Week 2: Mapping Out Your Writing Journey

Season 3 of The Rookie Writer Show will be a “behind the scenes” look at my writing journey from concept to published book, with lots of short stories and other projects sprinkled in for good measure. Let’s see how everything we’ve been learning gets put to good use! First order of business: I realized this week that Thursday shows no longer make any sense with our new format! From now on, shows will drop on Mondays. I’ll be able to offer a fuller picture of what I did in a given week if I wait until the week is actually finished. LOL (Sidenote: I considered posting shows on Sundays, when I try to do my planning for the week, but I want that day to remain relatively deadline-free and flexible, so Monday it is!) A quick check-in from last week. Were you able to set your course and check the oil and tires, so to speak: * Check in with your goals?* Take some fresh eyes to your writing and other systems to see if there’s anything you can make easier on yourself and/or to create more writing time or space?* Reach out to other writers to start assembling your community?* Corral your writing materials? Here’s what I did to work toward my goals this week: Writing Goals Write and Release Book 1 in a New Series * I collected all my materials related to the book series together in one place and started going through them again. * I already knew the basic type of story/genre I’m aiming for, so I didn’t really do any new work there. I’ll keep on the lookout for similar books and even movies in this genre. These (especially recent books) that are similar to your own are called “comps.” I finished reading a comp (The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons), and I’ll keep doing so. I’m still deciding between a couple of titles to read next. I’ll let you know next week! * I decided on general structure and started an actual outline for book one. I’m also dropping in general notes on structure and character for books 2 and 3 in the series.* I’ve finally decided that just about everything will go in my Evernote app (research, story ideas, etc.) or Trello (tasks, submission opportunities, etc.). This has been a gamechanger!* I finished the writing system half of Elana Johnson’s excellent book. Totally recommend! * I’m hoping to finish my outline for Book 1 this week so I can get crackalackin’ on my goal of 3 pages per day schedule for that book! The Bradbury Challenge: Write a new short story every week. * I spent a few hours going through Duotrope, New Pages, and The Writer magazine listings to map out places and opportunities for me to sub...