one . . . what's first?

Three hundred and sixty five days.

A year to hit my straps and send forth my debut novel into the world of published books.

Seems like a long time, one year.  Think about the twelve months and you can no doubt rattle out a lot of achievements, a lot of events: travel to new countries, meeting new friends, challenges at work, food cooked and eaten, movies and TV shows watched, books read, life lived.

A year is a long time, but it can move quickly.  It can pass you by and if you don't have a game plan, before you know it, you're travelling back from Harrogate thinking, why aren't I published yet?  Why am I still working on the same book as last year?

So: the game plan:

Finish the 5th draft.
Tidy up research points.
Give to my chief in-house editor to read.
Re-edit.
Send to select few to read and review.
Re-edit.
Finalise with one last read through.
Send to the two agents who were interested in my novel back in the glory days of Dragons Pen at Harrogate (many moons ago).
Keep sending to agents until someone signs me up.
Work with agent to make the novel the best it can be.
Obtain publisher and agree a publishing date.

Looking back at that list, 365 days does not sound like a lot at all.

But things move quickly when you have a game plan.  A game plan and zero tolerance for excuses.

Time to begin.