Year: 2015

Progress was slow today

Lynn

I didn’t get anywhere near the goal I set for myself today for either words or time. I did write just under 1,000 words, but after offsetting those against the words I deleted, I’ve ended the day in a negative position.

Really though, as long as I finish this book I’m working on either tomorrow or Saturday so I can move on to the next, I’m okay with that. When I reach the end of a book, it’s never about word count. It’s about getting to the end. And I’m almost there.

Deleting those words turned out to be very important to the end of this book because all I was really doing was revving the plot again when the book doesn’t need that.

Tomorrow I’m going to try a lot harder to actually spend more time writing.

Yep. I said it. Now I just need to do it. :D

I got the call a few minutes ago about the two hour school delay so we’ll see if I can still drag myself out of bed early enough to start the morning off strong. :)

What is it about getting started that’s so hard?

Minor epiphanies

Lynn

Yep. I’m going to get a lot of fiction read this month. Because apparently I’ve been spending a lot more time reading stuff other than fiction than I realized. :D

And, by the way, I chopped off the last 3,800 or so words of the book I’m working on today and started fresh. I do believe it was the right choice and that probably explains why my subconscious hasn’t had me in a hurry to get back to this book this week while I’ve been distracted by other things.

I have one minute to write this post

Lynn

I’ve never managed to write a blog post in one minute, but here goes. My timer is set to start just as soon as I hit publish on this thing.

Here are some things I’ve tried over the last week or so while I’ve been quiet here.

(Oh, and the reason I’ve been quiet is because of household maintenance issues! Frozen pipe, ruined water heater, water softener (which is absolutely necessary for my well water), and getting all that dealt with has taken up a bit of time, but the biggest issue with it all was the anxiety this stuff caused me. I have yet to figure out how to write when I’m anxious about something. I usually turn to reading instead. This time I unfortunately turned to reading forums and blogs instead of fiction, which lead me to start a new experiment.)

My experiment of grouping my writing into one big block has failed. I’ve tried and tried to have another successful day after that first one and I just haven’t been able to pull it off.

I’m behind on my 2,000 a day word average I wanted to maintain in 2015. I usually try to avoid trying to play catch up, but I want to reach this goal, so I’m going to do something I don’t usually think is a good idea and try to catch up to my goal this month. I’ll need to write about 3,000 words a day on average through the end of the month. That’s a huge stretch for me but it’s not impossible. I can do it even though I’ve never before written that much for more than a few days at a time.

It comes down to this: It’s time to stop putting limits on myself when the limits shouldn’t exist. I mean, even on bad days I can write about 300 to 400 words an hour. 3,000 words is only 8 to 10 hours at that slow pace. I can physically write for 8 to 10 hours if necessary and saying I can’t would be an outright lie. I can read for that many hours a day if I’m bingeing, and I can watch tv for that many hours, and I can work on code for a website for that many hours, so I know that any limit I have regarding this is entirely made up in my head. I can write 3,000 words a day for a couple of weeks. Frankly, there shouldn’t be anything stopping me from doing it long-term (because I don’t always write at that slow pace), but I really don’t need to do more than catch up my goal and then go back to my daily 2,000 words.

Finally, yesterday, I started a new experiment limiting my time reading stuff. I need to cut back. Not fiction—of course not! But I read too much other stuff and end up overwhelmed with information and that makes it hard for me to concentrate sometimes. Also, all the publishing industry news can be frustrating and put me in an anti-creative mood. So it’s time to do something about it.

This experiment: No reading anything but fiction for the rest of January except on Saturdays.

I read this stuff on my Kindle and computer mostly, and sometimes on my phone. I did read a story this morning instead of the usual forums and blogs but it didn’t really help because the story was short enough that I convinced myself I could just finish it before getting started and I ended up starting later today than I wanted anyway.

What I’m hoping to accomplish is an interruption in the habitual opening of these websites so that I don’t just read this stuff out of habit. So even though maybe this won’t help with the time management issues I have, I still think it’ll benefit me. Reading fiction makes me want to write my own stories; reading that other stuff doesn’t. :D We’ll see how this goes over the rest of the month.

