Writing Plans

I've been thinking a lot about writing lately. It seems like it is all I think about at times actually. For the last couple of days, I've been working off and on "Bella's Battle", which is my pirate short story that I'm writing for the Skulls and Crossbones anthology. It is much slower going than I originally thought it would be. So far, I've written only 1,400 words in two days. I plan to write more today on it, and I hope to finish it next week.

For the last couple of months, I have written a short story a month. In May, it was "Hell Has No Fury" for the All About Eve anthology. In June, it was "Eclipse" for The Way of the Wizard anthology. July's short story will be "Bella's Battle" for Skulls and Crossbones anthology. As for August, I would like to continue writing a short story for each month, but I don't know what to do about August. No anthology has caught my eye yet for that month. I am considering writing another short story in the Liam O'Hare mysteries for August. I have an idea for it actually. It is called "The Case of the Diva's Last Aria". Liam O'Hare and Dr. Matthew Johnson are attending a performance of the revised version of Charles Gounod's Romeo et Juliette. When the star of the show is murdered on stage, O'Hare and Johnson have to find the killer before he or she exits stage right. The story would take place in 1888 London. I know I'm writing Moonlight Murders, which is another Liam O'Hare mystery, but I would like to have at least one more short story with the characters, before I finish and submit Moonlight Murders to Mystic Moon Press. I know it may seem silly or something, but I would like for Liam O'Hare to end up being the next Sherlock Holmes, so I would like to have several short stories and novels with the character eventually. So, "The Case of the Diva's Last Aria" will likely be my August short story, unless something else comes up.

I've been thinking about timelines for my stories as well. If I write a chapter a week in The Phoenix Prophetess, the first draft of the novel will be completed on the week of August 31. During the rest of July and August, I would like to get back to writing Moonlight Murders some, but The Phoenix Prophetess will come first until it is finished. After August though, I will try to write a chapter a week of Moonlight Murders until it is finished. The Phoenix Prophetess will be in the editing phase during this time, and I'll try to get to it a bit at a time as I have time during the week after I finish that week's chapter of Moonlight Murders. I would like to have The Phoenix Prophetess edited by the end of December, so I can begin trying to find an agent and publisher for it starting in January as well as begin writing The Phoenix Sorceress. As for Moonlight Murders, I think I'm going to try to edit it while I write it to some extent, so I can send it off to Mystic Moon Press by December or so.

As for any other projects, we'll have to see how things go.

By the way, I've been adding when I finish a chapter or short story on my calendar with the word count for the chapter or story on it. I would like to start keeping a count of how many words I write a month.

Don't forget "Once Upon a December Nightmare" comes out on July 21 from Mystic Moon Press. I'm all excited that it will be coming out and nervous that people won't like it. *laughs*