Year: 2014

The Thing About Experiments

Lynn

Sometimes experiments fail. And sometimes, it just doesn’t turn out to be the right time to start an experiment. This is one of those times. Either, or.

I’m calling this experiment done. I had one successful day. That was all I could get out of this one. Day two I completely lost my focus after about a thousand words, and by day three I was already toying with quitting this one. Day four sealed the deal. I knew this was a failure before I even started the day yesterday. So last night, I came up with a different plan.

One I’m not going to talk about. :D

Nope, not joking! I had to clean out 7 draft posts I’d started over the last couple of days and I don’t want to have to do that again for a while. I can’t decide half the time what I even want to say in these posts, even though I obviously want to say something or I wouldn’t find myself typing these things up every time I turn around.

Writing things down is second best to talking them out for me but it works to gather my thoughts in a way I can’t do otherwise. But I don’t like littering up my blog with unposted drafts so to save us all some time, I’ll just wait until I see what’s going to happen. :)

 

Writing Plan for Monday, October 6

Lynn

4 sessions before lunch for 2,400 2,000 words. (Not sure why I had 2,400! I would’ve liked 2,400, but 2,000 is the measure of success.)

No WI-FI (on my computer) until I’m done (or lunchtime, whichever comes first). Because of that, I’m drafting this on my Kindle while I get ready.

I’m starving so I need a good breakfast this morning! I also want to get started as soon as possible while my mind is fresh.

Be back later with a report of my success. ;)

REPORT:

Session 1: 9:15 to 10:21
Ended with 44 words and only got those because I kept writing after the timer went off. I’m going to end up starting the next session late. This novella needs to get easier to write. I have no idea what’s going on.

Session 2: 10:51 to 11:54
Ended with 670 words. Things are moving but I still need to break through whatever’s wrong so I can get to an ending for this thing.

Session 3: 12:08 to 12:55
Finished a bit early with 620 words.

Session 4: 1:12 to 2:09
Finished with 738 words.

Finished the day’s writing goal by lunch with 2,072 words total.

Now I’m thinking of slipping in another session or two this evening—or trying to format a book I need to put into print. Either way, I’ve got time to read and relax beforehand. Yay!

Deadlines and Work Days

Lynn

I’m ready to try something different. Starting tomorrow morning, I’m setting myself the goal of finishing my regular writing (about 2,000 words) each day by lunch time.

In fact, I’d like to reach and maintain a 2,000 words a day average starting this month.

For more than two years now, I’ve found it almost impossible for me to get more than a couple of hours of concentrated writing time in each day. I’m prepared to accept that limit for now. In all honestly, if I can reach and maintain a 2,000 words a day average, I’m going to be ecstatic!

A lunch time deadline for my writing is hopefully going to push me to get busy writing sooner in the mornings and keep busy. In an effort to make this real, I’m not going to let myself write after lunch for the first few weeks unless I’ve met my minimum goal by lunch. In that case, if I want to try to hit a higher word count for any particular day, I’m free to try.

Otherwise, if I don’t get something written by lunch, I don’t get to write. And that includes the 50 word minimum I need to keep my daily streak alive.

This could be a disaster, or it could be my most productive month since February 2013 when I averaged 1,836 words per day and ended the month with 51,396 words.

I’m going to try to avoid the disaster outcome, because I have books I need to be writing this month!

What I hope to get out of this besides the increased daily word count is more reading time, time for some extra physical activity (writing is not an active pursuit and I can certainly use a bit more physical activity in my days!), and earlier bed times so I can get my other experiment off the ground (getting up early every day).

 

The accountability page

Lynn

I took this from the accountability page, because I want this recorded for my own benefit but that page is about to go through an overhaul.

Yesterday (October 3, 2014) was day 107 of writing every day. I knew I was close to the 100 day mark, but I didn’t know I’d already gone a week past it. Yay! :D

Now, to be completely honest, on 33 of those days I wrote less than 100 words (I have a 50 word minimum) and I only wrote more than 2,000 words on 19 of those days.

My average for those 107 days is 824 words (and includes several negative word count days where I deleted way more than I wrote). But my all time daily average is 712 words (and would technically be less than that if I didn’t include the 107 days that averaged higher than 712 words). What that means is that this “no more zero word days” plan is actually helping my daily average! Not nearly as much as I want, but any gain is better than stagnation!

