Tag Archives: Book Writing

Publishing, Writing, Imagination, Inspiration, Method

Going With Your Gut a.k.a. The Secret to Writing

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

In Short:

To sum it up in case you don’t feel like reading through all of this the secret boils down to one thing: find what works for you. It’s that simple. Which isn’t simple at all because it will likely take a lot of trial and error. I’ve been at it for over a year now and I’m still learning what the best practices are for me. So have patience and keep trying different things until you find a combo that works. Now, on with the show!

In the Beginning:

When I first decided to really make a go at being a writer I spent a whole lot of time doing research on how other writers did their thing. I was looking for a secret or a trick. I wanted to believe there was such a thing. I was pretty disappointed when most authors who shared their processes all said the same thing: there is no trick. No secret. Once I realized that I decided to instead concentrate on the specifics of other writers’ methods and try them out for myself.

Where to Write:

I’d seen plenty of people typing away in coffee shops, restaurants, etc., so I tried those out. They were usually too noisy. I could maybe get ten good minutes of writing before something broke my concentration, and this was while listening to my own music through my ear buds. I tried a library; the seats sucked and people were surprisingly talkative in the quiet section. So the library was a bust. I tried to think of other places I could go but each one was either too public and noisy or didn’t have anywhere to really sit down and type. In the end I wrote my first book sitting on my bed in the tiny room I was renting. It wasn’t ideal because all of my video games, books, and such were right there ready to distract me from my task. I could also only stand sitting on my bed for about a half hour before my legs and butt started going numb. I managed though.

I’ve come to realize that I can write almost anywhere, but my concentration and writing quality will suffer in places with too much noise or distraction. I’ve done writing on planes, in the hospital, at the mechanic, you name it. The real trick when it comes to figuring out where to write is finding a place that is comfortable enough to sit for thirty to sixty minutes and also be able to concentrate for that long. So not really a trick at all. Disappointing I know but still the truth.

How to Write:

This is a biggie and probably more complicated than finding the right spot. The trick to becoming a writer, and this is based on my experience and opinion, is to stick with it long enough to learn how you write best. You can do all of the research, read about every author under the sun and how they do their thing and none of it will help you unless you try all of those methods out. You can buy fancy programs that help you storyboard your ideas, organize your characters, build family trees, and come up with more background than you can shake a stick at. That still won’t get your book or story done. And that’s really the secret. Much like Po learned in Kung Fu Panda, there is no secret ingredient. There’s just you. The writer. You have to sit down and face that blank page or empty document. I was terrified when I realized this. No one could help me write the story in my head. I had all the responsibility for putting my thoughts and ideas down in words. Super scary. Still, there is hope.

There’s another side to this coin, just like there’s two sides to every story. (At least two sides anyway.) So sure, the buck stops with you and nothing will happen unless you do something about it. The flip side is, there’s no wrong way to do it! Probably the most glorious thing about being a writer is the freedom. Good, bad, or ugly, who cares?! You can write whatever you want, however you want to write it. Have some crazy idea to write an erotic thriller about space unicorns who have come to harvest our ear wax? Go for it! (Actually, that sounds pretty hilarious. I might have to play with that one… Ahem, yes well you get the idea.)

When I was a kid I spent hours drawing pictures with my friends and my sister. We would draw whatever came to mind and tell a story about the picture at the same time. We lived in our imagination. Before I started writing I really thought that my creativity was gone. Nothing more than a childhood memory. I was wrong though. I wasn’t gone, it was just rusty and stiff from disuse. I’d let life and adult responsibility crush my imagination for so long that it was a great effort to let it free. It’s still not as easy as I’d like it to be but every time I sit down and write it gets a little easier. So keep at it. Don’t worry about how good your writing is. It will get better and easier the more you practice. Patience and persistence pays off in spades in this line of work.

Keep on Learning (and Reading):

My only other bit of advice is to keep learning about writing and publishing. Self-publishing is definitely a great route to go if getting the attention of traditional publishers is too intimidating or fruitless. A lot of big-name authors are actually going that route because of the full creative freedom and much, much better royalties. Dean Wesley Smith has a metric butt-ton of info on self-publishing and I highly recommend checking his site out (www.deanwesleysmith.com). Also read. Read whatever you want to. Re-read books you loved and see how the experience is from the perspective of a writer. I’m re-reading the entire Anite Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton and I’m noticing a whole lot about her writing style. Not to mention the formatting choices for the book itself. I think it’s important to immerse yourself in books and the writing culture as much as you can. At least as much as your favorite hobby. Writing takes serious effort but it is also seriously rewarding. Anyway, those are just a few of my thoughts on it. Good night and good luck!

 

National Novel Writing Month is just around the corner! Sign up now and get inspired to write: www.nanowrimo.org

 

Unemployment, Writing, Changes, Inspiration, Career, Crowdfunding, General, Life, Patreon, Publishing

So. Much. Change.

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

It’s been a little bit since my last post but I haven’t been idle. Where to begin?

