PHEW! So the first quarter of the year has come and gone, and we’re even now done with April! Can you believe that 1/3 of the year is almost over?! Insane!

Aannd, that’s why I’m here. I want to give an assessment of what’s been going down in my first quarter, and see what I can do better.

As you guys might have seen from my post on May 1, life literally exploded in every possible direction, so it’s time to get back on track. Here goes!

Creative Achievements for Q1 2015 (and April)

1. Finally broke into video game writing!!

Yes, and I do mean “broke in” as in “writing for compensation”! (Not for Assassin’s Creed, though, lol. Maybe next time! 😉 )

This is particularly exciting because it means that I’ve moved from being a baby novelist to being a baby novelist and a baby game writer! That completes two out of the three vertices of my ultimate writer trilogy!

(Now that all I need to do is to break into scriptwriting, and I’ll be the three-pronged baby writer that I’ve always wanted to be, lol. And then, I can graduate from there. 🙂 )

My breaking into game writing all began with failure. Yup, you read it right. FAILURE. And I’m happy to share my tale with you in my “Breaking into 3D Video Game Writing” series that’s forthcoming. I’ll tell you all about my super-close-but-no-cigar game writing job hunt, and I’ll also give the low down on how you can build your game writer portfolio AND hunt for jobs of your own!

2. Built a preliminary game writing portfolio (and still honing it & adding to it, of course).

An in-depth reveal of my portfolio is forthcoming, and will most likely be available for viewing on my website as of July 1st of this year, so stay tuned! In the meantime, as I write the “Breaking into 3D Video Game Writing” series, I’ll give you guys a breakdown of what to include in your game writing portfolio!

3. Added four new project concepts to my already insanely crowded project slate… (cricket!) lol.

Thankfully, even through the trauma and craziness of this year, the old noodle never stops thinking of ideas for new properties and franchises! So I’ve slapped 4 new multimedia concepts on my project slate, including a survival horror trilogy (+ bonus novella), an urban fantasy episodic serial series, and two urban fantasy novel series. I can’t work on all of them now, obviously; I’m trying desperately to stay focused. Still it’s really refreshing to know that I can churn up new ideas to sustain my creative career as a novelist, filmmaker, screenwriter, game writer!

4. Continued writing the Rebel Ragdoll Productions business plan.

Being that I want to start filming my survival horror web series in 2016, I NEED to have both this and my funding in place by the end of 2015. Luckily, I’m taking a business class thar’s forcing me to finish my business plan by the end of the summer. Exciting!

Step-by-step, I want to make sure Rebel Ragdoll Productions has a strong foundation under it so that we can make 2016 pop!

5. Continued working on (and am nearly done with) the Rebel Ragdoll Productions business budget.

Echoing my sentiments in achievement #4, the overall budget for Rebel Ragdoll Productions is under way and will be finished by the beginning of Q3 on July 1. Can’t have a business plan without a budget, right?

6. Rebranded and revamped my novels in The Books of Ezekiel series.

This was super liberating for me. I’ve been wanting separate covers for Books of Ezekiel, Volumes I and II for a LONG time, but only recently have been able to get them done.

And WOW, I love them!

The cover revamp is really giving my whole series a fresh direction and only further motivates me to stay on top of my writing.

7. Took (and still taking) Nick Stephenson’s Your First 10,ooo Readers course…

And it’s rocking my world! It’s really helping me to create a great & sustainable marketing action plan for my books and my career as a novelist. I’ll be able to use these tools for the rest of my career, and that makes his course worth every penny. Besides, I haven’t even finished the whole course, and I’m already seeing some awesome results!

8. Updated and upgraded my website to better serve my novel writing, fiction research, and online business.

This is still in progress, as I’m still updating my store, still need to flush out the “About Me” and the “My Team” sections, and I also need to upload my game writing portfolio as well. Still, the important changes have been made, and that is my reader magnets ad at the front of my website. Upgrading and honing my author landing site is just something I expect to do for the rest of my career, so there’s no rush on it for me!

9. Made some progress on my current novel series and some progress on various new series.

I’m always working and writing, but I admit it’s hard to stay in one lane as a writer with so many ideas that I’m excited about. That’s the main thing I’d like to work on this year. Finishing one thing at a time. My primary focus is finishing the next (five) Book(s) of Ezekiel, obviously, but there are days when ideas, dialogue, and scenes for other franchises just need to be written down, too. So I follow those rabbits until I get tired, lol.

Writing really is like a muscle; it needs to be worked and practiced consistently in order to get stronger. Yet, that’s not the whole picture. Writing a coherent story takes not only consistent practice but also takes focus, where you show up and churn out those words on the same project until it’s just done. That doesn’t mean that you have to be a slave to your current project, but you should be working on said project pretty consistently.

After all, you don’t see actors filming five movies all at once, right? They finish all their scenes and lines for one movie in one chunk, and THEN they move onto the next scheduled movie, even if the schedules overlap a bit. They don’t film the romcom on Monday and then suit up for the action thriller on Tuesday. So that’s my major challenge; digging in for the action thriller for the (semi) long haul until it’s just DONE.

10. Continued volunteering for the Scriptwriter’s Network!

Up until my April disaster, I was firing on all four cylinders with SWN, and loving it, I might add! We went to WonderCon and brought down the house, and it was awesome! I’m moving back to NYC, so even though I can’t be with them in person, I’m definitely staying with them via spirit and remote internet access. Luckily, they want me to stay on with them, and I’m super excited to do so!

11. Being a good mom.

Yup, I am patting myself on the back for this one, especially because a lot of writing, publishing, and producing time is sacrificed at the altar of my little boo. Being a stay-at-home writer-mom isn’t easy; it’s a constant struggle and a constant balancing act. It truly is guerrilla warfare; you do what you can, where you can, when you can, however you can do it, and you sleep (hopefully), and live another day to do it all over again.

So while I haven’t been able to get as much writing done as I want, I’ve certainly been able to squeeze a lot in. Mommyhood isn’t always a fun ride, but it’s always worth it, especially when seeing how my presence, attention, and hard work positively impacts my little girl. She’s so happy, and healthy, and just amazing!

So, I’ve got a bunch of plans for May and for how I’m going to turn around Q2 to make it as fruitful as possible! What about you? Hows your Q2 going? Did you hit any major surprise, changes, or challenges that are taking you in some scary / exciting new directions? Share your experiences below! And, of course, in the meantime…

Keep it indie!
<3 Colby