Too many options. Time to focus. I need to concentrate on what’s important, which of course has always been the writing. But there is other things floating around the whole writing thing. There’s the reading, and the marketing, and the networking, and a bunch of other stupid distractions like FaceBook and surfing stupid sites, that have nothing to do with my life, but only serve as distractions. I need to be more focused. Continue reading
Today is about focus. It’s about focusing on the tasks that will move your business forward. It’s about not getting distracted with all the shiny things on the internet. It’s about getting the work done, that needs to get done, that can improve your life, and the lives around you. That’s what your going to work on today. And for today, that means editing the hell out of your novel. It means getting through 20K words today. You can do that, if your focused on the important things. Don’t worry about the distracting shiny things. Nothing else matters. After we’re done with this journal writing, we’re going to start editing. I don’t have to drive kids around today, so there’s none of that to distract you. 20K words shouldn’t be a problem. Do that for the next two days, then you can have the 1st edit pass through the novel completed. Then, you can think more about fleshing some things out. You can think, about going through, and making some of the changes that were suggested in CritiqueCircle to your first chapter. You can think, about how those types of edits would serve you through the rest of our novel. You can think, about where you add more to your story, that would actually serve to get two or three stories out of this one. It’s pretty big for a first attempt, and it would, be nice to get more out of it. Two novels would be nice. Three might be a bit of a stretch, but would be really nice, if you can make them make sense, and be entertaining each on their own. Otherwise, it may not be worth it. But, you can always offer the omnibus edition at the same time. Or, if you just broke it down to two, then go your next one out in a month that would be good as well. Then you would have 3 books out before the summer really got into a swing. That wouldn’t be so bad, now would it? That would really give you something to promote. Just have to find logical places to make the break. I’m at about 300 pages now. If I had another hundred pages, then you could do three volumes at about 133 page each. That’s not so bad, or even two books at 200 pages each, which isn’t so bad either. I don’t know. But, for today, the focus, is on getting through 20K words of editing. That’s a big task, but I think, I’ve gotten there before. Or close to that number. It’s a bit harder to keep track of . . . as yWriter doesn’t really keep track of edited pages. But it would be fun, I think, if you could flesh things out a bit more once the editing is done. That would sort of be fun. I like the idea of building worlds, and giving the story more meat on it’s bones. It’s pretty plot driven and sparse on the characters and how their feeling with things. I really need to work on the scene/sequel cycle for the next novel. That’s something, I’m sort of missing out on this one. Overall structure needs to be better as well. Rereading Jim Butchers blog page over again would be a good idea. I wonder, if you can draw some attention to having the first chapter on WattPad. It could be a cool place to get some feedback on your writing, if you can gain a bit of popularity in the social side of things. If you could attract a few followers. You could actually get some ‘reader’ style feedback as opposed to ‘writer’ feedback. Having writer feedback is different from reader feedback, although, some of the feedback I’ve read on WattPad, seems a bit immature, or perhaps, just not thought through very well. Either way, if you could get enough of it, then it might give you a sense of how readers view your story. So, today is about focus, about making some real progress on the editing chunk of this novel. Next time, I’m definitely going to edit the words as I go along. Having to edit this much at one time, without writing is painful. Editing 5K in a day, would certainly be more palatable to face. And, writing the 5K after that would be downright enjoyable. I do like the writing much more then the editing. But, editing to start the day, would get you back into the priors day story and improve on the continuity.
TIGERBLOOD: yea DAILYMOOD: procrastinating / distracted LOCATION: home office WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: 2:00 plank TODO: edit like a madman TV: orphan black, game of thrones BOOK: Miles, Mutants & Microbes GAME: none EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: taco salad SNACKS: orange, grapes, apple, 2 lara bars ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 10:30 & 1:30 AWAKE: 6:30
Well, yesterday was a pretty fucking momentous happening. I managed to squeeze out 5034 words for my rough draft, and I managed to do it all before 12 noon. WOW! How fucking crazy is that shit. And, it wasn’t even all that hard. No doubt, it took a bit of focus and determination, but not an overwhelming amount. That’s pretty crazy shit. I’m really pumped to do it again today, tomorrow, and the next day. Pretty stoked to actually do it for a full week. That would be even more impressive. Forming a new habit, is what I really want to do with this. I’ll definitely have the novel first draft done at this pace this week. I’m already up over 71000 words now, and if I did 5K words per day for the next four days, then obviously, I’ll be up over 90K for my first novel. That’s getting so much bigger then I thought it would be. Which, I suppose is not necessarily bad, but I’m a bit concerned as to how much time it’s going to edit. I’m really anxious to get this first one out the door, but I’ve come this far with it, so what’s a little longer I suppose. I must admit to feeling pretty good about it all yesterday. Having the whole afternoon off was pretty sweet as well. [personal stuff edited out] Whatever, I’m not going to let that spoil the moment. Yesterday, was a pretty fucking cool event for me in this writing journey. A major hurdle to overcome, and just the start of several more to overcome. I really want to be prolific for this writing thing to be successful, and I think yesterday proves that I can be. I just need to do it every day now. Let it form into a good habit, just like my morning journal habit. I don’t even have to think much about these journals any more. I have the confidence to just sit down and write. I know they’re going to be done. I know how long it takes me to write them, and they just happen. They are habit, and will continue to be habit. I know, I can do the same thing with my 5K mornings. It’s such an awesome feeling, to do that I got that many words done in a day. I almost didn’t know what to do with myself for the afternoon. It was cool. Going forward, I will have to decide, if I substitute editing sessions in place of my writing sessions. Or do I do other stuff. I did actually get a few other things done yesterday that were little annoying things that had been on my to do list as of late. That was sort of cool as well. Nice to have that shit taken care of. Stuff, like finally sending off my old Tilley hat for replacement. Well, it’s not actually sent away yet. It’s still sitting on the front bench. But, at least it’s all packaged up, with a note and a cheque inside for shipping. Can’t wait, to get my next bout of writing today. Man, when I get through this week, I will have another 25K words under my belt. That’s not only prolific, but it moves me well down the path, to becoming better at writing. The more you write, the better you get. There’s no doubt in my mind now, that writing that many words will only make me a better writer that much faster. It just stands to reason. So, kick out all your fears and doubts, and just bury yourself in the work. Punch out those words, and come the next novel, you’ll be that much more organized and it will all fall into place that much quicker.
