I was reading comments on a blog the other day about productivity. One poster said he was planning to write 5 books in 2015. I wished him luck and said I couldn't do that. First of all, I have a day job, so there goes a bunch of hours for writing. Secondly, what about all the stuff that comes after?
I had put together a schedule for starting Scattered Seeds while Dark Deeds was out to readers. It worked well. But then there was editing and rewriting and formatting. Those are tasks that need to be done by the writer or hired out. I can't afford the hiring out on all of it yet. All that work must be done prior to publishing and none of it increases word count.
I had myself on a very tight schedule for Dark Deeds. The last round of readers ran late. My subsequent rewrite ran even later. I wrapped up the last few loose end and handed it to my editor, who promptly got ill. She offered to try and soldier on, but editing requires a lot of concentration. Being sick destroys concentration.
I had recently met a person who wanted to get into editing. I contacted him and he jumped into action. Whew.
Then I got sick.
A few days later, my new editor emailed me the marked up manuscript and I couldn't even open the attachment. I just stared at the message with a sinking feeling, knowing that my timeline had been shot to hell. I was too sick to work on it.
The only person really disappointed by this is me. I don't have a pile of fans desperately waiting for this book. In fact, I bet very few people even know it's coming out. I can change the publication date and no one will be the wiser. But all of this bumps book #2 out of its timeline, too.
I still have 2 books for my publishing goal for 2015. However, I will plan in a bit more time for whoops, uh-ohs and life in general.
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