New look. Love it! I needed something different. Although the other theme was fine, this one is so much livelier.
Month: September 2014
Planning Again
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
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
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.
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
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!
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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!
Last Push to Finish Book Tonight
So, I’d kind of like to finish my book tonight. I mean, I’m days behind my deadline. So yeah, finishing would be nice. Really nice. :D I think I’m just about there, maybe a few thousand words. No guarantees, because there never are, but if I can just get moving on this ending, I think it will all fall together.
I realize starting it at 10:37 pm isn’t exactly the best example of time management. I’ve spent the day avoiding writing this to the point that I’ve been writing notes to myself in Evernote that say things like “Start the timer. Seriously. Start the timer. Right now.” And yet, I haven’t started the timer. I started this post, probably for the sole purpose of not having to start that timer.
But it’s time.
Start the timer. Come on. Right now. Go…
Yay! I started the timer. After 1 hour of writing, which has somehow managed to be 2 hours later, I have… wow. 454 words. Hahahaha…!
You know what? I think too much when I’m writing.
Also, I made a decision today to end my participation in one writer’s forum. I kind of hated to do it, on the one hand, because there are some nice people there, but on the other hand, one writer’s forum is enough of a distraction from my writing. I compared the forums and made my choice. Even so, I plan to take a one week break from the forum I didn’t leave! (Starting now. I actually felt compelled to go check one last time for PMs and topic updates, just… in… case, yikes.)
Now, I need to start that timer again. I’m not anywhere near done with this book yet. Come on. Start the timer…
And I’m back. I’m up to 864 words now, after 2 hours. I… probably shouldn’t do this but I think I’m going to turn in. I need to dwell on a few things before I write the next scene. The book is in the validation phase of the ending now, and I want to be sure I’m not missing anything. Because I feel like I might be.
So, break time. But I’ll be back bright and early in the morning so I can get this finished up.
My Internal Critic & Tonight’s Writing Goal
See previous post. I have a kick-my-ass, soul crushingly strong internal critic that turns writing into hard work that’s not nearly as fun as it should be. Therefore I spend a lot of time procrastinating when I should be working writing.
What that all means is that I have about 4,200 words I need to write tonight and I haven’t even started. It’s 7:55 pm. It’d be no problem if I was one of those writers who could sit down and pound out 2,000 words an hour (or even 1,000 words an hour). I don’t begrudge them their abilities, but I do wish I could figure out why I have so much—nevermind, I think I answered that in the second sentence of this post. :o The internal critic makes me second guess everything I put down, and also pushes me to seek perfection (when we all know perfection doesn’t exist). Sigh. Downer moment here: Sometimes it just really feels like such a hopeless battle fighting perfectionism. Ah well. Moving on.
However long it takes me tonight, I’m going to have to get these words out. Maybe this will be the night I kick perfectionism’s butt and start pounding out my own 2,000 words an hour. Wouldn’t that be nice?
On that note, I think I’m going to have to pick up the planning posts again. As soon as I stopped with the planning posts suddenly writing started to get hard again, and that was after me reaching some really great word counts. So those planning posts might be coming back, if not here, then at least in Evernote. :)
Holy crap. I dropped in at one forum, wrote two posts, and bam, it’s 9:34 pm now and I still have this post sitting here waiting on me. @o_o@ Those are my fists raised in aggravation.
Time to get to work. I really do have to write those 4,200 words tonight, unfortunately, even if it means I don’t go to bed until … tomorrow. Ouch. Really wish I had some regular coffee in the house. :o
Finished Reading Another Book—14 of 60
I’m sure there’s some literature out there somewhere that explains why we engage in self-sabotage. I’m not that interested in reading it right now. I just know I’m probably doing some of that engaging at the moment and I’m annoyed with myself.
On that note, today, when I should have been writing my fingers to the bone because… deadline! I was instead reading another book of fiction. I should’ve been writing. Yes indeedy.
But I really did enjoy the book so there’s that. If I’m going to procrastinate, as least I enjoyed myself while doing it. My usual routine is to sit and wallow in the guilt that comes with avoiding doing what most needs to be done. So… yay? :S
I read The Scandalous, Dissolute, No-Good Mr. Wright by Tessa Dare. It’s the first book I’ve read by this author, and I picked it up after starting Romancing the Duke, getting 23% in and realizing it was a longer book, and I wanted something shorter, novella length, and my Kindle sure does know how to tempt me with those little “Customers Also Bought” thumbnails at the bottom of the screen. :) Don’t get me wrong, so far Romancing the Duke is excellent, but I just don’t have time right now for a full length novel.
