Welcome to T. D.’s To Do’s for 2023! This last year has been quite the experience, but I am excited to get back to more writing this year and less outlining.

I’ve learned a lot about the writing process I have in place, and in light of that, I’ve modified my plans somewhat for 2023. Like last year, I will continue to over-plan each month by creating four writing goals per month. Because I cannot always go full-force each week of each month and thereby achieve all of my knowingly over-ambitious goals, I am going to allow myself what I’m calling a writing cheat week. That means that for each month, I can just ignore writing and enjoy a week off—refreshing my mind, accomplishing other tasks that need doing, or simply pausing for a week to gain a new perspective toward my writing. There are some months that annually get quite hectic, and during those months I might allow myself an extra week off, but I have not decided for sure on that idea, so it may not happen.

But anyway, let’s take a glance at how last year went.

2022 Year in Review

2022 was a far more productive year than 2021. I tracked my progress–cough cough for the most part cough–on this page, but what proved most successful was the constant switch between projects. For the most part, I averaged about a 50% success rate with my overfilled plans, which is a huge step up from the year previous. I would like to get that up to 75% this year—100% is unrealistic because I intentionally overplan—but even 50% is a great rate.

Aside from the thousand and fifteen outlines I completed during 2022—some well-developed and others lesser so—I also completed writing/editing book 1 of When the World Grows Dark (WTWGD) and am well into book 2.

…which sums up 2022: I made a LOT of outlines and worked on books 1 and 2 of WTWGD.

2023

That brings me to this year. I plan to do a lot more writing this year and far less outlining, with the main focus on WTWGD and my Bluestone series. You’ll notice other book plans sound somewhat sporadic this year, but part of why I do a monthly breakdown is because it ensures that I often shift focus…and that is necessary for my continued writing productivity. As I noted in last year’s To Do’s, if I don’t shift focus frequently, I become “destructively focused” on one story to even its detriment.

January

1. Bluestone – It’s time I start drafting this series again, but this time, I’m going to draft the overarching story rather than taking it one book at a time. After actively stewing this story in my head these last few years, I do know what to expect of each book now, but I feel like things will work best if I complete a series draft before worrying about individual books. If this was an individual book, it would be like writing the first draft with a lot of things missing. But…that is what feels wisest to me for the Bluestone story, so that’s what I plan to do. January will see me finally get this story underway.
2. When the World Grows Dark 2 (WTWGD 2) – Unlike my Bluestone series, I’m able to write the WTWGD story fairly straightforward from start to finish. I continue to make great progress on book 2 and will continue writing until it’s finished. Yes, I thought I would be done by now, but I also failed to plan for many of life’s hindrances last year (which is the main reason I’m allowing myself a week off per month this year). Regardless, my progress on this book has been in leaps and bounds.
3. MG Loss Book – Once again I’ve been itching to return to this. As a reminder from a previous year’s 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.”
4. Yelronpe and the Markleflips – Years ago I completed a handwritten first draft of this book, and last year I worked on a new outline for it. I’d like to start work on draft 2 this year because it often tickles that back reaches of my mind.

February

1. Bluestone – Continue writing the series draft.
2. WTWGD 2 – Continue writing.
3. Yelronpe and the Markleflips – Continue work on this.
4. Jesse the Pirate – Last year saw the development of a great/thorough outline for this book, but I lost steam when I heard about a book that sounded extremely similar to my outline. I read that book and can very confidently say they are nothing alike, so I’m looking forward to further work on this book.

March

March and April are when I begin a lot of my gardening, which does cut into my writing time. Fortunately this year I only have one bed to dig (for four asparagus plants), and I’m planning to use up the rest of some seeds I was given a couple of years ago (by broadcasting them rather than worrying about proper spacing upfront). In theory these months should not be as busy outside of writing as the last couple of years, but we’ll see.

