Accountability Check-In #1

This is my first update after my baseline post! The week went by far too quickly. To my surprise, I managed to meet and even exceed my goals this week. Although I’m posting this a little bit late, the numbers are up to date as of Saturday, August 21st.

projects in progress

It was only at the end of this week that I realized it would be a good idea to indicate how many words I started the week with, so the values in the “initial” column are estimations of this.

project 1

For Project 1, I have a “brain dump” document in Scrivener which I’m using to write all of my ideas down and loosely organize them into an outline—the word count is a reflection of this process at the moment. Things will probably slow down a bit once I get to writing chapters, so I’m keeping my goal at 1000 words per week for now in anticipation of this deceleration.

While I was doing some research, I began to feel a bit discouraged. There are already a few books published on the topic I’m researching, and at least one of them appears to be well-researched—not to mention that the author has been studying the subject for years and has published several papers on it. I’m left wondering “What can I offer that will be different?” I almost felt like abandoning the project altogether at one point. But then I realized that I may have a different perspective precisely because I haven’t studied the subject so extensively. I’m also at a different stage in my life compared to the other author. Furthermore, my writing style is different and I have the advantage of using more recent sources.

However, I noticed some similarities in my approach to this particular author in her book. In order to play things safe, I have decided that I will not be reading the remainder of this author’s book until my own book is well under way because I don’t want to runt he risk of inadvertently plagiarizing something. By delaying my research into this author’s book, I can ensure that my approaches are my own from the beginning while still benefiting from reviewing her book later on to confirm that there aren’t any major areas I forgot to address.

project 2

Project 2 is going a bit slower. I’ve brainstormed a decent amount, but I’m questioning a lot of my ideas and I don’t have a clear vision of the plot. What I do have is just a very basic concept of the setting and a few characters (but no outline yet).

It’s challenging because while I love this idea, it’s not the idea I’m most passionate about (which is the sci-fi space thriller listed below as ‘in development’). So, why am I not working on that one? Because I want that one to be my magnum opus. I want it to be good. Like, really good. Bestseller good. And I don’t think I can attain that with the limited experience I have right now.

So, I’m offering up one of my other ideas as a “sacrifice” in order to learn from it and hopefully be more prepared going forward with the ideas that bring me the most joy. This will be my first serious work of fiction, so I need to maintain realistic expectations. But at the same time, I know that I need to be cognizant that you can’t choose what you’re famous for—that’s up to the funnel. I need to be passionate about everything I write since this could be the thing that becomes the most popular (or it could be the thing that absolutely bombs). And so I will do my best with what I have.

timeline: non-fiction lifestyle book

projects in development

• dystopian fantasy horror
• sci-fi space thriller
• career comedy screenplay

projects completed

• none

The world belongs to the doers.

Here’s to staying on the wagon and not falling off.

As always, feel free to discuss in the comments below or reach out via the contact form. I’d love to hear from you!

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