The Grand Master Plan

As a writer- No, as a person it is important to have goals. As the old CHS cross country coach liked to say "A person without goals is like a tree..." The team spent ages trying to figure this out, but in the end just pretended to be insightful and put it on our t-shirts.

I'd like to think that quote means that without goals you won't go anywhere, much like a tree doesn't move from where it is planted. Though, a tree does grow upward and that is certainly an accomplishment if you think about it so maybe it's just a bad quote.

Goals are nevertheless important. Because without goals we are likely to squander our lives in events and tasks that don't take us to where we most desire to go. They don't add up to The Grand Master Plan.

The Grand Master Plan, for me, is the somewhat vague and oh-so-flexible plan I have for my life. It encompasses my future career, personal life, writing life, and family life. It's not something I spent hours contemplating and it's really not something I'll hold myself to forever (plans change, of course), but it's a basic outline of where I'd like to go in my life.

Now in order to fulfill the desires in my Grand Master Plan, I have to set goals for myself which will advance me along the path of the Plan. Currently I'm thinking a lot about the writing part of that Plan, and since this is my writing blog I'll share a bit of that plan.

Mostly I'm focused on Eventide, with the occasional side project (mostly short stories) to break up my focus (I find it difficult to stay interested in one thing for a long time if I try to focus solely on that one thing). I've been doing a lot of thinking about Eventide and my previous goals. These goals more or less failed, more or less because I keep changing up plot related items.

So now, ladies and gentlemen, here is where Eventide fits in on The Grand Master Plan:

- Finish the entire first draft of Eventide (which I'm imagining will end up somewhere around 100,000 words) by June.
- Spend the summer as a camp counselor at a church camp I attended when I was younger (making money to finance study abroad adventures).
- Get busy on editing and have a shiny second draft within six months of returning to the world of computers, internet, and writing.
- Post it up on YWS, either in the Advanced Critiques or chapter-by-chapter in the Fantasy Fiction Novel forum (an alternative to this would be to get several beta readers).
- Edit some more with the advice of YWS/beta readers and come up with a shiny third draft.
- Get a handful of beta readers to read for different purposes. One to read for grammer/spelling mistakes, one to read for content, one to read for pure enjoyment.
- Make a few more edits based on the advice of these new beta readers to come up with shiny fourth draft.
- Query agents/publishers
Now this is where the plan becomes tricky. There are two ways to go from here. Either A: the manuscript is loved and I make a deal or B: I'm rejected and need to work on the story more.
- In case of B (see further down for A). Do some hard core editing, find another beta reader, Query, rinse and repeat (this step is repeated as many times as possible).
- In case of A. Rejoice in the splendor that is making a book deal and go through all that is involved with publishing a book.
- Get on to a new project (there are several waiting patiently).

So that's basically it. Looks like a lot, but it isn't so much. And if I really get to work on it I should get through a lot of these items rather quickly. Editing is easier (for me) than the initial writing process and goes a lot faster. If all goes well, I'd love to get Eventide published by the time I graduate from college.

That's about it. This blog mainly fell into my musings and ramblings and goal-settings that are mostly for my own benefit. Oh well. It's my blog, I'll do what I want.

-Lauren-