Jamie DeBree's Blog, page 6

Weekly Writing: 8/4-8/10/18

Weekly Word Counts

MMM: 743

DD: 336

TBS: 0

Total: 1,079

Editing hours: 1.5

It doesn’t seem like much improvement “on paper”, but it sure felt like a much better writing/editing week. I really buckled down and not only got some editing and new words in, I created mind-maps for each of my WIPs (works in progress), including the drafts I’m editing. I did a lot of character and story plotting, and a lot of fleshing out details on the mind-maps, which then helped me figure out the general direction the stories needed to go next. Which made sitting down to write much easier, because I didn’t have to sit there and think about the next sentence, I just wrote.

As far as the editing goes, I’ve been doing a read-through of my last romantic suspense draft (DLA), and the whole first scene needs to be rewritten. It’s just not working the way it is, and there’s so much more I can do to actually “set” the scene better, and do a deeper introduction of the main characters and their personalities and goals. I plotted that out (using the mind-map), and I’ll be able to sit down and rewrite that without too much time or effort involved.

Next week, I’m taking Thursday and Friday off from the day job, and at least one of those days will be an editing day to work on DLA. Finally, the concept of how to establish “depth” is starting to sink in, and I want to capitalize on it while it’s fresh in my mind.

I’m making time for writing, and it’s making me both happier and more productive. I really hope I can keep this up – I’ll be writing several thousand words a week in no time….

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Weekly Writing: 7/28 – 8/3/2018

Weekly Word Counts

MMM: 482

KITD: 0

TBS: 0

Unnamed Flash: 486

Total: 968

Editing hours: 1

Well, that’s progress, at least. One thousand words in a week is pathetic, given what I know I can do, but things happen. Life happens. And instead of putting the writing first and sacrificing what I can when what I can’t gets in the way, I sleep. I try to stay healthy. I prioritize other things over the writing. I need to be okay with that, because I already know I’m not willing to sacrifice what other writers do for the sake of this side business/hobby.

When I’m down on myself, I need to remember – the pace I work at is a choice. A daily choice. And I consciously choose to put my health first when it comes to the late night writing. However…

I also consciously choose to scroll through Facebook more often than I need to, and I want to work on not doing that so often. Especially not at times when I could be doing writing-related things (and of course, actually writing).

Until I can get my word count back up though, that flash that is just taking way too long is just going to have to sit. I have other things I need to work on, both editing and writing, and I need to stay focused. I am the epitome of fractured when it comes to writing focus, and as with anything mentally-based, I should be able to change that. So the unnamed flash is going into the drawer, and I’m going to focus on the three main drafts I want to finish writing, along with the two I want to finish editing. My focus is still split, but at least the split has boundaries.

I am going to replace KITD with DD for now, because DD is haunting me, and I really need to keep writing it. KITD is kind of a…guilty pleasure, I guess. And I’ll eventually finish and publish it, but for now, DD feels more “real” and important in my mind.

I’ve been pretty good lately about uploading my work and then typing the last sentence back into my Neo at the end of the week. Prepping my environment, so to speak. This week (tomorrow, in fact) I want to take that last sentence and write a very brief summary of what should happen next for each of my working drafts. That way, when I sit down to write, I know what needs to happen and I don’t have to think about it, I can just start writing. Sort of an as-I-go outline, so to speak.

So, that’s where we are this week. Next week, hopefully I’ll have figured out my time issues, and can get far closer to that 4-5k words-per-week pace that I really want to be writing at on a regular basis.

Here’s to more words and spending my time more wisely this next week!

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Weekly Writing: 7/21 – 7/27/2018

Weekly Word Counts

MMM: 0

KITD: 108

TBS: 0

Unnamed Flash: 305

Total: 413

Editing hours: 0

Well, I got some words in this week, which is better than last week. Unfortunately most of them were for an experimental project that has not been going well (the story has, the experiment, not so much). But considering the focus problems I had earlier in the week, and the time issues I’ve had on various days, I’m glad I got at least something done. Some words are better than no words.

But, I’d also like to have something publishable this fall, and not editing and not moving forward with my drafts is not helping me reach that goal. I’m not sure whether I should throw myself headlong into editing for a couple of weeks, or if I should pick one draft and hyper-focus on getting it done, or what, but I need to do something, for sure.