Well, it’s been a bit more than a minute and I really have to go start my writing today. I’m sure I’ll be back later with a report on my successful day. :D That’s the plan anyway!

I’m hoping to write a LOT of words today.

Only talk when you have something to say

Lynn

Hmm. I’m not sure who uttered those words first but I’d like to say… I do, thank you very much. I have quite a lot to say, and if you don’t particularly want to hear any of it, because it’s boring, or some such thing, well, then, you probably shouldn’t be here because I rarely don’t have something to say. ;)

Should I declutter my blog for the new year?

Lynn

I think the way I’d do it would be to turn all my posts up until now into pending posts (so they don’t clutter my drafts) with the intent to delete them if I don’t have second thoughts after a bit of time. Because although I enjoy blogging here, I’m not that sure I want this stuff to linger in perpetuity. ;)

I’m feeling antsy right now. I didn’t get off to a good start with my writing today. I finished only one session this morning and now I’m hesitating to get going on my second one, for some unidentified reason. Besides that, I wrote on the wrong book this morning. I mean wrong, because it’s the second to last book on my list of books to write in 2015. Meaning there are 19 books of various lengths I want to finish before I finish this one. Yeah, like I said, wrong book.

It’s turning out to be that kind of day, which sucks, because I have to write my words today or I’ll actually be behind.

You see, I’m not really behind right now, even though I’ve only written 3,650 words this year so far. That’s because during that time I spent on January 1 setting up my production schedule, I gave myself 8 weeks off writing this year if I want to take them and one of those weeks just happened to be New Year’s week. So today is my first actual writing day in 2015.

I don’t think it would be good for my mental fortitude to slip today of all days.

Why would I want to declutter my blog?—that’s the question I’m asking myself right now and I’m not all that sure about the answer. I’d better back away from this post and have lunch, then try to get myself settled in to finish my last 4 sessions actually writing one of the right books.

Sunny, beautiful, and cold enough to freeze the R off winter

Lynn

My kids’ school had a two hour delay today because of the weather, so my writing is having a two hour delay.

It’s just a few minutes after 9 am and while my day might be off kilter, I just had breakfast and I’m going to try really (really, really) hard to get my 5 x 50 minute writing sessions done before lunch so I’ll have time to finish (and begin) formatting some paperbacks I need to format but that I haven’t gotten back to since I started the project.

This is one reason I’m trying this experiment to stop my writing time from sprawling across the entire day. If the writing comes first, I end up doing nothing but the writing and there are other things I need to do to keep up the publishing side of my writing career.

Optimistic about tomorrow’s writing

Lynn

I’m hoping I’ll make progress on the ending of my novel tomorrow. It’d be great if I could actually finish it. That’s actually a possibility now that I think about it. I’m sitting at just over 48,000 words. My original aim for the book was half that. Then I jacked it up to 30,000, at which point I realized the book was most likely going to make novel length and so I quit aiming for any particular word count.

When I went looking through the “deleted” editions to find some bit of info I was sure I’d already written about, I discovered that several of my previous versions were actually remarkably good and probably even better than what I ended up writing this time.

In all likelihood, they shouldn’t have been deleted in the first place. If I hadn’t been so stuck on the idea of reaching the end of the book by 25,000 words, any of these versions could have led to a perfectly good story.

Ah well. Live and learn.

I’m okay with the book as is, even if part of me might always wonder what might have been if I’d kept going with one of the other plots.

But I can’t go through another redraft of any of it or I’m just going to abandon it. That’s all I can really say about that. There’s no more going back with this book. Moreover, I don’t believe the book will ever earn enough to make all the work I’ve put into it worth it, but I wanted to write this book and I did.

