Nicole J Simms/ August 9, 2020/ Blog/ 0 comments

Share Button
August 2020 — New Plans and New Goals

Wow, I can’t believe we are now in the eighth month of 2020 — time sure flies when you’re procrastinating.

So, what have I been up to since my last update? Well, I’ve not done as much as I had hoped, and as you can see from the title of this post, I have decided to make some new plans and goals. Okay, let’s get into it.

The first change, and possibly the biggest, is that I have decided to … man, it’s so hard to say, even though I know it’s the right thing to do. Right, I’m just going to say it: I have decided to shelve the novel I was currently editing. Yes, you’ve read that right. I have shelved the novel I have been working on for the past five years.

It was a painful decision to make, but I had to be honest with myself. The novel isn’t realistic, and if the supernatural element of the novel was removed, it wouldn’t have that much of an impact on the story. I feel I was trying to force the novel to be a supernatural horror when it would work better as a psychological thriller.

Now, I do like psychological thrillers, but I want my career to start in horror. Therefore, I need a true horror story that wouldn’t work without the horror, and my next novel idea is that story. So, even though I do feel I have wasted five years of my writing life, I need to do what’s best for my writing career.

This doesn’t mean that I will never use that novel idea again. As I mentioned before, I think it’s better as a psychological thriller, and I might use the supernatural element for the first book in my supernatural mystery series. But we’ll see. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow — check me out, Miss Organised, talking about going with the flow.

So, what are the other new plans and goals? First, I won’t be publishing my horror flash fiction book. I wanted to do a grand book launch, but this isn’t something we can do this year thanks to Covid-19. I also don’t feel up to editing a 30,000-word book and format an e-book and a paperback book — I’m just too easily overwhelmed at the moment. However, I do still want to publish a book. I will be publishing a supernatural thriller novelette. So stay tuned for that.

I’m going to write my second standalone novel, but I want to start editing it this year because I need to get this novel done quickly, so I can still start submitting to agents next year — I don’t have another five years to waste. As well as writing the standalone novel, I still want to write the first book in my supernatural mystery series.

Oh, I also still want to study screenwriting and playwriting, and even write my own screenplay or stage play. But this isn’t a priority at the moment.

Finally, I want to write the first novel in my Middle-Grade supernatural mystery series. I’ll be writing for Young Adult and Middle-Grade readers under a pen name. I’ll be revealing more details about this in a future post.

How have you been doing with your writing goals? Let me know in the comment box below. I’d love to hear about your experiences.

Stay safe and keep writing, folks!

Don’t forget, if you want email alerts of my latest posts, then please subscribe. And you can follow me on Twitter, Pinterest, Goodreads or like my Facebook page.

You can also join my Facebook groups: Setting Self-Doubt on Fire Squad, which is for writers; and The Nicole J. Simms Squad, which is for readers who enjoy my stories and want a sneak peek into what I’m working on before anyone else.

Also, I’ve also created a Nicole J Simms YouTube channel. On my channel, I will be sharing videos of my performances, trips, writing group adventures and my stories.

And, you can also download my e-books Merry Dreadmas and The Book of Drabbles for FREE, so check them out.

Share Button
Share this Post

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*
*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.