So…next week, more words. And soon, a vacation day from work to really buckle down on editing one of my drafts. I need a day off anyways, so no hardship there.

I am going to finish the flash story I started though, because I like how it’s started, and I think it’s gonna be good.

Onward!

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Weekly Writing: 7/13 – 7/20/2018

Weekly Word Counts

MMM: 0

KITD: 0

TBS: 0

Total: 0

Editing hours: 0

So. Not a great writing week. Or a writing week at all, really. Believe it or not, at the beginning of the week, I was rarin’ to go. I had goals, ideas, and…let myself get sidetracked and distracted and discouraged. Before I knew it, that was that. No words, no editing, just a head full of story stuff still waiting to be written, and a serious case of regret.

I have weeks like this, and I hate them, even though I know they’re going to happen occasionally. I consider it a personal failing that I can’t meet my goals, especially when they’re so low in the first place. 500 words a day takes 30 minutes to write. *Half an hour.* That’s all. And I frittered every single half-hour I had this week away on thinking I should write, knowing I could write, and just…not writing.

Part of my problem was also that I didn’t do my prep work last weekend – just didn’t have time. I uploaded all of the previous week’s writing to my laptop, but didn’t clear out my Neo and set up the files for my current drafts like I usually do. Which shouldn’t even make a difference, but apparently it does. I need to make sure I do that on weeknights so it can’t possibly be pre-empted by whatever’s going on over the weekend.

Also, half an hour is actually a lot of time, but it doesn’t feel like it when you’re staring it in the face. It’s even more time when you don’t have some general idea of what you’re going to write – where the story’s going that day. This is where being an outliner would come in handy, but I’m not, and never will be, so I think next week I’ll try something new (hey, when things aren’t working, mix it up!).

I have reminders set up before writing times to “motivate me”. But they’re simple, saying something like “Writing time: [draft name here]”. I think I’m going to add a note to the reminder the night before with where I left off, and where I need to start that day. Maybe a question to answer. Something to grab my brain and give it a problem to solve on paper, that will make it really want to engage with the writing process, rather than…being lazy. And also something to switch my focus from whatever I’m doing at the time back to my draft.

Yes, I play mind games with myself. Because they work. What good is knowing how your mind works if you can’t use it to your advantage once in awhile (or daily)?

Heck, maybe I’ll set that reminder to go off twice per day – once in the morning before my shower and once before a writing session time. Then my subconscious can chew on the problem all day while I’m working, and maybe have an idea of what needs to go on by the time it’s time to write that night.

We’ll see how that works. And hopefully, I can get some editing done this weekend. I may need to revisit how I’m doing that, too. But one thing at a time.

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Weekly Writing: 7/7 – 7/12/2018

Weekly Word Counts

MMM: 702

KITD: 409

TBS: 405

Total: 1516

Difference from last week: +569

Editing hours: 0.5

Well, that’s better, at least. Especially considering I only wrote three days this week. I spent too much time thinking though, and not enough time actually writing, clearly. But at least it’s progress. I’m pretty happy about that. Next week, I’m really shooting for at least 2k words total. 4k would be far, far better, but I’ll be happy if I just hit that 2k mark for once.

I also started doing a read-through on one of the drafts I decided to revise. I read the first three pages or so, and the main character/first scene really isn’t what it should be. Which makes me wonder if I should go to the trouble of revising the whole thing or just leave it in the drawer. On the one hand, I could learn some things by pulling it apart and putting it back together. I do that sort of thing everyday in my day job, and that’s how I learn.

On the other, I could just leave it sit and focus on making my current drafts the best they can be, instead of spending a lot of time in revisions. But I’ve been doing that, and it isn’t working for me, as much as I’d like it to. I hate revising more than just about anything, but I think I’m going to have to if I want to learn anything from my mistakes. I think after I get the manuscript all marked up, I’ll plan a day off from work to actually make the revisions. That way I’ll be able to focus (more or less) on that one thing for the whole day. I’ll probably get better results if I do that than if I try to piecemeal the changes.

I also looked at another draft I wanted to work on (writing, not editing) this week, and realized I’m missing a whole chunk of dialogue. I can’t find it anywhere, so I guess I’ll have to rewrite it, which irks me. But I really want to get going on this little short-story series, so I’m going to try to get that chunk re-written next week so I can move forward with that story. Sometimes even I get bit by the techno-bandit. Dang it.

