R.M. Archer's Blog, page 27

Self-Publishing 101: What NOT to Do

Over the past few weeks I’ve talked about the pros and cons of both traditional and indie publishing, what’s really involved in self-publishing, and what you can get away without. This week, I’m going over the things NOT to do if you’ve decided to self-publish.

Don’t Publish Your First Draft

I’m sure most of you know this already, but let me just reiterate… DO NOT PUBLISH A FIRST DRAFT. First drafts are messy, riddled with both grammatical errors and structural problems. They’re great for building off of, but they are not for displaying. At least in the vast majority of cases. I’m sure there are authors who edit as they go or something like that and put out really “clean” first drafts, but the average first draft is not of a high enough caliber to publish confidently. Definitely take the time to edit your book until it’s something you truly feel you can be proud to share. And even if you’re a younger writer and your best isn’t equal to the best of a more experienced writer, that’s okay. Just make sure that you’ve put in as much effort as you can to put out a quality book.

Don’t Give a First Draft to an Editor

As I said in a past post, it’s not an editor’s job to fix all your messes. “That giant mess is your job; the editor is to catch the issues you only don’t notice because you wrote it and you know things the reader doesn’t.” Before giving your story to an editor, make it the best you can on your own and maybe beta readers. Fix as many problems as you can on your own, and then give it to an editor to catch things you missed, whether because you’re too close to the story or because there are things you haven’t learned yet. (And hiring an editor can be a great learning experience!)

Don’t Leap Into Editing Blindly

When you do hire an editor, don’t do it without looking into options and communicating with the editor you want to work with. When I was first intending to publish a novel in early 2018, I hired the first editor who offered to work with me and didn’t communicate with her what I was expecting. I ended up with a copy-editor rather than a developmental editor, so she fixed up the words but the story itself was still a disaster. (She did an excellent job of copy-editing, and I don’t place any blame on her.) When looking for an editor, you should know what sort of editing you’re looking for (developmental, line-editing, or copy-editing) and you should make sure your editor works with your genre. Most editors will offer a free sample of their work, which will help both of you sort out whether or not you’re a good fit.

Don’t Make Your Own Cover

This is more of a general rule thing than an absolute. (I guess all of these things are, really, but this one in particular.) Most writers are not graphic designers or artists. I’ve also known a good number who are, but they’re not the majority. Most writers don’t have the skill to make professional-level covers (myself included), and sub-par covers attract less attention than professional-caliber covers. So if you want your book to look as good as it can, I’d recommend hiring a professional cover designer to make you a high-caliber cover.

BONUS: I also don’t recommend getting covers featuring people unless the characters are part of original artwork. They almost always look forced onto the cover and less professional. (Or maybe that’s a personal preference thing; I know a lot of people get covers like this. But I generally steer clear of books with this style of cover because they look unprofessional to me. So I don’t know. It could be personal taste.)

Don’t Announce Publishing Plans Until You’re Sure

Another mistake I made with my novel in 2018 (House of Mages) was announcing that I was publishing when I was still on the first or second draft. After that announcement, I went through a stage of despising my draft, made a myriad of mistakes in the editing process, had no timeline to follow, bought a cover too early… Just… don’t announce your intentions to publish until you’re confident in the quality of your work and you have a plan in place for getting it to the final stage. I can’t tell you exactly when this will be; with some books it could be the fourth draft, with others it could be the thirty-second (and no, I’m not exaggerating). But be sure you’re confident in your work and it’s not only book-baby love from a just-finished book before you announce publication plans.

BONUS: Don’t buy a cover until you’re sure you’re publishing, either. If you change your mind and already have a cover, that cover will sit around unused unless and until you pick the book back up later, and chances are the cover won’t even fit anymore by the time you’re done with a reboot of your book.

Don’t Rush

Publishing is a long, long process. It gets faster the more you do it and learn what process works best for you, I’d imagine, but it still takes a while, and there are often unforeseen setbacks. If you try to rush through publishing, you’re going to miss things, you’re going to cut corners, and you’re not going to put out the best-quality product you could. I’m not saying your book should–or can be–perfect, but you don’t want it to be thrown together, either. So take your time. Learn the lessons along the way. Enjoy the process. And then, when you get to the moment of publication, you can be proud of all the work you’ve done and the quality of your work.

And that’s a wrap on this series! What did you find most helpful? Was there anything you’d like to read about in more detail? Let me know in the comments!

 

 

 

 

 

NaNoWriMo Week 4 Check-In

Today is the last day of NaNoWriMo, and a week ago things were looking sketchy. I was seriously wondering if I would win. But…

Current total word count: 50,073

Favorite snippet from this week: (Apologies for redacting so much, but there are few enough characters that even the gender would lower down options considerably, so pronouns have been redacted along with the character’s name.)

When Sairsha stepped into the hospital, Riye was in the front room mixing a tonic.

Riye looked up from her work. “Zen shouldn’t see anyone yet.”

“It’s not him I’m here to see. Is [SPOILERS] still here?”

Riye shook her head. “He headed for the guild right after dropping off Zen.”

Sairsha nodded. “Thank you.” Sairsha turned, but stopped and looked back at Riye. “How is Zen?”

Riye’s expression was far too uncertain for Sairsha’s liking. “He’s still alive. I don’t know for how much longer. The ginger doesn’t seem to be doing much. I’m trying, but… I don’t know.”

Sairsha bit her lip, taking a deep breath to steady herself again as tears threatened to well in her eyes. “Thanks.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. She hurried out of the hospital and broke as soon as she’d stepped into the puliquan. She fell to her hands and knees, eyes squeezed shut, sobs wracking her shoulders and making everything tight in her chest. She could barely breathe, and the heat wasn’t helping. Her fingers dug into the dirt, which caked under her nails as she curled them into a fist. A yell tore from her throat, scraping at her vocal chords. She pounded the ground with her fist until her fingers finally throbbed and ached.

Sairsha sat up and opened her eyes though hot tears still streamed down her face and dampened her skirt. How could [SPOILERS] have done something like this? Not only breaking the rules, which was bad enough, but also betraying her directly? Changing her past without her permission… It was a deep violation, and Sairsha wanted to make [SPOILERS] hurt for it. But there was also something in her that couldn’t hate [SPOILERS]. Something that wanted to forgive the unforgivable, because [SPOILERS] was her friend. Because they knew each other. Because she loved [SPOILERS] and didn’t want to hate [SPOILERS].

