First of all, let me say that my change of plans is not a bad thing. I am not stopping anything that I am already doing (i.e. weekly blog entries or either of my podcasts). I’m not even reducing the frequency of what I’m doing.

So just what the heck is going on?

Enough mystery. Let me explain.

It had been my intention to offset my two podcasts. Do ‘Get Published’ one week, ‘GalaxyBillies’ the next. They are currently being released the same week. I looked at that schedule and wondered if it wouldn’t be better (from a shear level-of-effort)  to have them offset.

I planned to do a quick release of ‘GalaxyBillies’ for a couple episodes to get me to the place I wanted to be. I’ve even had some (limited) success doing it. I think I’ve managed to get it pulled back from a Saturday release to a Thursday. A small victory, but I’ll take what I can get.

Then I sat down last night to plan February. What interviews/episodes I would have, what other activities are occuring and so on. I discovered that of the four weekends in February, I’m out of town for three of them. That got me thinking, how smart would it be for me to be podcasting every single weekend? Was I insane? It was then and there that I realized two podcasts the same week wasn’t as foolish as I had first thought.

That means I will continue, at least for the forseeable future, to release an episode of ‘Get Published’ and an episode of ‘GalaxyBillies’ the same week. I’m going to try to offset the two by a few days, if possible, but that is all. I reserve the right to change my mind, of course.

Personal Update

Sent first non-fiction (and non-paying) article out today. I hope it will be accepted because I really believe in what I wrote and think it is well-written besides. This is part of my “I should be doing more” initiative. With luck, I will start sending a few of these out a year.

My Absolute Xpress Flash Fiction entry didn’t make the cut, unfortunately. C’est la Vie. Perhaps I’ll run it through Critters and send it out somewhere else.

Thirdly (or is this ‘c’?) I am submitting one of my YA novels to another publisher this week. The publisher is expecting it so here’s hoping on that front as well.

The next episode of ‘GalaxyBillies’ is almost finished (writing-wise) and I’m happy with how it is turning out. I’ve had some very encouraging feedback on the story so far.

Lastly, I have a great guest on the upcoming (February 7th) episode of ‘Get Published’. I think listeners will get a lot out of the discussion.

Tags: absolute xpress, Galaxybillies, Get Published, irreverent muse, Michell Plested, podcast, writing, YA

The thing I’ve noticed about myself is I never have any shortage of ideas (probably like everyone else in the world). What I have a definite shortage of is time; lately I’ve been spending countless hours editing my novel and preparing each episode of my podcast. I enjoy doing both, but it isn’t quite the same as the thrill of starting anew story.

That’s why it’s with a certain level of excitement that I begin looking forward to my next project. NanoWriMo is coming up in November and I have a story in mind. It is a sequel to the YA novel I wrote two years ago and I already know it’s going to be a lot of fun.

I have a pretty wide competitive streak that rarely ever manifests itself. All bets are off when it comes to Nano though. Granted, I’m not competing with anyone but myself, but it is such a thrill to set goals for myself and actively challenge myself to exceed those goals.

The first year I entered NanoWriMo I had just finished my first novel (it was literally completed at the end of October. Only a few days before Nano began). I knew I could write a book but the daily word count necessary to do 50,000 words in 30 days (1,667) seemed incredibly daunting. Still, it was a story I really wanted to write so I took the plunge.

Everything flowed so naturally it was incredible. There were times I laughed as I wrote and times I actually cried. It was easily the most fun I’d ever had writing. And I finished the book in 21-days. Not bad for only my second book.

That is a feeling I really want to recapture this year. I’ve been doing so much editing that I need something new and fresh to recharge the batteries. Not that I’ve regretted any of the editing. It has shown me how to be a better writer.

One of the reasons I haven’t started anything new yet is I have trouble focusing on more than one project at a time. Oh, I can do it, but the writing needs to be completely separate and different. Take the podcast, for example. Writing for that is totally different from editing or writing a novel so I’m alright. I just have to be sure that I have time set aside for each. I honestly don’t know what would happen if I worked on two stories at the same time.

Probably nothing, but I also have the fear that if I let myself start new projects all the time, I’ll never finish the old ones. That would be bad because I would never improve certain aspects of my writing and I would never have anything new to try and sell.

I think I’ll stick to the one story at a time methodology. At least for now. But that doesn’t mean I can’t start planning for the next big challenge.

Personal Update

As you probably know, I’ve been editing my fantasy novel for the past few weeks. I am very pleased to report that I am now ahead of schedule. I wanted to be finished this round of edits by October 31st and as of today, (if I maintain my schedule) I will be done by the 28th. Ideally, I will be done a week early, so I’m plunging forward with that in mind.

I’ve also changed the software I’m writing with. For months I’ve been hearing from many writers I respect how good scrivener is. I had tried it once before but never really gave it a chance. For the editing project I decided to try again. I know I’m not using all the features (yet), but I’m starting to see the light. When I’m done this project (and perhaps Nano), I’ll do a bit of a review for you to tell you what I liked and what I didn’t like.

Tags: editing, fantasy, Get Published, irreverent muse, Michell Plested, nanowrimo, podcast, scrivener, YA, young adult