2016 "The Year of Preparation" Accomplishments

written by Betsy Flak on 2017-01-02

In the spirit of the new year, I thought I would look back on 2016 before writing my goals for January and beyond. Back in December 2015, I decided to focus on writing as my sole career (as compared to pursuing writing + various start-up interests + data analysis). Essentially, I took the words of Ron Swanson to heart: "Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing." Thus, 2016 was my first year "whole-ass"-ing writing.

In retrospect, 2016 involved a whole lot of preparation and not a whole lot of tangible results. That said, I now plan to publish two books in 2017, something that I could not have done without all this preparation. Without further ado, here are my top three accomplishments in terms of writing (the "author" side of "authorpreneur", the mash-up of author and entrepreneur) and business (the "preneur").

Writing:

1. Outlined, wrote, edited, and delivered The Impossible Creation to the editor. It's currently about 180 pages, which is a bit short for a novel, but I'm pleased with how it's turned out. Additionally, I wrote and edited it much, much faster than Book 1 or Book 2 of The Clan-Vampire Clash, which gives me hope of speeding up my publishing time for future books.
2. Based on beta reader feedback, I added about 180 pages to An Uncertain Death, roughly doubling its length. I also tweaked the original 180 pages as needed. Upon re-reading it, I love all the changes, and I think it makes the book 1000 times more interesting (and, not to toot my own horn, I thought it was pretty interesting to begin with).
3. Ran through the Book 2 draft and tweaked the content for a bunch of plot holes that were bothering me. Of course, since then An Uncertain Death (Book 1) has changed quite a bit, so I'll probably have to do this again. Such is the cost of not outlining, something I have at least rectified for all future books, starting with Book 3.

Business:

1. Made my own website! At the beginning of the year, I had no idea what HTML and CSS were, but, after some courses on Coursera and Codecademy, I had a decent idea. From there it was all about experimenting and learning. While it *definitely* would have been more time-effective to hire someone, I like learning new things. Plus, as an authorpreneur, it's not bad for me to know the basics of HTML and CSS. Javascript on the other hand...I'll leave that to the actual programmers.
2. Generated a detailed book launch and long-term marketing plan (both in spreadsheets, of course) with suggested timelines and notes from various courses, articles, and advice that I can follow without worrying about what I have to do next week or next month (because those are already in there!). Both have a flexible set-up so I can add items and/or optimize over time.
3. I further optimized my work schedule such that I'm working smarter, not harder, now than at the beginning of the year. I learned that my mornings are great for intense creative work and my afternoons for the business/analytical side of my brain (though I plan to experiment with adding a little fun writing to my afternoons in 2017). I also started setting 90-day goals, which I have found to be about the right length in terms of looking ahead for me.

Side note: I also had four days of jury duty, which involved a 2-2.5 hr commute each way. That was...not great. I mean, it's my civic responsibility.

So there you go. 2016, the year of preparation, is over, and now I'm ready to hit the ground running for 2017!