Adrian Faulkner's Blog, page 3
October 13, 2021
Bestselling Author? – The Climb #963
Nearly 7 years ago, I published a couple of short non-fiction books. The idea was to dip my toe into the world of indie publishing, without pissing off my agent. They were proper books and I did them under a pseudonym.
Then, like now, I wanted to get some experience of different parts of publishing. Whilst I’d very much like to go the route of traditional publishing for my novels, I didn’t think it was a bad idea to know how to, for example, create an ebook if I ev...
October 12, 2021
The Post First Draft Break Up – The Climb #962
And once again I have too much to do.
Today was a bit all over the place. I’m not sure I accomplished anything major, but I certainly made progress towards accomplishments.
I did a bit of training / research for most of my available time, before editing half a novella. I continued the flashback scenes for The Accursed although this feels weird because that project feels over now I’ve written the end. Note for the future: Don’t write the last scene until the very e...
October 11, 2021
Restless – The Climb #961
Whilst I feel I started this week with a bang, I also felt like I ended it with a whimper. A large part of that is because I finished a few projects. The Accursed has a couple more scenes but it’s pretty much done. And a novella I was working on, got its first draft completed.
Consequently towards the end of the week I was working on other things: training, plotting other novels, research. I would say that things like Pokemon Go screwed me over this weekend, but ...
October 10, 2021
Plotting – The Climb #960
One of the things that bothers me about Pokemon Go community day is how much time it wastes. C always asks me to come over, sometimes to help them get ready due to medical issues. If I do, it means I need to be at the support bubble sofa before the 11am start. Usually by 1 or 2pm everyone is bored but by that time the majority of the day is done. It’s not worth me going home as by the time I settle it’ll be time to come back for the evening.
So I get antsy some c...
October 9, 2021
Taking Note – The Climb #959
Given that I’ve come to a natural pause in my writing with several first drafts being completed, I’ve spent a lot of today both learning and making notes.
Notetaking is something I’m still trying to master, if I’m honest. I used to be the type of person who would see something useful and then (if I remembered) bookmark it. The trouble with that (as I have found over the years) is that it soon gets cluttered. Links to stores and applications mixed with information post...
October 8, 2021
Slowing Down – The Climb #958
Things have slowed down today considerably. I don’t think it’s a product of being burnt out but rather of having run out of things ready to write.
The process of writing is a complicated one and there’s more to it than simply putting words on the page. There’s all the admin that comes with the profession. Emailing agents, editors and whoever else; organising your work schedule and trying to ensure things don’t get missed. Then there’s the planning stage. Even wri...
October 6, 2021
The End Is Nigh – The Climb #957
I’m already at 18,000 words written this week, which seems ridiculous, especially since I don’t feel I’ve been particularly focused.
With The Accursed now close to ending the pace has sped up but that’s not the only thing I’ve been writing.
However, I think I have just two more scenes to write for The Accursed. Both of these are flashback scenes that reveal a little about character. I’m not sure where they exactly go, as these secondary characters really haven’t ...
But The Baby’s Not Due For Another 4 Months! – The Climb #956
I had a major revelation today.
As any of you who write might be aware, stories are strange. You can sit down and do the most detailed of outlines. You can do character bios for all your primary and secondary characters. And yet, there comes a moment in your story where your character is supposed to turn left… but instead they turn right.
Why this happens, you never know. We use the phrase like ‘the characters take a life of their own’ but in truth it’s something ...
October 5, 2021
Exiting the Pandemic Slump – The Climb 955
So my plan today was to lean heavily on ToDoist and then use my tasks for the day to block out time to get them completed.
Except I forgot that when I’m super busy, I tend to ease off using ToDoist. So there were a ton of overdue recurring tasks that when I cleared them off, they got set for the future and meant my actual ToDo list was relatively small today.
I need to do a big review on some tasks as there were some in there that are no longer relevant, but, because ...
October 4, 2021
Admin Day – The Climb #954
Today was largely an admin day. It just so happens that the end of this week coincides with the end of the month and the quarter.
I’ve been pretty good about having a weekly review. This idea of this is to reflect on how well the past week has gone – the highs, the lows – and then come up with any corrective action for the week ahead. It kinda works.
During a busy week, it’s very easy to forget the victories at the start of the week and only focus on the struggles l...
