The First Month of 2014

Something of a transitional month for me. Having finally committed to spending more time on writing activities and less on the building of the author platform, I’d also committed to certain activity on Twitter, which lasted until the last week of the month.

Much of my writing time was spent doing the final edit of book 2 of the fantasy trilogy (46 chapters), completing it on the 28^th. Book 1, A Seared Sky: Joinings, is due to be published by Fantastic Books Publishing in spring. I then began to edit book 3. This is a much more time consuming exercise as it’s the first edit of the rough draft, much of which was written for the NaNoWriMo project last November. So, where I could edit a chapter of book 2 in around 20-30 minutes, the chapters of book 3 are taking between 3 and 4 hours each and, so far, I’ve done the first 2. I’m doing a structural and language edit together and following that with a full edit using ProWritingAid. I then give each chapter to my wife to read. Valerie has a great memory, and spots repetitions, typos, anachronisms and inconsistencies. She makes the perfect beta reader and I usually have to do only one final edit after she’s made her suggestions.

I’d set myself a target of submitting 4 short pieces, either stories or poems, to magazines of writing contest each month and I managed to send off 2 stories and 2 poems to contests. Of these, 1 story and the 2 poems were written this month. I also wrote and posted two short autobiographical pieces to the excellent ReadWave site. These submissions are up to 800 words each and may be factual, opinion, memoir or short story. If you click on the site title above, it’ll take you to the relevant page.

My writing group, Hornsea Writers, decided to celebrate 25 years of being by designing a group blog and I contributed to that. If you click on the group name, it’ll take you to that site.

I read and reviewed 4 books, though one of those reviews will actually follow this post, as I wrote it this morning, having finished the book last night.

And I updated the Writing Contests page 3 times. I’m due to do another update this weekend. It’s a popular page and receives a lot of visitors. If you know of a contest I haven’t listed there, by all means let me know. (there’s a ‘contact me’ link at the top of the page.) I only list contests with cash prizes at least 20 times the cost of entry, by the way.

So, not a bad start to the year so far. Let’s hope the output increases as the year progresses. How are things going for you in 2014? Drop us a comment and share your success or other news.

The chart, explained:

Writing - initial creation of stories, blog posts, reviews and longer works.

Editing - polishing of all written work to make it suitable for readers.

Research - discovery of info for story content, market research, contests and blog posts.

Reading - books and writing magazines.

Networking - emails, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and comments.

Admin - story submission, blog posting, marketing, organisation, tax, and general admin tasks.

NaNoWriMo Progress into the Third Week.

The first draft of volume 3 of A Seared Sky: Convergence, is going apace. I started the NaNoWriMo process when the MS was at 111,079 words and it’s now at 181,684 words, which means I’ve averaged 3922 words a day so far during November.

Believe it or not, I’ve lived a life at the same time. It hasn’t been easy, turning out this number of words each day, but the public nature of the target does concentrate the mind and helps prevent prevarication and distractions. I know that, once this draft is finished, I’ll have some serious editing to do. But the story, the essence of the novel, will be complete. I’ll have all the twists and turns in place, all the characters where intended, and all events covered.

Along the way, I’ve had to introduce new characters, of course. I made this easier for myself by creating a list of possible names for future use before I started on book 1. I also have a character template and a collection of around 1,000 assorted photographs of people, so I can hang the description onto an image of a real person. I find this helps me develop the character more fully. Some events have occurred quite unexpectedly, as characters take on more importance than I originally envisaged or as favourite characters get into situations it’s impossible for them to survive. I don’t like killing off characters, but it has to be done, of course.

And now? Well, my guess is that around 20,000 words will complete the book. I’m working on the denouement, putting each of the three groups of individuals into those situations that will close their parts in the story. There’ll inevitably be a few loose ends, with a cast of over 90 named players, but all the main characters will end up with a satisfactory conclusion to their specific tales.

I’m looking forward to the appearance of book, Joinings. FantasticBooks Publishing are currently waiting for their designer to complete the cover design. And the book should be available before Xmas. I’m excited about the publication, of course. But, for the moment, I’ll continue to use NaNoWriMo as a way of ensuring that volume 3 gets completed. At least those who buy volume 1 will then know that they won’t be let down by an author failing to complete a trilogy; something that happens far too often, unfortunately.

Watch this space for further news.

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September and October Combined Results

The usual monthly progress report covers 2 months this time. We had reason to celebrate and decided

to do so in style, since it’ll be the last for a long while. The silver wedding combined with my retirement from employment and ability to work full time as a writer called for a special break. That occurred across the 2 months, starting toward the end of September and ending in the second week of October. Added to that was a short break we took to visit my brother and his wife in the Yorkshire Dales. So a somewhat interrupted work period.

Of course, the fact that I had to stop writing the fantasy for a while meant I needed to re-read what I’d already written on our return from Santorini, before I could continue with it. I completed that re-read just in time for the month end, which is just as well, as I’m taking part in NaNoWriMo this year and using it as a deeper motivation to finish the fantasy book. (See post below, if you’re interested).