I wish I cared more about the market, because if I did, I’d probably be many thousands of dollars ahead of where I am, but I don’t and I can’t make myself so I just do the best I can doing what I can tolerate when it comes to the business end of publishing and writing only what I want to write. I’m sure the big sellers don’t begrudge me my modest success doing things my way—more sales for them! ;)

Setting aside feedback from others

Lynn

Not being interested in the feedback of critics is almost a necessity for long-term mental health when it comes to putting out books. I’m very lucky I’m already in a place where I can set aside the comments of others about my work. I’m a perfectionist who’s learned that it’s okay to suck. Sure, it’s embarrassing when I mess up, but at least I try. Brené Brown’s insights are worth a listen if you have the time to watch a 22 minute video at YouTube.

Yesterday’s “slow start” turned into a “did not start” day

Lynn

Yes, that’s exactly right. I wrote nothing yesterday, and I’m not sure why. Today is going to be a better day though and I’m starting that better day right now. Today’s Monday, which means it’s the first day of a new week.

I’m going to be aiming as hard as I can for that elusive 600 words in a session that could put me at 3,000 words each day once I finish all my sessions. I’d like to make up some ground (ground that I never had, actually, if one considers the fact that I’ve been behind on my 2,000 word average from day one). At the moment (counting today’s unwritten words) I’m 6,704 words behind my 2,000 a day average. If I write a bit over 3,000 today I could cut that in half and chip away at it the rest of this week. That’s the plan!

Stats posts revisited

Lynn

I’m not really seeing the point of these posts when I can just redo the accountability page I created last year and keep it updated once a week or so instead, so that’s what I’m going to do from here on out. That way I don’t have to keep remembering how I did the last stats post when I’m ready to update! :)

My writing and publishing (non)strategy

Lynn

I price high(ish) for the genre I’m in. Mostly so that I won’t have to go in and change prices anytime soon. Nothing lower than $2.99, and novels for $6.99. Collections at $8.99, but I don’t bundle novels. Too much work, tbh. Someday I might though and sell them only on non-Amazon stores where I can make a decent royalty for stuff over $9.99, because I’d likely want to charge $16.99 for a 3 novel bundle.

I don’t run sales on my books. Mostly because that would mean I had to go to some dashboard somewhere and change prices. So let me add a caveat. I’ve given away a code on my author website for my main pen name that allowed my site visitors to get a book of mine for free for a limited time, and I’ve done this twice in the last two years. It was a gift to anyone who came by my site.

I don’t study the market. In fact, I don’t read that many books in my pen names’ genres. I used to read a lot of fan fiction in related genres and I’ve been a voracious reader my whole life, but I don’t enjoy a lot of the books in the genres I write in currently. That’s why I write my own books, because I’m an unsatisfied reader.

I have a mailing list. The only time I ever send a notice is when I publish something new. I didn’t even bother to notify my list that I’d published a collection of my short stories. I might throw it at the end of my next announcement for a new book. I might not.

I publish paperbacks of all my work, but I’m behind because I do all the formatting myself. In Word. And I hate widows and orphans and runts and ugly hyphenation, so I’m a bit of a perfectionist about it. ROI means nothing to me when it comes to my paperbacks even though I keep telling myself it should. ;)

I like to write and that’s what I want to do. But I want to write what I want and publish what I want and although I do hope to make readers happy, my first goal is to make myself happy. :) Of course, I don’t talk about that on my author site. That’d be a bit rude.

I … can’t really think of anything else I do or don’t do right now but if I remember anything, I’ll update. :D

Slow start

Lynn

Time to do those 5 x 50 minute sessions. I’ve already started late, so I figure I’ll get in 2 before lunch and then have to finish the other 3 afterward.

I’m assuming (hoping) that once school’s back in on Wednesday, I’ll start having some success getting my 5 sessions complete before lunch.

Another successful day

Lynn

I’m feeling very optimistic right now about this experiment. I’ve had another successful day where I completed all 5 x 50 minute sessions of writing, and today I made it to 2,318 words, with a pace of 556 words an hour.