But she did want to hate [SPOILERS]! The other side of her said [SPOILERS] was awful, that this unwound everything they’d created in all the years they’d been friends, that this was the absolute end and [SPOILERS] had no right to be forgiven. She wanted to swear [SPOILERS] off forever. Break ties completely.

Because… because…

She didn’t know why. She couldn’t figure out why the two sides of her both raged so strongly, why she could want two such opposite things at exactly the same time.

But regardless…

Sairsha stood and brushed off her hands, followed by her skirt. She wiped her tears and wrested her curls into one long braid.

Striding toward the guild once more, Sairsha took a deep breath. Maybe she could at least use that hatred to her advantage and keep from crying.

Biggest challenge this week: Catching up. I was 15k behind.

Biggest success this week: I wrote 15,125 words yesterday! :D I devoted the entire day to writing, and it paid off! I caught up, and I had less than 2k to write today in order to win. I also finished the first draft of Calligraphy Guild yesterday afternoon, so I’ve been working on a backup project to complete the word count and that has also been going smoothly. So overall… several big wins this week! :)

If you were participating, how did NaNo go for you? If you’re still writing furiously, I’m cheering for you! :D If you weren’t participating in NaNo, how did this month go for you, overall? How was your Thanksgiving? Did you get any writing done? I’d love to chat with you in the comments!

Self-Publishing 101: Non-Negotiables (and what you can get away without)

Last week I wrote about the (extensive) ideal process of self-publishing a book. However, sometimes the ideal isn’t plausible, your goals aren’t for a long-term career, you just want a foot in the door, etc. There’s a long list of reasons you could get away with only adhering to some parts of that list. So this week I’ll be discussing which items on the list are non-negotiable and which can be waived. I’m pulling all of these steps directly from my previous post, so check that out for explanations of what I consider each step to entail.

Step 1: Write the First Draft

Obviously this is non-negotiable. You can’t publish a book that hasn’t been written. ;)

Step 2: Edit on the Macro Level

Also non-negotiable. You need to make sure your book is structurally sound (or at least mostly sound) if you want to put forward a good-quality book. But how many drafts this takes can depend on how serious you are with this particular book, how much work it needed in the first place, etc.

Step 3: Hire a Developmental Editor

This one is more flexible. Especially if you’re solid on story structure, you can often skip this step and still put out a good-quality story. It’s not likely to be as perfect as if you had hired a professional editor, but it’s definitely possible for your book to still be good without this step.

If you decide not to hire an editor, though, I do recommend at least getting a handful of beta-readers to give you feedback, because an outside set of eyes can be super helpful at pulling out issues you hadn’t seen before (and more than one set is even better).

Step 4: Build a Marketing Timeline

A marketing timeline will make your marketing efforts easier, but it is theoretically optional. Especially if you’re not looking to make a whole lot of money off your book, you might not need to focus on the marketing side of things as much as you otherwise would. For instance, I didn’t have a timeline or any pointed marketing plans with Short Story Collection Vol. 1 because I knew short stories aren’t my focus, half of the stories connect to a universe I haven’t published any longer works in… etc. As a result, I haven’t gotten nearly as much exposure to that book, but that was my intention from the beginning.

Step 5: Edit on the Sentence Level

It could be debated whether or not this option is required or not. In this step, you tweak your wording and sentences to best fit the tone and voice of your book. This will significantly strengthen your writing, especially if you’re aiming for a more poetic or descriptive voice. However, it’s also possible to get away without this (especially if you have a more simple voice) and most readers aren’t likely to notice anything’s missing unless you have significantly ill-fitting wording choices. So… this one is more up to you. I didn’t do a whole lot of line-editing on either of my short story collections, beyond structural issues, but I intend to do a lot more with it in my future works.

Step 6: Copy-Edit

This is 100% non-negotiable. People’s opinions of your book will take a HUGE hit if your book is riddled with grammatical and spelling errors. If grammar isn’t your strong suit, give your book to someone who’s better at those areas and let them help you. My biggest complaint with most indie-published books is the frequency of grammatical errors. So please don’t harm your readers’ enjoyment of a fantastic book just because you didn’t get a copy-editor.

Step 7: Get Formatting Done

Your book has to be formatted. If you want it to be readable, it needs to be formatted like a book. However, your formatting doesn’t have to be fancy. If you’re decently handy with Microsoft Word and Google, you can probably manage to do this by yourself. If you’re not confident in your own skills, you can see if you know anyone who is and is willing to format for you, or you can hire a formatting professional. Like I said in last week’s post, which option is best for you will depend on several factors.

Step 8: Acquire a Cover

A cover is, obviously, non-negotiable. How you get that cover is up to you. A homemade cover is often not as good quality as a professional cover, but that doesn’t mean homemade covers are always bad, either. So if an eye-grabbing cover isn’t your priority, you can probably make your own cover or get a friend to do it. If you want a really, really good cover, buying one is probably a better option.

Step 9: Set Up Your Book

You can’t publish your book without setting it up in your chosen publishing platform.

Step 10: Find ARC Readers

Like the marketing timeline, this is a marketing step that you might not find important for your book. ARC readers help your book get more visibility, but that’s not always a requirement.

Step 11: Order a Proof

I recommend this step, but it’s not technically necessary. If you want to be 100% sure your formatting and everything works in print, order a proof. If you’re ready to trust that everything worked, you can go ahead and skip this step. (I’ve gone both routes, and both choices worked. But it’s safer to order a proof.)

Step 12: Send ARCs

See “Find ARC Readers.”

Step 13: Head Into Your Marketing Plan

See “Build a Marketing Timeline.”

Step 14: Launch Your Book!

Hit the publish button on your chosen publishing platform and watch your book enter the world. Congratulations! You’re a published author! Shout it from the rooftops and don’t be afraid to be proud of your work! You’ve done a lot to reach this point. You’ve earned some celebration!

Step 15: Continue Marketing

If you want your book to continue being seen after it’s been launched, this is something you’ll have to do to some degree or another. If visibility isn’t a huge thing to you, you can do this a lot less. Just know that your book won’t get read nearly as much as if you brought it up even just once a month or something.

NaNoWriMo Week 3 Check-In

Yes, this is late. Life has been craaaaazy, and I’ve burnt out a little. :P But better late than never, right?

Can you believe there’s less than a week left in November? Anyone else feel like the month just flew by?