In any case, it wasn’t a great writing week, but progress was made, and I’m happy with that. For now.

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Weekly Writing: 6/30 – 7/6/2018

Weekly Word Counts

MMM: 169

Editing hours: 0

Well then. Clearly I’m headed in exactly the wrong direction, but it’s been a weird week and I lost my focus early on and never got it back, for various reasons. I’m also overthinking the whole craft side of things again, which is causing me to seize up a bit (and is never a good thing).

On top of all that, I haven’t been sleeping well (not sure why…the heat, maybe), which isn’t really a good excuse, but being tired does make me more likely to make the wrong choice. And eating poorly due to the holiday this week (and then keeping it up for no real good reason) didn’t help either.

It was a week of poor choices and focus all around, and that’s really all there is to it.

I did finally get a mind-map outline started for MMM, which is cool, but a little overwhelming. And I also started feeding my writing through a couple of auto-editing programs – Hemingway Editor, and ProWritingAid. These programs are telling me (among other, more easily fixable things) that my sentence structure is too long and thus hard to read. I write on a 10th grade level, apparently, and according to these programs, most people read at a 5th grade level. Which leaves me with a dilemma – do I change my own writing to suit, and thus “sanitize” my own writing style? Or do I just write as I always have and assume that somewhere out there, there are people who will eventually be interested in reading these books?

Hard to say. I’ll sleep on it. And maybe use my two editing projects as “guinea pigs” for that sort of thing.

Next week, more words I hope.

Weekly Writing: 6/23 – 6/29/2018

Weekly Word Counts

MMM: 481

KITD: 466

TBS: 0

Total: 947

Difference from last week: -528

Editing hours: 0

As you can see, I’ve had some…uh…focus issues this week. I finally figured out Friday that the herbal remedy I’m taking to break up gallstones is affecting my hormones, which affects the way I think – and specifically how well I focus. Which is not well at all when the ol’ hormones aren’t in balance (men, don’t roll your eyes – you have hormones too, and I’d bet you a beer that your focus is affected by them as well).

In any case, a little extra ginger (to balance) saved one of my Friday writing sessions after losing Thursday altogether. I’ve probably got at least one more week of taking that herb, maybe two, but as long as I remember to balance it, my focus should be better this next week.

As far as the actual writing goes, my MMM draft has taken a more supernatural direction than I expected it to. Which sounds weird, because it’s always been a ghost story, but I actually never envisioned the physical aspects that are creeping in. This is why I don’t outline – I like my stories to evolve organically (and I lose interest in writing it if I already know what happens). And my KITD romance is evolving into something I didn’t expect as well, which is a good thing. I like it, but I still don’t know whether it’ll end up as a contemporary romance or an erotic one. We’ll see when it’s done!

That being said, I am trying to work a couple of new things into my normal writing workflow. One is cycle-editing, which I’ve done before, but not to the extent I’m trying to do it now. Basically, every night when I sit down for my second writing session (the first happens earlier with my Alphasmart, so no way to edit there), I upload the earlier words to the laptop, and then go back to the previous day’s work and edit my way back through the current day’s words. then just keep going from there. Cycle editing is nice because it gets me in “writing mode” without actually having to write anything new until my brain is steeped in the story again. And often I’ll catch stuff that either doesn’t make sense to be changed or taken out, and stuff my subconscious put in earlier without my really noticing that I can use going forward.

The second thing I’m trying to add to my workflow (unsuccessfully so far because my main draft is 13k words and I need to catch up) is mind-map outlining-as-I-go. Which is basically using a mind map to outline each story, but instead of outlining it before I write, I want to add to the outline after the day’s writing is done, so I can see how what I’ve written so far is fitting together, and get more of a “big picture” idea of the direction in which the story’s headed. I think this will also allow me to see where I can add complexity and subplots in more easily, instead of worrying about that sort of thing while I’m writing. I try hard to keep my critical voice silent while I’m actually writing, so these are the things I could add while cycle-editing, and hopefully the more I think about them outside writing times, the more they’ll inject themselves naturally through my subconscious while I’m in a writing session.

I’m hoping to get the initial mind-maps started/caught up to where each story’s at this weekend, and then I’ll be able to keep up with it as I go more easily/quickly.

No editing last week – last weekend was just kind of weird as far as random schedules go, and with the focus issues during the week, I had to spend the time I’d set aside for editing Friday night for catch-up writing instead. Things happen…just gotta keep moving forward.