 

The Home Front:

Probably the best news is that my sister has started her chemo treatments and so far that is going well. I know the whole experience has been pretty awful for her but I also know we’re all feeling a little better about the whole situation. The tumor in her neck is already noticeably smaller just three treatments in. Definitely a good sign. We’re not out of the woods yet but the horrible sense of loss and depression have receded. I will be joining her on her next treatment so I’ll get a chance to see firsthand how it is.

As far as the school stuff goes I did manage to get all of the required items to the school just under the wire. I didn’t really think that was going to happen since I was waiting for one transcript that took three months the last time I ordered it. I ordered the new one as soon as we finished moving to Madison but that left less than two months. Surprisingly though it arrived just in time and now I await the school’s decision. I’ll probably be coming in as a junior so that will be nice. I might have one or two lame general requirements left but that’ll be it. I should be able to concentrate on my English – Creative Writing major. I’m actually really excited to have the chance to go back to college full-time. I never thought I’d have another chance when I dropped out back in ’99. I’ll definitely be one of the oldest students in my classes but I don’t mind that. It’ll be fun watching all of the kids run around doing their thing. Here’s hoping I get in next semester.

This Year So Far:

In other news I’ve invested a great deal of time and effort into my writing career over the past month. The print edition of Induction was finalized and is available on Amazon. This is crazy exciting for me. Despite growing up with a just-blossoming Internet I guess I still have a pretty strong connection to the physical world. So when I held a physical proof version of my first book, for the first time, it felt more special and real than when I published the e-book version back in February. I know at times I’m disappointed with my progress so far. I definitely had high hopes and set a very high bar for myself last year. I wanted to have this first trilogy done by December 2014 as well as at least 5 short stories, published individually and as a collection. For a long time it looked like that wasn’t going to happen. Between moving twice, applying to one college and getting in, then having to apply to another as well as the rough time my family and I have all been going through it’s been a crazy busy year. Actually, now that I think about it I guess the progress I have made so far is decent. Plus National Novel Writing Month will be here in just a couple of weeks. Topic change!

NaNoWriMo (Huh?):

National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo (nanowrimo.org) is a yearly contest, sort of, to get people to write a 50k word novel in just one month. Specifically, in November. So people who participate have 30 days to finish the novel. Anyone who manages to finish within the 30 day period wins. It’s free to participate and there are a bunch of groups around the country, and probably in other countries, participating. I found out about it last year but I was already writing my first book and working a day job full-time. I wasn’t about to try a second novel when I wasn’t even sure I could finish the one I was working on. This year is different though. I am currently unemployed and writing full-time. College doesn’t start (as long as I’m accepted) until January and I will hopefully have a little income coming in from my writing in the near future. Enough to get by and still eat at any rate. Hopefully. Maybe.

Anyway, the point is I have the time and strong desire to participate this year. I’ve already signed up and am looking at getting with my local group here in Madison. They already have some tentative events planned and I’m very psyched to get the chance to meet other writers. I know writing is a solitary profession in many ways but just in my short time doing that I have already realized that my writing and my experience writing is better when I can share it with other people. That’s been limited to friends and family so far which means I’m very eager to talk and work with other writers to get their perspectives on writing, the writing life, and life in general.

As for what I will be writing next month, that is still undecided. I was hoping to get some feedback from my Patrons via Patreon regarding which of the ideas I’ve had so far they’d like to see, but that requires having Patrons. (More in the next section.) At this point I’ve got four ideas, two related to my Shrouded world, two not. The third book of the trilogy is out as a possibility because it won’t fit within any reasonable distance of 50k words. Both of the first books ran almost 100k and I’ve got plenty more story to cover. There is another Shrouded World book that’s been on the back burner for almost a year now and that definitely has possibilities. We shall see.

Patreon:

So Patreon is a thing now. I first stumbled across it when I was going through some artwork on an unrelated site. They mentioned I could support them through something called Patreon. I was curious at the time but had other things going on and forgot about it for a couple of weeks. Once I came back to it though I discovered that Patreon is basically ongoing crowd-funding for artists. The amounts pledged, either per month or per fixed unit of work completed, are much smaller than what you see on Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Most start at $1. Looking through the site I found some artists I already followed on YouTube. (Peter Hollins comes to mind immediately. Amazing a cappella music videos.) I loved the idea right then and there. Have someone creating something you love and enjoy? Give a buck a month or whatever and help them pay their bills and eat so they can focus on creating! I’m learning first-hand just how hard it is to concentrate on creating when you’re worried about paying for rent and food. So I decided to join in as well and started my own Patreon page.

It’s been up for less than a week and I don’t have any Patrons yet but I’m hopeful this will be the answer for transitioning from regular 9 to 5 jobs to writing full-time. I will say this though: I am far more motivated every day to keep writing, publishing, reading, researching, and learning. My main passions in life so far have been book and gaming. Now writing has usurped both of those as number one. Not something I could have predicted but it’s something I’m enjoying immensely. Whether or not I’m successful I am definitely enjoying the ride.