Current total word count: 30,693 (why yes, I am 10k+ behind. thanks for asking)

Favorite snippet from this week:

Makio turned back to Tora. “Take care of yourself, okay? I don’t want you getting yourself into any more trouble than you have to. Come home in one piece.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Makio wrapped Tora in a hug. “I love you, Mixa.”

Tora groaned. “You know I hate that nickname.” She pulled away and punched him half-heartedly in the arm.

Makio grinned. “You love me anyway.”

Tora sighed. “Yes.” She looked up at him. “I love you.” She smirked. “Even if you are obnoxious sometimes.”

Makio chuckled. “It’s my job as an older brother.” He ruffled her hair, earning another eye roll.

Tora walked over to Zen, and Makio came over to Duyên.

“Hey.” Makio tugged on Duyên’s braid. “You take care of yourself, too, okay Nỏcha?”

Duyên nodded. “I’ll look out for Tora, too.”

Makio smiled. “I know you will.” He looked over at Ryuu. “And you take care of them both.” Makio slapped Ryuu’s shoulder. “I trust you.”

Ryuu nodded. “I will.”

Makio returned the nod.

“Look out for Riye,” Duyên blurted.

Makio looked down at Duyên with wide eyes.

“She’s been… off lately. Just… make sure she’s okay, and make sure she knows someone’s there for her.”

Makio nodded slowly. “Okay.” He turned toward the door, but immediately turned back. “Why me?”

Duyên smiled. “I trust you.” And I trust you to care about her.

“Th-thanks.” His brow furrowed, like he knew she’d left something out and wanted to know what, but he just tugged on her braid again and said, “Gossalu be with you,” before leaving the guild.

Biggest challenge this week: Well… I’ve written less than 7k this week due to a bunch of social engagements (which have been fun, for the most part, just time-consuming) and burn-out. And I have a tendency to not really take care of my burn-out, but just try to keep pushing myself, which doesn’t actually work and just makes me feel guilty because I’m not getting anything done. Fortunately, I’m working to be more aware of that and yesterday I gave myself a day to just relax and allow myself to do nothing, and I think that really helped.

Biggest success this week: I’m approaching the climax! I don’t actually know what the climax is going to look like, because my outline runs out before that point, BUT I know some of the action leading up to it and it’s going to be so fun!

PFW Sale Announcement!

Sooooo, my favorite group of indie authors ever (if you haven’t heard of the Phoenix Fiction Writers by now you’re either new or you’ve not been paying any attention) holds a sale every year, so you can get a good number of their books and their merch at a significant discount. If you’ve been procrastinating on getting one (or more) of their books, now is the time to stop putting that off. If you’ve read their books and/or think friends or family members would enjoy them, now is a great time to order Christmas gifts. Or, if you just want to expand your collection (does anyone else have a PFW collection? No? Just me?), now is a great time for that, too!

PFW has more detailed prices on their site, which is unfortunately down until the sale starts. But there are some awesome sales going on, so head over there or get on Amazon from November 29th to December 2nd and pick up some of these awesome books!

And I do my best to never blindly promote books (I did that once and I had to eat my words afterward, unfortunately. :/). I truly trust the quality of these books, and I’ve read and reviewed several already. You can see my honest reviews here:

Colors of Fear by Hannah Heath

Antiheroes by The Phoenix Fiction Writers

The Raventree Society: Season 1 by J.E. Purrazzi

The Hidden Queen by Janelle Garrett

The Traveler by E.B. Dawson

Child of the Kaites by Beth Wangler

Sounds of Deceit by Hannah Heath

Strange Waters by The Phoenix Fiction Writers

The Beast of Talesend by Kyle Robert Shultz (5 stars)

Flames of Courage by Hannah Heath (5 stars)

Lost Empire Short Stories by E.B. Dawson (5 stars)

Self-Publishing 101: What Does It Really Take?

Last week I talked about the pros and cons of self-publishing versus traditional publishing, and this week I want to talk about what indie publishing really entails. From first draft to marketing after you’ve published, self-publishing (and traditional publishing) takes a lot of time and effort, and I want to shine a light on some of the concrete steps that have to be taken in self-publishing.

If You’re Not Publishing for a Career…

This whole post series is primarily targeted at writers who intend to make a career out of self-publishing, but some things on this list should be done regardless of your intentions with self-publishing (which I’ll discuss more in-depth in my post on non-negotiables in a few weeks). And even if you’re just publishing for fun or as a one-time thing right now, it can be helpful to know what the extra mile looks like. Most of my current published works didn’t go through all of these steps, because short stories aren’t my focus so I haven’t paid for them as much as I would for a novel. For serious novels, I intend to follow this model. (But that doesn’t mean it’s the only model.)

Step 1: Write the First Draft

Obviously, this is a necessary first step. The great thing about self-publishing, though, is that this step can take as much or as little time as it needs. If you’re a slower writer and it takes you a year to write a first draft, that’s all right. There’s no rush on self-publishing (unless maybe you get a really great fanbase and they want books faster, but even so, whether or not you let them push you is up to you; that can be a good challenge or it can be a damper on the creative process, and which it is depends on the individual writer).

I recommend keeping a running list of things to edit as you go, both so you have a starting point when you start the next draft and so you can temporarily silence your inner editor and keep moving forward with the drafting process. But that’s just a personal tip.

Step 2: Edit on the Macro Level

This is something you’ll want to do on your own. Set aside the first draft for a while (until you think you can look at it objectively; in some rare cases you might not even have to wait, but under most circumstances I’d recommend setting it aside so you can look at the story with fresh eyes), and then come back to it and start going through it looking for big things to edit. Plot holes, character arc problems, adding or rearranging scenes… Start with the big stuff, because the small stuff will change with it and you don’t want to do all the detail work just to mess it up. You don’t paint the walls before you do the remodeling. If you made a list of edits during your first draft, see if you mentioned any macro-edits (remodeling edits) then that you’ve forgotten. And, obviously, look for anything you didn’t see while in the midst of writing.

This draft can take a while, as you troubleshoot and are likely to end up rewriting (or adding) whole sections of your novel. You might find it helpful to have a brainstorming buddy as you go, to help you work through the worst trouble spots.

Step 3: Hire a Developmental Editor

Once you’ve caught as many of the structural issues in your novel as you can on your own, it’s time to hire a professional. I’d recommend actually shelling out money for this step (though you can find affordable editors, so it doesn’t have to be a ton of money), but if you’re fortunate enough to have a trained editor in your family or friend group you might be able to get this done for free. Just be aware that you often get what you pay for. Another option, either in addition to or instead of a professional editor, is to get a group of trusted beta-readers to look over your book.