A 112 word increase sounds minuscule, until you multiply it by 365 days. Then you get 40,880 words—a decent sized novella or a short novel! I don’t know about you, but that’s worth something to me. :)

 

Time to Get Back to Writing

Lynn

I’ve taken nearly a week off from doing anything productive unless you count reading and watching television and reading blogs and forums that I’m supposed to be avoiding as productive work. I don’t. :D Honestly, you probably shouldn’t either, if you do.

Since I published my last book, I’ve been spending a lot of time refreshing reports (AH!) and updating spreadsheets (AH!) and generally goofing off in a way I shouldn’t be doing. I’ve ended every day with guilt hanging over my head. If I’m going to wallow in guilt over my procrastination, shouldn’t I be at least have been doing something fun?! Yes, yes indeedy. :)

But now it’s really time I started getting back to work. I have some big goals for the rest of the year. It’s a bit of a personal challenge for myself, and I want to succeed!

Plus, if I don’t write a reasonable number of words today, my word count for the week is going to be 628 words. :o

Update #1: I read the rest of my novella in progress. Now I just need to get started on the writing.

Chuck Wendig’s “Garbage-Fire Shit-Show”

Lynn

Lots of great thoughts fill Chuck Wendig’s post “TOUGH LOVE TALK FOR AUTHORS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WTF” (which I read even though I’m supposed to be avoiding blogs and forums!) but none I love more than the bit I quote below. :) Go read the full post. It’s good.

YOU’RE GOING TO FAIL

You’re going to write a shitty book. Maybe three of them. Or ten of them. And they won’t get published. Or they will (or you’ll self-publish) and they won’t sell. Writing is tough noogies, man. Everybody can’t do this thing well. Success isn’t a guarantee. The numbers are in, and most of you? Nearly all of you? You’re going to fail. And some of you will quit as a result.

BUT…

Failure is not a dirty word, not like ‘fucksmudge’ or ‘jizzdonkey’ or ‘trickle-down economics.’ Failure is great. I’ve failed before. I’ll fail again. Failure is a ladder made of bent metal. Failure is there to cut out the gutless and gormless, the lost and lazy, the easily dissuaded. Failure is a test — not a test of talent, no, but a test of determination. And failure is itself a learning opportunity. How did I misstep? Why? What can I do better next time? Should I include more instances of the word ‘fucksmudge,’ or fewer instances of the word? Failure is a crucial first step.

There’s Always Tomorrow

Lynn

I haven’t been feeling great the last few days. Some sinus thing, I think, although maybe it’s what happens when I’m not stressing over anything but still feel like I’m stressing over something. Ha ha! Apparently I love stress too much to let myself live without it. ;) I can come up with a reason to worry about anything if I don’t actively stop myself from doing so.

I had a limited amount of time to work today, places to go, things to do, and somehow managed not to make good use of that limited time. But I have a plan for tomorrow to get me out of this rut I’m falling into before I get too deep into it.

See ya tomorrow!

Quoting Myself

Lynn

Work is only drudgery when you’re doing something you don’t want to be doing. Working hard for your money … doesn’t have to suck.

—Me

Yes, I’m quoting myself. :) I ran across one of my older posts (from back when I was building websites) and when I got to this part of it, I knew I needed to put it somewhere I’d remember it.

Planning Again

Lynn

It’s time to restart my planning posts for a bit, probably just until I get settled into another book. First I need to push to finish that novella I’ve had on hold, and then I want to start right into another novel. I’m still working on my major goals: increase my daily word count average and publish more regularly and frequently.

So today I’ll be writing up a planning post as soon as I finish reading my previous novella in the series and what I’ve written of this novella… Hopefully it won’t take too long and I’ll end up with plenty of time to reach today’s quota.

Update: This turned into a no-go kind of day and I don’t exactly have a good reason for that. It feels like procrastination. So, I’m going to try this again tomorrow. But I think I’m going to make the plan now, so I can get up and get right to it without distraction.

Out of Sorts and I Need a Goal

Lynn

I’m out of sorts again. I finished that second book of 2014 last week and I must say, this is the worst part of the whole thing, that time just after I’m done and I feel a bit lost. I don’t know what to write next, could even imagine not ever writing anything again, just spend my days reading books someone else wrote.

I … don’t think I’m a particularly great author. I’m an okay writer, for sure, but I don’t do the author stuff very well.

If I didn’t write fiction, what would I do? I actually have no idea. I’ve given it thought before, thought I might end up with a website empire where I write about books and television I love, but that didn’t work out.

I need a goal. A monster goal. Something that’s absolutely huge and that depends only on me to be reachable. I need to focus on something besides the worry over whether this book is good enough, or this book is going to sell enough. I need to focus on something so far out, so far up, that it’s impossible to get bogged down in today’s or this month’s successes and failures because they’re only stepping stones on the path to whatever this massive goal is.

