Tag Archives: Writing

New Year is Around the Corner

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Christmas is tomorrow. The presents are under the tree. Stockings are filled. Lights are up. And everyone is looking forward to a big meal, followed by a long sleep.

And I am considering the last year, the progress I made, and what I want to accomplish next year. (Not waiting for a new years resolution.)

For 2013 I had no real plan except to start working through my old stories, and get as many of them finished and published as possible. Most of them were short stories (20 short, 3 novella) and I am rather pleased with the turn out. 2013 also gave me a huge start on some novels, and other short stories that I want to continue working on.

Sales were … okay, I suppose. I was actually really encouraged by how often I got sales, and while I can’t track my sales daily yet, I am doing so monthly, and that’s a huge step in the right direction for me.

Every sale just encourages me to write another book, and there is nothing wrong with that.

This coming year, 2014, I want to continue writing and publishing stories. I’d like to have at least two, if not three, 60-80k word books out. One is already half finished, so I have a nice jump on that.

I’m also going to work on short stories. Two a month seems like a good plan, because finishing something gives me a good sense of accomplishment, and bolsters my resolve to keep writing. Keep creating. “Make good art.”

I do, however, want to put more emphasis on the longer works this year. I need full novels, not just short stories.

And… sigh… I’m going to have to learn to market and get reviews, even though I hate that part of writing. But, since I’m doing this through the self publishing route, it is even more important for me to figure out the marketing side of this business.

I think once I have a couple of full length novels out I will feel more comfortable pushing the marketing. But only slightly.

So… here is to the new year, and a lot more story telling going on!

I should be writing

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I should be writing, But I’m not.

After NaNoWriMo I was a little burnt out, which is understandable. 50,000 words in 30 days, and I wrote 7000 just in the last two days. 48000 of it was just on one project.

I got tired of looking at words, and files, and spreadsheets of numbers. Tired of trying to string two words together to make a coherent sentence. Tired…. just tired.

So I took a little break, immersed myself in Minecraft for a little while, and haven’t written much in the last week. I did write one entire plot for a new novel that got added to my “to write”and list, but there are a lot of projects before it.

So… why aren’t I writing now?

I have two half finished books (one novel, one novella) waiting for me to finish them. I have several short stories almost finished that, if I actually sat down and concentrated, I could probably finish in a week.

I have convinced myself that as long as I keep putting out books, stories, novellas, and some full length novels, that eventually there is going to be a tipping point and I’ll eventually make enough sales so that I can write full time. But I also know this is going to take a lot of hard work, and time.

Hard work?! Ug!

So… to remedy this I am going to have to start writing every day again. Even if it’s crap. Even if it sucks and I know it. Because it can’t always be crap, right? But I’m going to start slower then NaNo levels, and work my way up.

Since I started tracking my writing last February I wrote 210,000 words. Finished, and published, 20 short stories, and 3 novellas…. lets see how many I can do before the next NaNoWriMo!

FAQ – Should I Really “Write What I Know?”

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writeYou see this advice everywhere. New authors asking how to write, or what to write, and other authors telling them “Write what you know.”

This is a quote from Mark Twain. It is fantastic, amazing advice, and yet people constantly miss understand it.

“How do I write about dragons? I’ve never seen one.”

“How do I write about love? I’ve never been in love.”

I hope to all that’s good that VC Andrews did not know about incest and child abuse first hand. Or that Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov had first hand knowledge of what is in Lolita. Stephen King probably hasn’t met a giant spider that makes children hallucinate evil clowns. Yet, they exist. And they are some of the most read books out there.

There are many things that I, personally do not know about. I have never experienced the death of a loved one, but I know what it’s like to loose someone. I don’t know the thrill of climbing Mount Everest, but I know the joy of accomplishing something I’ve never been able to do before.

We all have loves, tragedies, heart felt moments, days when we want to pull our hair out, and days when we think we’ve never felt happier. The trick isn’t to “write what you know” but to draw on the experiences, the hopes, the dreams, and the very essence of life, and create a realistic narrative.

If you don’t “know” something, then go learn something! Watch people. See how they react. Take a class. Live and love, and learn and exist in this great big world we call home. And then write about living.

I’m a WINNER! – NaNoWriMo Day 30

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winner

I finished NaNoWriMo.

Now, to be fair, I did not finish my novel. I did write 50,000 words in my novel, and technically won NaNoWriMo, but I have so much more to go in my actual novel.

In fact, I rewrote a couple chapters already, and had to toss out 10,000 words of just pure rubbish over the last month. (They still counted, and I still have more to throw out once I rewrite those sections.)

 

What I learned from NaNoWriMo!

The muse will come. Sit down, start writing, and eventually the muse will show up to. Don’t know what to write? Write that. Write about what you think might be happening. Wright about an argument between the two main characters about nothing happening. But write, and eventually the muse will show up to.

Two, I do better at 1000 words a day right now. I had to push for the last two days to break that 50,000 word goal because I simply work better, and more consistently at 1000 words a day. But I also know that the more I do that, the more I will stretch my goals and eventually next year, when NaNoWriMo comes around again I will be able to complete this challenge with a couple days left to go ( I hope).