The benefit of hiring an editor is that they’re both trained in story structure (often) as well as simply an outside perspective. It’s easy to overlook issues in our own work because we see them as they should be rather than necessarily as they should be, or we see them as writers rather than readers, while an editor has no personal connection to your story and doesn’t have those handicaps in finding the problems in your book.

At the end of the day, though, remember that this is your novel and you don’t have to take all of the suggestions your editor gives you. It’s often a good idea to take most of them, but if you think one of their suggestions really doesn’t fit with your story, you don’t have to take it. And you have particular freedom with that when you choose to indie-publish.

Step 4: Build a Marketing Timeline

At this point, you’re pretty committed to seeing your book published. Awesome! You’ve survived the Valley of Book Hate that you almost certainly fell into during at least one set of developmental edits and you’re back on track to rekindling your excitement (or maybe you already have) and you can start looking toward marketing it to other people. Here(ish) you’ll be able to build a semi-accurate timeline of your publishing and marketing plans. This can be a complicated process, because there’s a lot to do to publish and market your book. Here are some of the things you’ll need to schedule in:

Buying/making a book cover
Formatting your book’s interior for both print and ebook (or hiring someone else to do it)
Building/commissioning graphics for marketing purposes (quote graphics, blurb graphics, cover graphics…)
The actual release date
The last of the edits
Finding ARC readers
Ordering ARCs (if you’re doing physical versions)
Ordering a proof copy to double-check formatting
Sending out ARCs
Launch parties (usually hosted on social media; and don’t forget the prep for those)

(I’ll go more in-depth on the specifics of some of these things later in the post.)

Step 5: Edit on the Sentence Level

After you’ve fully addressed your remodeling (which is likely to take several drafts), you can paint the walls. Line edits are making sure all that your sentences fit the story and are worded to their utmost potential. Adding description (which could go in the structural draft or this one, depending on how much you need to add) and adapting it to fit the tone and character voice of the novel, tweaking dialogue to best match your characters’ voices, working in motifs through your word choice (if you have a musically-themed story, for instance, using a lot of sound-related words could be really effective to bring the writing together), etc. All of the sentence-level issues are tackled in this draft.

Step 6: Copy-Edit

Once you’ve polished your sentences as much as you can in word choice, comb over your novel for grammatical errors. Spelling errors, incorrect formatting, incorrect punctuation, etc. All of that gets fixed in this draft.

You’ll definitely want to get a second set of eyes for this step, after you’ve gone over it on your own, because even the best of us can miss little errors like these (especially when we’ve been looking at the same words for ages and we know how they’re supposed to read) and having an experienced second set of eyes–whether a professional copy-editor or your friend who’s practically human autocorrect–can be a huge help in making the content of your book as professional as it can be.

Step 7: Get Formatting Done

Depending on how fancy you want your formatting to be, you might be able to teach yourself to do the formatting of your book. Or you might know someone who can do it well for free or cheap. Or you might have to hire someone to format your book for you. It depends on what you want your book to look like, what connections you have, and how easily you pick up skills. So far, I’ve had one book formatted by my dad and the other I formatted myself (and I actually had a lot of fun with it, even though I’ve found formatting to be one of the most frustrating steps, lol). But formatting is a tricky business, so you might find it a better fit to get someone else to help. *shrugs* It totally depends on your skills and priorities.

Step 8: Acquire a Cover

In general, I’d recommend against putting a cover together yourself. This often results in less-than-professional-looking covers, and despite what people may say, readers do judge books by their covers. If you have experience in design, go for it, but otherwise it’s probably a better bet to pay for a professional cover. Even then, though, you’ll want to be careful you get a cover that matches your genre, the tone of your book, etc. If you get a romance cover for your fantasy novel, chances are you’re going to hit entirely the wrong audience and you’ll get a bunch of bad reviews because your book was improperly advertised by its cover. Or it’ll simply be skipped over altogether because it’ll show up in fantasy circles but readers will assume it’s incorrectly categorized or that you didn’t make an effort to get a proper cover for it. Basically… a cover is serious business.

Now, full disclosure, I’ve designed (or co-designed with my mom) all of my covers up to this point. But 1) I’m aware they’re lower-caliber than if I’d paid for a cover to be made, and 2) I chose that route because I know both my mom and I have a good enough eye to make a passable cover (okay, SSCv.1 is a little questionable, but everything about that book is a little questionable as far as quality, so…) and I know short stories aren’t my primary focus so I don’t need them to be as eye-grabbing. When I publish my novels, I fully intend to buy professional covers/art.

Step 9: Set Up Your Book

How exactly setup works will depend on what platform you’re using to publish your book, but you’ll need to upload your cover, your book file, and put in keywords, categories, and your book’s blurb. This is a pretty intuitive process in Kindle Direct Publishing, which is what I’ve used for all of my books (including several I only printed once), but I can’t speak to the process in other platforms.

Step 10: Find ARC Readers

ARC (Advance Reader Copies) readers are people who agree to review your book in exchange for a free copy (most often an ebook copy, since that’s cheaper, but you could do print if you really wanted to) in advance. Generally they’ll review the book in the days surrounding your launch.

How do you find ARC readers? If you already have a newsletter or a blog, start by asking your readers there. Beyond that, family and friends who read and review your genre and people in your writing groups can be good people to ask.

Generally, the easiest way to keep track of ARC readers is to set up a form and collect contact info, what dates work best for people to post their reviews, etc. through that.

Step 11: Order a Proof

Once your book is set up, you’ll be able to order a print proof of your book to make sure the formatting is all as it should be in physical form, comb over one more time for typos or grammatical errors, that kind of thing. Make sure there aren’t any issues with the cover, the interior formatting, etc. Once you’ve checked it over, either tweak your files or approve it as is appropriate. Ideally, you should probably order a new proof every time you make changes, just to make sure nothing has shifted weird, but it may be sufficient to only order one proof and trust nothing’s going to moved.

You’ll also want to check over your ebook proof to make sure everything is displaying properly there. I found out after publishing Lost Girl that it was shoving words together, even though the document looked fine on my computer, and I had to upload it in a different format. It may be tempting to skip this step, but don’t.

Step 12: Send ARCs

This can be before you’ve fully approved the proofs, since ARC readers generally go in with the understanding that they’ll be getting a not-quite-perfect copy (especially if you set that expectation). You want the book to be near-perfect, but your ARC readers will forgive a few uncaught typos or formatting glitches.

