Yes this is tardy and yes I was full aware of that. I thought I would write a full-fledged paragraph here, but apparently most of what I would put here belongs in my 2021 Year in Review, so let’s hop skip and a lurch right over to that, shall we?

2021 Year in Review

My writing in 2021 felt like a complete disaster to me. I’m not sure when–other than just now–I read over my goals for the year, and I had come to believe quite solidly that I set two, and intentionally only two, goals for the year: finish When the World Grows Dark (WTWGD) so that it’s publishing-worthy, and some sort of outlining my entire Bluestone series.

Then I read over my 2021 goals a few minutes ago and realized my year’s writing was more productive than I thought even if still pretty hollow. See, there’s this thing called Covid that’s still around, and it feels like three to five years that it’s been going on, but it’s only been two. Only this last week have I truly felt like I’m beginning to finally figure out my “new normal,” a quest that began almost a year before Covid actually struck. Part of the problem has been that I started seeking a new normal for myself and then Covid made that new normal implode, so I’ve been on a search for another. Likewise, in supposedly set only two goals for the year, I was intentionally setting the bar low for me. As a result, I felt guilty working on any writing that was not one of those two goals. Obviously that was based on a false premise, but it messed me up writing-wise.

Anyway, it surprised me to realize I completed my Imagine story tweaks this year (2021, not 2022). That took me a week or two, but it solidified my confidence in that story’s readiness to enter the marketplace. It also made me re-evaluate sending it out to the market right now. Although I’m not going into the reasons here (no, it’s not the writing, because I truly am happy with that), Imagine’s chance at debuting me dropped, replaced quite confidently with WTWGD. Admittedly that’s all determined by book publishers and agents unless I wanted to go the self-publishing route (which I don’t).

What else did I do? I learned a lot about my writing methods. I learned, for instance, that I can speed through first drafts but might get bogged down in the rewrites. I suffer a problem many other authors have mentioned–sometimes when you’re rewriting a book, every single word reads like useless garbage. The only solution then is to stop rewriting that story until you can come back to it with a clearer, more objective head. Which means you should be filling the time with other writing (which I failed to do this year because I became hyper-focused on completing what I thought was one of only two goals I had set for my year).

I also outlined a few new story ideas that hit me exceptionally hard, I continued to outline and toy around with the Bluestone series, and I struggled generally to balance “my life” and writing. Why my writing was forced to surrender each time, I’m not sure (probably because I felt guilty working on any writing project that was not one of my “two goals”). But that’s me.

You know what? I even forgot December was supposed to be 30 Days, 30 Outlines. Which means Goals #1 and #2 this year are, respectively:

1. Review my 2022 T. D.’s To Do’s at the start of each month, and
2. Set calendar reminders to help me remember #1, “30 Days, 30 Outlines,” and my goals that follow.

And on that note (A-sharp or B minor?), let’s launch into this year.

2022 T. D.’s To Do’s

Introduction

First things first: why is this post so late? I spent this last week doing my final read of When the World Grows Dark. At that stage in the process–the final read–the writing is solid. What I do is look for any lingering typos, double-check for consistency in story and voice, and verify that no previous rewrite has resulted in awkward wordings. I learned loads about my personal writing style through this book, and although that is great, I’m ready to write something else.

If you have read my previous To Do’s, you may recognize that I’m still figuring out my writing habits, style, etc. This year, I plan to set more goals than I can achieve. It’s clear that when I think I’ve only got two goals, I become so focused on trying to achieve them that I feel unable to work on other writing until those goals are achieved (even if I need a break from that goal). As a result, I accomplish even less. On the other hand, setting so many goals that I know I can’t achieve them all should let me move between projects (and accomplish a lot more) without feeling guilty for not accomplishing everything.

In 2019 I said I learned a major lesson:

“I need to practice juggling more often. Writer’s juggling—the kind that says full focus should not always go to one novel/rewrite/outline/blog post/writer idea. Because I’m terrible at that kind of juggling. Like horrendous. Apocalyptically pathetic at it. But I’ve also noticed that if I have at least something to occasionally steal my attention, I’m less likely to burn my ‘current project.’ “

Apparently I did not learn that lesson. This year, I’m setting goals with it in mind. I’d explain, but you will see down below.