Lastly… It is really REALLY helpful to have a family who supports you when writing. That calls you up, or texts you every day and asks how writing is going. That encourages you, and tells you that you’re awesome. That listens to you when you are having a bad day and you think everything you write sucks.

Half of what I wrote (at least) was total, utter, crap. I’m going to have to pick out the few sentences I loved, and rewrite everything else. That means going through the entire books page by page with an editors mindset, and rewriting it ALL. But it’s gong to be worth it, because I will fill in all those missing sections, and make the story even better then it started out.

In fact… what started out as a “paranormal romance” has grown. Oh, the paranormal and the romance are still there. There is also political intrigue, a church gone amuck sacrificing people to their god to keep control, curses being lifted, a harpy nest, a siren that looks like death warmed over… I’ve got it all!

And I really can’t wait to show you all, so I’ll be doing some polishing and rewriting, and hopefully in another month or two I will have a finished copy.

I think I am going to take a short break from it all, and work on my zombie story, though. I need a short breather from mermaids and curses.

Time off – NaNoWriMo Day 25

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I took a me day yesterday. That isn’t to say I didn’t write, but I didn’t write nearly as much as I was suppose to write.

My boyfriend came over, made me dinner, cleaned the house a little, and I relaxed for a little while. It was wonderful. We got to spend time together, something I’d been missing a lot of this month since he wanted to help me finish my NaNo challenge, and I was behind.

I’m still behind, though not as much as I was three days ago. I’m making steady gains. And by taking a me day yesterday and only writing 700 words instead of 2k I felt much better today. I stopped thinking about how awful my writing was, and I just wrote this morning. I rewrote a chapter and I’m much happier with it. And I have another chapter waiting for me to write it. Any easy 3k words today, which pays off for the slacking yesterday.

Do you need a day to rest? It’s late in the game, I know, but sometimes… you just need a break. It doesn’t even have to be a whole day. Maybe you just need to go watch a show, or go have a drink with a friend.

Don’t forget to take care of yourself while you’re taking care of the writing.

Mid Novel Slump – NaNoWriMo Day 21

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It is day 21 of NaNoWriMo, and day 21 of me slogging through my novel.

I think i’ve hit the mid novel slump. It’s that point when you’ve been working on the same project for some time, and your brain starts saying things like “but what if it isn’t any good?” And “I don’t know what to write.” Or my favorite: “You Suck!”

Then I start looking at sales numbers, or old comments, or anything else that reinforces my brain trying to tell me that I suck.

Let me just say… THAT’S THE WRONG THING TO DO!

Usually when I get in this funk I switch projects for a while, and then come back at it with fresh eyes. It helps cut down on the BS my brain wants to tell me. Helps me separate the ideas brewing in my head from what’s actually on the page. Gives me perspective.

I’m trying not to do that this time. Switching projects is great. It’s given me a back log of stories to pull from, and tons of ideas and fresh perspectives. See, the problem with switching projects is that it also makes it really easy just to… stop working on that project. And never finish it.

I wrote and published just over 100k words this year. But I have 350k words written, and that’s only on the stories I’m tracking. About 2/3rds of that was written in the last year.

To put it another way… I am tracking my progress on 34 short stories, 17 novellas and novels. I finished 20 short stories and 3 novellas. (Not looking good for the longer stuff). But I’ve clearly added to all of those stories over the last year. I’ve also come up with new stories to add to the list.

This isn’t even including the file I have with “ideas” that literally  has thousands of story starters, each one between 100, and 5,000 words long.

Geez, I’ve written a lot over the course of my life. But… of those thousands of stories, only a scant few are finished. That’s not a good thing if I want to make my living as a writer.

So I have made this NaNoWriMo’s goal to work on one novel… almost exclusively. I have edited and worked on a short story that I’d like to have out next month, but my main focus is “Mermaids Curse”, which is just under 30,000 words right now.

I’ve added back story, world building, characterization, descriptions, and little plot points that add to all of these… and I’m still going.

But, somethings missing, and I’m not quite sure what it is. I know much of the second half is more action oriented, with the action helping to build the relationship, and character of each person. And the first half focuses almost exclusively on the relationship of the two main characters, with one big action scene right before the split of part one and two, and the shift in characters.

Do I know if any of this will work and create a decent book? Hell no! Am I going to write it anyway? Yes. Because it’s worth it to me.

A Sale – and NaNoWriMo day 14

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Amazon has their new Countdown, so I’m trying it this weekend.

“Small Bites: The Complete Collection” will be on sale for .99 cents in December 14th (because you have to scheduled a month in advance.). $1.99 on the 15th. $2.99 on the 16th, and back to normal price on the following Monday. If you haven’t read it yet, here is a great opportunity to get it. (Don’t worry, I’ll remind you about it.)

If you have read it, and haven’t written a review, I would absolutely love one. I am only a couple away from ten.

As for NaNoWriMo, I am finally starting to get into the swing of things with it. I started in a funk, trying to get through things, and forcing myself to sit down at the computer. Sometime over the last couple days I finally found a rhythm and realized.. i like this story. I like where it’s going, and I can write it.

