The Past, Present, and Future of Jill Williamson

What I Did in 2014

January:

•I started writing Onyx Eyes, one chapter a week, on my  blog as an experiment.

•Outcasts, book two in the Safe Lands trilogy, released.

•I continued writing Rebels, book three in the Safe Lands trilogy.

•I also published The Senet Box in January, which is a short story for new subscribers to my blog.

•I finished writing RoboTales, book two: Mardok and the Seven Exiles.

 

February: 

•I wrote RoboTales, book three, The Tiny Cyborg.

•I was approached by Bethany House Publishers, who wanted to see my new fantasy series idea. I had to set aside Onyx Eyes to put some serious effort into what became King’s Folly.

 

March:

•I finished Rebels and turned it in.

•I polished my three RoboTales books, wrote a proposal, and sent it all to my agent.

•I started working full speed ahead on the proposal for King’s Folly and its sequels to submit to Bethany House Publishers.

•I taught some workshops at the IdaHope Writers Conference where my friend Bill Myers was keynoting.

 

April:

•I had my first job shadow with a teen from the local high school.

 

May:

•Zondervan/Blink sent me on a short tour with authors Lisa Bergren, Jonathan Friesen, and Lorie Ann Grover. I went to Salt Lake, UT and Tempe, AZ.

•I finished my proposal and sample chapters for King’s Folly (book one in the Kinsman Chronicles trilogy) for Bethany House Publishers and sent it to my agent.

•Was accepted as a panelist for Salt Lake Comic Con!

 

June:

•Spoke at the One Year Adventure Novel conference in Olathe, Kansas.

•Captives won an INSPY award in the YA category.

•Bethany House Publishers offered to publish the Kinsman Chronicles trilogy!

 

July:

•Started writing Storyworld First in hopes of having it ready in time for Comic Con.

•Hosted a word war on Go Teen Writers when I was home alone for a week. Got a lot of work done on King’s Folly.

•Started a Go Teen Writers blog series on Creating Compelling Characters since I was working to further develop my characters in King’s Folly.

 

August:

•Taught at the OCW summer conference in Portland.

•Rebels, book three in the Safe Lands trilogy, released.

•I released my first solo nonfiction book, Storyworld First, to help writers create a spec fiction storyworld.

 

September:

•I created an author bookstore using Square. This is a great way for me to offer autographed copies to anyone.

•I attended Salt Lake Comic Con and got to be on five writing panels with a myriad of talented (and famous) authors, including my friend John Otte. I also got to meet Brandon Sanderson and said something ridiculous to him. (I had planned to re-listen to his Writing Excuses podcast on how to behave when meeting an author you admire, but I ran out of time. Ah well.)

•I went to ACFW in St. Louis, where I got to mentor some writers and sit on a panel with Colleen Coble. I was also a double finalist in the Carol Awards with Captives and Project Gemini. I did not win, but, as always, I had a wonderful time.

 

October:

•I attended the Tree City Comic Con, Boise, Idaho’s first attempt at hosting a con.

•I went on a writing retreat to Lake Tahoe with Stephanie Morrill and Shannon Dittemore. This was a fabulous time and very prductive. I wrote over 36,000 words that weekend and finished my first draft of King’s Folly.

•I did two local school visits for Teen Read Week and Skyped with six other schools from around the country.

 

November:

•I was asked to give a class at Teen Author Boot Camp in Salt Lake next April! Brandon Sanderson is one of the keynoters. If I get a chance to speak with him this time, I promise I’ll behave. *grin*

 

December: 

•To get rid of my inventory, I gave away my last 50 hardcover copies of Replication as a Christmas gift to my readers.

•I had some new author pictures taken.

•I worked non-stop on King’s Folly, which is due February 1, 2015!

 

 

What I’m Hoping to Do in 2015

January:

•Nothing but work on King’s Folly until I turn it in on February 1.

 

February: 

•I had planned to finish the next Spencer book by December 2014, but I got behind. Since it’s so easy to jump in and work on these, I’ll likely work on it while I plot out my Achan and Vrell novella. Ultimately, though, the Achan and Vrell novel has priority over Spencer. Poor Spencer. (Hopefully I’ll be able to finish his book in February.)

•The RoboTales series got some great feedback from New York publishing houses, but was ultimately rejected. Since this is a series my son helped me develop and write, we’ve decided to self-publish them. We’re going to run a Kickstarter campaign in February to try and raise funds to pay an amazing illustrator. These are science fiction and fantasy children’s chapter books to early middle grade level.

 

March:

•I should be writing my Achan and Vrell novella this month.

•Stephanie and I will be working on putting together our second nonfiction project tentatively called Once Upon The End, which is a writing book for beginners.

 

April:

•I’ll be teaching at the Teen Author Boot Camp in Salt Lake this month!

•I would like to have Broken Trust (Spencer, book three) release this month. *fingers crossed*

•Hopefully I will have completed my Achan and Vrell novella and be editing it. When I finish, I will dive in to start King’s Blood, book two in the Kinsman Chronicles.

 

May:

•Lots of hardcore writing on King’s Blood in May.

•Hoping to finish and release Once Upon The End.

 

June:

•I’m hoping to release my Achan and Vrell novella this month in ebook and paperback. This book will give readers a chance to see Achan and Vrell again and a peek into the world of King’s Folly.

•I’ll be teaching a class at the Pacific Northwest Association of Christian Librarians this month in Vancouver, Washington.

•I’ll be attending the One Year Adventure Novel conference in Kansas. This year Tosca Lee will be there too. Excited to hang out with her!

 

Spring – Summer:

•Somewhere in here there will be several rounds of edits on King’s Folly.

 

July:

•More hardcore writing on King’s Blood.

 

August:

•I’m planning to attend and teach at the RealmMakers conference where Robert Liparulo is keynoting. So excited to finally meet him in person!

 

September:

•Sept 1 is the tentative release date for the ebook version of King’s Folly: Darkness Reigns. Bethany House is going to pre-release the ebook in three parts. Darkness Reigns is part one.

 

October:

•Hoping to release the first three RoboTales books this month.

 

August to November:

•I should be writing nothing but King’s Blood, which is due February 1, 2016.

 

December: 

•December 1 is the tentative release date for the ebook version of King’s Folly: Epiphany, which is part two of the first book.

 

Pipe Dreams for My Clone to Write

•I want to finish my Spencer books in 2016. If I manage to release Broken Trust in 2015, that will leave me with one novella and the final novel for 2016. I’ve got them all plotted and partially written, so this seems doable.

•I’m missing Onyx Eyes. I really love that project and hope to get back to it once Spencer is done. I’m like to submit it to publishers. If there is no interest, I’ll go back to the blog plan, then self-publish it.

•I have a fun idea for a middle grade stand-alone fantasy that’s itching to be written.

•I’d like to finish writing Thirst, the prequel to the Safe Lands trilogy.

•I’d like to write my two sequels to Replication.

 

What Do You Think?

Of all my projects, which interests you most? Share in the comments.

 

What Are Your Plans?

What are you planning to accomplish in 2016? Share in the comments.