June 2020 Update

This month has been insane and I have much to talk about. I have discovered the advantages of setting up pre-orders on Amazon. I currently have four of them going with one being dropped on July 3rd. I will provide links after my spew for those interested. It seems like things are starting to move, yet it also points out that I still have much to learn in terms of marketing.

Without further adieu, here is my monthly update.

2020 GOALS

1. Write 600,000 words in publishable story related projects.
   • (Bonus) Write 800,000 words as a stretch goal.
2. Write every day of at least 500 words making words in a row at 731 days in the road.
3. Catch up on editing allowing no more than 2 manuscripts waiting to be edited.
4. Edit every day of 1 chapter at a minimum.
5. Secure cover art for any book in the editing stage.
6. Publish a minimum of 1 book.
7. Publish a minimum of 3 books.
8. Publish a minimum of 5 books.
9. Publish a minimum of 7 books.
10. Write one blog post a week.
11. Write update blogs at the start of every month.
    • Write an update blog for the remaining months.
12. Clean up Tokyo Tempest #1 with a proofread.
13. Write and submit 5 short stories to markets.
14. Publish 7 short stories or novellas to amazon.
15. Set up a Patreon account.
16. Set up proper social media author accounts and a proper newsletter.
17. Have 1 paying client of editing services.
18. Make 100 dollars one month through publishing.
19. Make 500 dollars one month through publishing.
20. Make 1000 dollars one month through publishing.
21. (Bonus) Get back in shape physically by losing 20 lbs
    • (Bonus) Loose another 20 lbs

There are my goals for 2020. Notice I made a few changes. I will discuss them in the following section.

Breakdown of Goals.

As I have so many goals, and many of them build on others, I will be only going over the goals I am dealing with at the moment.

1. Write 600,000 words in publishable story related projects.
   • I am at 307k words for 2020. This month I wrote 52,391 words. If I keep this pace up, I will be around 614k words for the year. This is good. I am writing more than I did last year. The average had been trending down due to distractions. In the later half of the month, I have turned it away.
   • You may have noticed a stretch goal of 200k more words. This is not a sane decision. I recognize this. This is due to me looking at the novels I wish to produce this year and realizing I’m not going to get the manuscripts complete. I don’t expect to get this done as in order to make my 800k goal, I will have to write 2700 words a day. This is a crazy goal for someone who types it instead of dictating. Like I said. I don’t expect to get this done, but it is not for the lack of trying.
2. Write every day of at least 500 words making words in a row at 731 days in the road.
   • I am on day 548 of 731. I am making my goal. It is hard at times, but I am doing it.
3. Catch up on editing allowing no more than 2 manuscripts waiting to be edited.
   • This is working. I suspect that I will be working on this goal until December. But we will see how I do. I have more to do with editing, I may have to work more on it, but with the added Bonus goal, it may be hard.
4. Edit every day of 1 chapter at a minimum.
   • I got this one down. I have managed to make it something I do during my normal day.
5. Secure cover art for any book in the editing stage.
   • I have decided to only do covers for books that are getting close. No need to stress over it.
6. Publish a minimum of 1 book.
   • Done! Enlisted. Book one of the Agent O’Neal Saga.
7. Publish a minimum of 3 books.
   • I am only counting books published and not on pre-order.
   • Kidnapped. Book two of the Agent O’Neal Saga.
8. Publish a minimum of 5 books.
9. Publish a minimum of 7 books.
10. Write one blog post a week.
    • This is being done. I have yet to miss one and I don’t attend to miss it.
11. Write an update blog for the remaining months.
    • This is to keep going. No time to waste.
12. Clean up Tokyo Tempest #1 with a proofread.
13. Write and submit 5 short stories to markets.
    • I should write some short stories.
14. Publish 7 short stories or novellas to amazon.
15. Set up a Patreon account.
    • I need to make a move on this. No one can sign up to something that doesn’t exist.
16. Set up proper social media author accounts and a proper newsletter.
17. Have 1 paying client of editing services.
18. Make 100 dollars one month through publishing.
19. Make 500 dollars one month through publishing.
20. Make 1000 dollars one month through publishing.
21. (Bonus) Loose another twenty pounds.
    • My January weight was 277lbs. My weight today 252lbs. I am twenty pounds lighter. This was all done by intermediate fasting. It seems to be working. As the year is only half over, then I will strive to loose another 20lbs.