I think last night was the break through when I decided how it was going to end. The pieces started falling together, finally, and I was able to write several chapters.

I have a better feel for the characters now, and can see where they are all coming from. It’s made the writing so much easier, and I wrote nearly 2000 words today without even thinking about it.

I am much more confident about this becoming a full novel. It’s already 20k words in, and I have so much more to write.

I don’t Wanna! – Day 10 NaNoWriMo

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Every morning I get up, I take a shower, brush my teeth, and go to work. I put on a pot of coffee to slowly sip and wake up. I greet my customers with a smile on my face, even when inside I want to run away. Go home. Slip into bed with a book and a bottle of orange juice, and forget the outside world even exists.

I don’t want to be there, but I go. I have to pay my bills, and take care of my children. This isn’t a choice, it’s a necessity. And I go, even though I don’t wanna!

This month I’m participating in NaNoWriMo. And this week… I don’t wanna. I don’t want to write. I don’t want to sit in front of the computer. I don’t want to fill in paragraph after paragraph of someone else’s life.

But I’m going to.

There are those who say you should only write when you are inspired, and I heartily disagree. Inspiration is not what gave me thirteen books, and over 100 thousand words in stories published on Amazon. Inspiration started the story, but sheer determination finished it.

I don’t want to sit in front of my computer typing. Not today. Today I want to cuddle up and play a game, or watch TV. But TV and games won’t put words on the page. And they won’t further my goal of being an author that makes my living from my writing.

So I’m going to go write. I might have to rewrite it. But I’m still going to go do it.

The Story Writes Itself- NaNoWriMo Day 8

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I’ve done a few interviews this month, and a common question is: “Are you a pantser or a plotter?”

It’s a good question. A lot of new writers struggle over this one, trying to figure out what works best for them. And in the end, that’s the real key; finding what works for you.

I am both. I write out some plots, and I know that the more detailed the plot the better writing the actual story is going to be. But while I am writing that plot out I am also writing some of the scenes, dialog especially, that will appear in the final version.

In fact a lot of my stories start with a conversation with two people concerning a person, place or thing.

But once you have your plot, and it’s marked out in detail, don’t be afraid to deviate from it. Let the story go where it wants to go. Sometimes it will just loop right back to the end. Sometimes you’ll find something was missing from the original plot. Every now and then you’ll discover an entire person missing from the plot.

This NaNoWriMo I started with a basic plot that outlined all the chapters. The first two chapters dealt with Marizza, a witch, and how she fell in love with a merman, and conceived Okira, the cursed mermaid. The novel was suppose to be about Okira, and her struggles.

As I wrote it I realized I was struggling because Marizza’s back story, and the world building, were just a little thin. So I set about exploring it one day thinking I would just add little bits to it later, but it would be just for my information.

The story didn’t want to go that way, Marizza was more important then I realized, and her story wanted to be told too. So “Mermaid’s Curse” is going to be in two parts, in one book.

At first I rebelled against this notion. It’s suppose to be a paranormal romance, and romances do not come in two parts, and they usually do not follow the lives of a mother, then a daughter. But I realized I had to let the story write itself. If I forced it to be something it wasn’t then it wouldn’t be as good a story.

The wonderful thing about being an indie author is I don’t have to conform to conventions. I don’t have an editor or publisher to answer to. I can just write the story and let it be what it wants to be.

So maybe the story is more epic fantasy then romance at times, and other times it’s more romance. The main plot of the first half is the romance developing between Marizza and a merman, and how the curse came about. The second half is about the romance between Okira and Brother Hawk, and how they defeat the kraken. In both cases there is a lot dealing with their love lives, so I’m still going with “paranormal romance” for now.

But if the story wants to be epic fantasy… well I guess that’s what it gets to be.

NaNoWriMo day 1

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Looking forward to todays word count.

First, let me just say…. I’m TIRED! We went to a Halloween party last night, and got home at a reasonable hour (11pm). But then I kept waking up. I also had to get up at 6am to drive my SO to work. I was already awake, and had been for a couple hours so I didn’t mind that. But later, sitting at my desk at work, sipping a steaming cup of coffee…. boy did I want to be home in bed.

On the plus side… I loved my costume.

imageimage2013-10-31 20.16.31

 

I have had several people encouraging me to write a full length (80k+) novel, so that’s what I’m shooting for. I’ve been mulling over this story for the last few weeks, trying to iron out some of the kinks in the plot, and figuring out sub plots to add substance, not just word counts, to the story.I am prepared, I think, for NaNo. I have a full plot, it’s all set up in scrivener for easy writing.

It is a romance set in a fantasy land with mermaids, men that turn into hawks, giant squid like creatures with massive tentacled arms, and magic, lots of magic.

This all sounds fun to me, and kind of scary to be trying something so massive so soon after finishing “Forgotten Ones”. But the end result will be so worth it!

For an 80k+ word book I will also be getting an editor, one way or another. Which means it won’t be out any time soon as I will want to take my time and do things right. But it will be out eventually, and hopefully be a the best quality product I have put out.

But… I think I’ll put the first chapter out sometime after NaNoWriMo and a complete edit. So at least you can look forward to that.