Today, I did essentially nothing outside of work. I also don't care. Feeling burned out. Will be better tomorrow as today it was demonstrably my occasional iron deficiency conspiring with heavy snow weather sluggishness.
Am Reading: January 2014
One of my big goals for the year was to do more reading again, so here goes a little list of what I read book-wise in the last month (let's not bother with the online reading, re-reads, or anything reading-in-progress; I do too much of that):
- Return to Me by Lynn Austin - mixed feelings
- The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult - loved
- Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn - liked a lot, want the next one
- Delirium by Susan Kaye Quinn - excellent; bought the whole season based on it
- Agony by Susan Kaye Quinn - slightly annoying, lots of setup, but interesting enough to keep going
- Debt Collector, Season 1, by Susan Kaye Quinn - mixed feelings, stayed interested
- Wild Seed by Octavia Butler - fascinated by it and will reread often
- Mind of My Mind by Octavia Butler - loved it at first and hated with fiery passion the ending, will never read again and try to expunge it from my memory banks
- The Drought by Allowyn Nyrti - had a hard time getting into it at first, then fell back in love
- Honor of the Queen by David Weber - as good as Basilisk and loaded with great characters on all sides, loved
- The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner - I read The Thief when I was fourteen and taking a writing course at the suggestion of my instructor. Adored the book and this follow-up just blew it out of the water.
- The Flood by Allowyn Nyrti - Sucked me right in, but I procrastinated on finishing it because I didn't want the story to end just yet. Bad me. Awesome stuff then ended on another cliffhanger. I'm getting an amicable grudge against this author.
- The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner - Not enough Gen but I loved every second of this book
- Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner - Again, amazing, if much harder to take
- The Short Victorious War by David Weber - loved
- Field of Dishonor by David Weber - wept and hated and loved
This breaks down to:
- 14 novel-length books*
*Delirium and Agony were parts of Debt Collector, Season 1, which is itself equivalent to one large novel-length book, though it is also an omnibus and thus a series.
which break down further to:
- 1 stand-alone novel
- 2 complete series
- 3 first novels in a series
- 1 finished a previously started series
- 2 reading through a series
- 1 stopped reading a series
Genres:
- 1 Biblical Fiction
- 1 Literary Fiction
- 1 YA Science Fiction
- 5 General Science Fiction
- 3 Fantasy
- 3 Military Science Fiction
Publisher:
- 9 traditionally published
- 2 indie published
- 2 not yet published
Picking Myself Up. Sort of.
Picking myself up. A bit. I got a gift sent and an end of January scribble post done. I haven’t finished my end of January reading post just yet. Signed up for the Invisible Ficathon, but still have to write my letter/prompts for it.
I didn’t actually decide to write a fanfic, but I did write a fanfic, so. Started on Tracing Trouble at 2569 words. We’re getting somewhere. Ended at 2857.
Finished my letter/prompts.
Accidentally wrote another 879 words. A poem snippet came to me and it opened a story I'm not supposed to be writing right now! But then, I have been wanting to work on something truly still in the abyss, without considering the parameters. I have a theory about plot and my thinking process, but I'll share more about that later. Updating word counts.
Word Counts:
- Fiction: 1950 words
- Blog: 1079 words
February Totals
Pieces Started
- Fanfic: "Wholeness of Self," one-shot.
- Fiction: Hear the Stars, novella.
Completed Pieces
- Fanfic: “Wholeness of Self,” 783 words.
End of January Post
So I wrote a lot and did a lot, even though I definitely didn't write enough. Ah, well.
Lessons Learned
- Apparently, it takes me a while to really fully recover from heavy emotional blows.
- Publishing slows me down if I mix it in with writing. I knew that but forgot it. I didn't even finish getting Dowse and Bleed published and will have to rethink how I fit publishing in the schedule.
- Layering in on top of stuff I've already written pretty much requires me to go into a bubble. Writing a quick, rough novel draft goes much faster if I can bounce it off of someone else whenever I hit a wall. Writing a quick, rough short draft pretty much requires knowing too little or too much; it's that semi-ignorance that stops me cold.
- Reading to 2 o'clock in the morning is a very bad idea. Stop picking up novels at 11 p.m.
- Reading can radically alter which story I can write. Be very careful of what you read when.
- I had forgotten my old style of story creation when I was just a wee thing. It went like this: I had certain kinds of stories I liked, which usually involved special powers and often romance. I would create a premise and plunk in my favored pairing of the moment and all their family dynamics with others, then play it all out in my head for weeks on end. Eventually, I got too good at this. I could play through an entire story in a couple of hours because my brain had dissected the inevitable path. If you'll recall my rule of story process:
Know your characters, the rules of your world, and a handful of outside factors to fling at them. The rest will be unpredictable—even to you, but inevitable.
The instant of predictability killed the story for me because it would wrap too quickly. So I got very, very good at adding more twists, more obstacles, more cultural or biological issues to get in the way, more trauma, more angst, until I could still play out my stories for weeks because I had backed my characters into some awful corners and inescapable difficulties.
