A 2021 writing update

 

First of all, thank you to everyone who supported my latest release, Hopeless! I hope you enjoyed reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I'm currently working on the first draft of the sequel to Hopeless, which is still untitled. (I have a few options in mind, but I haven't decided which one I like best and may not until after the first draft is completed.) Last year, I started writing Hopeless in June and completed the first draft in December. January through May of 2021 consisted of revisions, editing, and everything else involved in putting a book together for a June 2021 release.

I liked the 12-month cycle that I went through to publish Hopeless, and my intention is to follow the same schedule as much as possible for the sequel. A couple of weeks after the release of Hopeless, I began writing the second book. I've only finished about 10,000 words, which isn't as far along as I'd like, but I have nearly four months remaining until the end of the year. Last year's word count got a boost from NaNoWriMo, and I anticipate using November to help me catch up this year as well.

If I'm able to replicate this schedule for the sequel, I'll continue sticking with it for subsequent books in the After Z-Day series, assuming the books are all roughly the same length as Hopeless was. But first things first. I want to reach 25,000 words by the end of October, add another 15,000 to 20,000 during NaNiWriMo, and complete the first draft by December 31. Let's see how I do against these shorter term goals.