My friend (and fellow writer) Stephannie Beman gave me an idea.  She made a post where she listed out what her goals are for the year.  I have heard that planning ahead saves hours of work in the long run, so I thought I’d try to plan out my writing and publishing schedule for the rest of the year.

This is a tentative schedule.  I can never say for certain if something will actually happen because factors like kids, unexpected illnesses, etc.  You just never know what the future will bring. 🙂

As a side note, this schedule is based off of estimated word counts for the entire book which I then divided up into months then broke down into weeks.  I usually write an average of  1500 to 2000 words a day, but I don’t always write that every single day and on some days, I go over the 2000 mark.  So it evens out in the long run.

I’ll be focusing on this book for the rest of April and hopefully finishing it by May 31, though I might end up finishing it during the first week of June since I am slightly behind schedule on this one.  It’s not too bad, though.

I’d like to publish this at the end of June, but if that doesn’t happen (because I do need to work with my editing team and their schedules), then early July will be the latest it should be to get released.

I’ll be focusing on this book for the rest of April through early July.  This is my next Regency and will start the Marriage by Arrangement Series.  I already have plans for book 2 in the series but need to get other books done before I can start it.

I’m hoping to publish this at the end of July/early August.

For those of you who read Boaz’s Wager, you’ll remember the opening scene where the men were looking for Madeline Thompson when they found Eva Connealy and Rachel Larson in the stagecoach?  I couldn’t help but wonder, “Why are they looking for Madeline?”

Well, now I get the chance to find out. 😀  This is not going to be a part of the Montana Collection.  I found that series that last longer than 3-4 books tend to lose a lot of interest, so I aim to keep all my series in the 3-4 book range.  This book might start a new series.  I’m planning on it.  But if it’s meant to be a standalone romance, then that’s what it’ll be.

It will be under my Mail Order Brides Romance Collection, though since it’s a mail-order bride story.

Okay, so I plan on writing this book in May through July.  That gives me an estimate of August through September for a publishing month.

I work on this a little at a time throughout the week.  Though I am not focusing on it, I am able to successfully write in it when I do get to it.  That was not the case with Wagon Trail Bride.  With Wagon Trail Bride, I kept freezing up and not knowing what to write next.  I now think the reason that book kept stalling out was because I should have started the book on the trail, not in New York.  So when I get to Wagon Trail Bride next year, that is what I’ll do.

But for now, I am working on His Convenient Wife.  This will be an on-going project from now to September.  I am hoping to finish this book in September or October.  That gives me October or November as my hopeful publishing month, though I prefer October.

This is another book that is an ongoing (write it when I have extra time) book.  I’m not in any hurry on this one because fantasy romance isn’t a hugely popular genre.  It’s fun to write and all, but I also know this is not going to attract a lot of people.  I have learned to scale back on books that aren’t likely to appeal to the most people.  However, this book will be out before the year is up.  I’m already at chapter seventeen (which is about 3/4 of the way into it).  The question is only when will I finish the first draft.

At the moment, I’m estimating late summer for the first draft to be done.  This fall (anywhere from September to November) will be when I’ll publish it.

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Co-Authored Books in the Works for 2014

Stephannie Beman and I are working on two books and plan to have the first drafts done in late summer.

It’s easier to write a book with her because she’ll tell me what her character says or does, and I’ll tell her what mine does.  We write it together through an instant message program.  We have certain days and hours when we’ll work on them, which makes it easier to write.

Book I’m Co-Authoring With Stephannie Beman

The current plan is to publish His Brother’s Wife in January 2015.

The current plan is to publish The Rancher’s Wife in February 2015.   (There’s no cover for The Rancher’s Wife yet.)

Janet Syas Nitsick and I will work on another anthology this year.  

We’ll do the same set up we did for Bride by Arrangement.  Our main characters will get to be friends and we’ll work them into the plots of both novellas with a finish up epilogue showing a “happy ever after” for both of them.  We will bring back characters from the first anthology.  So you’ll get to see Pete & Ada and Alex and Opal again.  We haven’t picked a title yet, and there is no book cover at this time.

Chances are that it’ll be published either very late this year or sometime early next year.

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A Look into 2015

While it’s too early to do too much with next year, I have already decided there are two books I will be writing in the August through December time frame, which puts them in the January time frame to publish.

This will be the second Regency book in the Marriage by Arrangement Series.  I expect to publish it in January.  *fingers crossed*

Book I’m Co-Authoring With Stephannie Beman

As I mentioned above, I’m planning to publish this book in January, too.

*

Not sure when, but Janet Nitsick and my second anthology should be published around this time frame.

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I think most of the people who read my books are interested in mail-order bride books and Regencies, so I will make those two genres my main focus for 2015, unless the trend changes and I see greater sales in other areas I write in.  I judge what to write based on sales because sales are the best way for me to tell what most people want to read.

So the books below are not on the priority list, though I want to write them.

After I publish His Convenient Wife, I will give Wagon Trail Bride another shot.  This tim I will start the book in another place and see if that does the trick for breaking through the huge writer’s block I’ve experienced with this one.  If I am able to push through the writer’s block, my hope is to work on this on a “when I have time” basis.

So let’s plan on fall 2015 if I can figure out a way to get the story going.

I will work on this book.  It’s the second fantasy romance, so (like A Royal Engagement) it will on a “as I find time to write it” basis, which puts this at a projection for later in 2015, much like Wagon Trail Bride.  Unlike Wagon Trail Bride, I know what to do with this book so it will definitely get done.  It’s easier to work with a book where the plot is already laid out.

I’m guessing this will be a summer release.