Return to Sherwood

Now that Queen of Caradale is with my editors, my main focus is my brand new series! The first book in that series is Return to Sherwood.

Today I thought I'd share a little bit about my new project.

This story follows the same characters from my Robin Hood series, with a few new ones added in. It will follow the adventures of Robin Hood and his family, as well as his Merry Men, after the events in Sherwood have long since been over.

Because my version of the Robin Hood story is a little legend and a little history mixed together, their story doesn't end with a happily ever after. According to history, after King Richard the Lion-Heart died, his brother John became King. In my story, as in most others, Prince John was not exactly fond of Robin Hood. So I thought to myself, "what would happen to Robin Hood and his gang if John became King?" And because John did, in fact, become King (historically speaking), I had the perfect opportunity for a new story!

I have spent the last week or two brainstorming, outlining, and preparing to write this new adventure. I have also been doing a lot of research! Because I've been writing my Robin Hood series for five years now, I have that era in history pretty well memorized. However, now I'm writing a new era--if only by a decade--so I have a lot of history to catch up on. Before I began my research, the only thing I knew about John Lackland (aside from his association with Robin Hood legends) was that he signed the Magna Carta. That was the extent of my limited knowledge. I have discovered in the past two weeks that there is a lot more to his reign than just that.

I simply LOVE the research aspect of writing! I have a blast delving into the details and learning new things. I'm also having fun re-assessing my now well-known to me characters. It's been a few years, and people grow and change over time. So it has been fun learning how these characters have changed since their years in Sherwood Forest.

I am also bursting with excitement because it has been a long time since I had a completely new story. I've been writing the Robin Hood series for five years now. And that series is structured in such a way that I basically wrote the exact same story over and over for five years (which got boring). I have also been writing my Finding Hope trilogy, which to date has been my favorite writing experience. But that story has also been with me for more than a couple years. I haven't had anything completely new to work with in a very long time. Now, however, I have a blank slate with all sorts of new directions to go and I am more excited than I can tell!

I do realize I have the same characters, but working with the same characters is not the same as working on the same story. I have a new story, one I don't know yet, to write and I cannot wait for this journey to begin!

Overall, I am quite simply beyond eager to write this story and see where it will take me and my characters! :)

Quarterly Writing Goals #4 [2017]

It's a new month! And more than that, it's a brand new quarter of the year...which means, I'm about to do writing goals!

For those of you who don't know, I make myself a list of goals related to marketing/writing and things of that nature every three months to keep myself motivated and productive.

This is the very last quarter of the year, which I find hard to believe. I know everyone says it, but seriously, time flies, people.

Last quarter my goals were 1) Edit The Tragedy of the Traitor --which I did accomplish, 2) Publish The Tragedy of the Traitor--which I did do, 3) Write Kaelyn's book--this one I didn't finish. I did write in it, but I did not finish the book. 4) Update my previously published works (second editions), out of the 4 I was hoping to update, I did 2 of them, 5) Stay on top of author social media and post weekly vlogs, this one I didn't do so hot with this quarter.

And now for my new goals! This quarter is slightly odd, because November is smack-dab in the middle of it. November, for those of you who are ignorant of this fact, is National Novel Writing Month. This is the month where thousands of people all across the world attempt to write a novel in a 30 days. I've never participated in NaNoWriMo before, but I'm doing it this year. I don't know how my normal writing schedule will be affected by this, and there's also more actual writing related goals than usual because of this.

Edit Queen of Caradale  This book has been written for a while, but because I already had several finished manuscripts, it simply had to wait its turn. Now it's time to send it off to my editors!

Edit The Story of Gisbourne  This one has been written since I was 17 years old. I always wanted it to be the final story in my Robin Hood series, and now I have FINALLY finished writing that series and it is time to get this one edited and published. (The published part will have to wait til next year)

Publish Queen of Caradale  I would like to publish this one in December, but that will depend on my editors.

Finish Kaelyn  If this one doesn't happen I won't be disappointed. I want to write this story, for multiple reasons, but it isn't my main focus.

Second Editions  I still have 2 previously published works to update, so hopefully I can get that done.

Outline Return to Sherwood  Now that I have finished writing the Robin Hood series, and my dystopian trilogy is about to be complete (with the publication of Queen of Caradale), it is time to start a new series. This series will follow the characters from my Robin Hood series, but it has been a few years since the adventures in Sherwood. King Richard is dead, Prince John is now King and he is dead set on finding Robin Hood and his gang and killing them all. This series will focus on the adventures that befell Robin Hood after the legendary events in Sherwood transpired. I'm super excited about this one!

Write Return to Sherwood  This one is the book I'll be writing in November. In October and December I'll hopefully get work done in Kaelyn's book (although October will also be focused on prepping Return to Sherwood so I'm ready to write it in 30 days).

Stay on top of author social media/post weekly vlogs  One of these days I will actually be consistent with this one.

So those are my goals for this next three months! Having them here is a way for me to have some accountability and also a simple way for me to refer to my list. If you are a writer, you should definitely think about doing writing goals. They don't have to be quarterly, just whatever break-down of the year that works for you.

And if you aren't a writer, you should still make goals! Having a list of goals to achieve every month, or quarter, or whatever, tends to make people more productive. So do it! (You can thank me later...)

Happy Writing, everybody!