2013 Goals

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Debbie

I’m a firm believer in goal setting for my writing. How can you know whether or not you’ve arrived if you don’t have a destination in mind? Consequently, the final week of every year is devoted to reviewing last year’s goals and setting new ones for the coming year.

I’m always over ambitious, and for some, that would be a downer, but not for me. I mean, why be safe and set goals I won’t have to stretch for? I figure if I don’t aim high, I’ll never know if I can soar. I didn’t meet all of my 2012 goals, but I met enough that I’m very pleased with my progress. 2012 has been a very good year. I expect 2013 to be even better!

This year, I’ve discovered a new guide to my goal planning. Dean Wesley Smith is doing a blog series on getting ready for the new year. He starts with a retrospective of publishing changes in 2012 and then moves into goal planning, so be sure to look at the first three posts that he references. I’m currently taking an online class from Dean and learning a ton about publishing and my own strengths and deficits, so taking his advice is a foregone conclusion for me at the moment.

For 2013 I’m planning to follow Heinlein’s Rules as closely as I can:

  1. You must WRITE.
  2. You must FINISH what you write.
  3. You must NOT REWRITE unless to editorial demand. (That means an editor who’s paying you, not one you hire. Fixing typos / mistakes is acceptable.)
  4. You must put your work on the MARKET.
  5. You must LEAVE your work on the market.

I’m also setting a word-count goal: 3,000 words/week for 50 weeks, totaling 150,000 words for the year. Dean suggested 250,000 words for the year, but 150,000 will be enough of a stretch for me! That’s NEW words, by the way. He’s not counting revision and editing work (which I shouldn’t be doing since it violates Rule #3), nor time spent on covers and layout and publishing work.

So, depending on how my year works out, I should have a new novel and quite a few short stories, or perhaps two new novels by the end of 2013!

Onward and Upward!!

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Christmas is Coming!

Posted on December 22, 2012 by Debbie

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas weekend has arrived and I’m thrilled to be home from the office for several consecutive days.

DRAGONS’ FLIGHT is with my editor, and initial reports are good 😀 My first readers are also looking it over and giving me their thoughts. So far, so good! Looking forward to gathering all the information, letting it stew for a few days, and then making final decisions on the manuscript. Hopefully, the book will be ready for publication sometime in January!

I’m currently taking an online class with Dean Wesley Smith and thoroughly enjoying it! He’s got a lot of insight into this business to share, and I’m soaking it all in.

Our tree is decorated and our presents wrapped. Christmas breakfast and dinner are planned, and I’m reveling in this opportunity to kick back, relax, and enjoy a few days with family and friends.

Merry Christmas, one and all! Here’s to 2013 *clinks champagne glasses* Cheers!

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Celebrate!!

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Debbie

Hooray!! I finished the first draft of Dragons’ Flight on Sunday. What a fabulous rush of pride and accomplishment! 😀

Sneak Peak! Here’s the cover I’m contemplating:

Dragons' Flight

Every writer’s process is different. My approach is to get the first draft out and clean it up later. I don’t revise as I work. In fact, I don’t even read back more than a few paragraphs to orient myself to the new day’s work. I simply push forward to “The End.” Consequently, when I finish my first draft, I need to read the entire novel to see whether or not it hangs together.

I’m in my cool-down phase at the moment. The few days rest between the writing and the reading. Can hardly wait to dive in and see if it’s a complete story, or if there are plot holes that desperately need to be filled, but I know that giving myself a few days will also give me the distance I need for proper perspective.

So…tomorrow or the next day I will print my draft and ready my highlighters and red pen for action. I’ll also read through Holly Lisle’s One Pass Manuscript Revision again. Her system fits my process perfectly, and I’m thrilled to have found such a concise guide to follow.

Dragons’ Flight is coming soon. There’s still a lot of process to explore before it’s ready for release (my editor’s input is a huge part *lol*), but it’s coming!!

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Fun with PVDs (Not!)

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Debbie

This week I discovered yet another interesting (frightening? disturbing?) effect of the aging process: PVDs

To quote the literature my doctor sent home with me:

A posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) is a rather dramatic event in the normal aging process of the eye. The vitreous is a clear gel like substance that fills most of the back cavity of the eye. The vitreous gel has normal attachments to the retina, the all-important nerve layer in the back of the eye. Normally with age, after trauma, or commonly in highly nearsighted eyes, these attachments often pull loose. As a result, these attachments can tug on the retina, or pull loose from the retina, causing transient flashes of light, usually in the outer periphery of the eye and cause a sudden increase in annoying objects floating in front of the eye. The sudden symptoms of a PVD require immediate examination.

I experienced one of these “dramatic events” this week and it was not pleasant. No trauma was involved, just aging, nearsighted eyes.

Imagine sitting at lunch with your best friend having a pleasant conversation, when suddenly a blood-red blob appears in front of your friend’s face. You glance around the room and as your eye moves, so does the blob, remaining in the same quadrant of your vision.

As the day progresses, the blob changes from red to gray-black, but it remains a barrier between you and what you’re attempting to focus on. Occasionally, you manage to look past it enough to become absorbed in your work only to glance away and be reminded that you have a desperate need to clean your glasses or swat a bug crawling on your desktop.

Unfortunately, no amount of cleaning will rid you of the offending detritus. It’s not your glasses. It’s not a bug. It’s your eye.

You visit the doctor the first thing the next morning. The good news: it’s not serious enough to warrant surgery. Hooray!! The bad news: the resulting floater is right in the center of your field of vision, and there’s nothing to be done about it. It’ll probably go away … in several months.

In the meantime, you adapt. *sigh*

I’m still in the adapting phase. The floaters are new enough that it takes a good deal of work to look past them. Consequently, I’m stressed and headachy, but this too will pass. I still have my eyesight. I’m not facing surgery. I will learn to ignore the lacy black amoeba floating smack dab in the middle of my field of vision.

But at the moment, THIS SUCKS!

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Deb Logan is in PRINT!

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Debbie

WDM Publishing announced today that two of Deb Logan’s novels are now available in print.

The paperback editions of Faery Unexpected and Thunderbird are currently available through Amazon and Createspace, but can be ordered through your local bookstore. Please ask for them!

Faery Unexpected: Amazon | Createspace
Thunderbird: Amazon | Createspace

Way to go, Deb!!

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