1. Bluestone – Continue writing the series draft.
2. WTWGD 2 – Continue writing.
3. Jesse the Pirate – Continue work on this book.
4. Lands of Imagine 2 – Work on the first draft.

April

1. Bluestone – Continue writing the series draft.
2. WTWGD 2 – Continue writing.
3. Yelronpe and the Markleflips – Continue work on this.
4. Lands of Imagine 2 – Work on the first draft.

May

Normally I have another set of planting in June to complete, but I’m going to try doing that in May this year. I may be harvesting a lot of stuff too (or in June), so gardening may cut into my writing time one of these two months as well.

1. Bluestone – Continue writing the series draft.
2. WTWGD 2 – Continue writing.
3. Lands of Imagine 2 – Work on the first draft.
4. The Organizer of Files – I completed the first draft of this back when I used to participate in NaNoWriMo. As a result, that draft has lots of great story, some scenes with potential, and a whole lot of rotten cabbage that can’t be turned into sauerkraut. I’ve been passively (very passively) trying to fix this story for a number of years, and this year I’d like to get a second draft completed. It probably will turn out to be a long “short story” rather than novel-length.

June

Of course this is the month I always volunteer at camps for foster kids. One of those is a week long, so I already know that planning four weeks for June is illogical.

1. Bluestone – Continue writing the series draft.
2. WTWGD 2 – Continue writing.
3. The Organizer of Files – Continue writing second draft.

July

I’d like to do a half-year review at the start of this month. Don’t know if I’ll write it up or not, but it should let me reevaluate which projects I want to work on for the second half of the year.

1. Bluestone – Continue writing the series draft.
2. WTWGD 2 – Continue writing.
3. Lands of Imagine 2 – Work on the first draft.
4. One Sick Brother – I considered trying to write this November of last year but decided to focus on WTWGD 2 instead. In July, I’ll plan to at least start a draft of this book.

August

Not only does the school year start back up, which means I’ll have to adjust to new schedules once more, but I might finally finally finally return to college. I toyed with the idea last fall and then meant to start back up this month (January 2023), but I got too distracted by life to notice the quick approach of January (i.e. I forgot to register for classes). Now that I’m more aware of timelines and such, there is a legitimate chance I will be taking classes. We’ll see.

1. Bluestone – Continue writing the series draft.
2. WTWGD 2 – Continue writing.
3. The Organizer of Files – Work on the first draft.
4. Jesse the Pirate – Continue work on this book.

September

1. Bluestone – Continue writing the series draft.
2. WTWGD 2 – Continue writing.
3. Lands of Imagine 2 – Work on the first draft.
4. One Sick Brother – Continue work on this book.

October and November

As I often do, I may do a knockoff NaNoWriMo, but this year it might be in October or November. I’m not sure which because I may want to write something Halloween-related or I may want to work on a different project (could be I’ll even write a bunch of short stories and poems). Whichever month I do my knockoff NaNoWriMo in, my plans for the other month are these:

1. Bluestone – Continue writing the series draft.
2. WTWGD 2 – Continue writing.
3. Jesse the Pirate – Continue work on this book.
4. Lands of Imagine 2 – Work on the first draft.

December

1. 30 Days, 30 Outlines – By the time December rolls around, I’m going to need a break from writing and a creative refresher. Outlining new stories can get (and has gotten) my creative juices flowing again, ensuring writing does not simply become a long slog.
2. Bluestone – Continue writing the series draft.
3. WTWGD 2 – Continue writing if somehow I haven’t finished by now.
4. Lands of Imagine 2 – Work on the first draft.

Conclusion

I guess my plans for 2023 are pretty straightforward. If you’re wondering more about an individual story or book, take a look back over previous years’ To Do’s for whatever information I’ve given before. Anyway (why is it always “anyway?”), brevity seems to be the name of this To Do. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get my 2023 “Stories” tracking page set up.

Mathematical calculation for this year:

2 completed drafts (WTWGD 2 and Bluestone series) with many others begun, one or two maybe even completed.

Cheers!