If you’re sending e-ARCs, you’ll send PDFs via email. If you’re sending print ARCs, you’ll need to order those and arrange for packaging and postage and then make sure they get sent out.

Step 13: Head Into Your Marketing Plan

What exactly this will entail depends on what platforms you’re focusing your attention on, but this generally involves sharing graphics on social media and can also include a blog tour and/or online launch parties (which require their own set of plans). Social media posts can include countdowns, quote graphics, behind-the-scenes info, character cards, or whatever else you want to come up with. If you can come up with things that relate specifically to your book’s content/themes/etc., bonus points. The goal is just to get your book on people’s radars in a positive way and influence them to buy it when it comes out.

(If you’re interested, I can do an additional post about marketing suggestions and the things I tried for my own books.)

Step 14: Launch Your Book!

Hit the publish button on your chosen publishing platform and watch your book enter the world. Congratulations! You’re a published author! Shout it from the rooftops and don’t be afraid to be proud of your work! You’ve done a lot to reach this point. You’ve earned some celebration!

Step 15: Continue Marketing

Marketing doesn’t stop once your book is published. People won’t stumble across it on their own–at least not a lot of people–unfortunately. You have to continue building hype, continue putting it in front of them, continue making it sound like something they need to read. Just try not to be obnoxious in the process. ;) (In case anyone was wondering… this is the step I struggle with the most, lol.)

Self-publishing is obviously a lot of work, but it’s fairly manageable when you break it down. It’s still stressful, it’s still difficult, but it is manageable (especially if you have help, support, and encouragement), and it’s totally worth it.

What scares you most about publishing? What do you most look forward to? Is there anything else you want to know about the publishing process? Drop your thoughts in the comments!

NaNoWriMo Week 2 Check-In

Current total word count: 23,248 (hoping to get up to 23,500 this evening)

Favorite snippet from this week:

Duyên stepped onto the porch as a peal of thunder rolled in the distance. She looked up at the dark clouds gathering over the jungle and frowned. The sunset was coming faster than usual.

With a quick glance, Duyên spotted Ryuu looking up at the sky before stepping down from the porch. She hurried over to him and set a hand on his arm. “Do you want some company? I could walk you home.”

Ryuu smiled a little and offered her his elbow, but his eyes didn’t hold the sparkle they usually did. “Shouldn’t I be the one walking you home?”

Duyên hooked her arm through his and tried to give a reassuring smile, but she doubted it was effective.

The two of them walked in silence, the thunder growing louder as the storm approached. Duyên set her head against Ryuu’s arm, wishing she could do something more to make him feel better.

Just as the Lai house came into view, raindrops started to hit Duyên’s skin. She raised her head and looked up at Ryuu. “Race you to the door?”

Ryuu chuckled and unhooked his arm from hers. The two of them took off, racing the rain, but the rain turned to a downpour a few feet from the house and they were soaked by the time they stepped onto the porch.

Duyên turned back to Ryuu. “Do you want to borrow an umbrella?”

Ryuu shrugged. “I’ll be all right. Thanks, though.”

Duyên frowned. “Are you sure?”

Ryuu nodded and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Have a good evening, Duyên.”

Duyên watched him head back into the rain and frowned. He wasn’t himself since the dragons, and she had no idea what to do about it.

Biggest challenge this week: Continued lack of motivation has been the big thing this week. I’m still pushing through, but there were three days this week that I didn’t come close to hitting my 2k goal. Tuesday I was struggling so much I only forced myself to write a little more than 100 words and fell behind, so yesterday and today have been catch-up days.

Biggest success this week: I figured out the specifics of one of my magic rules! It’s something that’s been bugging me since I first developed the novel idea, but that I could get away without knowing. But I finally know how it works, and I’m so much more confident in my ability to make everything work now, lol.

How has this week gone for you? Have you hit the mid-month writing slump yet? Is writing a breeze or more of a slow climb through snow? What have your big victories been so far?

Self-Publishing 101: Traditional vs. Indie Publishing

I said I was taking a blogging hiatus… but then I was talking in one of my writing groups about publishing and the pros and cons of traditional and indie publishing, and I realized I could write a whole blog series on publishing. And since a lot of people are going to be working on finishing first drafts this month, it seemed like a decent time. (Not that I’m saying people should publish their first drafts. Definitely edit your work. But the conclusion of a first draft is a good time to start thinking about your long-term plans for it.) Now, most of the posts in this series are going to be about indie/self-publishing, because that’s what I have the most experience with, but this post is all about the benefits and drawbacks of both publishing routes, as far as my knowledge goes.

So let’s get started!

Traditional Publishing
How it works

This is, of course, the most “expected” route, especially if you tell relatives you’re a writer, lol. I don’t know exactly how the process works, since I’ve never personally done it, but from what I understand you finish a draft, polish it as much as it can, and then write up a query letter and synopsis (a few-page summary of your book; not to be confused with a back-cover blurb/synopsis) and send those to agents (along with the first few pages of your manuscript, depending on an individual agent’s guidelines).

After you’ve gotten an agent, the agent will pitch your novel to editors at publishing houses, which will start the actual publishing process. Once they’ve found you an editor willing to take your book, you work with said editor to clean up your book even more. After that, the publishing house will take care of some of the promotional plans, cover design, etc. When the book is published, you’ll get a good chunk of the royalties and the publishing house will get another good chunk.

Cons

You have less creative control over your story. Now, if you’re working with a good editor, they’ll make sure the story stays your own, but they will adjust your book so that it fits more traditional structure and what the market wants (to a degree). Sometimes this isn’t so big a deal, sometimes it’s more so (at least that’s what I’d guess). As far as cover design, the publisher has the final say. The author gives input, but the publisher gets to decide “Okay, that’s enough changes, this is the cover.” (For more on the cover design process in traditional publishing, check out this video by Nadine Brandes.)

It can take a LONG time to get an agent. How long this process takes really depends. Sometimes it’s months, sometimes it’s years. And after that it takes time for them to find an editor who wants to work on the book. So it’s just a long process, generally speaking.

Publishing houses only want novels. In a lot of cases this probably isn’t an issue, but if you write short stories or novellas then looking at anthologies to submit to or self-publishing is definitely a better bet.

You do still have to do marketing. Yes, working with a publishing house gives you access to professional marketing teams and some instant exposure, but you do have to put in your own work and promote your book on your social media, blog, what-have-you. And it’ll need to be an ongoing thing so people don’t forget your book exists.