I enjoyed the writing so much and I had several laugh out loud moments that I’m still smiling about. :)

Back at it after two not so great days

Lynn

There’s a reason I’m sticking with averages instead of a flat daily quota. :) After two not so great days, I’ve come back strong and the writing’s been going well today. Headache’s gone and I feel good, so maybe my immune system is kicking butt. That’d be nice after a couple of years where I felt like I was getting sick every time I turned around. :D

So far today, I’ve completed 4 x 50 minute sessions and written 1,862 words. I’ll be starting that last session shortly. My pace so far is 559 words an hour and that’s after a terrible first session, much like every other day’s first session these last few days.

And while I’m a bit behind my 2,000 a day average at the moment, all I need to do is beat my 2,000 a day goal by a little extra for a week or so and I can catch right up. And I’m still hoping for some 3,000 word days that I think I’ll get when I switch stories. This particular story just seems to be slower to write for some reason and nothing I do seems to speed up my pace.

Now onward to the next session so I can count this as an entirely successful day!

5 minutes is never just 5 minutes

Lynn

That 5 minute break after my third session yesterday evening turned into several hours as I fought off a headache and fatigue (headache won). I ended up giving in and watching tv instead of finishing those last 2 sessions, but only after I convinced myself that I couldn’t think of my 951 words as a failure.

I can’t, but that doesn’t mean I was exactly right last night either. The whole point of having my goal be an average daily word count instead of a flat daily quota that I must meet is to give me some flexibility. The kids are still on their winter break and yesterday was a bit of a mess, schedule wise, because I made that production schedule instead of getting started writing so I could finish by lunch.

It wasn’t a bad day when I look at it like that.

I woke up with one side of my head completely stopped up, but other than a bit of a pressure headache under my right temple and around my eye, I don’t feel that bad. However, I’m not foolish enough to believe this isn’t likely to worsen as the day goes on and I start to get tired.

So, I’m going to get right to my writing this morning. Breakfast is over and I’m ready to go with my second cup of tea, some music for concentration, and determination to reach at least 2,500 words during my 5 x 50 minute sessions.

Oh my

Lynn

I’m struggling here. I’ve finished my 3rd session today and I’m dragging so much that my current average pace is 380 words an hour. I’ve finished only 951 words in 2.5 hours and if I want to hit my minimum 2,000 words in the next 2 x 50 minute sessions I’m going to have to pick up speed.

I have about 5 minutes of my break left to stretch my legs, so I’d better get to it.

2/5 of a successful day so far…

Lynn

I’ve completed the first 2 x 50 minute sessions I planned to complete today (on the schedule I revised in my last post) and now it’s lunch time. I had an unexpected visitor that interrupted my second session and there’s just not enough time left to complete the third one I wanted to do before lunch.

So, although I’m hoping for a second successful day for my experiment, I’m only 2/5 of the way there at this moment.

Once I break away from my writing, making it back becomes a real trial, so today I’m going to need to be on my guard for the kinds of distractions that usually grab hold of me and won’t let go.

Anyway, I wrote 584 words in 1.67 hours, which kind of sucks, but most of that suckage came from the mere 85 words I got in the first 50 minutes. I spent way too much time going back over what I’d written in the last few paragraphs yesterday and essentially rewrote the whole thing trying to get it right so I could move on.

So 85 words in the first 50 minutes and 499 in the second. Hopefully I can keep that momentum when I come back after lunch. :)

I made a production schedule for 2015 (and screwed up my morning’s writing)

Lynn

Boo. I started to write this morning and got distracted and created a production schedule for 2015. It’s no big deal, except for the fact that it completely threw off my morning writing and really, that was the main goal I had today, to get my writing started early and finished by lunch.

Crud.

Anyway, I’m resetting myself and I’m about to start my sessions and I still plan to get 3 in before lunch. :) Then I’ll finish the other 2 right after and move on to other stuff I need to do, like prep those paperbacks I keep putting off. At this point, I actually need to finish them ASAP.

I like my production schedule though and I added those books to my list of WIPs in my spreadsheet (series notation, no titles yet for the majority of them) in the order I want to finish them. :)

If I can maintain a 2,000 word a day average and don’t go long on most of my books, I’ll complete 18 books this year, most of them novels. :D

Here’s to a happy and productive writing year in 2015.