My Writing Between Now and the New Year

If I’m being totally honest, I’m not really writing these days. Between work and personal life activities, I’m just tired all the time, and I don’t have the mental focus to write. Knowing that November 9th is basically the start of a new season for me, I want to take time to talk about my writing between now and the end of the year.

Obviously right now I’m working on Justice & Lies, the third book in the Cassie Morgan Series. I’m thinking of doing a modified version of NaNoWriMo and aiming for 30K, which would be a huge accomplishment for me at the moment. I really do believe that if I can get my momentum back, it’ll be easy to finish this draft, because I am so excited about this story. Double Played was a bit of a different direction in terms of the story for Cassie, but Justice & Lies really brings the story so far full circle back to the events in The Assassin. 
I am more than ready to have a full draft of this book, so much so, I already have a cover for it. Yes, a cover, and y’all, I think it looks incredible. Better than the first two books, that’s for sure.
But what happens after I finish this draft of Justice & Lies? Well, I don’t know. I know I’ll want to give it a break so I can come back and do edits with fresh eyes, but I’m not sure what I want to write after that. Right now I’m debating between the fourth book, Hit List, and a stand-alone novel, Super Ordinary.
Logically it makes more sense to do Hit List after for a number of reasons. Hit List picks up right where Justice & Lies ends. The ending of Hit List will be much more solid. It’ll be tidier than Justice & Lies. It’s also an ending that gives me the ability to go and follow other stories, like Super Ordinary. 
Super Ordinary, though, is definitely a little different for me, which is why I’m excited to write it. I originally came up with the idea junior year of high school.
High school.
That was five years, no, six years ago. This story has waited six years to be written, and I want to honor it (and excuse me while I go have a 22 year-old life crisis). But I think it’ll probably end up waiting until 2017. Hell, it may not even be until 2018 before I publish it. Isn’t it crazy to think 2018 is closer to this moment than 2014 is? Yikes.
So, I think I’ll end up doing Hit List after I rewrite Justice & Lies. It just makes more sense. If I can get my momentum back, I think I can have this draft of Justice & Lies done by mid-January, which will give me enough time to start Hit List. 
It’s weird to think that in two months, it’ll basically be the new year, isn’t it? 2016 has been insanely crazy, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
What are you planning to work on between now and the end of the year?