Hold Me Accountable

In the midst of good comes the bad, as it always must. And in the middle of a ten-day vacation, amongst the wildlife and scenery, came the news of a friend’s unexpected death, struck down far too young.

It’s not the first time I’ve said I should be held accountable. Ignoring my self-set deadlines is far too easy. I’m lucky enough to have a good day job, one I (mostly) enjoy. I do well with it.

But writing makes me happy, and there are stories in my head that ache to be told. The Guy has been nudging me, asking about Peter and June. It’s been nearly two years.

Heinleins’ rules for writers: It’s time to get it done.

This is, of course, easy to say. There are still things I need to figure out. Beta readers, for instance, and editing. I have some major rewrites in progress, but I know what needs to happen, and it’s closer than I thought it was at the beginning of the trip. Editing for a living helps keep copy relatively clean, though I won’t pretend I’ll catch everything.

Short term actions:

• Title: Finally selected for the main WIP. “Peter and June” is tentatively named Paladin’s Sword: A Professor Porter Paranormal Investigation.
• Beta readers: I’ll hit up Facebook and some friends. I should…maybe make more friends.
• Editing: Get it as clean as possible, toss it to a friend if she has time, perhaps ping a couple local editors.
• Covers: I’m not going to figure this out myself anytime soon. I can see what it should be, and it’s fabulous inside my head. That doesn’t mean I can execute that vision, because I am not so talented. So, contact a different friend, with both skills and twin toddlers. Look for a premade cover because reality says no.
• Business stuff: Get Fortress Pomegranate Press off the ground as a real organization. Go talk to the bank, register the name, do whatever the state needs me to get done, look at tax issues, figure out a logo.

Long term:

• Figure out image editing software. Possibly trade editing for covers.
• Too many lingering WIPs. Lauren and William, Lady Death, Evil Unicorns, June & Peter’s half-plotted series continued. Start wrapping some of these up. Evil Unicorns is plotted as a trilogy, so it may make more sense to hold on publishing until I can get them out in rapid succession.
• Decide on pen names. Some of these are different genres and should signal to readers. I’m thinking Fiona Grey for romance and Fiona Greyson for paranormals.
• Get better at blocking off time to write. The Big Bang Theory is my weakness. It doesn’t matter if I’ve seen the epiode several times, I still get sucked in. Some days, it’s what I need after the day job, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get more efficient at using the time around it.
• Keep learning craft. Because of course.

Learn. Write more. Revise. Publish. It’s time.