So, I’m going to come up with a massive goal. I’ll let you know what it is when I figure it out. (I figured it out.)

Reading Log: Assimilation, Love, and Other Human Oddities

Lynn

I bought another book! Why do I keep buying books when I have so many unread books?

I started yesterday evening out with a different book but after three chapters I knew it wasn’t working for me, so I ended up on Amazon, and lo and behold, there was a follow up available to a book I read back in January.

So this morning I finished reading Assimilation, Love, and Other Human Oddities by Lyn Gala. I really liked it. The truth is, I like these shorter novels a lot.

Assimilation, Love, and Other Human Oddities - Lyn Gala

NOTE: I decided to make an effort to read more books this year. And since I have so many unread books, I set a goal to read at least 60 of the books in my backlog by the end of the year. I’m even keeping a log. :)

Reading Log: The Mistress

Lynn

I can’t remember what number I’m at in my reading challenge and don’t want to look it up at the moment, so I’m abandoning the numbering in my post title. The reading log will keep me updated. :) I’ll add this book to that page momentarily and then I’ll know. Also, it’ll make writing future posts easier because I won’t have to check first. That’ll be a help because I plan to read a lot of books in the coming months!

The Mistress - Maya Banks

I just finished a Maya Banks book called The Mistress.

It’s a reprint of an older book from Harlequin, but man, I forget sometimes how much I loved these little Harlequin/Silhouette books. ;) All that melodrama! I love it. I mean, real life it ain’t, but these are fun stories and they’re quick reads. So enjoyable.

That said, I don’t have warm, fuzzy feelings for Harlequin the way I used to when I was younger and gobbled up their books. Their publishing practices and contracts aren’t good for most authors’ careers.

That makes me sad, but I avoid buying Harlequin books these days. This was a library loan through R.E.A.D.S.

I need to quit surfing the R.E.A.D.S. website when I’m avoiding writing. I keep borrowing books when I already have too many books to read!

Reading Log: When I Met My Duchess

Lynn

I forgot to note a book I read early last week, or maybe it was last weekend. When I Met My Duchess by Caroline Linden.

Seven Wicked Nights - Bundle

The story is in Seven Wicked Nights: A limited edition box set of sexy historical romance novellas which I picked up on sale at .99. I don’t normally find myself tempted by these kinds of bundles, but this was right after I read that Tessa Dare novella, after starting that other Tessa Dare book that I just now realized I never finished reading. Crap. It’s a library loan so I’d better get back to it soon!

I plan to read several other books in the set, but … we all know how easily I forget my plans. Books I don’t read immediately get lost in the piles. Sigh. I’ll find them someday, surely.

(I forgot to mention that I liked the book, but it really should be a given that if I finished a book, I liked it. I have no trouble abandoning books I don’t like.)

Aha! I Am Definitely Older than I Used to Be

Lynn

I crashed early last night, after a long night the night before and too little sleep over the last week. I thought I might be coming down with something. Turns out I’m probably just getting old. :D

Too old for all-nighters anyway. My birthday’s coming up soon, and I’ll have reached the big 4-0. Yikes. I can’t decide whether I want to be amazed or horrified at the prospect that my life is probably half lived at this point. I’d love to imagine living a century but my family history doesn’t support that. I have only one grandparent still living and she just had her eightieth birthday a few months ago. My other grandparents died a very long time ago. I wasn’t out of my twenties when I lost the last of the three. I never even met one of them. My maternal grandfather died when my mother was seven. Cancer.

Cancer got them all, in fact.

I try not to think about it too much, tbh. I would definitely prefer to live to see my kids hit middle age. :D

I’m still exercising daily, and my fatigue issues have been getting a lot better. Spacing my meals out 5 to 6 hours apart and not eating between them has made a huge difference in how I feel.

But there’ll be no more all-nighters for me. Yesterday really brought home to me how hard it is for me to recover after a few nights of too little sleep. I’m just not that person anymore. Going to bed late isn’t a problem; going to bed late when I have to be up at 6 am so I can get back to work to meet a deadline is the problem. And I won’t be doing that anymore.

I’ll just have to plan my life around getting a good night’s sleep every night. ;)

I feel good today. I took a quick break from my read through of my last book to type this out, and now I need to get back to it. I’m sure I’ll be back later. I’ve been in a blogging mood the last few days! :D

Should’ve Given More Thought to Paperback Book Sizes

Lynn

I just found that I’ve sold seven copies of a $19.99 book through the expanded distribution at Createspace and five copies of two $17.99 books this month. I don’t sell a lot of paperbacks in general, and I’m sure my pricing doesn’t help that, but I like expanded distribution, and because of that, I won’t under price my books.

