Prioritize Pending Projects

If there is one reason I'm desperate to make a living as a writer, it's so I'll have enough time to write. When I think of all the things I want to write in the near future, I start twitching. I don't imagine I'll ever be able to find time enough for it all, and that bugs me. And then, of course, there are the projects I want to start. And revise. And record.

Of course, when there is too much to do, we need to know what comes first. So here's my list for things I want to accomplish by the end of the summer, sorted roughly by priority.

Write "The Merchant of Menace"
As the next entry in the Wandering Tale, which is the only currently-published example of my work that I know has readers (thanks to all dozen of 'em, too!) this easily takes the cake. It is also a necessary precondition for something further down on the list. It also has a tentative publication date (set and enforced by myself, of course) that I would like to keep to. May 20, if you're wondering.

eBook Publication of Twixt Heaven and Hell
I left it last with some notes for further revisions, but was concentrating on submitting it to agents at the time. I need to finish that as well as do some truly deep editing. I need to get a cover made. I hope to have some kind of book trailer done, either audio or video (those are further down on the list, though). If all goes well, this one will hit the stores in July.

Finish Thirteenth Night
Last summer I began to write a "sequel" of sorts to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. The original vision for it was a Shakespearean slasher play featuring the abused Malvolio as the killer. Sort of a Hamlet meets Scream sort of thing with a dark comedy vibe. It started out fairly well, and I'd really like to finish it before another summer rolls around...

Get a Serious Start to Clanless
For those of you who missed this post featuring this episode of the Roundtable Podcast - which in turn features me - I was pitching a novel to those fine gentlemen that was tentatively titled Clanless. After appearing on that podcast I got back to thinking pretty heavily about that book and I'm very excited to write it. This one and Thirteenth Night are very much vying for third place on my priority list, because while I want to finish both of them and already have the play started (and some of my friends tell me they want to read it), it is less likely to be published or performed in the near future. Can't ePerform an entire play. Not and do it the kind of justice I would want, anyway.

Film/Record Twixt Trailer
Been mentioning it for awhile, and already have a rough script written. Next step is to write a plan for a video script and then start finding some advisers and decide which format it will end up in. This depends on a lots of other people, else it would be higher on the list.

Finish and Publish the first Wandering Tale collection
I've decided to gather up the first five stories of the Wandering Tale (three of which are published now), and publish them as a single eBook. Of course, there will be additional materials thrown in to make it worth the buyer's money even if they have one or more of the singlet eBooks. Maps, additional history, maybe even a sixth story that caps everything off...


Start Podcasting the Wandering Tale
The very supportive Dave Robison (one of the peerless paladins behind the Roundtable Podcast) has several times urged me to do a recording of The Swordsman of Carn Nebeth. As with book trailers, podcasting my writing gives me one more excuse to perform, and to involve other people as well. It's enjoyable to lift a bit of the solitude from this little hobby of mine.

Aie... I could probably double the size of this list, but I'll be honest - if I'm still just looking at the summer, I've got more here than I can handle as it is. Doesn't mean I won't try to get to all of it - but I have to be careful. I've definitely suffered from project ADD in the past, and I'd very much like to finish anything item I start.