Writing In 2015: Week Four

The month didn't go according to plan. That's the gist of it. I also didn't get back to you last week so I'll waive the notion of regular, weekly postings. Regular postings at all on my progress through this new year should be good enough. I'm sure I'll continue to tweak that as I keep moving forward.

Despite the lost of several writing days due to various factors, I've not thrown in the towel on my new approach for the new years. As of yesterday I'm back to fiction. I've even got words in for the day too, though I might add more later.

I've thought about conducting a writing streak but am afraid my schedule would foul that up before it had a chance to get off the ground. You could say I've started a streak though. I'm on my second day with fiction writing included. I'll have to see if I can keep it going tomorrow. At this stage, I'm not going to be concerned about meeting certain word quotas of pages. The only goal is to write every day. I am not giving up on this one so bear with me as these updates continue. You'll get a glimpse of my successes and failures alike.

I've been busy with other business duties this month quite apart from any actual writing. That arena has its own goals that I won't elaborate on here, but I'm excited about what I'm developing and how it might shape the year too.

Still, the first duty I have is to write something, finish it, and get it to readers somehow. I'll have more to say later. There are some topics I'd like to cover.

Writing In 2015: Week Two

I'm writing this post for the second full week of writing in 2015. I'm not sure if I'll be writing weekly updates for the duration of the year, but I might give it a shot. It could be good to keep a closer eye on progress and share here. When it comes to the writing life, there are things I definitely want to do differently this year. I've mentioned them in previous posts. At the top of the list, is simply this: I WANT TO WRITE MORE.

Yes, very simple, and I am writing more frequently than I was during most of 2014. That frequency needs to increase though. Like any skill, with more you practice writing the better you become. Practice means spend a lot more time putting down new words in fiction, completing more stories and novels, and, yes, I could include writing here more frequently than I have in the past.

What do I mean by writing more? Well, I mean just devoting more time to it. I also mean writing everyday, if possible. I've thought about carrying on a writing streak to see how long I could keep it up. It sounds like a challenge. I think I need to challenge myself this year. The trick is knowing what is reasonable for me and also where I can stretch myself to grow as a writer too. It's tough to figure sometimes, but I might give it a shot too.

I've thought about keeping an open door on my writing process like Dean Wesley Smith does. But that way is  hard path since Dean's done so to dispel some really nasty myths that afflict writers, especially beginning writers. I'm not interesting in taking the sort of flak associated with that sort of myth-busting. I don't intent to set myself up as an expert in anything. I am just trying to be a career write--and one that makes money telling stories and selling them to readers. Those are the logistics here.

I suppose I'll need to clarify from time to time if I intend to write blogs more often. It's easy to fall into certain poor habits. I'll try to avoid some of those familiar pitfalls as the year moves along.

Writing In 2015: Five Days In

A new week's started, the first full one of the year, and I'm anxious to fill it with writing. The trick will be to keep things realistic with myself as I slowly build up my writing practice. I have a tendency to go overboard in my thinking or what I think I can do, or worse I get caught up in counterproductive and critical views of my writing and the business of writing which zap whatever creative impulses that may be quietly gestating.

This approach to a new year, if it has a chance at all, must be based on some accountability. Ideally, I'd love to have somebody, a fellow writer maybe, to be accountable to help me stay on target. Sadly, though I'd love to help another scribe out with beta reading and proofreading and vice versa, I haven't found a partner yet.

Thus, I must be accountable to myself. I need to think really hard about the sort of goals I want to have as I move deeper into 2015. I'm already musing on how many books I'd like to write over the course of the year. I'm trying to aim for a reasonable starting point for my daily word counts. A quota remains a good basic practice as I learn more about various aspects of craft.

As I go, I'll be refining and making various adjustments to what it is that I want.

I can say that I'm writing again and trying very hard to make it a low-stress occupation. I've also been submitting stories to magazines again--a practice I will be expanding on quite a bit in the coming weeks as I complete more stories. (I'm determined to try harder to get short fiction published--then make that another aspect of my business.)

So this is kind of an update.  Not sure, but it could be a series.

Writing In 2015 - Understanding Control

Down to the last couple of days in this year and I am getting ready to gear up for something different. This writer is writing again and, with some effort, I won't stop again. I've been thinking about goals. Here's a quote from writer, James Scott Bell:

"Why set goals? Because you can either control your own destiny or hand it over to circumstance. I'd much rather be acting than reacting. I'd rather have a plan than have time and tide devour me."

I really like this. Bell's quote cuts to the heart of matter for me. It's a succinct way to express the concept of control. As with everyone else, writers have dreams. We want accolades or to hit bestsellers' lists, or maybe get a big publishing contract with traditional publishers. Or maybe we want to hit a home run with a book or series, selling hundreds of thousands of copies, getting our stories optioned by Hollywood, and so on. The thing with dreams though is that we basically have zero control over them. 

I have dreams too. But, I can't make big sales happen. I can't control that. However, I can control how much I write. I can control how many books and short stories I get published via my publishing company. These are things that can be controlled. So what does this have to do with goals?

Goals are things that you can control. They can be used to build the road to your dreams. Goals are acting on plans with an end purpose or dream in mind. The work of setting and accomplishing goals doesn't guarantee you achieve your dreams, but they can get you on the right path to do so, given time, patience, and perseverance. That's what I'm learning anyways.

