Writing In 2015: A May Update

Just about time to give a bit of an update on what's going on. Basically, I've not written much and I've been mostly okay with it. Most recently, I've been working on a short story. I've put aside a lot of works-in-progress and I might got back to them later.

I have in mind a return to series I've already started. I mentioned this before but was kind of waffling on the idea. Now, I'm giving it more serious thought. Since I've been at this I have started three series. My first novel, Cries Of The Faithless, was mentioned as the first book (though I'm thinking I may not return to that world), then there was my second full-length novel, A Kingdom Of Shadows. That is one I'm interested in finishing since I keep thinking about how I left everybody. My third series, is the continuation of the story I started in, The Darkness Of The Deep. They are all set in different worlds. I started unpacking them but went on without finishing.

I could also add Stormborn's Debt to this growing list. The first book, my most recent publication, is definitely episodic in my mind. It was an exploration of the concept and I want to go back into that world and share more of the hero's adventures.

So, I could say this is all the beginning of a near-term strategy for my work. A quartet of sequels could be in the making. All for advancing different stories in different series. Sort of crazy, but I'm certainly not shocked. I'm silly that way.

What Else Is Going On?

Yeah, so this is an update. Since that is the case, I should also mention that my novel, Killer Of Dragons, a standalone, will be coming out very soon, probably early in June when all is said and done. Also, the plan is to finally get a paperback of The Darkness Of The Deep out so that'll be announced soon as well.

Aside from all this, I've been reading a few ebooks that came as part of a bundle. Craft and business books mostly. I'm constantly studying the publishing business and trying to learn what I can about my writing craft, so reading quality books by folks that know both helps tremendously.

All in all, things are simmering for now. I'll let everyone know more when I can. For now, I will just keep on keeping on. Later.

Writing In 2015: Strategy, What Strategy?

Lots of writers work without any work strategy whatsoever. They don't think beyond one book, or in some cases, a single series. They might have toiled over a standalone novel for years before they found a way to finish it, or they might have shaped a solid trilogy and then spent the time to write each one. But, few writers think beyond a few books, if they think beyond a single book. We, writers, don't do well with long-term, career-minded thinking. We're artists after all.

But, writing is more than art. It's a business too. Publishing is a multi-billion dollar industry. Any writer who's been in the business long enough will start to catch clue about things like strategies for thinking beyond the first few books. The long-term professionals have a mind for five years and ten years ahead.  I'm not talking about the bestsellers that get by on a book a year, year upon year. The brand names that everyone case list if asked.

No, I'm talking about the working professionals who write many more books and end up selling at modest numbers over the years. These are the sort that have stayed active at one level or another for decades. They're the prolific ones that have written not just five novels or ten; no, they've written dozens or even hundreds over the courses of their very long and productive careers.

Such writers realized that having a strategy for the sort of work they would be producing could lead to continued success. They had some sort of plan for what amount of writing they wanted to do in a given year and they took the steps necessary to make their "business" goals a reality.

Sometimes, even having a good intentions and a list of the sort books you'd like to write isn't enough. You get caught up in self-defeating patterns of behavior. You avoid writing one book by writing another. And another. Soon, you've got lots of WIPs, but nothing else to show for it. Plus, you feel so far off track you simply stop just to begin an assessment.

That's where I'm at right now.

While I absorbed the business ideas that I talked about above, I became to critical and I lost sight of something just as important. In fact, it's far more important. I forgot about the stories and the love of storytelling. I tried to force a story that just wanted to die. I also gave up on a few others that might have had a better chance at survival. Finally, I avoided finishing bigger stories I'd already started.

So, I stopped writing.

Instead, I'm reading and I'm working on my strategy going forward. I'm giving it some real thought because I want to plot a course that feels right and helps me become a better storyteller. That's what I want more than anything else.

Writing In 2015: End of Month One

Well, January is basically over. I'm getting in the mode to review things a bit. Though I've made progress over all with staying in focus and getting work done, there is still room from improvement. My publishing company won the war of time this month. All told, we got five products out to readers and have every intention of getting five more out in February. I'm being very proactive as a publisher.

Writing, the focus above all else on this blog and in my writing life, went okay, but there were still several gaps in the flow where I just didn't get new words down. I have to work on that part going into February. I will do better. Just have to remember the maxim about having fun with it and not stressing out over what I can't control.

This whole year is about finding more balance in my life and making sure that writing and publishing get a share of the pie. I'll be exploring that process, as I said before, and that'll sure been fun all in itself.

One of my big focuses in the writing going forward is developing my skills with short fiction. That being said, I'm currently working on what I believe is a novel so there has to be room for some play concerning the project workload.

Short stories are intriguing to me. I've written several--some of which are available electronically--and I enjoy putting them together. It's a challenge for me. Short of announcing a formal challenge with a number I need to hit by year's end, I'll say that I do plan to do a lot of short fiction writing.

I have four novel started and am piecing on them when I can and hope to finish them all this year too.

I'm going to keep myself busy and do my best to get a lot good stories out to my readers.

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.

Coming Soon: The Darkness Of The Deep and Other Realms, Volume One

With this year nearing its close, I wanted to come back here and give you some previews of what is coming in 2014. I've been trying to establish a bit of a plan for how I would work on different books and coordinate those projects with a publication schedule through my publishing company. When you try to balance the tightrope that is writing and publishing, you learn that not having a plan can lead to difficulties over the long-term.

