As an indie author with aspirations for the New Year, I set some resolution goals about writing in 2015. And I had been doing quite well with them, pushing out a few new titles in electronic, paperback, and audio formats and keeping my monthly word count high. I was also posting monthly progress reports like this one. Up until May, that is...
I received orders in April to deploy as an Individual Augmentee (IA) to the Middle East, set to be leaving mid-summer. (Being an IA means it's just me, not the whole unit I am attached to now, being sent for a temporary assignment of several months to take a rotational turn in the hot zone.) This obviously reset my life priorities quite a bit, and therefore threw off my personal goals to make room for my professional commitments.
Then, at the end of July, things changed again, as they often do in the military. Suddenly, just as quickly as I had been snatched up for an intense assignment, I was dropped back down. So the months of training and personal and family preparation that had dominated my life for four months no longer applied. Semper gumby.
In the aftermath, I am attempting to get back on the rails and salvage the remainder of the year.
My initial monthly writing goal was approximately 3,000 a week (figuring 1,000 a day, three times a week), averaging out to 12,000 a month. This includes not only stories and novels, but blogging and other projects as well. As long as I manage 12K a month (thus a gross K of 144,000 words for the year), I feel content.
Or at least, I would have. With the spring/summer spent otherwise occupied, I'm hoping to still make 100,000 words for the year, but we'll see how it goes.
I have also been keeping track of other accomplishments per month, as you'll see below.
In my last post in this series (back in May) I put forth a few other goals, viewable by clicking here.
So now, as I had been doing before this hiccup in military status, I will track my months thus far in 2015. This is mostly for my own benefit, but also for my fellow indie writers who may be interested in commiseration, co-encouragement, and comparing notes.
- 15,300 words
- "Frozen Heart" novelette completed. Submissions to magazines/contests begin.
- Twilight of the Gods started (sequel/prequel to Hungry Gods)
July:
- 2400 words
- New cover for The Thorne Legacy using free software
June:
- 8150 words
May:
- 5300 words
- Book signing and sale, most successful to date (read more here)
- Dreams of Flying published in ebook and paperback
- Tarnish audiobook published
- The Prince and the Darkness paperback published
April:
- 13,100 words
- "Green-Eyed Monster" picked up by Meerkat Press for their Love Hurts Anthology
March:
- 11,500 words
- Puppet Theatre republished as a free short story and preview of Hungry Gods (everywhere but Amazon)
February:
- 15,400 words
January:
- 12,650 words
- Hungry Gods published as ebook and paperback
- The Prince and the Darkness published as ebook "dark fantasy double-feature"
Total words thus far: 83,800
Not too shabby for a busy, busy guy!
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