My Writing/Publishing Goals

My intent is to have one novel and one non-fiction book published (either self-published or traditionally) by 2017. Sometimes this seems a bit long to me, so it may to you too, but it's worth noting that that I work full-time and often spend up to 6 months at a time working a second job so that I can afford to have things like hobbies and a computer to write on. My editing budget is essentially "hey, I get three paychecks in September" plus any Kickstarters that I do when we get closer to completion.

2015: Complete first, second drafts of all work and begin editing process.

2016: Intensive editing process

2017: Publishing process

ManInBlack, we all know how hard it is to write and edit while working and having an actual life. I know people who get up early to write, who isolate themselves during lunch to write, who stay up late to write, who make "writing dates" by swapping chores or child care with others in the household, like that. The old saw is true: where there's a will, there is a way.

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Oh I definitely understand that. I'm not trying to make it sound like I'm a special case, I'm just definitely applying that patience is part of the will (plus the fact that bound works are nowhere near the only projects I have going on at any given time).

I'm a little concerned about your editing budget. Might this be a needless expense for a service you could get for free with qualified beta readers when the manuscript is as good as you can make it, or for big picture concerns, with critique-as-you-go? I hate to see you spending money when clearly you're not rolling in it.

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I've generally been under the impression that if you intend to publish worthwhile work, it's only fair to pay an editor at least something. In my case, I intend to make use of friends who are both knowledgeable about and interested in my writing as well as those who have (potentially outdated) professional editing training, but I would feel like I was ripping them off if I didn't pay them something. The one thing I do not want to do is publish something that would have been brilliant with stringent editing that turns out to be barely passable (or worse) because I skimped.

Thanks for the words, guys. It helps that I have the perfect publisher in mind for the non-fiction book, as long as they feel there's a market for it.