I can’t wait until all the books I’m editing have already been outlined using the Save the Cat beat sheet during the first draft. Shifting Sides has been kicking my ass. After having just written and edited May’s Nightmare, I think I was feeling a bit spoiled. Here I just finished editing a book written to fit the Save the Cat beat sheet (what I’ve started using to help me structure my stories better), and this story and the characters in it just don’t want to cooperate.

I think I spent the better part of the month trying to figure out the main character’s flaws, wants, and needs. I mean, her wants were fine enough. She wanted to belong, to be part of a community, to have a family, to not be an outsider. All worthwhile goals. Unfortunately, when I started documenting her needs, they were too similar, too close. There was nowhere for her to grow and so I kept struggling.

Fortunately, I do think I’ve finally figured it out. It only took all of Draft 2 and almost half of Draft 3 to get there, but I got there.

I suspect I’ll be spending some serious time in October preparing for NaNoWriMo and I plan to start working on Shifting Paradigms a bit more, getting a better opening picture of the story. We’ll see where I end up…

Lessons Learned:

• Identifying potential problems is a lot easier than solving them after the story’s already written…

Boxed Set

End of September Goal: Finalize Prep for Launch

Progress:  Done

Deadline Status: Paperback launched a couple days late due to Ingram Spark printing delays

Shifting Sides

End of August Goal: Finish Draft 2. Start Draft 3. Create Cover Art. Create blurb (flex goal).

Progress:  38% completed with Draft 3. Started blurb. Feeling good about the first couple paragraphs but not sure how the last paragraph of the blurb will go. Cover art is “finished,” though I have put feelers out to get feedback.

Deadline Status: On time

October 2020 Goals

• Shifting Sides: Finish Draft 3. Start Draft 4. Finalize Cover Art. Finalize blurb.
• Shifting Paradigms: Brainstorm/Organize. Prepare for NaNoWriMo.

Release Deadlines:

Ebook/Print

• Shifting Sides: February 15, 2021
• Shifting Cargo: June 15, 2021
• Shifting Loot: October 15, 2021