There are vanity publishers out there posing as traditional publishers, so be sure to do your research. If a publishing house is going to charge you to publish your book, that’s a vanity publisher and you should stay away. I’m not well-versed in vanity publishing, so here’s a Wikipedia article that gives a run-down, but basically if they publish your book at all, they’re not going to treat it as well as a mainstream traditional publisher would; they won’t promote it nearly as much, and they won’t give as high-quality editing, cover design, etc. This is easily avoidable with knowledge and research, but it is a risk in traditional publishing.

You’re often writing under deadline. Depending on how you work, this can be a pro or a con. Traditionally publishers will often put you under deadline to complete your book, and if you’re a slow writer or you have a lot of other responsibilities, this is probably not the greatest thing.

Agents are often looking for books that fit into industry trends. If assassins and love triangles are all the rage in YA fantasy right now and your YA fantasy is about a tailor with no love interest… an agent is less likely to choose your book. That’s just how the industry works. Now, this isn’t to say that a publisher will never choose a book that’s outside of trends–trends have to change somehow–but from my understanding it is harder to get your book picked up if it’s completely outside of the current trends.

Pros

Publishing houses can get your book a LOT more exposure. They have professional marketing teams, there are readers who follow publishing houses so they hear about their new releases, you’ll get more visibility on sites like Goodreads and Amazon… etc. It’s just way easier to get your book seen if you go through a publishing house.

You get paid upfront. You get your royalties when your book is published rather than as it sells. I’m not 100% sure how royalty payments work (if they’re ongoing, how frequently, etc. I just really don’t know), so I’ll just leave it at that.

Editing, cover design, and formatting are all covered by the publishing house. No paying out-of-pocket for freelancers. You work with the publishing house’s designers and editors, who you know are skilled and familiar with your type of book, and you don’t have to pay for those or try to hack things together yourself. (There are some indie authors who are good at, say, cover-design, but they’re very few and far between. And there are also a lot of “professional” cover designers who indie authors go to whose covers aren’t actually that great. But I’ll go more in-depth on that in a future post.)

With traditional publishing, you’ll be told whether or not your book is good enough by professionals who see both good and bad manuscripts all the time, and you’ll be able to make your book presentable before sending it out to the masses. You can absolutely have a publishing-worthy book if you go indie, as well, and there are ways to find “gatekeepers” even on the self-publishing route, but “gatekeepers” are automatic if you’re going through traditional publishing.

You’re often under deadline. If you’re someone who thrives under outside pressure and with outside accountability, and you have the time and speed to write, this is probably a great asset for you.

You should choose traditional publishing if you…

Want a lot of exposure
Want professionals to carry a lot of the work
Want “gatekeepers” to assess your work and confirm that it’s worth publishing
Work well under a deadline

Self-Publishing
How it works*
*Please keep in mind that this post is written with the assumption that the reader is interested in making a career of writing. If you’re just interested in publishing once or twice, the process doesn’t need to be quite as intense.

The process for self-publishing doesn’t always look exactly the same, but I’m going to outline my recommended process. (And in the spirit of full disclosure, I have yet to follow this outline in my own publishing efforts, but it’s something I plan to do with my self-published novels.)

If you’re going to self-publish (and want to do it really well), you’ll likely need to save up and/or crowdsource a lot of money. Probably around $1,000. Now, the exact price will vary depending on what exact editor and cover designer you get. There are definitely cheaper options out there. For the first novel I planned to publish, I spent $80 on the cover and $500 on an editor (but I also did everything wrong with that, so…), and for the second novel the editors I’d chosen would have cost $450 together and the custom art for the cover would have been $350. If you’re crowdsourcing with something like Kickstarter, you’ll need to factor in the fees for using the platform and the cost of whatever rewards you choose to offer. The fees on my second book would have been around $450 total. Self-publishing well is not often cheap, though it can be.

After that, you have to hire the editor(s) and cover designer/artist, and work with them. If you’ve found a good editor and cover designer, great! If not… well… this will take extra long and you’ll be out a lot of money. (So I recommend asking people who have already indie-published who they hired, or scouring the acknowledgements of the best indie-published books you can find.)

Ideally while you’re working on the editing and cover work, you’ll want to plan out your marketing strategy. I won’t go into all that needs to include until a later post, because that’s a whole topic in and of itself, but basically… it’s a lot of work. There are ARCs to be arranged, graphics to be designed (or commissioned), readers to be contacted… It’s a lot of work. And you don’t often have a marketing team to back you up, although you can hire help and/or assemble a street team to help you out.

Then there’s the actual launch, which you have to hype up and get on people’s radar, and getting people to review your book is a huge pain but reviews and direct recommendations are the main way that indie books get seen.

Anyway, now that I’ve totally poisoned you against indie publishing because “OH MY GOSH THAT SOUNDS LIKE SO MUCH WORK AND MONEY ”… I’m going to basically outline the same things in a more streamlined way before I get into the pros. (Because, trust me, there are pros.)

Cons

First off, the cost. If you hire out a cover designer and an editor or two, your costs are already really high. But then there are also the optional costs of Kickstarter rewards, designers for your marketing graphics, marketing people, formatters, etc. It’s often expensive.

The work. Indie-publishing takes a LOT of elbow grease. You have to be a marketing manager, author, extrovert, fangirl, and a million other things all at once.

It’s really easy to get bad “professionals” if you don’t know what you’re doing. Like I said earlier, I highly recommend reaching out to already-published indie authors and asking them who they hired and who they’d recommend.

It takes a while. You get to set your own timeline, yes. You’re not waiting on an agent or an editor or anything like that. But you do have to save up the money you need, hire and work with professionals, and then go through all the marketing and whatnot. Don’t expect that just because you set your own rules everything will go exactly as you plan, because there are always set-backs. It’s like remodeling a house. There are always surprises.

It’s hard to get exposure. You can start with your friends and family, fellow writers, etc., and that will be a great start, but most of us don’t have hundreds of people who will actually read their work and not put it off, so it’s likely to take a while to push your book up in the ranks. (There are people who have huge fan-bases before they publish, and they can get huge exposure early–earlier this year Abbie Emmons published her book 100 Days of Sunlight (highly recommend) and I didn’t even realize at first that it wasn’t a traditionally published book. There were SO MANY people fangirling about it prior to the release that I thought for sure it was from a publishing house. But nope! She just had that many fans already from her blog. But that’s not the norm. At all.)

