Posted on 4 Comments

Project Management: Cleaning the Desk

Hope you’re all having a wonderful New Year!

Today is a day of planning and thinking for me while we watch movies.  (The monsters are watching Forrest Gump yet again – I think I may scream.)  This is the time to look back over the past year, see what projects were finished, what went well and what didn’t, and decide how to proceed into 2010.

Rather like cleaning off my desk and preparing for a new year.

2009 was the year of Revision Hell, including major revisions to the Maya story, Arcana, and Return to Shanhasson.  Arcana didn’t go so well, and I shelved it again (I hit 50K and hadn’t even touched 25% of my outline.  Ooops!)  The Maya story was arguably one of the toughest projects I’ve ever tackled, and I’m hoping for good news on it in 2010.  *crosses fingers, prays, throws salt over shoulder, knocks on wood* 

Return to Shanhasson is in the final stages of submission and will go to Deena in the next few days.  Arcana?  Not sure yet.  I’ve done so much work on that story it would be a crying shame not to finish it in some manner.  I just can’t figure out what to do with it.  It *may* end up in the SFR world of Deathright.  Perhaps.  Possibly.

Along with Arcana, I’ve had a few other projects I had to clear off my desk.  One of the hardest things of project management for me personally is eliminating a project.  I wish I could do everything, but it’s just not humanly possible.  I had planned to write a Christmas novella set at Beulah Land over the summer, and I just couldn’t pull it off.  I wanted to write a short story in December, but just didn’t have time.  I’d love to write something for the erotic fairy tale antho at Samhain, but ditto. 

I *have* to finish Victor’s revisions in January.  I just don’t have time to pull off a 20K novella at the same time.  I had a pretty cool idea for it, though, set in the same SFR world as Deathright.  Perhaps I’ll write it anyway, later in the year.  Victor is my #1 priority in 2010, followed by Deathright.  Anything else will be gravy.

So what are you planning to work on this year?  Any major projects?

4 thoughts on “Project Management: Cleaning the Desk

  1. Happy New Year!

    My biggest goal for this year is to treat writing like a job, a career — and not like something fun to do when I feel like it. I’ve been really good at writing at the beginning and end of the year for these past few, but the middle months slack severely. So, starting with submitting my 08NaNo and writing something for that Steampunk novella call, I’m going to be actually WORKING at this thing. Here’s hoping 2010 is a great writing year for us both!

  2. Aside from getting the reviews I promised you posted (got sidetracked with hubby losing his job and the holidays), I have posted 10 in 10 goals for myself.

    Hope you and yours have a wonderful 2010!!

  3. Good luck with your NaNo08 project, Nicole!! (That’s Return for me, so I’m just getting mine out too.) Definitely, setting your mind to look at writing as a job, career, and business will greatly affect your productivity!

    Sherri, I’m so glad your hubby got another job! Whew, what a lousy time of the year to be unemployed. Hugs and good luck with 2010!

  4. Hi Joely,

    What do you mean by “Eliminating a Project” (is it avoiding a dead project?). Killing projects is a very old practice in Project Management and you’ll find a lot of resources on the subject that will help you do just that.

Leave a Reply to PM Hut Cancel reply

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