On holiday, I’d intended to read quite a lot, but the company, surroundings, events we took part in and the need for rest in between meant I didn’t read quite as much as expected. Nevertheless, I did read a few books, and reviewed them on my return. I also reviewed on Tripadvisor all the places we’d visited whilst on holiday.

So, the chart gives an indication but is not as reliable or accurate as usual. Make of it what you will.

November will be dedicated to the writing of the final book in the trilogy and I’ve already written 5,700 words over yesterday and this morning. I’m aiming at 3,500 words a day, so a few more to do after I’ve posted this piece.

Once again, let us all know how you’re progressing with your writing. It’s easy to place a comment here, after all.

The chart, explained:

Writing - initial creation of stories, blog posts, reviews and longer works.

Editing - polishing of all written work to make it suitable for readers.

Research - discovery of info for story content, market research, contests and blog posts.

Reading - books and writing magazines.

Networking - emails, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and comments.

Admin - story submission, blog posting, marketing, organisation, tax, and general admin tasks.

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Writing This Week

Not been the smoothest of weeks, for all sorts of reasons.
But, I've finally found the 'voice' for the NaNoWriMo novel, after a number of false starts. It means some modification, but will result in a better book, so worth the effort. I've done the first 3 chapters so far and I'm finally feeling pleased with the results.
No short stories this week. But I've completed a new blog post and continued with the debate on ethics and morals, as shown a couple of posts below this one. Why not get involved? I'm working towards a discussion on piracy of books, so it should interest most of you.
Been a bit off colour this week again, following last week's virus, but now on the way to recovery.
Also been making a start on some technical help for a female friend, who writes well but hasn't a clue about technical issues. She needs to get her work published as ebooks and I've offered my help. Initially, I'm intending to run a bit of promotion for her work (all erotica of the more gentle and romantic sort, I gather) here until I can get a blog set up for her. She's new to the idea of publishing and is still choosing her pen name, so I can't even flag that up yet. But her writing is good, so worth the effort and the wait.
It's been a week of bits and pieces: I'll be glad to get back to a bit of normality. Whatever that might be!
Still, did manage a reasonable walk with Valerie during the week. And I'm picking up some of the technical improvements on Photoshop Elements 10, which I installed a couple of weeks back. So, some progress, even if I feel I could have been more productive.
Keep reading and, if you write, writing.

The Dangers of Distraction.

Image via Wikipedia

Do you do it? You know what I mean; participate in social networking. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Digg, StumbleUpon and Google+ are all sites where you'll find me commenting, posting, bringing items of interest to other people. Then there are the peer review sites; those places where you post a piece of writing and hope for some reviews, but in exchange you have to post reviews of the work of others, which, of course, means reading them. There are even altruistic sites, like Critters, where the emphasis is on the support and nurturing of young talent for no reward other than that of helping out.

All these activities detract from your writing by involving the use of your time. There's so much advice out there on how best to learn to write and how to learn to write well. But one piece of advice stands out from the rest, in my mind at any rate: if you want to write, and write well, ignore everything else, and write. That, of course, is a little sparse and not as comprehensive as it ought to be. If you write without reading, for example, you're doomed to repeat the mistakes of others, doomed to repeat what has already been written, doomed to remain enclosed in your world of delusion where you're a brilliant, if untried and unpublished, writer.

So, to that injunction to write, I must add; read. Read often, read well-written work only, which doesn't necessarily mean best-sellers. I mean, Jeffrey Archer's novels are sometimes described as 'best-sellers', but would you call it good writing? I've read a few of the authors who sell lots of books and discovered that they often write in clichés, clichés of both phrase and idea. Formulaic, superficial writing seems to sell well for reasons I don't understand. But if you're more interested in dollars and pounds than the quality of the work you produce, you know where to find your role models. But be prepared to be forgotten as soon as your book is read. Prepare to be lost to history and the future. It's rare indeed for a best-seller to outlive the era in which the work was published. Oh, there are exceptions; there are always exceptions. They prove the rule, after all.

So, to improve your writing, read extensively from the best you can find. And then, write. Write something new every day, as a priority. Even if you can manage only a few words, even if it's no more than a diary entry, write something, something new, every day. Make it the best you can if it's only a few words. If, on the other hand, you're engaged in the construction of a more beefy piece, a short story, essay, novel or non-fiction tome, then I'd advise you to get the words down first. I know some people are, or feel they are, incapable of moving on until what they've written is the very best they can make it. For most would-be writers that way leads to an eternity of unfinished work. If you get the words down first, you can then revisit and use the editing process to refine and improve.

To return to the beginning: social networking and the like. If you must network, connect, interact - and which of us doesn't do this?- I'd suggest you do it only after you've done your day's writing. If you treat your writing as a profession, treat it as work, you'll be far more able to set and keep to your real priorities. The job of a writer is to write. That's the first priority. Everything else is secondary and should be treated as such.

I speak from experience here.