Dean Wesley Smith is talking about this same subject on his blog. The latest post, New World of Publishing: Control, unpacks these same ideas with Smith's trademark wisdom and wit. He gives you some important steps to help you plan and set goals for your writing in the new year. I find that I need to revisit some of the steps relate to setting production goals. 

There are issues of strategy too when it comes to what I do with my finished stories and novels. I think mixing it up and sending stories to outside markets and publishing books and collections through Founders House Publishing still makes sense. I have to work out the details. But I have steps I can take so that's really more than half the battle for me. 

Good Blog Post From Dean Wesley Smith

In the latest blog post in his series, The New World Of Publishing, Dean Wesley Smith talks about what he called the "Great Time Of Forgetting." It comes down to setting resolutions and coming to a point during the year when you realize that you've missed them or have fallen away.

He talks about the tendency for writers, especially new writers, to let things distract them particularly in the warmer months of the year. I've been caught up in that, I think. It's more than that but certainly the needs of my family for my time, the beautiful weather, and other real world issues have contributed to me dropping off on my writing.

A Break

In fact, I've unofficially gone on hiatus as a fiction writer. I'm saying it's to recharge my creative batteries and get a grip on what exactly it is I'm trying to do with my writing career. I'm struggling with this. Such factors make it easy to just let it all slide and make excuses for not getting to the storytelling.

Smith presents a number of options to get back on the writing horse and carry on with the learning and writing. He mentions that we're coming up to the halfway point of the year, July 1st. I kind of did a double-take when he said that because I honestly didn't realize that we were already halfway through 2014. It's hard to believe. And I'm feeling disappointed that I've not made as much progress or completed as many stories as I thought I would going in to the new year back in January.

In that way, I've forgotten my resolutions for the year. I've succumbed to the "great forgetting." I know I'm not alone in this, but it still feels lousy. Of the solutions he lists, I like his third option the best, but would consider including some of numbers four and five as well.

Option Three

"Reset completely. " Yes, I could forget any ideas or resolutions I had in place and just start over from scratch. Decide what sort of work I'm going to do and just get busy doing it. He also included taking classes and studying the books of other writers and craft books too because these are successes too since it is very important to keep learning as a fiction writer.

I keep waffling back and forth between writing short stories and novels. I'm not sure why I keep doing this little dance. Doing both really is okay and I should be okay with it. It may even be the smarter option since the more diversity I cultivate for outlets for my work, the more success might be possible for me.

With July 1st around the corner, I have the perfect chance to make the second half of 2014 and full and prosperous writing time. If only I take the first step and commit to writing again. That sounds great; it really does.

2013: What's The Shape Of This Writer's Year?

I'm really going to refrain from any attempt at prognostication about how my work life as as writer will shape up this year. It's a fresh, brand new year and I am thinking about what I would like to do to fill it with exciting projects. I've even done some groundwork at filling my schedule.

Design Work

In fact, I enrolled as a student in an Associates program in graphic design.

You might be wondering what that has to do with making strides as a fiction writer. On the surface, maybe nothing at all. As a freelancer in general I've had a rather erratic year. I've been pitched up and down, gained prospects at consistent work, lost them, and have been tossed around. It made me realize that I needed additional creative skills. I could think of nothing better than to revive my dormant visual art skills and funnel them into computer art and graphic design.

After I pick up the skills, gain, the knowledge, and develop the expertise, I will have a viable freelancing channel to add to my writing. I like having options and means. It's a far more resilient position to be in, as a self-employed person. I intend to focus my attention on book design too so I can be more effective for projects coming through my small publishing company. I say two birds with one stones on this one.

Writing

I've been on a small break from writing, trying to assess the way going forward. That hasn't been an easy process. I've been bouncing around in different moods weighing the whole project in different ways depending on my mindset at that particular point. When the nonfiction freelance dried up or bottomed out, I felt stressed out about it. The writing had no fun left in it--a dire prospect for any creative writing. I've not done much fiction since publishing my last novel, A Kingdom Of Shadows.

I want to write again. I want to fiction this year.

I don't know exactly all that I want to write. I've thought about mixing it up with short fiction, novellas, and regular length novels. It may end up that way but I've been trying to come up with some goals. I read a good series of post by Dean Wesley Smith about it. You should visit his site.

If I were making a goal for 2013--when it comes to writing--I think I would take a modest approach. I have to be realistic. Certainly, I have a whole year stretching out far before me. The expanse holds limitless potential. So what am I going to do?

The thing I think that makes sense is just to say that I plan to write 6 novels this year. That's the sum of it, at the moment. Six, brand new and fresh works from my little old imagination. It sounds good, doesn't it? Will I stick with it? I'm not sure. It's a good starting point. Heck I could change my mind in a week and say I'm just focusing on writing novellas for the whole year. (I've certainly thought about it.)

Still, I'm sticking with it now: My goal is to write six (6) new novels in 2013.

Other Matters

While, I  will not get into it here, I have other things happening this year of a more personal nature that will doubtlessly shape the year in some regards. Wish me luck, both on navigating through them and in reaching the end of the year with the goal (whatever final shape it takes) accomplished.