Process and The Plan Of The Book

PROCESS AND THE PLAN

So I wanted to talk about how I came up with the chapter format, my writing day and what I plan for next year.

The Chapter Format:

I have thirteen chapters in this book. Each one has twenty pages, which gives a total of 260 pages. The word count before final edit is 76,000+.

I think pretty decent. Hopefully you do too!

So where do I come up with thirteen chapters? Well, I wanted to pay tribute to the Mayan calendar. They understood cycles and a way in which the seasons worked which still to this day can be used.

However, there is more to that calendar that first meets the eyes. Astrology comes into play too. They could speak with accuracy how the cycle of the earth moved through the solar system, etc, etc.

So I thought they know something I clearly don't. Besides, what better way to honor an ancient civilization, than to "code" the book in this way.

This also makes it easy for me to write, when I understand how many chapters are going to be there, along with how many pages are in each one.

My Writing Day:

The great thing about the format is that I can now plan a "manufacturing" process. This means I can ask myself "how many days do I want to work and how many pages can I produce on any given day". Considering I have only a limited amount time each day. (I gave myself two hours each day before work.)

So, I figured I don't want to work Saturday or Sunday. (I need some time off. Haha.)

Plus I was going to write four chapters before taking a break of two to three weeks.

So what does this all mean?

I figured I could write three to five pages a day, Monday through Friday. This meant I would produce a chapter in about seven "manufacturing" days (not counting the weekend of course).

I would also read the previous day's work so I would stay consistent.

The great thing about this, is I'm teaching myself a discipline of writing. I can, effectively stop after those pages for the day, no matter what I'm feeling and pick it up the next day, right where I left off.

Pretty cool, I thought!

This works for me. It helps me to become a better writer and it finally meant I could see the finish line! Wow!

The Plan For Next Year:

So I'm going into editing at the beginning of next year. I want to have that "locked" down by the end of February. It should be enough for a literary agent to hopefully say yes to the project.

Once that is done, I'm turning that into a screenplay for film. I want that written by the end of April. My hope is the editing for that will be done by the end of May and off to an agent at that time.

I'm currently in "pre-production" for my next book "A Grain of Sand" which I will begin writing at that time.

My hope is that I'm talking to both agents some time later in the year, moving the project forward onto the shelf and hopefully beginning the process of a Producer to give the green light.

A lot for next year but I can't wait to see how it all unfolds!

Okay, that's enough for today! I hope you have an awesome day!

Mark