I've spent most of the past few months engaged in social networking; building that essential writer's platform beloved of agents and publishers. So, I've Tweeted, posted stuff to Facebook, engaged in discussions on LinkedIn, joined groups on Goodreads. It's been productive in terms of contacts and connections. And I've had a great deal of fun in the process; made a great many new friends at various levels of the writing craft from real beginner to accomplished author and every stage between. Met and connected with readers of all sorts. I wouldn't have missed the experience for the world. But, in that time, I've written and submitted too few stories, put down too few words (apart from November last year, when I participated in NaNoWriMo as a way to drive myself back into actually writing, and produced the first draft of a comedy thriller, writing 112,242 words before the time was up). But I have, sitting on my computer, two volumes of an epic fantasy trilogy, and I should have written volume three by now, should have had the books out there in the market place for readers. But no; the networking has taken precedence. So, I know what I'm talking about here.

So, following my own advice, I'm now aiming to produce at least one new story each week, complete the editing and route to publication for my NaNoWriMo novel titled An Avenger Unseen, and begin work on volume three of the epic fantasy. All social networking will take a back seat and be done only when I've completed my writing for that day.

If you want to write, I urge you to write. Leave the distractions, digressions, procrastination for others and you might find there are people out there actually reading the words you've put down. Isn't that something worth aiming for?

A silly question to ponder: If corn oil comes from corn, olive oil from olives, and vegetable oil from vegetables, where does baby oil come from?

The Writing Week.

Another busy, if interrupted, week.
I had begun the read aloud edit session of the NaNoWriMo novel (provisionally titled An Avenger Unseen) and got as far as chapter 15 before I realised it needed some major surgery. I'm writing this as a comedy thriller, with the emphasis on the comedy. But I realised I'd gone too deeply into the thriller aspect, and my male protagonist had adapted a tone unsuitable to his narrative. So, I went back to the beginning and I've so far re-written the first 5 chapters.
I've written a short story, which will need editing next week. And I completely re-wrote a story I'd started some time ago and never submitted. This one has gone to the Writers & Artists Yearbook contest. Wish me luck! If you're interested in entering writing competitions, you might have a glance at the page tabbed 'Writing Contests' above. There are a great many links to such contests there.
And I finished reading and have therefore reviewed, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The review is just below this post if you're interested.
Kate was home for the weekend and she's just returned, her boyfriend driving her to the station for her train.
It's my brother, Steve's, birthday tomorrow, so we had he and his lovely wife, Alison, round for the evening last night. Great night, but too much wine meant I wasn't up to much writing this morning!
The car has now been serviced and is again safe and quieter for the replacement of the box on the exhaust.
And the drive is now clear of snow, which is slowly melting away anyway.
Those are the interruptions I mentioned. I like to think of them as reasons for not having done much, but I know they're really excuses.
That, however, is enough for now.

The Writing Week

It's been a busy and productive week, interrupted by a further visit to the dentist, but that job should be finished at the next visit.
The NaNoWriMo novel, titled, An Avenger Unseen, is now well into its next stage of editing. I've read aloud the first 10 chapters and marked these where changes are needed. Once I've completed that part, I shall go back and make all the necessary alterations.
Another blog post is finished and scheduled to appear later this month.
On a walk along the coast (see pic above) with my wife, our conversation inspired another book; that will take some time to compile and write. A philosophical treatise, I'm not yet sure how I'll present it.
This morning I started on a new short story, managing 1400 words in the hour before breakfast.
And I've finally entered a short story in a contest. A 570 word piece for a flash fiction competition listed under the Writing Contests tab above.
I'm continuing to read the current book from my 'to read' list; The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, on my Kindle. And I've read this month's copy of Writers' Forum Magazine and sent a short letter for their reader's letters page. Time I entered their competition again, I think, having won 3 prizes with them over the years.
So, a reasonable week on the writing front. How did yours go?

The Week and What I've Done With It

So, the end of another week. As usual, nothing like as much done as I'd hoped at the beginning. But, I've completed the first reading and marking up of the NaNoWriMo novel and begun the second phase, reaching chapter 3 and reducing the word count, so far, to 112,043. Along the way, I did a quick check for overused words, using Wordle.com and started to use this to reduce the repetitions in that chapter (the illustration shows the Wordle graphic after the changes). It then seemed to make sense to extend the search for those words to the whole MS. I have the file on the PC as a single file, since that way it's easier to make alterations that are global. Once I'd done about 4 of the repeated words, I suddenly realised this was a waste of time at this stage. I might as well wait to employ this exercise once I've made the other changes, as I'm otherwise replacing words that I might later completely remove.
I've also done a small update to the Writing Contest page - see the tab above. This is quite time consuming, but it keeps my own table up to date and hopefully allows my readers the opportunity to dip into those contests that might interest them.
I've been busy with the social networks, making changes and posts to Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Digg and tweeting on Twitter.
I'm currently reading a thriller and I've ploughed through a good number of its short chapters whilst Valerie has been watching the sport on TV.
Had a short spell organising a replacement windscreen for the car on Saturday. What's that to do with writing? Well, the chip that caused the old screen to crack happened as I was on my way to my writing group, so a tenuous link, I think.
So, still no contests entered and no short stories sent to magazines. But the coming week....