Future plans.

I have much to do. My plan is to have a new title released each month. Writing a new title every month is insane. With each novel being 75k words or more, this is an insane number. This means that I will have to increase my word count to 900k or even to one million. I will try for 800k for this year, then I may increase it in 2021. I don’t think this is going to work, but I will try. Plus I need to learn more about marketing. I need to figure out how to get my books in front of people. If they don’t know it exists, then they can’t buy it.

This journey is not something I can do alone. It takes support from many people for it to become a reality. The easiest way is to visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. They are available in all countries and for free in Kindle Unlimited. I do have a tip jar set up at Ko-Fe, where you can buy me a coffee. Or you can also visit me on Facebook. Your help and support are much appreciated.

20 Goals for 2020.

2020 GOALS

1. Write 600,000 words in publishable story related projects.
2. Write every day of at least 500 words making words in a row at 731 days in the road.
3. Catch up on editing allowing no more than 2 manuscripts waiting to be edited.
4. Edit every day of 1 chapter at a minimum.
5. Secure cover art for any book in the editing stage.
6. Publish a minimum of 1 book.
7. Publish a minimum of 3 books.
8. Publish a minimum of 5 books.
9. Publish a minimum of 7 books.
10. Write one blog post a week.
11. Write update blogs at the start of every month.
12. Clean up Tokyo Tempest #1 with a proofread.
13. Write and submit 5 short stories to markets.
14. Publish 7 short stories or novellas to amazon.
15. Set up a Patreon account.
16. Set up proper social media author accounts and a proper newsletter.
17. Have 1 paying client of editing services.
18. Make 100 dollars one month through publishing.
19. Make 500 dollars one month through publishing.
20. Make 1000 dollars one month through publishing.
21. (Bonus) Get back in shape physically by losing 20 lbs.

Breakdown of Goals.

1. Write 600,000 words in publishable story related projects.

As I managed to write 526997 words in 2019, I need to increase that number for this year. This means that I need to increase my daily word goals from 1370 to 1639. This doesn’t seem like it will be a big stretch. This increase will is only slight and will help keep my writing practices from becoming stale. The increase will mean I’ll have a higher risk of burn-out, but I have hope that I can manage to keep it under control through my daily minimum.

2. Write every day of at least 500 words making words in a row at 730 days in the road.

A daily minimum is one of the main reasons I write every day. I have managed to write 365 days in a row, and I plan on keeping that number going. I’m not going to stop now. Increasing the minimum to 500 words is in response to me increasing my yearly number from 500k to 600k.

3. Catch up on editing allowing no more than 2 manuscripts waiting to be edited.

At the moment I have 6 novels either waiting to be edited or in the process. This needs to be corrected. This is due to last year, I edited very little in the first half of the year. I need to catch things up. In my editing process, I do three passes. One as a second draft to clean up the story, and two to clean up the prose. I count second passes and my edits by chapters edited. I don’t count words as I may have to cut words, and I need permission to do so.

To keep up with the number of words being written, I need to edit an approximate 375 chapters by the end of the year. This doesn’t include the additional amount of passes. I will need to edit at least 3 chapters a day to make the number, and I have a process to do just that.

This is probably one of the most time-intense goals to make and will allow for the success of multiple other goals.

4. Edit every day of 1 chapter at a minimum.

Due to the insane number of books to catch up on, I need to make sure I don’t have any off days. I find it is very easy to not edit anything that day in preference to write new words. This is something I need to work on.