 

(EDIT)

So I spazzed out and completely forgot to include links for all of the stuff I’ve been working on. Here they are in no particular order:

Patreon (Seriously, this site is awesome. If I had the money there’s a bunch of artists I would already be supporting.): http://www.patreon.com

My Patreon Page: http://www.patreon.com/fuzzynerd

My new Tumblr blog where I post my free work: http://fuzzynerdcorner.tumblr.com/

I am now also on Twitter: http://twitter.com/FuzzyNerdCorner

National Novel Writing Month Site: http://nanowrimo.org

General, Life, Publishing, Writing

When Bad News Strikes

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

I’ve been out of the game for some time now but I’m finally getting back into the swing of things. I know I don’t have many readers but for those who were wondering my long silence was due to finding out my sister has cancer. It was more than a bit of a shock to us all especially considering just how fast it developed. We have all been dealing with the fallout from that diagnosis for the past month or so. The silver lining here is that it could have been much worse and they caught it early enough the doctors are talking about fully curing her, not just remission.

The funny thing about news like this is how it alters how you think of things. This was the first time someone close to me was diagnosed with something as serious as cancer. My family has its fair share of ailments but cancer really wasn’t one of them. I suppose that made me feel like we’d dodged the bullet. After all we grew up just a block away from a park that harbored a dangerous carcinogen just under the surface but we seemed to be fine. Not to much now. Still, things are not nearly as bad as they could be and we are very hopeful at this point that she will make a fully recovery.

As for my writing the whole cancer thing definitely derailed that for a time. This week was the first time I managed to concentrate enough to finalize the formatting for Induction. As of today the print proofs have shipped and I am very excited to hold my first book in my hands. In a case of interesting timing I finished my second book on the same day I found out about my sister. I haven’t done much with that beyond a quick first edit but I do have it out for a more thorough round of editing and I hope to get it back shortly. Funny enough thanks to all of these delays I was able to include a sample of book 2 in the print and updated digital copies of book 1.

In other news I am working on my application to attend the university here. I am very eager to have access to their Creative Writing curriculum. The community here in town is also very artist, and writer, friendly. All in all college this time around should be a much more rewarding experience.

Life, Unemployment, Writing, Balance, Changes, Imagination, Inspiration, Method, Career, Gaming, General

Done and Done

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

It’s been a couple of quiet weeks as far as posts here go. That was mostly due to being ill. Picked up a nasty little bacteria that took up residence in my sinuses and chest. It was a lot like a mild flu mixed with a head cold. Got the fever, cough, congestion, and sore throat combo going so that was a lot of fun. Probably could have cut my sick time in half with a little antibiotic love but that requires expensive doctor visits and medicine so no joy there. Future illnesses like this shouldn’t be a problem if the VA comes through though so here’s hoping on that front.

As far as writing goes I didn’t let a little thing like being sick stop me from writing. I certainly slowed down but I’m very happy to report that book 2 was finished early today. I was working on Chapter 21 when I realized I was just dragging out the story and could easily cut it at the end of Chapter 20 plus a short epilogue. So that’s what I did. My second novel ever clocks in at just over 92k words and took an unfortunate 5 months to write. Book 1 was 4k words longer and took 3 months all while I was working 40 hours a week. Funny how it’s been harder to write when I have so much more free time. Of course moving threw a big monkey wrench into my writing time/energy so there’s a good month lost to that. The real problem was making the time and space for it. For the first book I was in a lull as far as my gaming went so it was no big deal to devote an hour a night to getting some writing done. Still, done is done.

This second book was much harder to write for me. I think part of it was just the amount of world-building that went into this one. For the first book I could get away with vague references and hints until the big reveal at the end. Book two though is all about getting down and dirty with this new world. It’s a first for the protagonist, the reader, and me. 🙂  Fun fact: I used a short story that I wrote to build a lot of the details in book two. The short story takes place in the same world and focuses on a day in the life of a secret agency office worker. I ended up going through the short story again to jot down all of the details and filled an entire legal pad with notes. I will definitely be writing more of these kinds of stories to help flesh out my world. I think it takes the huge task of world-building and breaks it down into smaller, more manageable chunks. I’m actually itching to get going on another short story. It’s nice to know that I can start a project and get it done in a week or less. Finishing a novel feels great but the slog getting there can be rough.

General, Life, Writing, Inspiration, Method

Of Endings and Loose Threads

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

The past couple of days have been more about getting stuff done around the house than writing but I’ve still managed to finish editing 13 chapters of book 1. I noticed a tendency to use italics too much so I’m taking this opportunity to trim those out a bit. Started chapter 19 in book 2 as well. Only got about two pages down before I realized some things had to change. First off, the book is pretty much done as far as the story is concerned. Some elements will have to wait for book three. This will be good though since it means I can spend quite a bit more time developing them in the next book. What I’ve put down for chapter 19 will probably end up being the epilogue and chapter 18 will be greatly expanded and split. What I realized is that the confrontation in chapter 18 is really part of the climax of this book. I hadn’t planned it that way but it’s how it worked out. There’s about one to two more chapters worth of story that will come out from this change and then book 2 will be done. Pretty damn excited about that as this book seemed to drag a lot more than my first.

Wrote out the basic bits of these last two chapters. Sometimes it really helps me to brain storm with a pen and paper. I also keep all of my notes on paper as well. As much as I love computers and modern technology the ease of having a notebook I can quickly flip through for reference when I’m working on my laptop can’t be beat.

