Heyyyy
I hope everyone is doing relatively okay while the world and life has just…to put it nicely, been a mess. I can’t tell you how great it feels to write in English. The last few months my entire life has just become DUTCH and I desperately started to miss the old part of myself, which was writing and English. I didn’t know you could miss an entire language until I started to miss a language. I also learned it’s possible to kind of hate a language. But as I got surprised with a short two-week break before the next term starts, I figured hey why don’t you spend that time on the next book that you’ve been meaning to do since the start of time. I’m talking about my book “Chocolate Chip Cookies and Pink Nails” in case you’ve forgotten. I wouldn’t blame you. It’s been an eternity. Even now after all these years, I still get very excited for this story. It has protentional and I want to do it justice. Especially what it represents to me but let’s save that deep shit for the promo.
To hopefully force my butt into gear, I’ve decided to make a clear step by step plan and share it on here to not only involve the readers but also keep myself accountable. I honestly don’t know if I would ever be able to finish this book without your help. I need someone to say hey where is step one? It’s due on X date. I can then make an active plan on how I’m going to accomplish the goal and actually get it done. Here is my outline to get from where I’m now (with the first draft that has been collecting dust online and I stopped mid-chapter in my second run through) to published. I’m going to come up here at the end of every step or between if it’s been months to just update the readers on the progress. Am I’m on track? Am I stuck on anything? Okay let’s try that again. Here is my step-by-step plan to get from now to published:
Step 1 (Time guess: 3 weeks)
- Reread/revise old notes
- Reread the entire first draft and write new notes (new perspective/ideas?)
- Reread the second draft (4) chapters and write notes (on the right path?)
Step 2 (Time guess: 3 weeks)
- Create timeline
- Plan out the chapters
- Do research (don’t just pull shit out of your ass this time, cas)
Step 3 (Time guess: 18-20 weeks)
- Start over! Start at chapter one again with all notes and the timeline/plan and just WRITE. Rough draft. Try to not stress about perfection. Get everything down from A to Z. (Realistic) Goal: 3 chapters a month. (Current plan is 15 chapters, but will have to adjust as the story takes shape.)
- *This time guess is the most uncertain. I have no idea how many chapters the book will be (I plan to make this a short story but who knows) and I have no idea how many chapters I can realistically finish per month while I’m doing my bachelors. I should have a better idea once step 2 is completed.
Step 4 (Time guess: 3-4 weeks)
- Reread whatever version you’re on now and make notes/mark mistakes. Fix them while you’re at it.
- Double check facts/research.
- Get feedback! Force husband and best friend to read it again. Use their notes to further improve on any missing plot holes.
Step 5 (Time guess: 6-8 weeks)
- Start worrying about perfection. Grammar baby! Edit. Consider hiring an editor, realize it too expensive and I’m just a student self-publishing my books. Cry. And then edit again.
- Final feedback and grammar looked over by husband and best friend. Probably forced.
Step 6 (Time guess: 3-4 weeks)
- Fun stuff! Make the announcement. Choose the date. Create the graphics (cover and banner).
- Sample chapters (1 per week leading up to launch?)
- Technical stuff (force it on the husband)
- AND CLICK PUBLISH! (and try to celebrate it this time!)
- Crawl back into the hole and maybe attempt the next book in like 98145 years.
I’m going to start with step one in the beginning of April. I have two weeks to get as far as possibly (uninterrupted) and I want to use my time wisely. If I take my time guesses (so how long I think a step will take) into account, it will take me 10 months. That means if all goes well, the book will go live in January/February 2022. Somehow that feels like it will be two weeks from now and not 10 months. What is time?
And there you have it. A clear and to the point plan. I’m going to print it and put it up in the office so there’s no escape. I really want to write again. It was never my intention to put it in the back burner. I miss it and I can’t wait to get back to it. I’m so excited. If I didn’t have a week to finish the “it took me the entire term” project and study for the big test, I would probably start now. But priorities…or degree first. Then happiness.
Thank you so much for reading. Please take care and stay safe.
PS. School is going relatively okay. I’m hoping to get a (part-time) student nurse job in the semi near future. I got through to the second round of interviews so fingers crossed. I want to be in the field. I truly love it. I enjoyed every single minute of my internship. I want to do this for as long as I possibly can. It’s something I’m incredibly passionate about, but well let’s just say I’ve found out it’s pretty normal to despise university and I’m on the normal train on this one. Yay.
ButterflyFingers 