Which means that outlining kills a story for me because the instant of predictability, I lose all interest in a story unless I've already hit the home stretch of writing, from the end of the middle through the climax and denouement. Which is also why I tend to sketch instead of fill out a story the way I ought to. :headdesk: Lesson learned.
- I write waaay better and more if I do not browse the industry blogs first. I write waaaay better if I do not read someone else's fiction first. New rule of thumb ought to be, Write first.
- Self-discipline is a virtue. Learn it!
Word Counts
January 31, 2014
- Fiction: 0 words
- Poetry: 85 words | 21 lines
- Blog: 33 words
January Totals
- Fiction: 17,392 words
- Poetry: 498 words | 102 lines
- Blog: 8030 words
Completed Pieces
- Poem: "Before My Eyes," 220 words | 47 lines.
- Fanfic: "Mistakes," 1397 words.
- Poem: "Writer's Social Therapy," 32 words | 4 lines.
- Poem: "Blanket Statements," 8 lines| 48 words.
- Poem: "Friends Like These," 24 lines | 121 words.
- Poem: “Empty Spaces,” 7 lines | 20 words.
- Poem: “The Soundless Scream,” 5 lines | 22 words.
- Poem: “Like a Light,” 9 lines | 43 words.
Reeling
Got bad personal news this morning. Can't talk about it and don't want to, but if I don't get back to anyone about almost anything for a few days, that's why. I'm coping. Barely.
Today's Trenches
Publishing
So I’ve been collaborating and publishing these last few days, and my fingers are itching to get back to my cover art to get it corrected for Createspace. I’m ready to order my proofs and get it off to bed, seriously.
Blogging
In the meantime, I discovered again a deplorable lack of information out there about genre. Most of the intensive information is workshops and classes. I want a reference book. So I’ll be adding into my already over-scattered writing schedule to put together a reference work called The Indie Author Guide to Genre, where I get to cover BISAC, Amazon, cross-genre, subgenres, and examples of how broad the scope of these genres can really be.
Then I’m also going to start putting together some tutorials on the Pods CMS plugin for my own benefit due to the fact that it is deplorably underdocumented and I use it extensively here and exclusively for my new series bible setup. I don’t know PHP. I don’t know SQL. I want an awesome site. Surely that's not too much to ask. :grins:
I’ll put both of these series under cuts so you can skip them if you want.
Writing
Didn’t do so good today, but it was a busy workday and I had to run to break on lunch. I got a chapter tweaked though and it’s off to the collaborator for editing and/or general assessment.
I look at how fast other writers produce and how they do it and I find myself wondering what in the world besides overthinking is holding me back, but then I remember it’s not always overthinking but sometimes sheer ignorance that must be rectified before my thinking actually produces anything of value again. Why do I insist on writing things that require me not to be ignorant?
Scribbling snippets here and there and not big ones, but they're coming.
Series Bible
As mentioned above, I think I’ve got a decent series bible setup now. It’s sparse because I’m focusing on canonical data and current WIP and building the site before focusing on filling everything out, but it exists. This is good.
Fandom
Sign-ups for the Invisible Ficathon start tomorrow. Yay!
Word Counts
In the Writerly Trenches
So did the back and forth on the collaboration for 1201 words. I probably need to get to Tracing Trouble or Splintered Gates at some point today. I've put off getting entirely back into the flow and this is a trenching day, so here goes.
Started Splintered Gates short as 1225 words and got as far as 1289, which is not far. Hm. Got the opening scene in at 513 words. Yay.
There goes another 270 words on the collaboration. Random snippet again. This thing's going to be a monster. We probably will have to break it up in multiple books when all's said and done. Hopefully not, but I see it coming.
Collaborator liked the scene and asked for a follow-up, and there went 277 more words.
Word Counts
Snippeting Out Some Fiction
So to give an update on yesterday's numbers, we got back in the swing of things a bit. Added barely a smidgeon to my short story, but I snippeted and edited and scribbled my way through more than 1400 words of collaboration. That makes me happy.
Word Counts Continue reading
Scribbling in Earnest Again
January 23, 2014
Wrote the stuff tumbling in my brain, then did comment back and forth with thecatisacritic. It was a good day.
- 1889 words on collaboration
- 240 words on Splintered Gates short story
- 161 words on blog
- 32 lines, 169 words on poetry
Completed Pieces
- "Blanket Statements," 8 lines| 48 words
- "Friends Like These," 24 lines | 121 words
January 24, 2014
Started with 283 words on Tracing Trouble. I was percolating both that and the Splintered Gates short story this morning. So 107 words on the short. I know the whole opening and another scene I need to write with Andi when the two crafts are first given ‘bodies,’ but there’s the matter of other things to write. :le sigh:
I was getting ready to hit the collaboration when work got crazy busy, and that was that. For everything.
January 25, 2014
Sabbath and feeling too sick and tired to do anything. At all.