RTW – Looking Into My Writer’s Crystal Ball

This week, YA Highway’s Road Trip Wednesday asks the question, What do you hope to be writing in one year? Three? Five?

I’ve always hated goal-setting. Other than the goal that in three years, or five, I want to be rich and famous. Bestselling books, accolades aplenty, twin Cadillacs in the driveway (actually, in my case, it would probably be a couple of Teslas–gotta be green, ya know).

But that’s just pie-in-the-sky fantasizing, not goal-setting. If you’d asked me five years ago where I wanted to be right now, what I thought I would be writing, I seriously doubt that I would have said, “Just finishing book 2 and about to start book 3 of a young adult science fiction trilogy.” Five years ago, I was still writing romances for Harlequin. Tankborn, its follow-on, Awakening, and the final book, Revolution, were not even a glimmer in my eye.

But let me try to answer the question anyway, despite my goals-averse ways. One year out is a bit of a cheat, because there is something in the works already, something I can’t talk about yet. In a year, I will have finished a re-write on Secret Book #1 and should be working on writing Secret Book #2.

In three years, I would like to be working on another YA series. Very likely in the speculative fiction arena (fantasy, paranormal, SF). It’s also possible I will be working on future Secret Books. Because all three books of the Tankborn trilogy will have been published in three years, my dream is that we will be working on the first of the Tankborn movies (hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?).

In five years, I would be finishing up that Other YA Trilogy, possibly writing more Secret Books, and likely starting another YA series. Or maybe I’m working with an artist on Tankborn graphic novels. I think the Tankborn trilogy would lend itself very well to the graphic novel format. Maybe instead of Teslas, there are a pair of nice, new Priuses in the driveway. And schools are clamoring to hear me speak. My book signings are mob scenes. The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is begging me to give a keynote at their summer conference. 🙂

Okay, so it’s not all completely realistic. I don’t have quite as much control over the rich and famous part as I’d like. But I can keep writing the books I like to write and make my own future to a certain extent.

How about you? What is your crystal ball saying to you?