Accountability Post 2021 Week 50

Introduction to the Accountability Post 2021 Week 50

I made progress on Book 1’s revisions, despite a Work Real Life Event (WRLE). In a minute, I’ll talk about how much progress, and the nature of the WRLE, because you might have seen it in the news. Also, now that we’re at week 50, I want to share some thoughts with you about how I think I’m going to change gears on this site. But first, let’s talk about what I accomplished this week!

Accountability Post 2021 Week 50 By the Numbers

I’m climbed the plateau of line editing! And beheld the far-off peak of revising two arcs…

I’ve incorporated all of the developmental editor’s line edits. Yea! I’m especially grateful because the developmental edit I purchased from Reedsy.com didn’t necessarily include line edits. But I wanted to take advantage of them. They helped the text read much better.

Now, it’s time for me to tackle the two broken arcs that the developmental editor pointed out. I have an idea of how I want them to play out. What’s more, I can play one off the other. One of the arcs deals with Quaid Adair, the Indiana’s Professional 18 medical officer. He’s an American Catholic. The second plot follows Cardinal Clifton Tadlock, who’s also an American Catholic. He is Pope Nauman I’s Secretary of State.

The question is, can I finish before the end of December? The answer is a firm maybe. Have you seen the news about a recent security vulnerability in Log4J? My main job is in computer security. Thus, WRLE. This one by itself cost me four days. What if another one hits? As this xkcd diagram demonstrates with appalling accuracy, there are a lot of small software projects embedded deeply in modern software.

That said, if I can focus, I think I can wrap up this draft of Book one. That means it’s time to decide my next steps.

Next Steps for This Site

I want to apologize to you, because there are times I let the darkness that pervades my soul seep into my writing here. Hmmm. That sounds a bit grim. So, let’s try this: Sorry for not being a more upbeat host!

More importantly, thank you for reading this. I appreciate it. Writing these posts, along with reading your comments, has helped me write two manuscripts in 2021. Given that I started book two on week twenty-six, and given that I’ve learned some efficiencies while writing book two, I really think I can reliably write two books a year. That means by spring 2022, I might be in a position to launch book one. As in, publish it to the world.

I want to keep these accountability posts going. They have honestly helped keep me moving forward.

In addition to that… I was about to write, “assuming I get fans,” but you know what? I’m going to try to avoid statements like that. So, I’ll say even if I only attract one fan, I want them to feel welcome if they visit this site. To that end, I want to do more than just write accountability posts.

I think I’ll try to post one review a month, at least, of books similar to mine. That way, if my fan is waiting for my next novel, I can recommend other writers who are writing similar material. It’s a case of the rising tide lifting all boats. I don’t have competitors, I have colleagues. Or at least, I will know other writers who my readers might be interested in checking out.

I’ll also need to build a landing page for the series I’m still calling Evolution’s Hand, even if the individual titles are still up in the air. So, please expect those in the first months of 2022.

Goals for the Week in Accountability Post 2021 Week 50

This week, I want to focus on my response to the developmental editor for book one. Specifically:

1. Product plot braiding worksheets for the two broken arcs
2. Revise four of the plot points for the Quaid Adair
3. Revise three of the plot points for Clifton Tadlock

My vacation started this week, pending, of course, further developments in the WRLE! So, let’s see what I can accomplish.

What Do You Think?

It took me two weeks to pull the line edits from Word into Scrivener. Was it worth it? Do you do something different? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!