► FEATURED AUTHOR: PHIL N. SCHIPPER

Phil N. Schipper is a 20-year-old author and the founder of the Obscure Authors Alliance. His sci-fi novel The Third Face is set for an April 2013 re-release. You can stalk through Phil's excellent posts about publishing and authorhood at ephixbooks.wordpress.com.

1. What is your personal challenge for YearNoWriMad 2013? 

Since my first novel is launching in the beginning of April, my goal is to also self-publish the second one this year.

2. What obstacles will you most likely face along the way? How will you expertly combat them? 

Well, the first book took me about 3 or 4 years to get to this point, and though I do know the beginning and the end of the second book, I haven't planned anything else or written a single word of it. This means that I'll have to go through writing the first draft, all of my editing cycles (probably at least 6 or 7 including others' help) and finally format and get it ready in only 8 months' time. And it's actually more like 7 months because I'm not giving up NaNoWriMo to accomplish this! It's a lot to do, and I'm not exactly known for keeping up productivity for a long span of time. I also have work and college to manage.



3. What made you want to take on this particular challenge? 

It's quite simple, really. I'm 20 years old and soon to be 21. These books are going to form a trilogy, which in turn will become part of a larger series that includes two other trilogies and a final standalone novel. And I already have about 3 or 4 other ideas for novels that may or may not end up in the same universe, but are pretty much guaranteed to be ones that I end up writing. The result? I'm going to have a lot of books to write in my lifetime, and if I'm taking more than a year for each one I'm going to throw a big part of my life away. There needs to be plenty of time for the ideas I haven't had yet!

4. How do you plan to emerge from your personal challenge successfully? 

It'll be a lot of hard work and discipline, but it'll also involve staying close to the community. YearNoWriMad, the NaNo group on Facebook, and my own original circle of friends are going to have a lot of me to deal with this year, most likely in every mood on the emotional palette. So you'd better get ready!