Hello folks, and welcome to 2021.
If you’re like me you’re not really feeling those resolutions this year. We’re still in the middle of a pandemic, though vaccinations are dispersing somewhat, and we’ve got a few months more at best of our new, strange reality. And of course there is a lot of uncertainty right now. I don’t pretend to know what the future holds, but no doubt this year will surprise us, and disappoint us, and fill us with hope and despair in equal measure. Years are arbitrary divisions. Time doesn’t stop because we want it to, and we are in an age of change.
But, all of that said, I am hopeful that, whatever happens, I’ll get some good writing in this year. So, at the risk of making myself anxious, I do have some tentative goals to aspire towards.
First and most importantly, I’ve got my main WIP that I’m still plugging away on, which those of you who subscribe to my Patreon have already read a few tiny snippets of. It’s an epic fantasy romance thing with fae creatures and witches and dark powers, which means that if I want to see it published traditionally I need at least 100,000 words to make it done. I’m happy to say that seems pretty doable given my wordcount so far and how much of the plot I still have left to spin out onto the page. This project will likely be my main focus this year and I hope that by the December I will have something like a rough draft — though I’m not tying myself to anything for all the reasons listed above. Setting goals in 2020 actually reduced my productivity because I would get so worked up with not meeting them, so my goal here is to just get the story out and enjoy it.
I also have a novella project that is a similar tale to “Viridian” that I would like to finish sometime this year. It’s a horror story and a folktale retelling, and I started drafting it back in 2019 with the goal of making it a Patreon reward but then sold “Viridian” and had to revise that story so much I didn’t have time to finish the new one. Since it’s dark and the world is dark I have not been working on it much, but I would like to finish it by the end of this year as well. This is more aspirational than anything, since I am very aware I can only do so much this year and my productivity is not likely to become higher any time soon and ultimately, at least until things die down, I’m going to try to focus on the projects that make me the happiest.
Speaking of aspirational goals — I’ve found that having an editing project alongside a writing project can sometimes function as good stress relief when making new words, since revision uses a different part of my brain that otherwise starts trying to meddle in my drafting. So after I finish my first read of White Wedding and send it out to my first readers, I’ll be working on editing Storm and Thorn, that old project of mine featuring a mute woman washed up in a storm and a priestess with burgeoning magic powers. I’m not sure when I’ll start revisions since it depends on how long everything else takes. It may be well into the spring at this rate. But I have hope that this story might be something really interesting with a little TLC so I’m excited to work on it. I’ve got some great editing notes from a friend of mine from college who is getting started on her own little editing side business, and I can’t wait to start.
Lastly, sometime in between all these things I hope to find time to query and submit and maybe scribble out a new short story or two. If I’m not putting myself out there, I can hardly expect someone to buy my stuff, can I?
So yeah, those are the projects on the docket this year, and we’ll see where we are in a few months. I’m not tying myself to anything because my main goal is mental health this year, but I’d like to finish these out before I turn my attention to anything else. That said, I know some folks are eagerly awaiting the last installment of The Creation Saga. Please rest assured that is in the back of my mind — I fully expect that project to be my next big WIP, barring unforeseen circumstances. I want to finish out Liana’s journey and put the world of Herkunsland to rest for a little while. As soon as I get to a place where I can start on this project, my readers will be the first to know.
I hope you have a wonderful 2021, friends.
Amanda J. McGee, Author 
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