Summer goals

Once again, I've joined Tristi Pinkston's BIAM, this time for the month of July. She does a great job of inspiring me to push myself to write even when circumstances aren't conducive to the creative process. My goals for this book-in-a-month challenge are threefold:

First, I wanted to finish the submission materials needed to submit my latest creation to my publisher.

Second, I need to complete the initial edit on my recently accepted manuscript, Smokescreen.

Third, I want to write at least 20,000 words by the end of the month.

Of these goals, the last will be the hardest. I've been in my writing mode for several weeks now and I know it's time to shift gears back into editing for a while, but sometimes shifting back and forth between these two aspects of creating isn't easy. I was excited to complete my first goal earlier today. Obsession is officially in the hands of my editor and will hopefully go out to evaluators within the next few days.

I'm really nervous about this one because it's the first one I've written in a while that wasn't part of my Saint Squad series. I knew I needed a break from that series for fear that I would become too formulamatic, and this newest novel did write itself relatively quickly even though I felt like it was fighting me the whole time.

Now my challenge is to try to forget that I sent that submission e-mail and focus on my next task at hand, editing Smokescreen. I am looking forward to reading through that story again. I've missed my Navy SEALs for the past couple of months. :)