Your "to do" writing list? Here's mine...

[moderntimes]

What's your writing "to do" list? I compiled mine last night as I was watching my Houston Astros lose a close game to the KC Royals. So let's see your own list, comments on mine welcomed...

I recently was offered a contract (which I accepted and signed) with a non-subsidy (non-vanity) publisher for both print and e-book releases of all 3 of my "Mitch King" private detective novels extant, Blood Spiral, Blood Storm, and Blood Vengeance, in chronological order. It's a standard boilerplate contract, royalties and such, and you'd maybe think, "Hey, that's great, dude! You sweated to write these books, but you've sold all your novels, eh? Now all you've got to do is just sit back and wait for the royalty payments to roll in!"

Far from the truth. The hard work is scarcely begun. Here's my "to do" list for the next couple weeks. For those who aren't familiar with the process, when your book gets placed with a publisher, it goes thru several edits: text, content, and line edit among them. So the editors send your submitted novel back to you, marked up in MS-Word, and you either okay the changes or rattle around with them on what you want to stay unchanged. And there's lots more do get accomplished as well. My list:

1. Create cover art info list for Blood Spiral and Blood Storm, Blood Vengeance list already submitted
2. Continue revisions for Spiral and Storm for sending to publisher, Vengeance already submitted
3. Perform specific plot revision for Spiral, background of NASA character
4. Revise biography for book cover / biography page for all 3 books
5. Create book acknowledgment and thank you page for all 3 books
6. Revise and submit general outline and essay on Mitch King novels
7. Write about general themes of each novel:
o Blood Spiral: sexual obsession
o Blood Storm: dysfunctional family
o Blood Vengeance: redemption
8. Assemble list of book review cover blurbs for Spiral & Storm
9. Finalize synopses for Spiral & Storm, Vengeance synopsis already submitted
10. Make final typography edit on Spiral & Storm prior to submission
11. Continue work on 4th novel, Blood Relations
12. Create author page for publisher website
13. Submit author mug shots (headshot) for book covers
14. Prepare for discussion with cover artist for Blood Vengeance
15. Prepare for edit work with publisher staff for Vengeance

[zeldas_lullaby]

Wow. I got exhausted just reading that list. Yeowch.

OK, here's my to-write list:

1) Finish the storyline for my book #7, which needs around 10,000 to 15,000 more words.
2) Do massive edit/rewrite/plotline review, to make sure everything adds up and to smooth over the writing.
3) Do both of the above for my book #8, which needs the exact same treatments.
4) Send both books to Levi, #escapeartist , who is excellent at finding typos for me!
5) Work on compilation editions of volumes 5-8, which will only involve formatting, assuming each volume is solid with regards to the writing, typos, etc. I'd need both Kindle and paperbacks. Numbers 7 and 8 also need to be formatted accordingly, since I release them separately and as four-part volumes.
6) And I'm sure this is on your list too, ModernTimes--take a long vacation. Swear off writing for good, and mean it! Return to writing after a few days or so.

[moderntimes]

Vacation with my 4th novel asking to be written? I've only got maybe 10,000 words finished and the rest is just jumbled rough notes.

Typical of any series novelist, the publisher wants one book per year. So I need to finish book 4 by about the turn of the calendar so I can carefully edit and revise it by early spring. My new publisher has first right of refusal, which is a standard contract thing. So after all 3 existing novels get published and are hopefully decent sellers, that 4th book might be anticipated breathlessly by my readership -- yeah, right, ha ha.

[zeldas_lullaby]

I hear ya. Writing is hard work, like anything that matters, I guess. Today I went to the bookstore, and I was looking at some huge books written by the same author. And I was thinking, "How is it possible to have that much output, from one author??" I mean, all of my volumes have 35-40,000 words a piece. That's skinny paperback fare, maybe 3/8 of an inch. I don't know how those authors, such as Diana Gabaldon or Ellen Hopkins, for example, do it!