Saturday 5 July 2014

Half yearly progress update

It's hard to believe that we've passed the halfway mark for 2014 already. Seems like a good time to review my progress so far and see how I'm tracking with my writing (and publishing) goals. So here goes:
  1. Thomas and the Tiger-Turtle - done and dusted. Was released on 19 May by the wonderful people at Evolved Publishing. And it's come up very nicely too, if I don't say so myself. Getting my first picture book published has been a real highlight.
  2. Magnus Opum - have been making slow progress on getting Magnus Opum ready for republishing by Booktrope publishing. Story has been re-edited and a new cover designed. At this stage, we're just down to final preparation, so hopefully we're only a few weeks away from release day. Watch this space.
  3. My YA novel - tentative title Through the Flame -  I've been making steady progress on this. The original goal was to have a publisher-ready MS by the end of the year. I've already completed a full rewrite of the original first draft, and am now five chapters into a second rewrite. So it's looking highly likely that I'll achieve that deadline with months to spare.
  4. Another published picture book - am in discussions with the people at Evolved for a follow up to Thomas and the Tiger-Turtle. Don't want to say too much at this stage but we're close to having an edited MS so I'm highly hopeful that I can have another picture book available by the end of the year.
  5. More picture book MSs - at the start of the year I set myself a goal of at least two new picture book MSs (to add to my already substantial pool). I've just completed one with the title Bella and the Blue Genie, so officially halfway there.
  6. My detective novel - tentative title A Fate Worse than Death - I was originally hoping this might be ready for publication by the end of the year, but with Magnus Opum taking longer than hoped, that's probably less likely at this stage. Again, watch this space.
  7. My dinosaur story - a companion piece for Flidderbugs that has been in my head for a while. I hadn't really planned on starting on it this year, but depending on how other projects go, there may be a chance. I'm hoping to have it ready to publish, maybe later next year.
 So as you can see, progress has been good, with a couple of major achievements. But still plenty of work to do. Roll on the rest of 2014. Let's see where we're at by the end of the year.