In A Timely Fashion

The idea of starting a new project can be a little daunting. The sheer volume of work required can be overwhelming and for me, unless I have a concrete plan in place, it can wind up being absolute mental mayhem. I usually don’t give myself a time limit, or write to a schedule, that is to say, I don’t set myself goals like “X amount of words to be written by a certain date.” I struggle with mental illness which means that setting these sorts of goals can be unrealistic because I may have a number of days where my brain doesn’t function at all. So as you can imagine, I surprised myself recently when I set myself a goal and I almost made the deadline! Amazing!

I am lucky enough to be a member of Four Quills, a group of highly intelligent, motivated women who are all accomplished writers. I love having these ladies as my friends because they motivate me to achieve more with my writing and they encourage me and lift me up on the not so good days. I feel as though I have always known them. We are so alike and so different and so when we decided to embark on a writing journey as a team I was naturally, very excited. We are in the midst of writing an anthology, a four part story told across time and with a common theme. It is entitled “STORMBRINGER”. We set up a schedule for our project with a completion date for each of our contributions. It was a tough challenge for me, I’ll be honest, because I am accustomed to writing a story in upwards of 80 thousand words, and not following the same story arc on a much smaller projects. So I did what I always do… I planned. And boy did I plan hard.

On a smaller project you have to make every word count, and it’s like having a bottle of water on a hot day, you drink it sparingly, not wasting a single drop. I had to do this with my narrative and I have to tell you it was one of the most satisfying experiences I have had with writing in a while. So yes, I missed the deadline, but not by much and I actually completed a project (almost) to schedule.

So in the midst of the proof reading and editing we will be doing on our anthology, I have commenced work on my third novel “SEE US”. It is going to be a glorious thing to write, I already have it planned out and have started on the first few pages. This will be the last book in the series and I am looking forward to this final adventure with Shelly and her friends. I have also decided to set myself a deadline of sorts, I am hoping to have this book finished by September at the latest. It’s going to be a challenge… Wish me luck!