Hopefully next week I’ll have more words *and* more editing to report!

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Weekly Writing: 6/17 – 6/22/2018

Weekly Word Counts

MMM: 742

KITD: 264

TBS: 469

Total: 1,475

Difference from last week: +412

Editing hours: 2

Well then. From the looks of those numbers, I’m finally headed in the right direction, which is “up”. Eventually I’d like to be writing 4-5k words per week, total (that’s pretty much all I have time for, ultimately, but it’s a good chunk of progress, even divided among several drafts). Time and practice will tell. I’ve had to rearrange my writing schedule several times this year, and I think I’ve finally stumbled across a routine with enough of a backup plan that I can at least get 500 words in daily, and I typically write four days per week (sometimes five, but not often). And my subconscious is finally starting to realize that we write during those times, and on those days, and once I get that “habit” back, I should be writing a lot faster for that 30 – 60 minutes per day.

It’s a process, getting back to writing after letting it go for so long. And honestly, it kind of sucks. My advice? Don’t do it. Keep writing. It’s much easier than stopping and starting again.

I took Friday off this week so I could relax and work on writing-related things, and one of the things I did was to find and print out two drafts that need a lot of work and expansion done to them. I’d shelved them, taking Dean Wesley Smith’s advice about not revising (just rewrite) to heart, but I’ve been doing that for quite a few years now, and in looking over my “stars” on Goodreads, I noticed that the earlier books that I spent time revising are the ones I generally got 4 stars on. When I started taking DWS’s advice and not revising, just writing, doing a quick edit, and releasing, my stars went down to 3, 3.5 or so (and lower, in one or two cases).

The thing about writing advice (or any advice, really) is that you have to know when to take it, and when to do something else. I hate revising and editing – it’s my least favorite part of the writing process. But in my particular case, it looks like that’s the way I need to work, at least for awhile longer, in order to make my books the best they can be. So, it’s back to revisions and editing, and I have two printouts just waiting for me to go through them and start marking up the pages with how and where I need to make changes, fleshing out storylines and plots, and adding description. I plan to make those my Saturday morning projects (or whenever I have an hour or so to work on one).

Learning to write is a difficult thing, mainly because often, people who don’t like your book either won’t tell you, or if they do, they can’t tell you why. Likewise with those who just didn’t get drawn into the story for whatever reason. So it’s largely a learn-as-you-go affair, with a lot of experimentation with various craft elements in the attempt to tell a good story while still staying true to your own unique voice.

Someday, I sincerely hope to be proficient enough to write it well the first time, and only need one editing pass after a draft is done before I release it and move on to the next book. That’s the long-term goal. But for now, I’ll bite the bullet, do the revisions, and hope that every time I tear a book apart and put it back together, I become a little better writer for it.

Time will tell, as always…

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Weekly Writing: 6/11 – 6/16/18

Word Counts

MMM: 856

KITD: 207

Total: 1,063

I know it’s been a long time, but I have a new daily/weekly writing schedule, and the plan is to stick to it, and then update the blog on Friday nights. It’s late, I’m tired, and I want to go to bed, so a short post to get things rolling again, and then as the routine gets more…routine, more discussion of the week’s progress (or lack thereof).

So, Friday late-nights (or Saturday, which is probably smarter). Blog post. Writing update. More fun once I’ve gotten a few weeks under my pen.

Thanks for coming along on the (very slow) journey!

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Writer’s Log: February 6, 2018

I feel like I’ve reached a major milestone as a writer tonight.

I’m a little over 23k words in my current novel draft, and I’ve decided to start over. As in, completely rewrite it, from scratch.

Since I started the draft, I’ve been feeling like something’s not right. The tone is off. The vibe I’m looking for isn’t there. The depth and description and complexity I’m craving to have in my stories just isn’t coming out the way I’m writing them. And tonight after I started a novel that had such an odd and wonderful opening it made me stop and wonder at it, and then again while watching TV with my husband, that feeling that I needed to start over, in a different place and with a different voice just kept growing until I couldn’t ignore it any longer.

Tomorrow, I start over, and for the first time ever, I’m excited to do so. I can’t decide if I should have my head examined, or throw some sort of “writer milestone” party for myself.

Maybe I’ll even start tonight. Just a few words before bed…