The Plan

So, if you’ve clicked on this page it seems you might be intrigued by the title and might like to know exactly what “The Plan” is and what it entails.

Before I reveal all, I’ll just give you a bit of a rundown of my journey so far, so you are able to understand the planning that’s gone into “The Plan”.

In the beginning…

I have been creating and writing in one form or another as long as I can remember, whether it be poetry, short stories, children’s stories, music and so on, but despite my frequent day dreams of becoming an author, it was never something I outwardly pursued. So I went to University, became a primary school teacher (which I enjoy) and my writing became hundreds of beginnings but never an ending. Then sometime in the middle of 2013, I had yet another of my many vivid dreams, which is terribly cliche I know, but I believe that because I was inadvertently denying my mind the opportunity to create, it just did it itself while I was asleep. I won’t give away the exact content of the dream, as that will be a bit of a spoiler, but that was the humble beginnings of Thomas and Rose’s story.

After waking I frantically wrote down all that had happened in the dream before it left my mind, the need to create overwhelmed me that morning and I could not contain my excitement and curiosity. Who were these people? What was their story? What kind of world did they live in? I fiddled around with the idea for about a month, still not quite taking myself seriously, but researching a few ideas and so on. Then, I finally took the leap and started writing the first draft of Thomas and Rose’s story (at this point though Rose was called Maggie.) Then the procrastinator in me took over and I pushed it aside for a little longer.

In late 2013, I joked around with my cousin, saying that all the nonsense that comes out of my mouth would make an awesome blog and I would call it, “The Profoundly Profound Thoughts of Kath K.” After laughing about this for quite some time that day, I later thought to myself, why not? And The Writer Within was born.

That brings us to 2014, the year I spent leaping from one idea to the next, feeling like I had multiple personalities as I explored each character in the many novel ideas I began to explore. Then I made the decision that all this flitting about was really getting me nowhere, it was time to stop procrastinating, because I knew deep down that was exactly what I was doing. I decided to stick with Thomas and Rose’s story, that was the one story I had invested the most in and the one I felt most connected to at the time (and still do). After changing a main character’s name and the POV I was still having trouble though, I had more questions than answers about the story and the characters, then it hit me! The timeline I had drafted for the story was incomplete, Thomas and Rose’s story is a series and I started it in the middle! Once I realised that, I went right back to the beginning and was determined to tell their story in all of its entirety.

This is where we come to “The Plan”.

The Plan

So here it is,

• One thing at a time – I’ve come to the conclusion that if I am going to get anything finished, I need to focus on one writing project at a time, my current WIP is the very beginning of Thomas and Rose’s story, in the novel currently titled Lonely Hearts.
• Write around 7000 words a month – for most writers this does not sound like a lot, but with three young children, work and well…. life, it’s a goal that is certainly attainable.
• Finish the first draft in 2015 – given the above quota of 7000 words a month, this fits in with my aim to have the first draft of Lonely Hearts completed by the end of 2015.
• Edit and Rewrite – once I have finished the first draft, I plan on editing and rewriting for part of 2016
• Self-publish – At this point I am looking into the possibility of self-publishing my first novel as an ebook, something which I of course need to look into more in depth, but it seems like a great way for my writing to get out there.

So there it is, “The Plan” in all of its simplicity and complexity. I also plan to write the first draft of next installment of Thomas and Rose’s story in 2016 in order to get the series out to the readers in a timely fashion. For now though, the focus is my first novel Lonely Hearts and getting it out there some time in 2016.

Thanks for reading this far and I hope you’ll continue to follow me as I continue my journey to embrace the writer within.

-KK

© Katherine A. Kovacs and The Writer Within, (2013-2015). Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Katherine A. Kovacs and The Writer Within with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.