January

Can you believe it’s almost halfway through January already? With the remainder of the month, I plan to outline the following:

• When The World Grows Dark book 2 (WTWGD 2) – I’m still figuratively high on this series, and I figure it’d be a good idea to get book 2 outlined while book 1 is fresh in my mind.
• A handful of story ideas that I’ve had this last year – This is a modified 30 Days, 30 Outlines, after all. Most of these are just to get a rough idea of the stories onto paper, not substantial outlines.
• Jesse the Pirate – or Jesse and the Pirates? Either way, this story has been screaming at me to develop it further, and I plan to do so.

February

Starting with February, I will be intentionally jumping between a few projects so as to not become destructively focused on one or another. This is an experiment. At any time, my focus will be on “only” a handful of projects, but I will be forcing myself to take breaks (so as to avoid that hyper-focus I’m overemphasizing in this post). One week is long enough to refresh, but not so long that I lose sense of each story’s writing style and voice. My intention is to set weekly reminders to shift between projects, or in other words, one week I work on project A, the next week Project B, and the next week Project A again. Likely each month will have two foci, but I may list three or four.

Projects during February, in no particular order:

• Bluestone – I have mentioned this for a number of years, and although each year has brought great progress, I know it doesn’t look that way to anyone other than me (the only person who has physically seen anything). For this project, I decided I’m going to construct what’s essentially a full-series story Bible this year (in writing, a “story Bible” lays out everything important to the actual story that will be told. It’s not as encompassing as an encyclopedia of the story’s world, and it’s not as endless as worldbuilding can be). I’ve been consolidating notes, evaluating storytelling methods, and have even written full books, but the story lacks a cohesiveness and energy that I’m hoping to solve by properly planning the entire story. Anyway, don’t expect one of these books this year, but the goal is to solidify and “finalize” the series. February will focus on solidifying how all my notes get incorporated into each book and which should simply be discarded (as you read on you will see that this part may seem backwards, but it’s intentional).
• WTWGD 2 – I will start drafting this book during February. No plans for when specifically I want to finish it, but I potentially could have a first draft by the end of the year.
• Project 3 – Actually, projects 3. I think for this, I’m going to jump around everything I’ve currently got and see what interests me at any moment (of that week). Some projects are already outlined, some in development, and some are simply ideas at this point.

March

Likely projects include:

• Previously I said, “Yelronpe and the Markleflips is now on the back-most burner as promised. Don’t expect to hear much, if anything, about it for a long time.” – and now you get an update that it’s been flirting with my mind this last month, so maybe it wants to see the limelight sooner than I expected. There are parts of my first draft that went well and parts that irk me.
• MG Loss Book – It’s been a while since I took a look at this, and I’m itching to return to it (and finish it, because it remains largely completed). To once again quote previous T. D.’s To Do’s: “The story focuses on how the main character handles the loss of his best friend, and yes, it’ll be gloomy.”
• Bluestone – Likely during March I will separate out the individual plotlines and work on them separately. Weaving them together will come later when I better understand what stories I’m actually trying to tell. Simultaneously, I will be developing supporting characters and minor characters.
• Possibly WTWGD 2

April

April is when a lot of gardening occurs and the school year begins winding down (meaning I may focus on substitute teaching so as to store up funds for summer). I hope my writing does not suffer during this, but reality says it could.

April Projects:

• WTWGD 2 – Continue drafting.
• Bluestone – I’m going to start writing a thorough outline. Some people consider this their “Draft 1,” but to me, it’s more like James Patterson and his comprehensive outlines (that can be upwards of 80 pages for a book). Because I’m comprehensively outlining an entire series, mine may be huge. At this point the focus is not on how everything gets split between books, but on the construction of “one” cohesive story. For obvious reasons it will take numerous months. In April, the goal will be to create the first broad but very brief outline in its entirety.
• Proving – I cannot find anywhere I mentioned this book, so rather than ruining the plot, I’m simply calling it “Proving” right now. It’s another middle grade book that I constructed but have not solidified an outline for, but that is the goal in April.

May

May brings the end of the school year, includes more planting/gardening, and usually is associated with me finally getting to put into action my spring fever. Unlike April, I tend to do better at getting writing-related stuff in during this month.

• WTWGD 2 – More drafting.
• Bluestone – Comprehensive outlining fleshed out.
• Proving or other middle grade book – Admittedly most of my writing is middle grade (reminder: middle grade refers to kids approximately ages 8-12, not really to middle school students), but cheerful middle grade stories tend to interest me when spring is full underway.

June

June is also busy. I volunteer with multiple foster kids camps, a few more crops need planting, and others need harvesting. As much as I crave to write during June, this is usually a difficult month to get in much writing. However, camps mentally refocus me on one of the major reasons I write.