5. Secure cover art for any book in the editing stage.

This was another reason I hadn’t managed to get many books published in 2019. Finding cost-effective cover art is hard. I could spend $500 on a cover, but I’d rather hunt and find something cheaper. It’s a business concept. Keep the costs of the product low, then it’s easier to make a profit.

6. Publish a minimum of 1 book.

This is a generic one, as I’ll probably end up changing my plan and write different projects. But at the bare minimum, I want to get 1 book out. Honestly, if this is all I get out, it will be a bit of a letdown.

7. Publish a minimum of 3 books.

A Stretch goal of the previous one. If this is all I get done, it’ll still be a letdown.

8. Publish a minimum of 5 books.

This is where I want to be. With the number of books in the editing pile, this seems reasonable that I can accomplish it.

9. Publish a minimum of 7 books.

The real stretch goal. Getting 7 books published for 2020 would be awesome and more than most authors.

10. Write one blog post a week.

This is a continuation of what I have been doing. I see no reason why I should increase or decrease this.

11. Write update blogs at the start of every month.

I enjoy writing the update posts, and once a month seems to be in the right place. This will continue.

12. Clean up Tokyo Tempest #1 with a proofread.

It needs to happen. It will happen this year if I manage to get things caught up.

13. Write and submit 5 short stories to markets.

With getting two short stories published in 2019, I have an interest in getting more. With the stories so short, it should be easier to get them done. Finding a market to accept them will be a challenge. But I shall try my best.

14. Publish 7 short stories or novellas to Amazon.

Writing short stories is a good pallet cleanser to other projects, and writing them helps keep my name in the new releases on Amazon.

15. Set up a Patreon account.

One defensive of my writing is building a fan base of readers who love my stories. This should help develop that.

16. Set up proper social media author accounts and a proper newsletter.

I have a facebook page and this blog. But to be successful, I will need more. This will help with that.

17. Have 1 paying client of editing services.

Working with other authors on their projects is something I enjoy. Getting paid for it would be better. Editing is what I want to do for a living.

18. Make 100 dollars one month through publishing.

Currently, with no new releases, I’m not making any money through my writing. This is something I want to change. This would be the first step. Make 100 dollars in a month. Amazon has a minimum payout of 100 dollars, and doing is crucial to being able to do this for a living.

19. Make 500 dollars one month through publishing.

Stretch goal. This would be a sizable chunk of my monthly budget and a good step forward.

20. Make 1000 dollars one month through publishing.

This is the goal I had in 2019. I doubt I will get here, but there is a chance. I will try and see.

21. (Bonus) Get back in shape physically by losing 20 lbs.

One issue I have been fighting with is my weight. I’m out of shape and to be blunt. I’m fat. I need to fix that. So my goal for 2020 is to lose 20 lbs and to keep it off. My current weight is 277lbs. This time last year it was 287lbs. That means I lost 10 lbs last year. It’s okay, but I need to do better.

If you like what you are reading and wish to support me in my endeavors, please sign up for my newsletter, visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. Or buy me a coffee. You can also visit me on Facebook. Your help and support are much appreciated.

End of 2019 Report.

On the first of every new month, I have posted a small report on how I did during the previous month. The point of it is to show that I’m still putting my money where my mouth is. This tradition will continue, except for this report shall be for all of 2019 and not just December. I will talk about my accomplishments for December first, then move into 2019 as a whole.

DECEMBER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1. I wrote 43,627 words.
2. I have written for 365 days in a row.
3. I have finished the first draft of my story with the temp title: Werewolf.
4. I have passed the 500k mark in total yearly words at 526k.
5. I am working on re-editing my Felix books
6. I wrote my weekly blog posts.