So it was another book that wasn’t part of my backlog and now Romancing the Duke is sitting in my backlog along with a bundle my Kindle recommended to me, Seven Wicked Nights. Sigh. I will never, ever catch up all my reading.
I kind of like that idea. ;)
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. :)
Planning for an awesome day
Let’s get this started on the right foot. Or maybe the left, because my right foot has arthritis or something in it after a hiking incident about 6 years ago so it’s not my best foot…
Anyway. :D Today I’m planning to write a significant number of words. 10 sessions. 620 words a session. If I do this, I’ll have created a new record for myself.
#1 (10:00–11:00): 67 words (Whoa. I ended up doing a lot of work on the scene in progress. Not a promising start.)
#2 (11:00–12:00): 207 words (Hell fire. This is not going well. I’m not using 5 minute sessions and maybe that’s a problem, but… I’m going to keep going this way for another hour or two before I give up and make myself use them.)
#3 (2:30–3:30): 417 words (Better, but not great. I lost track of time and ended this hour a bit late. I’m kind of hung up on plot issues, atm.)
#4 (4:30–5:30): 575 words (Better still, but still short. Lost track of time again and ended the hour ten minutes late.)
#5 (5:30–6:30): 526 words (I finally stopped at the right time. It’s 6:31 this time. So 526 for more like half an hour isn’t bad. Maybe I can start making up some time now if I can avoid interruptions.)
#6 (6:30–7:30): 438 words (Well, that didn’t work out. Also, I have snot and dried tears all over my face. It was amazing! I absolutely love writing melodrama. I need a break though, so I’m going to push the rest of my sessions back half an hour.)
#7 (8:30–9:30): 331 words (What happened?)
#8 (10:30–11:30): 645 words (I’m tired. No way I can keep going. I had originally planned to be done by 10. I’m calling it done.)
#9 : canceled
#10 : canceled
I’m going to update as the day goes on with my progress (this is usually motivating for me and I need all the motivation I can get today).
Now, time to get started. :D This is going to be a blast!
Quick update: Yikes! I went from planning to start at 8:30 to starting at 10:00. That’s a big deal considering how tightly I had today planned out. I’m going to have to try to write a bit faster in these early sessions and make up some of that time.
Another update (2:39 pm): Yeah, this is not turning into a great day for this plan, but it is what it is and I’m going to have to do my best to make it work. Now, back to it. I’m going to have to hit some really great numbers in the next few hours. I’m still going to try to keep working in hour chunks instead of 5 minute sessions, but if after a couple more hours my production’s not up, I’m going to have to bail on that plan and start the timer.
Third quick update (4:21 pm): My optimism about the 3:30–4:30 hour has been properly squished. Now that it’s almost 4:30, I’m finally able to pick it back up. Hopefully I’ll be able to stay on track for the rest of the night. The 8:30–9:30 hour could be tricky but I’ll wait on making another adjustment until I get to it.
Fourth update (8:35 pm): So my half hour break stretched to an hour and I’m just now getting back to it. But the rest of the evening should be set. My word count total is a bit of a joke considering how much time I’ve spent writing today. Bummer. 2,230 at the moment, and if my pace doesn’t improve, I won’t make it past 3,700 today. Nowhere near a record. I wrote more than that the day before yesterday, and it didn’t take half as long. There is good news though. I’m almost at the end of this book! I mean, I’m days passed my original personal deadline, but I’m finally almost done. Yay!
Writing, reading, and wasting time
How do I convince myself that surfing the internet is a terrible waste of time? I always seem to do most of it when I should be writing.
But then I run across posts like this and I can’t help but read them. I wasn’t so interested in the stuff about the editing process, but there was a good bit in there about word counts and being prolific that made me happy to have read the post.
I’ve watched more of Garrett Robinson’s vloganovel videos. Yes, I know, it’s weird to just watch someone typing but those are the bits I watch. I turn up the volume so I can hear the tapping of the keys and I listen to get a sense of his speed. It is weird. I know it. But it helps me write faster after the fact. Watching him write makes me hyper aware of how much deleting, editing, backspacing, and jumping around I do as I write, so that I do less of it.
