How I’m Starting To Form Writing Plans For 2021 – The Climb #633

Monday 16^th November 2020

I’ve started to think about next year. Specifically, I’m thinking about what writing projects I could get done next year.

There’s a number of factors I need to consider.

Every project has at least 3 stages: outline, first draft and edit / redraft.
I shouldn’t immediately go to the next stage of a project (i.e. a first draft of a novel cannot follow an outline of the same novel)
It probably makes sense that I don’t follow one stage with the same stage in a different project (I.e. no outline of Novel A followed by Outline of Novel B)
Each stage takes a differing amount of time:
- Outline : 1 – 4 weeks
- First Draft: 4 – 8 Weeks
- Edit: 4 – 12 Weeks
There should be a gap between each bit of work

1. To allow for delays / real life getting in the way
2. To give myself time to recharge

Any professional piece of work will need to be prioritised and may disrupt the plan
Projects should be a mix of those used to play with craft, those which might not sell but I want to do, those with a specific commercial focus.
They should also include a mix of projects I’ve already completed some stages of (i.e. First Drafts) as well as new ideas I want to play with.

There’s a lot to digest here. One thing that is immediately apparent from compiling this list is that I shouldn’t really schedule this too much. I’ve made this mistake with writing first drafts where I schedule a chapter every couple of days, something then happens and I have a massive ballache in trying to reschedule a whole bunch of work that’s now been pushed back.

Likewise, if I schedule 4 weeks for an outline and it takes me a week, what do I do with the other 3 weeks? There’s part of me that looks at it as a reward for finishing early. I get an extra 3 weeks if I do my outline in 1 week rather than 4. But that seems wrong to me. If it takes 4 weeks because the plot is complicated and it needs that time, why should I punish myself? And then if I did have a subsequent 2 weeks off, do I really want 5 weeks? Writing shouldn;t feel like a punishment even if it’s a really hard edit.

Instead, I think I should have broad goals to complete a number of novels through all stages, and maybe schedule the next piece of work when the current one is done.

I’m still not sure though. My aim has always been to produce more work than I could commercially sell. This year looks like I’ll complete 3 major pieces of work which was my aim: two rewrites and 1 new first draft.

Going forward I want to get back to super productivity but in a way that feels relaxed and efficient. That means juggling projects at different stages, as well as thinking more about what projects I tackle.