Preparing for 2024
In this issue: Drafting, Revising, Publications – oh my! My plans for 2024 and beyond!
Newsletter Send Date: Friday, Dec 1, 2023
Hey Dragonlings!
I’ve spent the last month half-heartedly taking part in NaNoWriMo. I’d planned on writing the first 50,000 words to Hunter’s Betrayal, but I didn’t quite complete that. Writing it has felt a little like the push and pull when you’re trying to get a stubborn metal t-post out of the ground—it’ll give a little but won’t budge completely.
I’m slowly working my way through both Hunter’s Betrayal and Jesse Saint George, and I hope to have the first drafts of both complete by the end of the month.
December is all about wrapping up previous projects and planning for the next year, and that’s no exception for me. I plan on filming a bunch of YouTube videos to pre-upload and have ready to go before the end of the year because I have a lot of things I want to get done in 2024.
I’ve been working on my Notion (which you may have seen me talk about in my YouTube livestreams) and really building out my planning system in a way that I can both keep track of projects AND brain dump these plot bunnies when they come running through my mind (and man can they ZOOM haha).
😍Isn't she PRETTY!?😍
This is a snapshot of my ‘Collaboration Station’ dashboard where I keep all the ‘stuff and things’ me and my conspirators can easily access and collab in real time. Game changer, guys. And the Notion.so tool is free, just saying.
For my catalog of writing projects (where I write, revise, and publish, oh my), I have my Storybook of Stories dashboard, which I’m still building. So sneak peaks on that one when I mayyyyy do a YouTube tour—for posterity.
In the mean time, I’ve planned out the following so far:
- writing challenges (what kind and the dates)
- projects to start (building out my story universes)
- projects to edit (both on my own and with a professional editor)
- projects to publish (first time publications and re-releases, starting in June 2024)
- YouTube content (pre-scheduled and live content)
- and dabbled in some social media content to support and promote, just aaallllllll of this ⬆⬆⬆
If you’re interested in seeing how I prep for the next year, make sure you check out this month’s downloadable PDF which has a rundown of the most useful things to do to prep for the new year with your own projects.
2024 Project Predictions
I’m calling them ‘predictions’ because life happens. I have made these plans, and set my goals, but if the last thirty *cough, cough* years of my life have been any indicator, shenanigry can derail ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. So rather than get bogged down by deadlines, I’m giving myself some wiggle room and working my butt off to get ahead now in December 2023.
That being said: 2024 is still scheduled wall-to-wall with writing, and starting in the third quarter regular PUBLISHING as well! 
I actually have multiple projects with multiple parts, all funneling down to a sentimental re-release in Dec 2024.
So make sure you stay tuned to get the Dragonling scoops on everything!
Here's what you can expect me to be talking about on 2024!
Skye’s Craft Symposium
Outside of writing and publishing, one of the new endeavors I’m tackling in 2024 involves improving my craft. That means learning more about it, so I’m starting Skye’s Craft Symposium.
Inspired by Tamara Woods’s Writers Workshop as well as Kate Cavenaugh’s writing semester courses experiment, this series of videos will treat craft books like a class where I’ll read the book (usually for a second time) and talk about my thoughts of them, put their advice to the test, and then talk about my results.
This will be a 13-week experiment where I’ll spend the first couple of weeks reading (or re-reading the book), spend the next several weeks doing any experiments noted in the book, and the last week wrapping up everything and talking about my thoughts of the book and those experiments.
These will come out in a long vlog at the end of the quarter, and the first book of this experiment is actually our author resource for the month: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.
BLURB:
Since its first publication, The Artist’s Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron’s novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery.
The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors.
A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist’s Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.
And a Fiction Fling for good measure, because who doesn't love a fun fiction read!
BLURB:
A young witch emerges from a curse to find her world upended in this gripping fantasy of betrayal, vengeance, and self-discovery set in turn-of-the-century France.
For centuries, the vineyards at Château Renard have depended on the talent of their vine witches, whose spells help create the world-renowned wine of the Chanceaux Valley. Then the skill of divining harvests fell into ruin when sorcière Elena Boureanu was blindsided by a curse. Now, after breaking the spell that confined her to the shallows of a marshland and weakened her magic, Elena is struggling to return to her former life. And the vineyard she was destined to inherit is now in the possession of a handsome stranger.