The last bit that is exciting is that my office is just about done. I managed to put up five coats of the white board paint so I’ll have a huge area to work with. It takes three days to cure which means tomorrow I can technically start using it. I’ll wait until Sunday just to be sure though. Plus I need to get some light in there. Something a little less glaring than the overhead light anyway. The rest of the house is really coming along as well. It’s a relief to finally see so much progress in so many places. As for book 2, I may end up pushing these last two chapters out pretty quickly since I’m super excited and I want to be done with it. Time will tell.

Career, General, Life, Writing, Inspiration, Method

(Re) Editing Turns Out to be Fun. For Realsies.

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

I’ve definitely been dreading this whole re-editing process because it means a whole lot of tedious work. So today I put it off as long as I could until about 30 minutes ago. Yet I’m already done with three more chapters and I’m kinda speed reading my book at the same time. Unexpectedly, I like it too. I’m enjoying my own book. Who knew? I definitely didn’t want to see it for awhile after I got it published back in January mostly because I was super sick of it. You can only spend so much time on the same thing before it gets boring and annoying after all. Now though I’m seeing it with fresh eyes. And I like it. I still don’t think it’s the best thing ever. Far from it, but I like it again. That’s definitely heartening. I can also see where my second book is better than this one. That’s a real boost to my motivation. Book one was definitely the prototype. No better than a beta. Now I’m extra anxious to finish this first trilogy so I can make the first book free.

Career, General, Life, Publishing, Writing, Method

Fun with (Re) Editing

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

Managed to finish up the formatting for POD with Induction. It was looking damn sexy. I’d always thought the font used in most print fiction was Times New Roman but it turns out to be Garamond. At least that’s what the templates I’ve received from various sites use and it looks very nice indeed. Had some fun (not really) setting up my Table of Contents in Word. The best part of that is that it’s tied to the chapter headings so even if future edits cause page numbers to change I can just update the TOC and it will automatically fix the numbers. This was my first time setting that up but it was pretty easy. Much like computer programming it takes more work up front but the end result is greatly increased efficiency and accuracy. Things I’ve always appreciated.

So I’m done right? Ready to upload the file and get on with the printing process! Woot! I did one last quick look over the whole thing and realized something was missing. A lot of somethings. It turns out that at some point my Google Docs master copy of the book lost ALL of its italics formatting. This is a huge deal for the book since I used italics to denote thoughts for the main character and a few others. Just re-reading the prologue was confusing because the thoughts are written like dialog but are placed within the paragraphs at the exact point the character is thinking them. Without the italics formatting they are horribly out of place and confusing. The worst part is this is the version currently on sale in electronic format. Yikes! So my main focus now is to re-apply all of the missing formatting in the print version and then make a copy to re-format back to ebook. Le sigh.

I looked at the revision history hoping to find a recent copy with the italics but nope, it’s been this way for months and I just didn’t notice. That’ll teach me to have just one master copy. I’ll check some of the downloaded ones before I get too far with the re-formatting to make sure I don’t have a local backup, but I’m not holding my breath. Ah well. Live and learn.

In the meantime I’m taking a break from the editing spree to slap on the last two coats of whiteboard paint on my office wall. Super excited about that. The first two coats are already on and it looks very promising. Once these last two are done it’s a three day wait for the stuff to cure. Then I get to see if the time and money I’ve put into this was even worth it. This paint has very mixed reviews after all. Here’s hoping!

General, Life, Love, Publishing, Writing, Changes, Imagination, Method

Back from the Break

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

The move is done though we’re not quite done unpacking everything at this point. I have to say that moving an apartment full of four people’s things with just of those people is not a whole lot of fun. I did some counting and discovered that this was something like my 17th move in 14 years. Yikes. I have to say I’m getting pretty sick of it too. I guess that’s what I get for volunteering for the service but I’ve definitely learned my lesson. Never again volunteer yourself! 😉  Anywho, on top of the move we had a road trip to the east coast for a family visit as well as a stop by some friends to say hey and pick up the last of my things. (There were three crates or so I couldn’t fit in my car when I left the coast.)

Now that all of that is done though I’m diving back into the second Shroud novel and I must say I am super happy to be writing again. I don’t know if other writers experience this, but every time I stop writing for a week or more I have this fear that I’m never going to write again. Pretty irrational really but there it is. The worst part about this fear though is it makes me feel really intimidated by my plans for what I want to write and accomplish with said writing. Silly really since I don’t have to magically write ten books in the next ten days or anything. I haven’t managed to write as much as I wanted to in the first year but I’ll definitely have the second book done and published before my first year of writing is done. That’s not bad at all for a noob.

Oh, I’m also really excited about having a room to myself to do my writing in. It’s playing the role of temporary storage until we finish unpacking but I have some awesome plans for it. I picked up a white-board paint kit to turn two of the walls into a giant white board. I’ll be using part of the space as a calendar so I can set and track my writing and publishing deadlines. The rest will be scratch/idea space. I may be a super computer geek but even the larger screens of today just don’t hack it for presenting and working with a whole lot of ideas at once.