TIGERBLOOD: damn straight DAILYMOOD: really happy (a slightly annoyed with you know who) LOCATION: living room WORDSWRITTEN: 5034 PUSHUPS: 2:15 wall sits TODO: write TV: stuck in love (last half only), American Horror Storty BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 173 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: none DINNER: spaghetti sauce SNACKS: orange, almonds & olives, grapes ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 11:00 AWAKE: 6:30
Yesterday, was sort of exciting, as I think, I came up with a new process for writing my stuff. I’m going to do the pomodoro method, which basically involves writing for a given period of time, then take another smaller period of time as a break from the task. The idea being of course, that you totally focus on the task for the work period and nothing else. It’s the only thing that you do. For me, that is going to be writing, and I’m using slightly different time periods then the official method, but that’s OK I think. I’m going to use the WriteMonkey software I have to do the writing. It’s nice and distraction free software for the focused part of the writing, plus it has a built in count down timer, which I will set to 45 minutes. It also has a word target goal that you can set for a session, which I will set to 1250 words. The reason for that word count, is that I’m looked to do 5000 words before lunch. If I start the writing at eight am, and do four sessions of 45 mintues, followed by 15 minute breaks, then I can hit my daily word goal of 5000 words before lunch. I think, the big key to success with all of this, apart from the obvious of being focused on the task at hand, is to know what your going to write ahead of time. So, the goal will be to every weekend, spend probably an hour or two, making sure I have enough stuff plotted out to get me through the writing of the week. I suspect, that at the end of each writing session, it would make sense to leave a few writing prompts for the next session/day as well. And, the biggest most exciting part of all this for me, the proverbial carrot, that I will be striving for, is that once I hit my 5000 words at 12 noon, then that’s it, I’m done for the day. No more frigging work. I can do ,whatever else I feel like. I can watch tv, play games, go for a walk, play squash, learn to play guitar, work on the boat, surf the net, or just about anything else my heart desires. I’m basically free to be free. That’s frigging amazing in my books. To have a huge sense of accomplishment with the work I’ve done before done, and basically to just fuck off and do whatever the hell I want after that. Or, even, to put to rest those nagging little things, that I never seem to have time to do, because I’m always worrying about work shit, and never getting enough none of work shit. So, yes, I think the idea of doing what ever the hell I want all afternoon and evening guilt free is very enticing, I also think, the idea of being to catch up on other tedious to-do shit from life is pretty cool as well. I’m thinking, this will not only get my work done, and really start making some money, but I will be a much happier person overall. And, I should make a tonne of money in the process. If (when) I start cranking out 5000 words a day, I will be publishing a lot of books. Definitely a book every month. For sure. If I can do that for a year, I should be not only a much better writer, but also a much richer writer. That’s exciting as well. Rich and happy, that’s what we’re going for here, and the key to it is generating a lot of interesting stories. Which of course is a lot of words. Anyone that can crank out 5000 interesting words a day, will be successful. Especially, if they can get it done before noon. Which in my case, will likely be before breakfast. I’m really looking forward to this. It could be bigger then anything else I’ve ever done. Once it get’s to a consistent money making state, it has more potential than any of my other business plans to not only give me a lot of cash, but also, a lot of freedom as well. None of the other plans really allowed me much freedom in the end. But, this does allow me the freedom to take time to myself once the ball gets rolling. And, that, is really the end game that I’ve always been moving towards, since I began this adventure.
TIGERBLOOD: yes DAILYMOOD: happy LOCATION: home office WORDSWRITTEN: 2800 PUSHUPS: 2:00 plank TODO: read, show Mark the home theatre, get a movie TV: supernatural BOOK: Descent Series by RM Seine GAME: none EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 173 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: none SNACKS: orange, grapes ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 12:00 AWAKE: 5:00 and 8:30