EXAMINATION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1. The entire intention of December was to take it easy as I wrote just over 63k words in November. I managed to write just over 43k words. I was worried about burn-out, and I decided that it was a bad idea to do too much over the holidays. I needed to work on my editing.
2. This is still the longest number of days in a row I have written by far. I have written 365 days in a row. My min to count as a daily goal was 150 words. I intend to keep this going. As I have no intention of stopping that streek any time soon.
3. My Werewolf story started out as a short story for a class I took. It needed to become a novel and will eventually be a trilogy. I have finished the first draft of the first book.
4. I have passed the 500k mark. In my word counts. As part of it, I have started working on some projects I can’t talk about. It will be counted in my daily word count, but you won’t hear much about it. I apologize for that. I wish to be more transparent with you all, but I can’t in this case.
5. I’m editing my Phantom Sorcerer story, and that is progressing. I should get the first of it done by the end of January. For those that have already bought it, once the new edition is published, then you can update it manually in your kindle app.
6. My blog posts are still happening.

RECAP OF THE UPDATED 2019 GOALS

1. Write 500,000 words in personal, non-school related projects.
2. Complete and publish Felix #2, Felix #3, Des O’Neal #1, Des O’Neal #2, Des O’Neal #3, Jovian Marines #1, Jovian Marines #2, Jovian Marines #3, Mech Warrior #1, Mech Warrior #2, Mech Warrior #3.
   1. Complete and Publish VRMMORPG
3. Correct cover for Felix #1.
4. Write four blog posts per month
5. Give Felix #1 and Tokyo Tempest #1 a proofread.
6. Complete and submit to market Terran Marine Raider short #1, Terran Marine Raider short #2, and RPG Death short.
   1. Added goal: complete and submit to market, JSS Leda (New title: From Planet Everdark), secret short #2 (New Title: Rise of the Ghids), and secret short #3 (New Title: Sailing Vessel Wanderlust: the Delivery).
7. Earn $1000.00 a month from novels.
8. Relaunch publishing company with a new, stronger name.
9. Get 1 client for editing services.
10. NEW GOAL: Write for 365 Days in a row of at least 100 words per day.

2019 GOALS DEBRIEF

This year has been a mix of ups and downs. I’ve had a mix of good days and bad days and ups and downs. I have burned-out once during with the stress of it all, but I recovered. The biggest thing about the year was that it has taught me discipline over motivation. I have talked about it multiple times in my blogs and will talk about it numerous times in the future.

1. 500k Words. I will be going over the details of my experiences of the first goal in a future post. But, in 2019, the primary goal is the one I was hoping would set up the rest. It is one of the few 2019 goals I have accomplished.
2. I had written a plan of what projects I was going to accomplish. But as things got added on and things changed, those went out the window. I have updated the plan multiple times throughout the year, and I have a new 2020 plan on what projects I want to write.
3. I have a new cover for Felix #1, but with the re-edit, that is not something I count as being done. It will be considered done.
4. I have managed to get a blog post each month about different subjects. Some of it about being creative, some of it writing. I tend to keep away from talking about writing.
5. This goal is a work in progress. I should have it done in 2020.
6. The two short stories I was hoping to be submitted to market didn’t happen. I have a publisher interested in one of them. But he isn’t doing another Mil Sci-Fi anthology in the near future. They are on the block of projects to work on during 2020 if I get time.
   1. The short stories From Planet Everdark, Rise of the Ghids have been published in anthologies. Click on the links to check them out. News about Sailing Vessel Wanderlust: the Delivery is forthcoming.
7. Earn $1000 per month. The naivety in that goal is thick. There was no way I was going to make that goal. Perhaps if I managed to get all the books published that I wanted to.
8. The publishing imprint has been relaunched with a better name. I am more happy with the name Atomic Slingshot Press.
9. Another goal that is thick with naivety. I do want to launch editing services, but that will have to happen in the future.
10. This goal is the second goal I’m most happy with. I have written 365 days in a row. And I know. Most people aren’t going to believe me. I have a kept records and here is an image of the chart.:

I will be posting about my 2020 goals. A friend of mine has told me that I need to post 20 goals for 2020.

If you like what you are reading and wish to support me in my endeavors, please sign up for my newsletter, visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. Or buy me a coffee. Your help and support are much appreciated.