There’s less accountability. There are no built-in “gatekeepers” in indie publishing. Beta-readers and editors should be a help in telling you when your book is or isn’t ready to publish, but they’re less likely to outright tell you “No, you should wait and work on this more.”

Pros

You have full creative liberty! This can be a blessing or a curse, and really only you know. If you’re too attached to your story just as it is, this is likely to shoot you in the foot. But assuming you have a healthy ability to accept constructive criticism, this is great because you can improve what needs to be improved while keeping the parts of your story that are really important to you. (Which, again, a good editor at a publishing house will also allow… You just have more freedom in self-publishing, especially with the look of your cover. Which, again, can be a blessing or a curse.)

You don’t have to wait for a middle-man. I mean… you do… sort of. You have to wait for your editor to edit your book, or for beta-readers, or whatever. But you don’t have to wait for someone to explicitly want your book before you can publish it. If you think it’s worth reading and you think people will enjoy it, you can just publish it! Which means no having to adhere to industry expectations and trends at any given time to catch an agent before getting your book in front of readers.

You set your own hours/deadlines/timeline. You don’t have to work under any deadlines other than your own, whereas with traditional publishing you’re generally tied to a deadline. I do recommend setting deadlines, but with indie-publishing these deadlines can be custom tailored to how you write and not the time a publishing house wants your book finished. And you don’t have to wait for an agent before jumping into the publishing process.

You should choose indie publishing if you…

Want creative freedom
Write outside of normal literary trends
Write novellas or short stories
Are willing/excited to do the work of marketing, formatting, editing, etc. for your book
Work better under self-imposed deadlines

Hopefully this gives you a decent overview of the benefits and drawbacks of each publishing route, and hopefully I haven’t chased you away from the idea of publishing forever. Publishing–through either route–is a long process that takes a lot of work, but it’s well worth it to put your words in front of readers, to impact their lives, to share lessons and emotions, and to simply share your story with other people who appreciate it.

The rest of this series will be focusing on indie publishing–things not to do, what is or isn’t vital in the publishing process, and what’s really involved in indie publishing–but if you’re interested in traditional publishing and it sounds like a better fit for you, I’d recommend Go Teen Writers’ posts on publishing as a start.

Know the Novel Part 2 – Within the WIP

Part 2 of the Know the Novel link-up has arrived! It’s probably early to be doing this, but I’m super excited to share more about Calligraphy Guild, so… here we are. Part two is all about the writing process!

1. How’s the writing going overall?

Pretty well! It hasn’t been as “fun” as I was hoping for it to be, but I’ve been making steady progress and I’m fairly happy with the results, as far as first drafts go. It’s definitely going to need work, but all drafts do. :P

2. What’s been the most fun aspect of writing this novel so far?

Probably the character interactions. Relationships are really the core of this book, and seeing the different relationship dynamics unfold has been really fun. And a couple of characters have shown up more than I expected, which has been really cool to see.

3. What do you think of your characters at this point? Who’s your favorite to write about?

Most of them aren’t as vivid on the page as I would like them to be, unfortunately. There are quirks that haven’t made their way into the book, and the fact that I struggle to be descriptive in my first drafts is taking a toll on their realism. But I still love who the characters are supposed to be, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to bring them out more in future drafts. I think my favorite to write about is probably Makio, who’s one of the characters I mentioned who’s shown up more than expected. He’s Tora’s older brother, and he’s turned out to be a big brother figure for Duyên, as well, which has been super cool to write about. ^-^

4. Has your novel surprised you in any way?

I think Makio’s importance has been the only significant surprise. There’ve been little places where scenes have gone a direction I didn’t expect and featured interactions I didn’t plan, but none of them have been huge. So far I’ve mostly kept to my outline in the big stuff.

5. Have you come across any problem areas?

Yesterday I came to the end of the Scrivener files I’d properly prepared for NaNo and started operating off of memory rather than directly from my outline and I’m fairly certain I rushed into a scene that shouldn’t have happened yet. But I think I’ll be able to just rearrange things and it won’t be a problem. Hopefully.

6. What’s been your biggest victory with writing this novel at this point?

Learning to write even when I don’t feel like it! It’s made a huge difference to learn that I can write a couple thousand words if I just get started, regardless of how motivated I am or am not, and that will impact future novels just as much as this one.

7. If you were transported into your novel and became any one of the characters, which one do you think you’d be? Would you take any different actions than they have?

Duyên is loosely based on me, so she’d be the easy option. I think I’d make a lot of the same decisions she did, because she’s pretty lost as to how to address the issues going on and I wouldn’t know any better than she does, lol. And we respond to conflict we don’t know how to resolve in much the same way. So, yeah, I’d be Duyên.

8. Give us the first sentence or paragraph, then 2 (or 3!) favorite snippets!

Duyên’s hair was soft under her fingers as she completed her plait, tying it with a pale yellow cord before looking herself over in the mirror.

****

Duyên chuckled and took note of the calligraphers again. Po was nice enough, but not the person she would have chosen to talk with on an evening when she was already stressed. Most of the calligraphers were the same place they’d been, but Chaska was rounding up her boys. Duyên frowned. Her health must have been bothering her again.

Makio walked up to the stairs and set a hand against the post beside Po. “Is this guy bothering you?” Makio asked Duyên.

Duyên shrugged. “We were having a pleasant conversation. But I appreciate you looking out for me.” She smiled up at Makio.

Makio slapped Po’s shoulder and nodded toward the field. “Come on. Let’s shoot some hoops.”

Po glanced at Duyên. “Sorry to cut the conversation short.”

Duyên tried to smile. “Don’t worry about it.”

Po headed onto the field and Duyên mouthed a ‘thank you’ to Makio as he prepared to follow. Makio smiled before turning back to Po. “Race you to the hoop?”

The two ran off to the western hoop and Duyên took a deep breath. Makio always had her back. Duyên smiled as she watched Po and Makio play in the lantern-light. Tora was lucky to have Makio for a brother.

Ryuu walked over from a conversation with some of the younger boys and set one foot on the steps. “Are you doing all right?”

Duyên nodded with a soft smile. “Thanks for asking.”

Ryuu took a seat beside her, hands between his knees. “I saw Makio had to get Po away from you again.” Ryuu smirked.

Duyên chuckled. “It wasn’t like that. Po was actually being nice, he’s just… not the best company when my thoughts are heavy.”

“I hope I’m an improvement?” Ryuu wiggled his eyebrows.

Duyên laughed, head thrown back. Her expression faded to a grin as she turned back to Ryuu. “Yes.” She leaned up and kissed him briefly.

