The Master Plan

As appealing as diving blindly into the abyss can be on occasion, I have reached the conclusion that in order to scale my personal Mt. Everest, I need a plan (and possibly a sherpa to carry the laptop and Mr. Coffee).

• By February 10th, I need to be finished with planning the series. Yes, you read that correctly: not just The Beast*, but the whole series**.
• From February 11th- March 2nd, I need to write a rough draft for 1 chapter a day***.
• From March 3rd-March 5th, I will put the project (and my laptop, and all backup copies) in a locked drawer, hand the key to my husband, and clear my head.
• From March 6th-April 10th, I will revise, edit, pray, learn to pitch a novel, learn to write a synopsis, pray, develop an ulcer and have a final version of The Beast ready for the conference.
• April 11th = Doom or Glory.

I'm going to need more coffee and antacids.

* Not the actual title.

** Why the whole series? Well, to make sure that there's proper flow, foreshadowing, layering etc.
*** Right now the plan is for 20 chapters, approximately 3,000-4,000 words a chapter for a total word count between 60,000-80,000 words.