On Wednesday I hinted that there was likely to be another update on my writing this week, and I was right! Last Sunday I was looking at milestones for my progress, and realized that based on the rate of progress I had made on the second draft of The Perils of Prague, I was right on track to complete the draft this week. Then I had several days in a row when I had to spend my daily writing time working on other projects. I got my daily writing in, I just didn’t make any progress on editing Perils. At the time I published Wednesday’s update, I figured I should still be able to finish by the end of the day on Sunday, provided I could edit at least 3000 words a day… [click to continue…]
[Today, we have something special for you. And by “we” I don’t mean just my wife, the cats, and myself. Today we have a guest post from Author Starla Huchton, as part of her Blog Tour to promote her newly released book Maven. Starla has been all over the place with this blog tour, doing interviews, giving character interviews, sharing pre-release blurbs and talking a lot about the book. Well, I had to be different. I didn’t want to bring my readers the same kind of material that you could find at other blogs. So I asked Starla to write a guest post about what it took to bring Maven to print. All too often in the writing world, people focus on that first draft. Well, that’s just the tip of the iceberg As you’ll see below, Starla put a lot of work in just to get her story ready to publish, and then she had to do all the publishing parts, too. It’s a little longer than your typical blog post, but I think Starla paints a fascinating picture of the process of self-publishing. Enjoy! – Doc] [click to continue…]
After only a week, I’d like to thank everyone who has offered their help towards getting The Perils of Prague ready for publication, especially considering the contact form I used last week didn’t work as expected. I’ve been contacted by eight different people so far who have voiced their willingness lend my project a hand. Some are fellow authors, who are willing to Beta read for me in exchange for having me Beta read their work. A couple are editors who are willing to offer their services if we can come to a compensation agreement that fits their available time and needs. This is exciting for me, but I still have to realize that things can fall through, and I still need a lot of help. I’ve been trying to organize the responses I’ve gotten, and get in contact with each of them. If you’d like to help out, it still isn’t too late! Just drop me an e-mail, and let me know how you’re willing to help, and what kind of compensation you’d like to have for your services. [click to continue…]
Today, I have the opportunity to do a very special post in the Pimpin’ Your Friends category. The friend in question is the lovely and talented Starla Huchton. Starla is not only a friend, she’s my cover artist. She did the cover for the e-book of my short story “Welcome to Paradox” and she will be doing the cover for my steampunk novel The Perils of Prague. She’s got a very nice business as a freelance graphic designer over at Designed by Starla, doing book covers for independent authors and publishers. Today, Starla is releasing a very special cover, and I have the privilege of bringing that cover to you. [click to continue…]
They say that brevity is the soul of wit. Well, after last week’s post, perhaps I should try to be witty. Who knows, it might work.
Last week I also promised that I would speak of more writerly things, and that is a promise that I can keep. I have kept with the habit of writing every day and have leveled up to writing 300 words a day. This past week I’ve actually been more likely to write over 500 words a day, which is a little surprising… [click to continue…]
Last week I wrote about my life being on Pause, but now I’m back writing again. What gives? Well, this week things are getting to be more under control, and last week’s post was really explaining the past two week’s absence…
My wife has been more mobile this week. She’s even started walking about in the house using just a cane. It takes her a bit to tighten up the muscles, but she’s doing it. She’s also noted that some things that caused pain before, she can now do without pain. This is a really good sign. She is getting more self-sufficient, and that means that I’m getting more time to catch up on things. I’ve started on mundane things like dishes and laundry, but I’ve also been able to squeeze out some time to start writing again. My last post was actually written on my phone while I was riding to work. Now I’m getting a chance to actually sit down at the computer and begin doing some work.
P.C. Haring tagged me on his blog with this writing meme – The Next Big Thing. This meme shows off a little about the next Work in Process we writers are working on. It is an opportunity to give readers a little sneak peek and some inside information on the next new manuscript.
First, the Rules:
1. Mention the person who tagged you at the beginning of your post (done)
2. Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress) and/or new release on your blog (see below).
3. Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them. They’re supposed to answer the questions within the week. (Personally, I hate tagging people.)
Why am I celebrating failure? Well, I am going to explain that, but first, I think I’d better catch you up.
When last we spoke, it was the 20th, and I’d hit 32,067 words after three straight days of over 2500 words a day. On the 21st, we set out to visit my father for Thanksgiving, my wife driving, and me in the passenger seat writing away. I managed to get in 1191 words on the trip. I probably would have done better, but the trip wasn’t very long. Then, once we arrived, family tended to get into the way of much writing. I tried to do some writing on Thanksgiving day, but only got in another 523 words what with the feasting and games of dominos. On Friday, we headed back home, but my wife was too tired and I had to do the driving. After we got home and unloaded, I was too tired to write, so Friday was a total goose egg. Saturday, the 24th, I plugged in to make up some of the backlog, and wrote 3009 words. A very promising day and it looked like I was going to be able to catch up nicely. Sunday didn’t go so well, but I did get in 1710 words, holding my own, and bringing my word count up to 38500 words. Monday, it was back to work, and a tough day at work it was. I came home and wrote another 830 words, but soon tuckered out. And at this point, I realized that I just wasn’t going to make it. I had too few days left and too much of a deficit to make up. So I tapped out at 39,330 words.
I had intended to put in some more writing and push over at least 40,000 words, but I just didn’t make the time. Also, I’d written myself up against a wall and I didn’t know where else to take the story. I finally figured out where to take the story on the 30th, just after I’d gotten to work. Unfortunately, after work, I went to take a nap and ended up sleeping through until December.
I was surprisingly productive yesterday! I got home from work in excellent time, and despite feeling tired all day, I was wide awake when I got home. Seeing that the nap I had expected to claim me was no where to be found, I decided to put my wakefulness to productive use and started writing!
By the time my wife came home from her errands, I had a good 800 words down and was speeding rapidly towards a thousand. This section was part of Casey’s being tested by the Primus, and the images were coming thick and fast, I just needed to type them! I quickly passed the daily word count and started making up some of the deficit. By the time I took a break for dinner, my story had hit 31,666 words, the target word count for the 19th! I was now less than a day’s writing behind. I stopped for dinner, then came back and did some additional writing before I had to stop for the day and see about packing for our Thanksgiving visit. When all the words were accounted, I had written 2,876 words for the day!
I’m still behind where I should be, but I’ve gone a good way towards closing the gap. And I’ve just had three days in a row when I’ve turned out an average of over 2500 words! For today, if I just break even, I think I’ll be in a good place to get through the Thanksgiving holiday.
Another late night of writing last night. After getting home from work, I thought I was going to collapse and get some sleep, but my wife kept me up and engaged long enough to get through the post-work slump. We had dinner, and by the time we were done, I was fully awake and she was exhausted. So, while she went off to nap, I sat down to write.
The first thousand words seemed to be difficult to come by, but once I powered through those the going became easier. I kept up my mantra of “just another 250 words…” and managed to rack up just shy of 2500 words before I was ready to go to bed. Once again it was just before midnight, so I turned in for the evening and left this diary entry for the morning.
I’ve closed the gap between where I am and where I should be to about 2000 words. I don’t think I’ll be able to close that gap today, but I’d like to be able to take another 500 words off of it. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that I’ll probably end up falling further behind since I have to pack for a Thanksgiving visit tonight, and I’ve gone short on sleep enough that I’ll probably want to turn in early. I’ll be doing well if I can write enough words to break even tonight. I’ll probably fall further behind and end up looking to making the word count up this weekend.
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