Ryuu grinned. “I’m happy to hear it.”

Duyên leaned on his shoulder and watched the lights dancing over the field a moment before closing her eyes and listening to the childrens’ laughter. She felt Ryuu press a long kiss to her forehead. Duyên released a contented sigh. “Can’t evenings like this just last forever?” she murmured.

“I wish.”

“Can we pretend?”

Ryuu rubbed her shoulder. “Absolutely.”

Duyên’s thoughts drifted and she fell asleep.

****

Lanterns on either side of the orphanage door swayed idly in a warm breeze and the bamboo door swung inward at Sairsha’s touch. The buzz of children’s voices filled Duyên’s ears, and she smiled as several of the kids looked up at the calligraphers from their groups on the floor. The sight of Sairsha, and the drawings in her hand, lit fires in several children’s eyes, and Sairsha offered a bright smile to everyone.

9. Share an interesting tidbit about the writing process so far! (For example: Have you made any hilarious typos? Derailed from your outline? Killed off a character? Changed projects entirely? Anything you want to share!)

I think I’ve pretty much shared everything interesting, between yesterday’s post and this one.

10. Take us on a tour of what a normal writing day for this novel looks like. Where do you write? What time of day? Alone or with others? Is a lot of coffee (or some other drink) consumed? Do you light candles? Play music? Get distracted by social media (*cough, cough*)? Tell all!

Surprisingly enough, I’ve written mostly at my desk. I was expecting to work on my laptop in bed a lot, but I think all of my writing this month has been at my desk. I generally procrastinate until mid-afternoon, when I finally force myself into Scrivener and get writing, and then I write for 1-3 hours (depending on how well things are going) and write around 2,000 words. Although if I have to go out in the evening then I generally don’t meet my word count until around 11. This week I’ve been fueled by cinnamon Coca-Cola, but when that runs out I’ll probably switch to hot cocoa. (Aren’t I so healthy…) I listen to music incessantly, whether I’m writing or not, lol. Usually I have a story playlist I listen to for a specific project, but I don’t have one for Calligraphy Guild so I’ve been listening mostly to my Writing Inspiration playlist and sometimes just to whatever I feel like putting on. If I don’t have music on, I usually don’t work as well. (And yes, social media distraction has been a real thing. ;P)

What does your normal writing day look like? What’s been your biggest victory so far?

NaNoWriMo Week 1 Check-In

I was fully intending to keep up my normal blog schedule this month, since I knew what I was going to write for the first two weeks and I could brainstorm further topics later, but… I then just didn’t get around to actually writing my first post. And since I’m really getting focused on my writing (which hasn’t happened in a long time, so I’m really happy!), I think that’s likely to be the case for the rest of this month. So I’ll be taking a hiatus for November, except NaNoWriMo updates, and hopefully I’ll be able to arrange a working balance of tasks as the month goes on and I learn to write consistently again, lol.

Anyway, every Thursday I’ll plan to put up a NaNoWriMo update (and tomorrow I have a bonus, because I’ll be doing part two of the Know the Novel Link-Up!), and I’d also love to hear how your NaNo (or whatever project you’re currently working on) is going for you!

This week’s current word count: 11,425

Favorite snippet from this week:

Duyên chuckled and took note of the calligraphers again. Po was nice enough, but not the person she would have chosen to talk with on an evening when she was already stressed. Most of the calligraphers were the same place they’d been, but Chaska was rounding up her boys. Duyên frowned. Her health must have been bothering her again.

Makio walked up to the stairs and set a hand against the post beside Po. “Is this guy bothering you?” Makio asked Duyên.

Duyên shrugged. “We were having a pleasant conversation. But I appreciate you looking out for me.” She smiled up at Makio.

Makio slapped Po’s shoulder and nodded toward the field. “Come on. Let’s shoot some hoops.”

Po glanced at Duyên. “Sorry to cut the conversation short.”

Duyên tried to smile. “Don’t worry about it.”

Po headed onto the field and Duyên mouthed a ‘thank you’ to Makio as he prepared to follow. Makio smiled before turning back to Po. “Race you to the hoop?”

The two ran off to the western hoop and Duyên took a deep breath. Makio always had her back. Duyên smiled as she watched Po and Makio play in the lantern-light. Tora was lucky to have Makio for a brother.

Ryuu walked over from a conversation with some of the younger boys and set one foot on the steps. “Are you doing all right?”

Duyên nodded with a soft smile. “Thanks for asking.”

Ryuu took a seat beside her, hands between his knees. “I saw Makio had to get Po away from you again.” Ryuu smirked.

Duyên chuckled. “It wasn’t like that. Po was actually being nice, he’s just… not the best company when my thoughts are heavy.”

“I hope I’m an improvement?” Ryuu wiggled his eyebrows.

Duyên laughed, head thrown back. Her expression faded to a grin as she turned back to Ryuu. “Yes.” She leaned up and kissed him briefly.

Ryuu grinned. “I’m happy to hear it.”

Duyên leaned on his shoulder and watched the lights dancing over the field a moment before closing her eyes and listening to the childrens’ laughter. She felt Ryuu press a long kiss to her forehead. Duyên released a contented sigh. “Can’t evenings like this just last forever?” she murmured.

“I wish.”

“Can we pretend?”

Ryuu rubbed her shoulder. “Absolutely.”

Duyên’s thoughts drifted and she fell asleep.

Biggest challenge this week: I’ve been struggling with both lack of motivation and the knowledge that my writing isn’t as descriptive as I want it to be. I’ve been able to push through the lack of motivation, for the most part, and I’ve learned over the week that momentum is a better friend than motivation anyway, lol. But, even telling myself I can fix it in editing, it’s frustrating to know my writing isn’t where I want it to be. :P

Biggest success this week: Probably learning that momentum is more helpful than motivation. I’ve gotten in a bad habit of writing only when I feel motivated, and NaNo has helped me break out of that and consistently write 2k per day regardless of how I feel when I start. And setting my goal a little higher than necessary gives me some buffer for the days I really don’t feel like writing. (I only wrote 500 words on Tuesday, but I had buffer room from hitting my goal the previous days, which was really nice.) I’ve found that shooting for 2k gives me a manageable goal to strive for, I can get started and get some momentum, and then it allows me to not feel like I’ve failed on days when I can’t reach it, as long as I’m meeting the goal most of the time.

How is writing going for you so far? Have you learned anything new about your writing process? Have any of your characters surprised you?