Just about done with my writing for today and I actually surprised myself by a sudden turn in the story I had no idea was coming. Two of my main characters were just having a small alone moment together and my plan was for one of them to bring up an uncomfortable subject. Instead they just started making out. I was all, “Whut? That’s not what I meant to happen.” Still, it’s an amazing experience to be writing something, letting the flow come, when BAM! Surprise, your story is going somewhere else. I’m happy with this sudden change though. It’s high time these two got things out in the open.

Insomnia, Writing, Changes, Imagination, Method, Career, General

The Big Push

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

Day 1, Entry 1:

3:04 PM: It’s been awhile since I’ve done a whole lot on this blog or my book. Finally finished Chapter 10 the other day. Had a real hard time finishing the scene. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what I wanted the characters involved to do. I was actually getting pretty annoyed with them which is probably why by the end the decision was made for them. 🙂

Anyway, this will be the first of multiple entries on a daily basis as I make a big push to finish this book by my deadline. June 15th is right around the corner and I’m not quite halfway done with the book. As always there have been life events that have taken a lot of my attention. The biggest one is that we are moving very soon. That changed a whole lot of plans and has involved a lot of work, travel, and planning to figure out where we’re going to live and such. I’ll be going to a different college now of course, but the good news is this one has an actual Creative Writing major, not just English with a Creative Writing focus. As it is a much larger school it should also have more opportunities to meet other writers and find writer activities. Definitely something to look forward to. Now, on to the progress so far:

Woke up a little later than usual given we had such a crazy late night. You know it’s time for bed when the sun starts coming up. Had breakfast, worked on my WoW auctions, set up my boxing team to sit and farm for a couple of rare mounts then dove back into taking notes from my first completed Shroud short story Another Day at the Office. I’ve thought about doing this for that story and my first book before but hadn’t gotten around to it. While I was writing Chapter 10 I realized that someday soon I absolutely have to do it for the first book and probably this one as well. There’s too much going on for me to remember it all just yet. I’d actually forgotten that I came up with a real name for the mysterious Agency in my short story. Not to mention a whole lot of juicy facts about one of the races in my world.

Day 1, Entry 2:

5:12 PM: Managed to get about a thousand words down for Chapter 11. Finished one scene and started another. A good start to the day so far. I definitely delayed starting for a bit with some chores around the house. I realized I was worrying too much about what was going to happen in the book instead of concentrating on just what was happening “now”. I was also worrying too much about how good a job I was doing and that’s never helpful. I’ve read it over and over from other writers, ignore the worries and the inner critic and just write. Easier said than done though. Still, progress has been made! Time for a quick break and then diving back in.

Day 1, Entry 3:

8:37 PM: It was a slow start diving back into the book. Sometimes it’s easy for me to pick up a scene where I left off regardless of how much time has passed since I started it. In this case it was probably only a little over an hour. I stopped to heat up some lunch, catch up on my favorite YouTube channels, snag a shower and then take out the trash & recycling. Thankfully it started picking up about halfway through and I got another 1,500 words down. That puts me about halfway to my minimum goal for today of 5k words. I technically only need to do about 4.5k per day to hit my target of 100k words for this book, but I’d rather do a little more and get done sooner if possible. Anyway, today has been pretty productive so far. Time for another break.

Day 1, Entry 4

1:39 AM: A rather long break this time since dinner and catching up on the day needed to happen. Once everyone else was in bed it was time to get back to it. Managed to dive right back in sometime after midnight and banged out another 1.3k words. I’m sitting pretty at 3,800 for the night so far and I’ve still got a good couple of hours to go. Chapter 11 is done and I’m super stoked that I finished an entire chapter in one day. After the snail’s pace of my writing for the past couple of months this big push feels pretty exciting. Time for a quick break though.

Day 1, Entry 5

3:54 AM: I could probably write for a little longer but I feel like I’ve done exceptionally well for the first day of this big push. In the past two hours or so I’ve managed to lay down another 1.3k words or so bringing me to just over my 5.1k mark. I started and finished Chapter 11 and now I’m well into Chapter 12. Things are moving faster now as well, probably because I’m excited about what’s happening. I’ve finally made it past the bits I was having trouble deciding on and now I get to make up the history of my world whole cloth as the big secret is revealed to Stephen. Only took 1.5 books to get there. 🙂 Time to veg out for a bit doing one last round of auctions and call it a night.

Day 2, Entry 1

3:20 PM: Started the day a little later than intended but I was also a little more worn out than usual. Not surprising given the amount of work I managed to put in yesterday. I have to say I am very happy with my progress so far. It definitely provides some positive motivation to keep going. So I was up a little before 2 PM, grabbed some breakfast, picked up my roommate, snagged the mail and a shower, checked my auctions (slowly but surely seeing a positive cash flow trend there), and now it is time to get down to business. Let’s see what I can get done in the next hour or so.

