Lilly Avalon Monthly Writing Update #2 for June 2020

Every month I share an update about what I'm writing in my Monthly Writing Update!
Here's the latest for the month of June.

If you look at my May update, my main goals were to finish revisions on Enticing the Escort and Seducing the Star so that I can get it off to my editor. I also mentioned outlining a new story to publish by the end of the year.

Have I accomplished this? 

Both Enticing the Escort and Seducing the Star have been revised, sent to a beta, and sent to my editor!

The "deadlines" I gave myself were moved forward a bit. Seducing the Star took longer because my husband ended up being off work for a week starting the day I expected to finish revisions. It was only delayed by a few days, but still had me a bit nervous, especially since I wasn't adding as many words as I'd hoped to.

As far as outlining a new story goes, the story I originally had in mind to write (that needed research) wasn't going to work out this year. It's not that I couldn't write it; it's that I didn't feel it was the right time to. This story is important and I wouldn't want it to slip under the radar.

Why would it slip under the radar?

In 2016 during November, there was an overall decline in book sales. Authors have attributed this decline to it being a United States Presidential election year. Since 2020 is yet another US Presidential Election Year, and November was the month I intended to publish this book, I'd rather wait on it until there's a better time. This story means a lot to me and is one I've had in mind to write for years now. I would hate to publish it and nobody know that it's there. I'm more than happy to delay that one for a year to make sure it's not only researched and written properly, but will be available when it won't be overshadowed by what's happening in the world (which is very serious business, especially this year).

Instead of this story, I'm debating on a couple other stories. One is a Christmas novella and the other is a contemporary romance novel. If I choose the Christmas novella, I'll be aiming to publish in December. However, if that story doesn't get written in time, I'll switch my focus to the contemporary romance for 2021.

Am I on track?

Yes and no. Yes, because I did finish revisions in a reasonable amount of time, even though it was slightly later than anticipated. No, because I was hoping to have the stories in my editors hands right after. Instead, I opted for a beta reader in between to have an extra set of eyes on the stories. I feel this was the right choice because I want The Risqué Series to be the best it can be. This trio of novellas going to my editor two weeks after I intended will be a good thing. I did move the release dates back, but those were more or less tentative to begin with.

Goals for July

The biggest goal will be to read over and implement edits from my editor on all three novellas. Once I have those complete, it'll be time to format and upload final drafts to Amazon and Smashwords. Also, it'll be ready to go for ARC readers! I'm not sure when I'll be receiving the edits back from my editor, so I'm just going to make July "edits month". Ha! Outside of that, I'll be deciding on which story to write next and begin an actual outline.

July begins the start of the 3rd quarter of 2020, so I'll be redoing my Kanban board to cover what I'd like to accomplish for July, August, and September. Before this month ends I need to come up with my quarterly goals. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, please stay safe out there! Take care and I love you all!