If I had it to do over again, I would have chosen to size my books at 5.5 x 8.5 instead of 5 x 8 so I could cut the price a bit and keep my profit, but I didn’t, and I don’t intend to redo my entire catalog’s paperback formatting any time soon so I’m stuck for the time being.

When I start a new series, though, I will definitely be going for the slightly larger books. It cuts down on pages and makes the books cost less to produce. (I refuse to cut my font size, leading, or margins, which would also cut the number of pages, but that’s a sacrifice I won’t make.)

I chose the smaller size because my first books were quite short. But then I got stuck in that size, because I don’t want different books in the same series to be different sizes. It just doesn’t seem as professional to me to change that mid-series. Of course, maybe it’s silly to worry about that, but I do. I want my books to be pretty! ;)

So here’s my advice for anyone trying to decide on paperback book sizes.

Page count matters. Createspace creates trade sized paperbacks. Don’t try to pretend they’re mass market and go for the smallest size you can, because you’ll still have to charge trade prices and the book will look less valuable as a small book. And if you have a long book, that small book is going to be much too fat to be any more comfortable to hold than a larger book.

But… if your book is short, a small book will help pad the pages. ;) But again… if you do the font right and use an attractive leading and attractive but generous margins, you can accomplish the same thing and have a very professional looking book.

No one likes itty bitty fonts in a print book. Just don’t do it, no matter how tempted you are or how much you swear you like itty bitty fonts best. It’ll make your book shorter, but if you need a shorter book, chose a bigger book.

But the publishers use little bitty fonts, you say. So what? Aren’t there enough people complaining about how publishers have made fonts too small to cut their costs? Why would you want to emulate that?

I’m actually in the middle of formatting my last book for Createspace and yes, I’m stuck formatting it for an 5 x 8 sized book. But hey! I have a very practical reason to keep my books from turning into doorstoppers. :D

Guess I Finished Just In Time

Lynn

I guess I finished that book just in time, because I think I’m getting sick. Of course, a lack of sleep can make a person feel sick, so maybe a good night’s sleep is all I need.

I’m trying to figure out how I can be most productive this evening—keep working and try to get as much done as possible or crash and get an early start tomorrow.

If I’m actually getting sick, then tomorrow isn’t going to be any better. If it’s just sleep deprivation, I might feel like a new person tomorrow, ready to work and get stuff done in half the time. It’s certainly a quandary… Sleep deprivation is winning at the moment.

And… that was a short battle. Bed time it is! I need to be at my best for some of these tasks and right now I can’t even type a single sentence without a typo.

Trying Again to Finish the Book

Lynn

Here goes another push to finish that book. I wrote 2,966 words yesterday and I’m now 2,897 past the word count goal I had for this story. There’s good new though, because I am seriously just about done. :D No extra twenty-something thousand words for this one. Yeah!!

Anyway, getting busy this morning. I have lots to do, and only part of that “lots” is finishing the writing of this book. :)

Note to future self: NO MORE PUBLIC DEADLINES.

I don’t mind personal, private deadlines, but these things that are sitting out there mocking me in public? Yeah, I think I’ll pass on that next time. I keep saying no more deadlines and I keep setting them anyway, but this time I really mean it! ;) REALLY.

Update. I used a 1 hour timer and I finished right on time but the ending doesn’t feel quite right. I’ll wait and see if it’s just me when I do my read through. I might just be having trouble letting go of this story.

Time to Finish That Book

Lynn

Yay! I think I’ll get this done relatively early this morning. I feel refreshed and ready to go. So, here goes…

I’ll update as I progress, because someday I might want to go back through these posts and remember this crap I put myself through with deadlines! :D

(Did I mention that I quit timing my writing? I mean, I still use the timer, I just don’t record the times anywhere anymore.)

1 hour of writing later, and I’m now 629 words past my word count goal for this book and SO so so close to being done! BTW, this book is awesome! ;)

Time got away from me between hour 1 and 2 but I finally finished hour 2, and I’m now 1,138 words past my word count goal for this book. But I’m almost done. I swear!

Okay, I had some things to do, so I’m back now, and it’s 3:22 pm and I need to wrap this up. :) I have an idea where a lot of my time went today but I won’t bore you with the details. It’s time to get back to finishing this book!