4:14 PM: Less than an hour later and I’ve done a little over 1k words. This chapter is definitely coming easy, though not quite as expected. I’m feeling much better now about the story since I’ve managed to put myself back in my characters’ shoes. I definitely find that my writing tends to flow well when I’m living in the moment with my characters. And to think I used to believe that I lost a lot of my imagination as I grew up. 🙂

Day 2, Entry 2:

7:55 PM: Time is certainly flying by today! Things are definitely a little more lively with another roommate home, but that also means more interruptions. Nothing too bad though and I’ve managed to hit just over 2.7k words for the day with plenty of time left to get to my 5k minimum. I had a bit of a time falling asleep last night as my mind was very awake with ideas and imaginings for this book. I was actually tempted to get back up and keep writing but sleep is important too after all. 🙂

I took a small break after hitting 2.7k and sat around for a bit wondering what I should do. Normally I would check my auctions but it’s a bit early and the last thing I want to do during this push is get sucked into a game before I’ve finished my minimum writing quota for the day. Then I realized I still had a ton of blog entries up from Dean Wesley Smith’s site about self-publishing and writing. He is an absolute gold mine of information for new (and current) writers by the way (deanwesleysmith.com). That led me to another blog he linked with a discussion between another self-published author who has been very successful and the CEO of one of the few remaining large traditional publishers. I’m only about 10% of the way through the whole thing but it’s definitely an eye opener. It doesn’t hurt that reading about all of the other successful self-published authors out there gives me real hope that I can make a living off of my own writing within the next couple of years. Maybe sooner if I can keep up a good pace. Anyway, here is the link to the post, I would advise anyone even remotely interested in writing and self-publishing for a living to check them both out:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2014/01/questions-from-steve-zacharius-ceo-and.html

And now, back to the story!

Day 2, Entry 3:

2:04 AM: I didn’t get back to the book right away. Ended up reading a lot more of the blog post I linked in the last entry. Still not even halfway done so it’s quite the post. Then the Cat got home from work and it was time for dinner and catching up on our days. I always enjoy this part of the day. It’s a nice break from whatever I was doing and the only chance we get during the week to spend time together. Put her to bed around 1 AM and went back to the book. Managed to get a little over 1.5k done but I’m starting to feel a little worn out. I’m not too worried about hitting 5k though since I’m only about 700 words shy of the mark. Chapter 12 has been a pretty big emotional roller coaster for Stephen. It’s been a lot of fun, but tough to do. Definitely time for a break.

Day 2, Entry 4:

4:31 AM: And that’s all she wrote. Stick a fork in me, I’m done. Got stuck for a bit after the break so the break got longer. It wasn’t a real ‘oh crap I’m stuck’ moment, more I’m getting too tired to think of anything stuck. Still, inspiration struck before it got too late and I managed to churn out another 1100 words. This brings today’s total up to 5,435. Somehow managed to do more than yesterday despite more interruptions and less time to write. I’m sure I’ll be more impressed and happy with myself when I wake up well rested tomorrow. Ta ta for now.

Day 3, Entry 1:

4:01 PM: Didn’t sleep too well last night. If I thought it was difficult getting to sleep the first night, last night showed me what real trouble was. Didn’t help that I woke up around 9 AM because it was too hot in the place and had to turn on the AC. Took almost two hours to get back to sleep. So now I’m a bit tired, but I’ve had breakfast, handled my auctions, and did a little research for the upcoming move. The fun really started when I decided to scan through my book as it stands so far. I realized my chapters jumped from 7 to 9. Definitely had a bit of a freak out there as I didn’t know if it was a simple numbering error or if I’d managed to delete an entire chapter out of the thing. I had to skim chapters 6, 7, and 9 before I was satisfied it was just a numbering error. Not sure I would have been able to stick with this big push if I had actually managed to delete a good chunk of my book. Regardless, this just points out that I need to keep separate files for each chapter. I did that with the first book but decided to try it a bit differently this time. Well, the experiment is over and the verdict is separate is safer. With that little bit of drama behind me it’s time to figure out where the hell the story is going to go now.

Day 3, Entry 2:

8:49 PM: I have definitely hit a story wall of sorts. Only managed to put down 750 words so far today. One scene basically. That was when I realized I didn’t have much outlined for the rest of the book and I didn’t have any real details on the ending, just some vague ideas. Thankfully with a little thought I’ve come up with an ending that I like as well as a list of things that need to be covered before the book can be done. The previous chapter revealed a whole lot of new info to the main character and reader both and there will be even more coming in the next couple of chapters. It’s fun but also challenging since I’m making up a lot of background for my world. Specific details now that I didn’t explain or reveal previously. At this point I need to just remember to go with the flow and let the story proceed naturally. I do like having a couple of brief points to reference when I write something this long but I also don’t want to rely on them too much. It will be time for dinner very soon so I’ll have to pick the writing back up afterwards. Hopefully things start moving along nicely. I’ve still got a ways to go today.

Day 3, Entry 3:

3:26 AM: Almost bed time and I’m only about 2,600 words in for the day. That will have to do though as I’m pretty well done now. The word count is definitely a little disappointing, but things should be much less distracting around the house after today so I’m hopeful I’ll be able to make up the difference pretty easily. I do really like the new ending I’ve come up with and I am very ready to be done with this book so the push will continue!

