Starting the Year Off Right When So Much in the World is Still So Wrong: My First-Quarter 2021 Goals Check-In

Engine start-stop

The first quarter of the first full year of the Covid-19 global pandemic is now over.

Setting and achieving your goals during a pandemic is a delicate balance. Always with goal-setting you want to find the sweet spot between ambitious and realistic, between things that will challenge you but you’ll still actually be able to do.

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On Drafting Sequels Out of Sequence of Traditional Publishing

Drafts of all three books in my proposed trilogy (and a single sheet of paper to spare!)

Experts are adamant that you shouldn’t do it.

When you’ve written the first book in a series that you want to have traditionally published—or rather a book that has “series potential”, to use the correct querying parlance—they say you absolutely should not write a sequel (or sequels) until the first book is sold.

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One Last Remembrance of a Year Best Forgotten: My 2020 Year-End Goals Recap/Accounting

Never was a day planner’s title so unfitting for the year 2020

It seemed to take the better part of a decade, but the year 2020 is finally over.

Indeed, once December hit, the year seemed to make up for its previous glacial progress due to Covid-19, at once jetting by and forcing me to likewise race to try to finish my outstanding resolutions for the year.

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On Plotting a New Novel By Pantsing It

It was supposed to be a beat sheet I was creating for my next WIP.

I’ve always considered myself a plotter.  I’m very fond of pantsing my way through revisions, rewriting a scene five times in quick succession if need be rather than taking the time to outline the most feasible approach.

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I Made My First Ever Aesthetic! (With No Help From My Mind’s Eye Whatsoever)

I always wanted to make an aesthetic for my WIP, though I wasn’t sure that I could.

Originally, this was due to my not understanding them as an artform.  I knew they were collages of evocative photos that represents one’s story, and that they’re a common way for writers to discuss and promote their work on social media, particularly Twitter.

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Nobody Expects a Global Pandemic: My First-Quarter 2020 Goals Check-In/Reassessment

The inspirational title of my day planner for 2020 is “Grand Plans”.

It’s funny how so many sayings about plans are negative ones:

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”

“No plan survives first contact with an opposing force.”

“Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.”

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