Remember way back when in January as I talked about the need for mutable goals? Well, this year has been a classic example. The year is whizzing by at great speed while “life happens” has become my mantra…whether I wanted it or not.

I’ve experienced a series of delays both external to my publishing and internal that have made piecemeal of my planned schedule. This has required me to flex farther than I would have thought I could bend.

I had to delay one title and am currently running a little late on a second, but I did manage to provide something for my readers in both cases. I also had a number of events to work around, but these are wonderful problems to have. I was included in a Story Bundle in March that was a lovely experience. I was also a panelist at Baycon where I gave a reading from both Shafter and Secrets on top of my panels and met all sorts of fascinating people.

Apprentice took longer to write than expected, which meant it was not ready for editing, much less publication, in March. I’m still planning on a 2016 publication date at this point, but I’d prefer to put out something I can be proud of and happy to offer to my readers instead of rushing the title for an artificial deadline. I did publish a longer short story set in the same universe and giving a glimpse of the indie trader life in March. I’m hoping this will tide my Seeds Among the Stars readers over until Apprentice is ready.

I also released an updated fantasy short story, When the Shoe Won’t Fit, that had been included in a webzine and a print anthology before. This was nowhere on my goals, but the timing worked to my advantage. Meanwhile, I’m neck deep in the process of prepping the fourth book in The Steamship Chronicles with the cover art almost ready and the editing in the later stages.

The short story work, including the two releases and a number of others, was a little unexpected, but I had some traditional publishing markets I decided to pursue. No good news yet, but we’ll see.

Looking back at my beginning of the year post, I’m running a little behind in my goals, but not as bad as I might have been.

I mention re-releasing novels, the count of which has grown to six. Five of these are complete, including another proofread, cover art updates, and reformatting.

On the writing front, I mention at least two novels, a goal that looks to be doable even though Apprentice ran late. I’m already writing Isabella (which still doesn’t have a real title) and hoping to finish the first draft this month or early next month. This leaves November open for another, as yet unscheduled, novel.

For editing, the count of novels has risen because I did another proofread for the reformatted novels, but on my main releases, I am running behind. Still, I am making progress and will get at least two novels out this year.

As to the cover art, I have one cover that was made by Deranged Doctor Design while I’m doing the final stages on another. So for mid-year, I’m not too far off. I also created the cover art for my two short work releases this year.

Finally, I have published two works so far, neither of which were novel-length. On this, I’m not where I wanted to be, but it is what it is.

As you can see, I started with ambitious goals and have had to adjust them, but I’m still making headway and looking good for progress on most, if not completion on all, by the end of the year. Meanwhile, I hope the titles I have released will entertain my readers enough so they can be patient on the novels.

What about you? How does your progress stand up to the goals you set in January? Whatever the answer, don’t give up. There’s still almost half a year left to get things done.

Today’s post was inspired by the topic “Mid-Year Check-In – how you’re doing on your January goals” — July’s topic in Forward Motion’s Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour.