Yesterday the day job started out going in the right direction. Then went sideways and I had trouble recovering as things that shouldn’t have happened and/or been surprises, were. I will recover and move on. These things happen often enough that even when 3 or 4 hit you at the same time you just laugh and roll with the punches.

That being said, yesterday was fairly stressful. My Favorite Daughter sat next to me for the better part of the day complaining about doing history notes. I offered to change seats with her. She declined and pressed on.

By the time the sun went down (wow it goes down early these days) I was beat, bruised, and had sent out emails galore. I’ve had two short stories rejected that I have yet to get back out into the wild. I had a lot of ideas of what to do with the books I have completed and want to get out into the wild next year (if all goes well). I need to come up with a list of what I’ve got done, what’s in progress, and start setting up timelines to get these things completed. Then I need to set up a schedule for next year and start pumping out books. My plan is what i always wanted to do, throw out a bundle of books, all the potential first in a series, and see what sticks.

Off the top of my head, here’s what I’ve got:

Of Gnomes and Dwarves (books 1-4 written, book 1 completely rewritten and almost ready for beta readers)

Astel: Chosen (in desperate need of an editing clean up, book 2 plotted.)

V&A Shipping (Book 1 complete and podcasted, book 2 in progress)

Billy Barbarian (Book 1 complete, book 2 plotted)

Paradise Palms (Book 1 complete, there is potential for a sequel)

To Fall From the Sky (Book 1 two thirds complete, potential for a sequel)

Almost-Super Heroes (Book 1 one third complete, lots of potential for a sequel)

A Life of Lists (one quarter complete, need to finish plotting and finish writing)

Golden West (Currently in the middle of podcasting Season 1. Lots of room to continue for at least two more seasons)

Jack Kane (Book 1 done, Mike and I have plotted Book 2, edits being done. Potential publisher interested)

Asteroid Bunnies (Book 1 started, need to plot and get moving on this one)

Like I said, so many irons in the fire, I just need to get moving on these other projects. I need to write up a schedule and write, write, write. You can see why my brain feels full all the time, but the more I work on one project, the more fun I have. I also want to write a few more stories for My Teacher is a… because there’s potential there to write more books and put out an omnibus. They’re all novella and I don’t see any one story going beyond 20,000 words.

Even as I type up this list (like I said, off the top of my head) I know there are other ideas out there for more stories and more book titles. Each one could just be the first, or I could leave it at one (well, some I could leave at one). Others demand a sequel just based on how they’re written. If one of these picks up an audience I’ll, of course, continue in that series first before either finishing off one book that hasn’t found an audience yet. More than likely, V&A Shipping will be the first, followed by Of Gnomes and Dwarves, a re-realease of Astel, and then I’ll need to figure out where to go next.

I’ve got a spread sheet to track my writing progress, now I need one to track my books, set up release dates (which I won’t do until editing and book covers are 100% complete). Only then will I schedule a book, but then I need to track it’s progress. How is it selling month to month? How much time before I release a sequel? Do I put out V&A Shipping and release a sequel in 3 months? 6 months? Once a year? So much to think about and I know I just need to spend some time sitting and working it all out.

That’s likely not going to happen in November because I’m working on NaNoWriMo, but that doesn’t mean it’s not on my mind. I’m not going to bail out of NaNoWriMo this year like I did last year.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo! I’m currently 21788 and I haven’t written yet today. I was a little behind, but I’ve more than caught up now. I’m about to jump into act II as people like to call it. The action will take a little dip, then start to ratchet back up and when we move into act III things will be moving at a breakneck pace (or so I hope). Then some wrap up and we should land right around the 90,000 word mark where book 1 came in at. I’m very excited to actually be writing this sequel. I missed Vic, Joey, June, and the rest of the crew. I know readers (well, listeners) have wanted more from these guys, and I hope they’ll be pleased.

Now that I’m thinking about the sequel. I WILL release all my books as podiobooks when I release them. I will start the audio from this page the same day the book is released. I’ll do a couple of things (at least this is the plan). I’ll post a chapter per day to read, post an audio section once per week, and have the book as ebook and print book for sale. So day one of a book’s release would see first chapter, first audio, print, ebook, all up on the same day. Hopefully this will drive people insane and make them want to go out and buy the book.

This is the plan, but first I need to get a lot of things done. So much on my mind and so many things to do before this will see the light of day. I’d better get at it!

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!