Day 4, Entry 1:

6:28 PM: This day started much earlier than the others mostly because I woke up far too early and couldn’t get back to sleep. That will mean either a nap soon or an early turn-in tonight. Still, it’s been a fairly productive day so far. Went out to get some errands done and then came back to bounce ideas I have about where this book is going off of my Cat. We came up with some refinements that I think will work very well and I’m feeling much better about where the rest of the story is going. I definitely have enough items to cover to provide a satisfying story so even if the book doesn’t make it to the 100k word mark it should at least be more than 80k. Definitely a respectable number. Just have to keep reminding myself that most authors don’t write 1,000 page novels like Robert Jordan did. 🙂 About 1,300 words down so far and it’s early yet. Things are looking good for today.

Day 5, Entry 1:

4:47 AM: Ended yesterday at just under 1.4k words. I little disappointing but I found I just couldn’t manage any more. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the point where I’m putting down 4 or 5k words a day like some authors do, but right now I’m just trying not to over do it. To that effect, I’m not putting a minimum requirement on my daily writing. I’m still pushing to finish this book on time, but I’m not going to kill myself to do it. I ended up going to bed very early yesterday and was asleep before midnight. I slept until almost 3:30 PM so I was definitely exhausted. I ended up going down for a nap around 6 for an hour or so. Not sure why I’m so tired, but I definitely felt better after the nap. Didn’t get to the writing until almost 2 AM but did 1.7k words in one go.

I wasn’t real sure how to start chapter 13 so I just picked up where I left off and decided to see where that would take Stephen. He was sitting in the agency cab getting driven to the airport for his official Induction. So I wondered what I would do in his place if I was stuck in a car with two people who weren’t talking to me going somewhere I didn’t know anything about and I’d just discovered there are non-humans in the world and that I’m basically a very rare human empath. Then it was obvious: try out my powers of course. Who wouldn’t?

So far I find this works pretty well for getting the specifics of a scene down. I have a general setting and I know what the next scene is but I have no idea just how the story is going to get there. I still get stuck at this point pretty easily until I just put myself in my character(s)’ place and reason it out from there. I rather enjoyed this scene though I hadn’t thought of what actually happened at all until I started writing it. Then it was a game of, well if he does this, what happens then? And then? The scene just flowed from there. It’s getting pretty late (early) now but I’m tempted to continue while I’m on a roll.

Day 6, Entry 1:

1:01 AM: I got a to a little over 2k words last night when the Cat woke up and came to get me for bed. Who was I to argue? Another very late start today but with the Cat home we were busy with regular life stuff. Dinner was a particularly amazing affair with extra spicy stir fry. I ate far too much of that for comfort but it was too tasty to leave alone. The Cat is in bed now so it’s about time to get back to Stephen. I did finish the scene in the cab for the most part and now they’ve made it to the airport. I short transition there should bring him up to the Induction. Then it’s off to meet Riah’s father and learn more about Stephen’s abilities. The pace is definitely picking up and there aren’t a whole lot of major plot points to cover before the finale. Not sure this book will make it to 100k words but I’m okay with it whatever length it ends up being.

Oh, the print cover for the first book, Induction, is finished! That is an incredibly exciting thing as it means that I can work on the final formatting of the file, perhaps send it out for a quick edit, and then send everything off to the POD service and wait for the sample. We are on track for a July release in print. 🙂

Day 7, Entry 1:

7:41 PM: Yesterday ended up being another 2k day. Definitely not the pace I was originally hoping for but double my old daily minimum. Part of the issue is just not having a separate space to write in. The new place we move to will have that space so I’m definitely looking forward to that. I’ll be keeping distractions to a minimum with just writing/homework stuff in the room. No TV, gaming PC, etc. Also a door that closes. 😉  We looked at moving trucks today. The new place is fairly close so that’s going to be the cheapest part of this experience. Oh, found some excellent paint to turn an entire wall into a whiteboard. Really looking forward to being able to scribble out all kinds of story notes on such a huge space. I’m also going to block out a calendar as well so I can track deadlines and such. Obviously there won’t be a whole lot there just yet but I’m sure it will help inspire me to write more.

Day 7, Entry 2:

8:49 PM: Only managed about 500 words so far but the fact that I’ve started writing BEFORE 2 AM is a big plus. There was also the break to do dishes so not a bad word count for less than an hour’s work. The Cat is bored now so work will have to wait for a bit. Almost done with Chapter 13. The story is progressing nicely. I’m hoping the next three days will be very productive since I’ll have the place all to myself for a good part of the day.

Day 7, Entry 3:

4:32 AM: Today was almost par for the course. I ended at just over 2.5k words, and that’s only because of the 500 I got done before dinner. There were a whole mess of distractions between that first 500 and the rest. Still, chapter 13 is done and I have a new character that I really really like. Already. It’s funny too because this new character was completely unplanned. I knew I was going to end the chapter with Stephen meeting the Shroud envoy, but I’d originally planned it to be Riah’s father. By the time I got there in the story though, he really didn’t fit the scene so I had to make up a new one right there. I switched out Riah’s father because I wanted someone sympathetic. I decided that the Council wasn’t likely to send the person who’d pestered them into the Induction request in the first place. Of course, this envoy is a bit more important than anyone yet know. 😉

Every time I think I’m getting bored with the writing or this book (and it happens pretty often), I surprise myself by loving the experience. I hate how long it takes and wish my fingers could move at the speed of my imagination. Well, I also wish my mind could come up with the language to match my imagination as fast as I can imagine scenes and such. Dream on I suppose. 🙂

The best part about this last bit I’ve put down is how smoothly it will lead to the next important point in the story, though I think it’s time for a little interjection so we can find out what’s happening back on the ranch.

