12 Books 12 Months

12 Books 12 Months

Happy new year, dragonlings!

This year is going to be a good year. It’s going to be a busy year. However, it will be a good one as I have a lot of plans for 2020.

One of those plans is to write twelve – yes, twelve – books in twelve months.

Jason Hamilton started a private Facebook group for those who wanted to participate in the challenge called 12 Books in 12 Months. The rules shown in the image below are pulled directly from his post there.

If you do choose to do the 12 books in 12 months challenge, the rules are these:

1) You must write a total of 12 books (first drafts) in 12 months. "Books" are defined as anything over 40,000 words (for fiction) and anything over 30,000 words (for non-fiction).

2) You don't have to write 1 book per month. The average just has to come down to 1 book per month. Some books might take longer than others.

3) Please document your progress (an occasional post to this group is fine).

I first attempted this challenge in 2019. I failed within the first couple of months. In 2020, I have a different plan in mind. I’m going to take the initial idea of the challenge and twist it for my needs.

Anyone who watches my YouTube channel knows that I am a bit of a cover hoarder. As in, I have twenty-two covers for paranormal romance and fantasy genres alone. Yikes! It’s time to tone that down a bit and get some of those books published.

I have also noticed that I tend to take more than a month to write a single draft of a novel. It’s not that I can’t write a first draft in a month, for when I track my writing, it does usually take me less than thirty writing days to complete a first draft. It’s just that my mind jumps to other projects before I’ve finished the first.

My idea to remedy these issues is do my own variation of the challenge in 2020. My goal is to write six first drafts from start-to-finish, but I don’t want to rush them. At the same, I want to edit or re-write six books I already have drafts for and get them ready for publication.

My plan is as follows:

6 Books to Write

  • Growl
  • Sienna’s Wolf (An Unfamiliar Fairytale novel)
  • Night Rider
  • Dark Summons
  • Hitchhiker’s Adventures – working title
  • Summer’s Princess – working title (An Unfamiliar Fairytale novel)

6 Books to Edit/Re-Write

  • Damned and Dangerous (book 1-4)
  • Hunter’s Betrayal (Shifters & Mages, book 1)
  • Warren’s Rage (Shifters & Mages, book 3)

Some notes on all the projects.

Growl and Sienna’s Wolf have basic outlines, but I’d like to do a more in-depth outline for them before I start working on them.

Night Rider, Dark Summons, Hitchhiker’s Adventures, and Summer’s Princess are not outlined. I have a basic idea for all of them, but no outlines. So, I’ll need to outline them before I start writing them. I’d like to spend the first week or so of every two-month process getting the outline in tip-top shape before I write each story.

As for the editing projects, I’m tentative to set an actual release date for the Damned and Dangerous series, but I’d like to have them published sometime in the second quarter of the year, so in the April/May/June time frame. I’d like to have them out in April, but realistically, it’ll probably be closer to June.

On top of that, I really need to start getting the Shifters & Mages series ready for publication. It’s past time for that to be ready. That means I need to re-write Hunter’s Betrayal and Warren’s Rage based on notes I got from my editor. I’ve already been added to my artist’s roster for covers, so that’s a plus. Maybe I’ll even get these books out in 2020. Hey! Let me dream.

Additional Editing Projects (If Others Finished)

  • Jenna’s Story (Shifters & Mages, book 4)
  • Mages’ Sacrifice (Shifters & Mages, book 5)
  • Heart of the Wolf (Mate of the Alphas, book 1)
  • Howl’s It Hangin’? (Willow Creek Shifters, book 1)
  • Lost Heir (an Altera novel)
  • Paw Prints + Broomsticks

On the rare occurrence that I finish the initial projects, I’ve already have a plan in place that allows me to get more editing and re-writing projects done. I doubt it will happen, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.

Additional Writing Projects (If Others Finished)

  • Bear with Me (Willow Creek Shifters, book 2)
  • Lion to Me (Willow Creek Shifters, book 3)
  • Ashes to Ashes
  • Blood Dragon (an Altera novel)
  • Silence of the Wolf (Mate of the Alphas, book 2)
  • Packless (Weres vs Werewolves, book 1)

Much like the editing projects, I have an ongoing list of the writing projects. Sometime in February (hopefully), I’ll start revealing covers for some of these projects to give a better idea of what you can look forward to from me.

Until then, at least I have some plans in place for the new year.

What are your plans for the new year dragonlings?
Let me know in the comments below.