Today's Date: June 6, 2016
Today was a day of shopping. Which wasn't happy making, but I got it done! Yes.
Anyways, as of right now, I am setting up to get ready for the next round of Camp National Novel Writing Month, which starts July 1st. Again, I'm going for like 35K for the round, but that's about normal since I usually average about 20 to 30K a month in my normal writing and rewriting work.
I have so much to work on that it's not funny. So I'll just go over what I have in the works that need to be done.
1) Untitled M/M pairing short story
This story is going to end up around 24 chapters in length, about 13 of those chapters are complete rewrites with a couple being split into two parts. It's an older story that I had finished, but after a couple years of letting it sit I decided that it needed a full on rewrite/fleshing out.
So if I do do this story, I'm going to have to write at least one chapter and one chapter rewrite as I come across them. I'll probably end up finishing it half-way through the month.
2) All You Need
Again, this is a full on rewrite/flesh out story that is a couple of years old and I have no idea how long it will be. I need to fill out the first half of the story yet, which means that it's going to be interesting. I have something like 5 chapters planned out so far? When I get to the main chunk of the story there's going to be another 10 chapters added, at least.
I'm still working on getting it planned out since I need to flesh out the world and the plot line yet.
3) Thread the Needle - Don't Look Bk 0
I actually got about 3 chapters into this story before steam just kind of tapered off. I'm working on building the world some more and building the outline but that's going to be interesting to do. That's for sure.
Especially since it's the entire basis for the rest of the Don't Look books.
4) Untitled Superhero Book - Through the Ages Bk 1
I'm somewhere in the 20's chapter for this story (since I don't have that file open right now and I'm not going to open it). I have about 37 chapters planned for this story so I might be able to finish it if I go with this story. We'll have to see how things go in the long run.
5) Random other short or almost done stories
I have a lot of these stories actually. A lot. Most of them are fanfiction but there are some originals, like the Forward Motion 2016 anthology submission that I'm working on. I just need to work it out.
As it is I think I'm going to use this time to think about my Butterfly Living world that I started oh so long ago. I swear that I need to rewrite that first book like nothing else. I might start playing with that idea here soon because that and the Crimson series are both eating my mind. Need to finish a few other stories first.
Fun times.
Time for some Advice from one writer to another:
Write. Every. Single. Day.
I can not tell you how many people who come to me and ask me how I get so many words done are always surprised when I simply say "I write every single day". They just sit there and go "No, way".
Yes way.
I get up. Turn my computer on. Go to the bathroom. Come back and log on (because dangit I am going to make idiots log on if they want at my stuff). Go get water/tea/breakfast. Come back. Say hi to my friends and writing cheerleading squad (who are made of the awesome), open a couple of files that I use to type up whatever I working on then.
Make my tea. I usually let my tea steep while I'm doing the rest so I have my sugar and a spoon close at hand to sweeten as needed. I also take the time to start eating.
I then open up my Chrome, and for all the bs it puts me through, the GDocs are still my baby, wait for my tabs to open, and find the tab with my current file.
I start to write.
And write.
And write some more.
I say hi to my friend who comes on. Tell her what file I'm in and go back to writing.
Or I'll be rewriting that day.
If I'm editing, I'm just usually editing my OpenOffice Writer file because I don't want to deal with the gdoc for whatever reason.
I'm doing something in regards to my writing. Anything! Every. Single. Day.
Even those days that I have a migraine that takes down an elephant. Once I can see straight, sit up, and stare at paper or my tablet, I'm working on something. Usually plot points that my drugged up mind comes up with for later editing and figuring out how to make them possible.
It's not amazing. It's not a super power. It's good old fashioned hard work.
Ask any published writer who is serious about their work, and they'll tell you getting into the habit of doing something in regards to your writing takes practice. And time to get used to. But if you really want to see your name on a printed version of your book with some money coming in from sales, you Write. Every. Single. Day.
I'm sorry to say but holidays are non-existent to most writers. We write. Be it on paper, phone, tablet or computer. We write.
To those who are just coming onto this and are horrified by this, go to the Camp NaNo website for the April or July, rounds of Camp, sign up, create your book, set your word count (minimum is 10K), and practice getting words every single day. I use these months as a way to finish off a few smaller projects (as shown above).
Or even join in the insanity that is National Novel Writing Month in November. Go to the NaNoWriMo website and sign up. Minimum word count? 50 thousand words in 30 days.
No, I'm not being paid to tell you to do this but my first Nano was back in 2009. I've won every single one that I've been a part of since. It taught me how to turn off my editors brain to get the words down and out. It also taught me how to write every day without fail.
And I carried those lessons over into my writing career, just like every author and writer before me.
So again: Write. Every. Single. Day. And don't whine about it.
You're the one who chose to pick up writing as a career path. I get enough of that from the 12 to 18 year olds who come to me about writing advice.
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