S. W. Raine

What. A. Year.

Again.

2022 was tough for me, and things didn’t go according to plan (you can read more about it in last year’s blog post here), but it seems 2023 wasn’t any easier. I think I suffered from a burnout of, well, life in general.

Despite that, I did manage to publish The Elemental’s Guardian in February and produce the hardcovers for The Techno Mage and Rise of the Sky Pirate in May and September, respectively.

The biggest problem of 2023 was the edits for Project Elementals 2.

I always apply what I’ve learned through previous alpha reader/beta reader/editor feedback, as well as through reviews. Reviews for The Elemental’s Guardian were lukewarm, specifically because of my slow pacing. And when I did my quick revision of Project Elementals 2 before sending it to my alpha readers, I’d actually noticed the slow pacing myself. Sure enough, some of my alpha readers pointed it out too.

Unfortunately, as someone who writes by the seat of their pants, it took me forever to come up with a way to speed up the pacing in the beginning. And when I’d finally figured out how to fix it, I’d created such a bottleneck that sorting it out was like pulling teeth—to the point I’d rather have done anything else than work on my novel. Throw in a solo road trip to New Bruswick, Canada, to pick up boxes, burnout over my son’s online schooling, and ongoing problems with my focus/attention span, and it’s a recipe for hardcore procrastination.

Pushing back my releases is nothing new to me. I never announce a set-in-stone publication date for my releases until the book is with my editor, and for good reason: very rarely do my intended release dates happen.

I originally wanted a spring release for The Techno Mage. But I had to push it back because it wasn’t ready. Then I announced a summer release, but it wasn’t ready for early summer. Thankfully, the first day of fall in the northern hemisphere is September 22nd, So when I published it on September 15th, 2020, it was still technically summer.

I originally wanted a 2021 release for Rise of the Sky Pirate. But I had to push it back as well, and it turned into a January 2022 release.

Since Rise of the Sky Pirate released on January 11th, 2022, I wanted a fall 2022 release for The Elemental’s Guardian. Guess what? Yep, it wasn’t ready, so I had to push it back. I released it on February 16th, 2023, instead.

I wanted a March 2024 release for Project Elementals 2, but since I’m still not finished with pacing issues and implementing alpha reader feedback, there’s no way it’ll be ready in time. Unfortunately for me, I seem to have promised a spring 2024 release in my social media posts. That means I have until June 20th to deliver, as summer officially starts on June 21st.

It’s gonna be tight. And I’m going to have to figure out how to work around my lack of focus/attention span. But I’m stubborn, and I intend to deliver.

On top of publishing Project Elementals 2 and getting Project Elementals 3 as close to publication as possible starting in July, I have other goals for 2024.

• – Get my books into 1 library
• – Get my books into 2 more bookstores
• – Get hardcover of TEG as close to publication as possible
• – Publish audiobook of TTM (funds permitting)
• – 6 bookish in-person events (minimum)

I’d also like to expand my writing to other things than books. I’ve discussed with my coach, and I’m going to (slowly) work on article writing, travel blog writing, and video game writing.

Let me know what some of your goals are for 2024!

Stay safe!

Raine