writer).
Yes that’s a good point. It feels good to look back and see what you have accomplished.
Here’s to 2019 and getting stuff done… cheers