I'm hoping to change that. I have two books coming out in the near future with a couple more on the way. At this time, I thought it would be nice to give you a taste of what's to come by showing you the covers to The Darkness Of The Deep, my first published fantasy novel since A Kingdom Of Shadows back in 2012.

In the same way, I have a collection of short stories, the first volume in what I'm planning as an ongoing series of collections titled Other Realms. This inaugural issue, Volume One, contains ten original, never-before-published short stories by me. Doing short stories helps keep me balanced between writing novels and novellas so I hope to keep up that work throughout 2014.

Another point I'd like to mention is that a few of my books currently available as ebooks will also make their way into print. (Finally!) I'm excited about those developments too and I will, of course, post about those updates as soon as possible.

2013 was a strange year and a difficult one in many ways. I was able to produce works of fiction despite the changes that were wrought and I'm glad for that. I hope that I'm getting better at this fiction writing thing. Only time will tell. I'm still having fun with all of this. Maybe I'll be able to make a living too.

Catch you later. I'll be updating about publication dates and other information as soon as those are available to me. Happy New Year. Make it a good one.

Update: Killer Of Dragons, Future Books, and Publishing Aims

Well, I wrote a few posts here about my involvement in NaNoWriMo and how I made good progress on a book but ended up not crossing that finish line again. I am here again to report that as of today I finished Killer Of Dragons. The book ended up as a novella, albeit a longer one. I'm happy with the ending and I am now looking at what to write next. The next phases are proofreading and editing. I have work piling up in that category and hope to get everything in line for a series of 2014 releases. My publishing company has sat idle this year and I am more than ready to end that trend for good.

Although I've started looking at possible plans for future writing, I don't know what book will come next. I have a few sequels in mind for books that I have out. This doesn't mean I'll start them right away only that I will have one or more of them done this year. Whatever plans I have must be fluid enough to work with my process as a storyteller.

I've put titles I have for books in a tentative writing/publishing list. That is a good first step for me, an outline for going forward. I've thought about doing it for the next couple of years or so just so I can have a bit of forward thinking without over-committing.

As far as completed projects are concerned, I have several waiting in the wings as well as some WIPs that I may or may not complete. All of these efforts are done in the name of organization. I'm pretty bad about organization. I want to get better but, well, you know, it takes time.

I'll be updating here with some of the projects developments and hopefully coming back with some other writings as well. I haven't done a "Dear Writer" column in a while.

Thanks for checking in folks.

Dear Writer: Writing Plans

"The work never matches the dream of perfection the artist has to start with." 
~William Faulkner

I've been over this many times already. I've made plans about the books and stories I planned to write during a given period of time. None of those plans have panned out. Right now, I'm contemplating the formulation of another plan and also wondering if it is all for naught. (Yeah, just a bit of melodrama in my choice of words, I know.) But, I'm still going to make another plan. I recognize the importance of having some sort of plan even if it isn't a detailed one. It's something that many writers agree about at least in theory though often those plans never get past the first thoughts had about them.

I think one of the reasons I keep thinking in terms of plans is that I am also an indie publisher. Publishers have plans and schedules for publications that need to hit. Meeting deadlines is even more important when you're trying to build up an inventory of titles. Publishing imprints have regular monthly releases. This present a unique set of challenges for a writer who is trying supply the new books and stories to fill that list month after month.

I have not established any reliable schedule of writing to get that new material published, but I am well aware that it is exactly what I need to be hard at work doing. If I were able to make a realistic plan for writing new books and stories, I would be able to make measureable progress towards publishing goals too. I want the viablity of an imprint that is releasing titles regularly. The more titles that are up and available for purchase, the more likely I am to approach earnings that constitute a viable living.

If there is one thing I've learned as a freelancer it is that having multiple income streams is a far safer way than being totally reliant on a single income source. Relating this fact to writing plans it is clear that if I plan to produce a certain amount of stories over a given period of time I create the chance that those stories will sell in modest amounts, combining those smaller numbers to produce a decent amount of money each month.

Is this guaranteed money like working for a wage would be? No, not exactly. You are beholden to readers to buy those stories. I am not saying that traditional jobs are just more secure than freelancing and indie publishing are. They often are not anymore stable. Employers can hire one day and then fire or layoff the next. You can't count on an employer to always be there.

The bottom line is that nothing is ever certain. The same is true of any plan. Plans do not always go off without a hitch. More often, they fall apart when you get started making reevaluation and improvisation the norm. Does these facts mean that you should just skip a writing plan? No. I don't think so. It is always good to have a working blueprint of how you'd like things to go. Sure, life will get in the way of those carefully crafted plans, chew them up, and spit them out. But you can always draw up new ones and keep going. Better yet, have contingencies so you're prepared for failures. They will happen. If you can hit the ground running with a new plan, you minimize how your writing production is impacted.

Writing plans allow the writer a level of flexibility that they do not always afford themselves when lost in the white heat of creation. Some writer (this writer included) don't do any real planning when it comes to writing stories so any writing plan has to account for that and focus on general principles like how many stories to shoot for during a given timeframe.

So what is next for me, Dear Writer? Well, I think I need to make a new writing plan. Wish me luck. I wish you the same in all that you do.