I’m not sure what’s up with that, tbh, except that—and this is strange too, I know it—I’ll often type half a sentence started from somewhere in the middle and then hop to the beginning and type the beginning of the sentence. I didn’t realize how often my thoughts do that to me until I watched how linearly Garrett writes. I’m not sure if the starting of sentences in the middle is my brain outpacing my fingers (I only type about 60-65 words per minute), or if it’s a result of the way my thoughts jump around constantly—even when I’m trying to focus and concentrate. As a general rule, I’ve always thought I wrote linearly, and I do when it comes to scenes and chapters, but when it comes to paragraphs and sentences, I’m all over the place. :)
Also, I was 58% done reading a book I’d checked out from the library when it expired yesterday. I’m 42% through another that’s also about to expire. Don’t think I’ll finish it because I just don’t see myself having the time. I’m 12% into another, and 10% into another. These are all fiction, and this is why I’m probably not going to make my 60 book goal before year end. I start reading too many books that I don’t finish. :P These aren’t even the books I was supposed to be reading (my backlog of books)!
Self-control, forums, and procrastination
Boisterous goings-on in forum-land have distracted me from my goal this morning! I am supposed to be writing, and yet I continually find myself refreshing the danged pages. Also, when you have people on your ignore list it’s not helpful when everyone else keeps quoting them. :D I have resisted the siren call of the “You are ignoring this user. Show me the post.” link. Quite proud of myself.
However, that doesn’t change the fact that I really should be taking a break from reading these posts and visiting forums.
Self-control, I need you. Please come back to me. :D
2,311 words this morning—now it’s time to do about 3,399 more
Finished 2,311 words this morning—now it’s time to do about 3,399 more.
Finished Reading Another Book—13 of 60
I finished reading another book. This one was The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold.
“Read another book” wasn’t exactly accurate, because I’ve read several non-fiction books, and started so many other books and stories that I feel weird implying that finding the time to read is an effort. It’s not. I read constantly. What I read is where the problem is. I don’t read enough fiction these days, and finding time to finish reading a book is where I seem to fall short. :D
But I finished The Man Who Folded Himself several days ago and I really liked it. I’m afraid at my current pace of finishing, I’m going to fall terribly short of my 60 book goal. So—on to the next!
In This Instance, Shorter Is Better
I’m a bit frustrated with the 15 minute sessions, because although I should be able to make them work, they’re not working. Could be the part I’m writing in my book, or just the usual I can’t quite hold my attention on my writing for the required length of time thing.
I’m willing to bet hot chocolate on the latter, and popsicles on the former. :D
Whatever the cause, the outcome is the same. Few words, and not enough progress.
So, it’s back to the 5 minute sessions for the rest of the book and maybe a trial run with the 15 minute sessions when I’m back at work on one of my other books.
I might update later with a comparison of my output with the two session lengths.
UPDATE:
I can’t really tell a difference in speed, although there is a difference in output between the two days I switched. I averaged 677 wph the day I used 15 minute sessions and 816 the day I used 5 minute sessions, which seems like a difference, but when I look several days back, I have slow days using the 5 minute sessions too, where my speed is anywhere from 300 to 600 wph. The biggest difference is that I wrote for a longer period of time with the 5 minute sessions and definitely ended with a better word count for the day. But truly, I don’t know if that’s because of session length or some other reason, because I’m on a deadline and I’m feeling the pressure to spend more time writing.
What I do know is that my ideal work day would be to sit and write because it’s just something I do each morning until I hit my word count and not have to track these metrics. If I could be confident I could sit down and write my word count every day in a reasonable amount of time, I really wouldn’t care what my words per hour and my daily average amounted to.
(Rare days off would be okay, but they tend to balloon into more off days than on if I don’t monitor like a hawk. Even after 87-ish days of writing every day, I still have that moment where I think, Oh crap. Did I write yesterday? I noticed it most when I was working on publishing my last book, but when my attention’s on something, I can become single-minded to the nth degree.)
I could easily set production goals based around daily word count goals and ignore time altogether, with the basic assumption that this or that word count goal is reasonable for me.
Ah well. I’ll figure something out. :o I don’t give up easily when I really want something and that’s the kind of writers’ life I want.