As always, I’d like to begin this week’s progress report by thanking all of you awesome people who’ve followed, liked and/or commented on my blog!

I also want to thank you all for being so patient during my break. I sincerely love writing and feel incredibly empowered by the self-publishing process, but I won’t lie, it’s been overwhelming at times to cover all aspects by myself.

The good news is, as I sit here, the last thing to do for book 1 is to check the second paperback proof copy (currently in transit to me) and make sure all of the formatting is right (I had an issue with the gutter margin on the first proof). My marketing plan is formed. I have a few more marketing and ad graphics made up. Which is great because I’ve decided to move my release date up to…

MARCH 1, 2019

This means that I will be opening the preorder window on December 1, 2018. During the months of December, January, and February, you’ll want to stay tuned, as I have lots of awesome reveals and extras planned for the lead up to release.

Now, as for NaNoWriMo next month, I am currently in the process of preparing to write my next book. Though this is not a sequel to my first book and includes none of the same characters, I would like to try and keep most or all of my books within the same universe (I know, I know, that’s some Stephen King shit, lol). Currently, I’m researching a list of things that’ll come up in my story, as that seems like the bulkiest part of preparing for me.

You may be asking, well, what have you done to prepare for the actual story? Well, as a lot of you know, I’m a huge fan of podcasts and YouTube. I live in the middle of nowhere on a budget, so we don’t have cable. But we do have (at times spotty) internet. When I began on this journey, I got hooked on several podcasts aimed at writing and self-publishing, as well as several author-YouTubers. One of my favorites is Kristen Kieffer. Probably the mildest and most relatable of the author podcasters/YouTubers, I found her early in the game and I’m so thankful for that. In addition to creating audible content, she has a workbook called The Pre-Write Project, a workbook designed to help you get the bones of your book idea out. I began working my way through it months ago and while I believe I have a little bit left to work out, I already have the bulk of my story idea and structure down. I’ve also paired her character study with my own from the first book to create a detailed look at the characters I’m writing. Before the month is over, I’d also like to create an outline like I had for the first book.

Now, I’m not stupid. I know that I probably won’t be able to complete my whole second book in November. The rough draft of my first book clocked in at over 80,000 words. But I do intend to get those first 50,000 words down in November and finally cross ‘winning NaNoWriMo’ off my bucket list. From there, I plan to finish the rest before January 1, 2019. I’ve done it before. I don’t see why I can’t do it again.

If you’re participating in this year’s NaNoWriMo, feel free to buddy with me through my NaNo profile here. As with my first book, I’m not giving away too many details as I create this new book, but I will be sharing my general progress and thoughts/feelings as I work.