CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

At the very end of 2014, I wanted to have a goal for 2015, but I didn’t want something general like ‘write more books’ or ‘spend more time publishing’, and choosing something realistic and specific was hard to do without knowing what time constraints I faced. In the end, I went with ‘finishing what I’ve started’. This might sound like an easy goal, but I’ve been writing for over twenty years, and there is a lot of stuff I didn’t finish because I didn’t have a definite profit from it, or because life intervened and I moved or … whatever. Anyway, there’s a lot to finish, and by ‘finish’ I mean complete the writing of and publish, so I had to prioritise. This did not mean I sat down and found every piece I’d started and write it down—that’s an ongoing process and one I’d need a couple of weeks to do. I try to type up a couple of notebooks a month for that. I have already started a list and on are the older works that I’ve put the most time into and either completed, almos...

Score Card At the beginning of the year, I laid out a writing and release plan. It went through two changes before I put it into action… and then it went through a third before the end of the quarter. The following score card is based on the goals as they were before the third change: 1 dark fantasy: 3 completed, 2 released; 1 romance novel: 1 completed, 1 released ; 1 annual: not completed; 1 novella: 1 completed, 1 released; 1 chapter book: 4 revised and released (but only 1  illustrated as originally planned); 0 short stories: 6 revised and released. What I learned. I have discovered that goals change, as plans progress and we learn how to do things better or differently. So, here’s what I’ve learnt in the first quarter of 2013: My initial release plan was okay, but did not let me respond to areas that sales showed my readers were interested in. I changed it, and the new tiered system is working fine… for now. Writing new words is different to preparing ...

The Theory When I wrote my goals for the year, I tried to make it so I could cover each genre I wrote in, at least in passing. Because I write in so many genres and under so many pen names, I realized I had to plan my time carefully. In doing that, I also realized it was not physically possible for me to have four releases a year in each genre for each pen name… at least, not while holding down a full-time job. So, I came up with a set of tiered goals and wishlists. Tier 1 is the minimum of what I think I can do. At the end of the first week, it seemed to be holding. At the end of two months, not so much; I’m way ahead of schedule, but I’m not producing new words <sigh>. Tier 2 was what I hope to achieve in good conditions. Tiers 3-4 were my dream tiers, the projects that I really wanted to do, but couldn’t work on, due to time constraints. So, every week, I planned to advance Tier 1 by a revised chapter or 1,000 words a day, Tier 2 was the same progression, if I could...

Having gone over my publishing schedule, I’ve come up with a more reasonable set of goals for 2013. The base-line for success is as follows: 3 dark fantasy novels as me. 1 romance novel as Madeleine Torr Edit, design covers for, and publish 3 novellas for Eleanor Maine and Ellie Moonwater. I figured that would be a reasonable goal for the year, but then I added in a Wish List so I could push a little harder if I found myself ahead of schedule with spare time on my hands. It comes in two tiers: The first tier is this: 3 chapter books as Carlie Simonsen . 1 zombie annual The second tier is closer to my heart—the ultimate carrot, if you like: 1 generic roleplaying supplement 2 x 30-40k adventures As much as I get done, there is always more I want to get done. This is why I have a three-tiered list.