The third round for a Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) Writing Challenge is coming to a close! As it winds up, I'm one step closer to the publication of my newest book!
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Note: If you'd like to see my first official ROW80 Writing Challenge update, click here.
It feels so great to achieve your goals. One such goal I've recently completed, as of this past week, is finally finishing what I call the "Professional Edits" revision of my upcoming Goals book. Several blog posts back, I may have mentioned hiring one of my all-time favorite authors to do an Editorial Review on my manuscript. Alongside these edits, I asked my wife to do further in-depth edits as well.
Thankfully, both basically saw eye to eye on what needed to be improved, and now, an additional 15,000 words later, I've finally plugged these edits into my manuscript, and I'm in the process of finding a Line Editor/Proofreader to do the final polishing before I publish the book.
Even though I've missed several self-appointed deadlines for publishing this book, I'm glad to say I've kept plugging away at the keyboard in order to achieve this milestone goal. The interesting thing is that as I was writing more content for this book based on setting and achieving goals, I was also encouraging myself to meet my own goals (in the case of writing and publication).
In addition to the desire to complete my Goals book, my current progress since the previous ROW80 Writing Challenge update includes the goal to write anything from journal entries to stories to blog posts and can be seen both in the list and on my Pacemaker widget below.
- Completed 4th draft of my Goals book, adding several thousand words and plugging in professional edits
- Getting ready to hire Line Editor/Proofreader this week
Projecting Progress Toward Publication
Though the above achievements may pale in comparison to my previous ROW80 Writing Challenge update, my projections for the next few weeks are much more involved, no doubt extending into ROW80 round 4:
- Plug in line edits with minimal additions to word count (I want to publish the book sooner rather than later, after all!)
- Compile in Scrivener and take a day, maybe two, to do a complete read-through on my Kindle
- Complete final read-through edits and begin publication process on Amazon, Smashwords, etc.
Of course, there's plenty of other steps to complete (including finally revealing the cover and official book title—I'm so excited!), but I'll climb that staircase when I get to it. My hope is to send out the manuscript for line edits by the end of this week and receive them no later than Fall Break (Oct. 3-14) so that I can take the entire break to finish the last three goals listed above.
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I want to publish the first book in the series no later than the end of this year; though, I'm pretty sure it won't take that long. Originally, I thought it would be a quick process (like all the writing "professionals" portray) by having the book transcribed from the original video so I could quickly turn it into a book. No such luck.
What was initially intended to be one book soon became a three-book series! Now, instead of releasing the first book close enough to the beginning of the year—prime goal season with New Year's resolutions and such— it looks like I'll have to settle for releasing it before the end of the year. (Which works out, in a way, so people can get a headstart on their goals for next year.)
So, there you have it for this ROW80 Writing Challenge update. There are many more great writing adventures ahead. Now that I can take a break from my Goals book while awaiting edits, I'm looking forward to putting the final touches on a piece of Flash Fiction I wrote several weeks back, then submitting it online for publication.
P.S. Before you go, please check out the Featured Resource below. I mentioned using my Kindle above for reading through my manuscript, but I love it for so many other reasons, the main one being that I don't have to haul a ton of books with me wherever I go; you can fit hundreds of books on a Kindle!
Featured Resource: Kindles & Kindle Accessories
CHECK OUT MY BOOKS...
If you would like to see more of my writing, be sure and check out the books I've already written, as well as those I'm currently working on, by visiting my Books page.
If you would like to learn more information about the Round of Words in 80 Days challenge and how to sign up, visit the official website by clicking here. And please don't forget to share this blog with your friends by using the share buttons conveniently located below...
I’m right there with you on the Kindle love. Not only does mine hold all the books (mine, my Accomplices’, and both of my actively reading homeschoolers, so we can share, it’s also got my games – and the all important Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Recording, with lyrics, so we can keep trying to rap “Guns and Ships as fast as Lafayette (Daveed Diggs) does!
Fantastic newss about your goals and progress! I look forward to hearing more!
Thanks so much for your thoughts and comments, Shanjeniah!