Vigneron Jean-Paul Martel naively favors science over superstition, and he certainly doesn’t endorse the locals’ belief in witches. But Elena knows a hex when she sees one, and the vineyard is covered in them. To stay on and help the vines recover, she’ll have to hide her true identity, along with her plans for revenge against whoever stole seven winters of her life. And she won’t rest until she can defy the evil powers that are still a threat to herself, Jean-Paul, and the ancient vine-witch legacy in the rolling hills of the Chanceaux Valley.
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S.D. Hegyes Newsletter
A monthly newsletter with Day-In-The-life commentary, author resources, cool new writing tools and tips, as well as a little writing humor thrown in. An all around good read from a good friend.
If I'm being completely honest with myself and you, Dragonling, I am both excited and wary of 2024.
I have high hopes, and I’ve put a lot of thought into what I can really achieve in a year of writing and publishing… but life happens, plain and simple.
So I’ve asked myself—what do I do if things get derailed? What if there is an editing crisis, or if the creative ink well runs dry, or if something utterly, existentially-consuming happens… The truth is I don’t know… Hahaha! I’ve done the best I can to plan, giving myself ample time, not overlapping projects, plus planning and creating what I can now. We’ll see what happens together!
In my next newsletter, January 2024, I’ll be going over everything I have in the works for quarter one of 2024. I’ll have project briefs, newsletter exclusives, and some teasers for my social media shenanigans I have planned to amp up for my releases in the second half of the year.
It's a whole thing, and I hope to see you all there Dragonlings!
🎉READER EXCLUSIVE ALERT!🎉
The story of Jesse St. George continues!
I have for you my friends and subscribers the latest chapter of my growing heroine the dragon slayer is available to ONLY MY SUBSCRIBERS! If you’re new to the newsletter and want to start this dragon slaying story from the beginning, check out the Jessie St George page! ( Password = JESSE )
💡Please note this is an unedited chapter of Jessie Saint George, Teenage Dragon Slayer (Title subject to change), an urban fantasy, and may contain typos. Please be aware some parts of the story may change between now and publication as well.
Chapter 4
Despite the number of people milling about the large room, the noise was low enough it didn’t drown out the live band playing music in the corner. Jessie looked about the room, surprised at the number of people. She’d been to this awards ceremony a few times over the years, and never had there been as many people as there were then. “Where did all these people come from?” she asked.
Bobbie chuckled. “All over. There’s dragon slayers all over the world, silly.”
“I knew that, but did they all come here tonight?”
“This isn’t your first ceremony, Jessie,” Bobbie chided.
Jessie glanced over at her. When they’d arrived, their mother had disappeared inside, as they’d known she would. She was the head chairperson organizing the awards ceremony, after all.
Jessie and Bobbie had waited a bit longer before entering, trailing behind a few others who still managed to arrive early.
The transformation of the room had been beyond Jessie’s imagination. She’d known her mother had been there earlier in the day to approve final details before the ceremony but hadn’t known the extent of those details.
The conference room looked lovely. Tables filled the center of the room, leaving plenty of room around the edges of the room for people to mingle for conversations. One half of the conference room had been left empty to allow and a platform added for the live band, giving an impromptu dance floor where Jessie saw a couple people dancing already.
If Kimberlee had been there, she might have gone dancing, but her best friend was probably home, watching the newest episode of whatever k-drama she’d been binge-watching lately.
Jessie glanced over at Bobbie. “Not since Dad died.” She looked down at the floor, feeling guilty about the words as soon as they left her mouth. It wasn’t Bobbie’s fault she felt so out of place and lonely, and she knew there was nothing Bobbie could do to change it either.
“Hey.” Bobbie nudged her with her elbow. “It’s alright. Dad would be proud of us.”
“Proud of you,” Jessie corrected her. “You’re the one that’s become dragon slayer of the year.”
“You’re coming along too. You’ll be ready to take on your first dragon long before you hit the academy.”
“You really think so?” Jessie turned toward Bobbie, her eyes glittering with hope.
She wasn’t certain why being around her mother and sister were making her so emotional. She knew if she’d mentioned any of this to Kimberlee, even at school, she wouldn’t have felt as unsure about her place in life, but here, now, at the ceremony that her father put in place when they moved in, she felt every insecurity that she believed everyone thought about her.
She wanted to make her family proud, make them believe in her. She just wasn’t certain how to do that.
Bobbie hugged her. “I know so,” she whispered in her ear. Then she stepped back, smiling. “Maybe you’ll even slay your first dragon this year.” She winked.
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