I had a couple of people ask, even after I did my “day in the life” post, exactly how books shake out, given my quick turnaround schedule so I’m going to toss this out there, both because I think it might be interesting and because I hope it might help people. So, for this book, the last book of the year for me, I’m going to do a weekly check-in to show what I’ve done. This is more of an introduction because I’m scheduled to start writing on Monday, November 22, 2021.

So let’s see where we stand.

I wouldn’t be expecting these to be long or very detailed, just a momentary pop-in to say what I’ve done and how far I have to go. If you have any questions along the way, by all means, jump down to the comments and ask.

This week, at least part of this week, has been development and planning. As this is the third and, maybe last book in a series, I went into it knowing a lot about what the book was about and what it had to accomplish, which does make things easier and harder at the same time.

Yes, I already have virtually all of my characters, my situations, my world building and my plotting done, but I have to make sure that it all comes together in the end in some kind of satisfying way, which is always difficult when you’re trying to wrap up a series. However, this week, I got all of that done in 2 days, Tuesday and Wednesday and then, I started to cheat.

It’s not really cheating but all of my books start, officially, on Monday. I do it that way because my entire process is built around 5-day work weeks. However, if I have a chance and I have the desire, which is almost always the case anymore, I do tend to start writing earlier so I can start off the book with a bunch of words under my belt.

At the moment, that total comes out to 10,005 words, written over two days. Thursday, I got in 5209 and Friday I finished 4798. Typically, I never go below 5k a day but since I’m not really “supposed” to be writing at all, I don’t hold myself accountable for that when I start early. It still averaged 10k for two days and that gets me starting the book on Monday in the middle of the third chapter.

That’s not too bad. The last book, the one that I wrote in October and early November, I started one day early and only got in about 4200 words. That means, based on my first week goals, that I should finish 35-40k in the first week. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

Right now, I’m looking at 29 chapters and right around 120k total. That could go up or down by a couple of thousand words but I’m usually pretty good at pegging my book lengths accurately. This series has come in a little below average for length but honestly, the only thing that matters in the end is turning in a good novel.

I am scheduled to have this book done, on or before December 17, 2021, which I shouldn’t have a problem doing. That will be 8 complete novels for the year and somewhere in the million word range, maybe a little less. I’m completely fine with that. I don’t count overall words, just finished books.

Right now, I’m trying to figure out if I want to submit the first book in this series to my beta readers or if I should wait until January. I know that it’s a big ask for them to work over the holidays and that’s why I’m okay waiting, but that’s going to back up the rest of the books that I need to get out. Usually, I’ve been doing 6 books a year, mostly a month on and a month off beta reading but this year, because I did more, it’s been closer to a month on and 3 weeks off and I don’t know how fair that is. If I do send it out, I’ll build the epub by next weekend, I already have my covers for the series, and get it out to them but I haven’t got a clue what I’ll actually do.

So that’s where I am at the moment, just waiting to get the rest of chapter 3 done and on to chapter 4, where the story really kicks into high gear. I expect to just work all week and then do a recap sometime every weekend, just to see how I do and how far ahead I get. If I’m lucky, I’m going to try to have book 2 in the series fully edited by the end of the year and also, the next series plotted so on the first Monday in January (or as close as I can get, I’m thinking probably the 3rd if I don’t get a jump start on it), I’ll be off on the third trilogy of the 4-trilogy series I started back in 2019. That’s one that I’m looking forward to.

Anyhow, any questions, just throw them into the comments and I’ll see if I can help. Take care and get writing. It’s the only way to actually get anywhere.