Day 8, Entry 1:

3:59 AM: Not much progress made today. Only put down about 1,500 more words. I let myself get distracted by too many little things today. Though if I weren’t pushing to meet my deadline I’d be perfectly happy with my progress. I’ve written more in the past 8 days than I have in the last 2 months so that’s definitely an accomplishment. At any rate, tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to really kick some butt.

Day 9, Entry 1:

1:57 AM: I’ve done about 2,100 words to far in two separate sessions. Took a break after the last one to re-post my auctions in WoW. That particular experiment has so far had only mediocre success but is steadily earning funds for future adventuring. 🙂  Due to laziness all 900+ items come up for re-posting at the same time. Funny enough that’s been more efficient than logging in 3 or 4 times a day to do more posts. Now I just log it to see how much I’ve sold.

Back in writing land things are still moving along. The current chapter switched to Stephen’s friends worrying about what the bad guys are up to. The ever-paranoid and devious Leon has postulated a very dire possibility that the rest of the gang is pretty upset about. Next up we get some more Kara action to keep her relevant to the story and then it’s back to Stephen for the actual Induction ceremony (maybe, I might just do a quick blurb where he’s thinking about how anti-climactic it was.) More fun world-building and information revelations await Stephen. 🙂 I’ve got just enough in me for one more session so I’m going to try and make it count.

Day 9, Entry 2:

2:38 AM: Chapter 14 is now done and this is definitely a good place to stop. I need to figure out what I’m doing about the ceremony since that will likely be the start of 15. There are only a handful of important plot points left until the big finish. The book should break 80k words easily but I don’t know how much longer it will be. I think it will depend on just how much action and mayhem happens at the end and I’ll be playing that by ear. Of course, I play the whole thing by ear so that’s not saying anything significant. Anywho, it’s about time for an early bed since I’ll be getting up far too early for my taste.

Day 10, Entry 1:

6:01 PM: Time is running short since the deadline is approaching quickly. I did end up doing the actual Induction ceremony for Stephen. Mostly because it gives more insight into how things work between the Shroud Council and the government. After that it will be time to get Stephen some much needed training. Somewhere in there will be the meeting with Riah’s father as well so that should be interesting. I’ve managed a little over 1k words today so far so I’m off to a good start. I’ve got a lot of computer maintenance to perform today as well so that should actually help since a lot of it will be sitting around waiting for the computer to finish its task.

Day 10, Entry 2:

12:25 AM: Going to have to call it early today. Feeling pretty sick to my stomach and I managed to pull something in my shoulder. I’m sure the nausea will pass but until it does it’s impossible to concentrate on anything.

Day 11, Entry 1:

12:59 AM: Another day with little progress. Managed to do about 1,500 words but I’m falling asleep at my keyboard and mistyping almost every other word. I’m not too disappointed though as I’ve almost doubled the word count for my book over the past 11 days. No small accomplishment considering it took me several months to get the first half of the book down. As Mr. Dean Wesley Smith is constantly saying in his blog it just takes a little daily dedication to make big things happen when it comes to writing. I’m thankful that this big push has reminded me of that.

Day 12, Entry 1:

3:01 AM: This is the last day of the big push. I won’t hit my original goal of finishing the book but I have effectively doubled how much of the book is done in 12 days. No small feet that considering my snail’s pace before the push. I’ll be taking a day or two off for recovery & life stuff that needs to get done. I’m also still pushing to have this book finished before we move so I’ve still got a couple of weeks for that.

So to summarize:

Book words finished during big push:

Day 1 – 5,151

Day 2 – 5,435

Day 3 – 2,600

Day 4 – 1,396

Day 5 – 2,000

Day 6 – 2,000

Day 7 – 2,582

Day 8 – 1,500

Day 9 – 2,860

Day 10 – 1,379

Day 11 – 1,500

Day 12 – 1,400

Total words in novel to date: 66,404

General, Life, Writing

Writing Log: Day 5 – Month 2

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

It’s been a busy month so far. It’s kind of funny how busy things can get even when you don’t have a regular nine to five. I was tempted to skip my writing again today because I’m pretty wiped, but I’m glad I did it. I just wrapped up Chapter 3 so I’ll be starting on the next tomorrow. It’s still a daily struggle making myself sit down and put in the time. A big part of that is I’m not alone anymore. Certainly not a bad thing, but still an adjustment. I need to make a more concerted effort to set aside time for my writing. Can’t be a professional writer if I don’t write after all.

 

Writing Log – Day 5 Month 2

Transformation (Second Shroud Novel) – 16,742 words to date (1469 today)

Other Fiction – 0

Blog Entries – 147

Emails – 0

Total Fiction This Month: 5,692

Total Words This Month: 6,568