My main projects for June will be:

• WTWGD 2 – More drafting.
• Bluestone – More comprehensive outlining.
• Umm…Foster Kids book – NO!–this is not a memoir or anything like that. It’s a non-fiction book I’ve been thinking about for 3(?) years. June always resuscitates the idea. I’m going to try and come up with some sort of outline (comprehensive style) or sections and what to include.
• Projects 3 – I might not be able to commit to something specific during June – it’s just the nature of the June beast. Instead, I may jump around between a bunch of lesser projects that I don’t give enough time. Short stories? Poems? Who knows?

July

Yes, I garden during this month too, but mostly at this point, I’m watering plants and keeping them alive. Assuming all goes well, I should be able to refocus more on writing. One possible distraction would be if I find myself a summer project to work on. Regardless, I should have more time than April-June.

• WTWGD 2 – By this point I hope I’d be halfway through the first draft at least. I could be further along or not so far, but I’d bet I’ll have at least the first third completed by now. Anyway, July will see continued drafting.
• Bluestone – At this point I hope my comprehensive outlining is ready to start breaking into parts – beginning, middle and end. In addition to creating those story divisions, I will begin looking at them separately to make sure each section is properly outlined.
• Proving – Either working on Draft 1 or creating a more comprehensive outline.
• Lands of Imagine 2 – Not sure why, but it strikes me that this may hold interest for me during July. Guess we’ll see what comes of that.

August-September

Because I seem to be listing reasons I could fail each month, August’s is school. The schools around here start back up in August, which means I can substitute again. I have also considered returning to college at this point, but I’m watching to see how Covid plays (if not for Covid, I was scheduled to finally graduate this semester – Spring 2022).

But none of that is a writing goal.

• WTWGD 2 – More drafting.
• Bluestone – Fleshing out the beginning and making sure it can bear its own weight.
• Either MG Loss Book, Jesse the Pirate, or The Organizer of Files

October

Usually my struggle in October is that I’ve learned a new routine in August and September that revolves around school but not writing. Let’s break that this year!

• WTWGD 2 – I could be putting finishing touches on Draft 1. Possibly not, but possibly so.
• Bluestone – Fleshing out the middle to make sure it can stand on its own.
• One Sick Brother or Jesse the Pirate – I assume I’d be prepping one of these to write in one month. I have not truly participated in NaNoWriMo in a number of years, and while I don’t plan to this year either, I’m curious how much of a book I could write in one month with focused effort.
• Projects 3 – Whatever floats my boat. Maybe I’ll focus on sending out submissions of pieces that I have already written and am happy with.

November

Obviously if I plan to do my own NaNoWriMo knockoff, most of this month will be focused on whichever book I choose (One Sick Brother or Jesse the Pirate). The rest will be finishing off WTWGD 2 Draft 1 and fleshing out the end portion of the Bluestone series.

December

• 30 Days, 30 Outlines – This is already going to be a massive year of outlining, but yes I am still going to do 30 Days, 30 Outlines. My goal this year will not likely be to create new story ideas or outlines, but rather to further flesh out some existing ones that aren’t already a focus this year.
• Bluestone – Now that all sections of the series should be lucubrated (if I’m successful in forcing “lucubration” to work in this context), December’s focus will be a final review of anything and everything I’ve got, to either keep it or put it in permanent storage. From this point forward, the theory is that if something did not remain in the story, it’s not worth resurrecting a thousandth time.
• WTWGD 2 – Draft 1 should be complete. If not, I’ll finish it. If so, I’ll be amping myself up to rewrite come January.

Conclusion

Am I likely to complete everything? No. Let’s be honest – NO. Would I like to complete everything? Absolutely yes. Would I like to also update my website more often? Yes. (Will it happen? Hopefully yes this year, but no idea what reality says)

Despite having a book draft planned, this looks to me to be THE YEAR OF THE OUTLINE in T. D. Speirs Land. That may not sound like success, but from what I know about myself, it’s yuge. Once I have a sound outline, I’m able to draft quite quickly (although I do often get bogged down in further drafts and rewrites and revisions). I’ve learned to embrace my outlining side, so that’s one loss for the Pantsers.

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Mathematical Breakdown:

2 First Drafts (WTWGD 2 and November Project)
+a handful of Drafts in Progress
+how many outlines?
=2 completed drafts, many stories drafting, and a quintillion completed outlines