Many of us have that moment when we commit ourselves to a goal that feels impossible. For me, that high goal is publishing books. I decided that I would pick one of my books in progress to publish by fall of 2018. The Dark Prince is my pick. I will share regular updates on my progress and thoughts. Right now, The Dark Prince has 11,297 words. I have to produce roughly 20,000 words a month to finish a rough draft of approximately 150,000 words by January of 2018. My goal will be broken down by the week. Every week I need to write at least 5000 words.
Along the journey of publishing my first book, I am working on solidifying my author identity. What genres do my books fit in? How long will I continue to write The Alter Mysteries: Death Shadow? What are the common content and grammatical issues my work exhibits? How can I improve my product? I am following fellow writers who give tips on how to improve your writing, like Joanna Penn at her blog, The Creative Penn. Even the use of programs like Grammarly can help with honing the writing craft. With every question, I search for a solution. We might not get all the answers we seek quickly, but patience is a huge component of passion. Sometimes what we pursue is not easy, but by doggedly pursuing our goals we achieve knowledge that can help us along the way.
Whenever I feel confident about my work I go back to edit it again. In my opinion, a dose of humility goes a long way toward improvement. Criticism can be used to make our craft better. Few people would be amazing right out the gate with their craft. Perfection is an impossible result, but making things the best we can is within reach. A part of my process is holding myself accountable by doing research, listening to feedback, and posting my goals publicly. Maybe you can work towards your goals too by breaking them down into simpler steps day-by-day. Asking yourself what you can do to improve is a crucial part of making your dreams reality.
If you have any questions or tips, feel free to leave a comment below. Thank you for following my blog.
[…] fall out of line with our inspiration. The last time I wrote an update about The Dark Prince was May 8th, since then my plans have changed in unexpected ways. I wrote far more for The Alter Mysteries than […]