Bre Faucheux's Blog, page 49

13. Writing Out Loud

So there was no Writing Out Loud for yesterday. It was a weird day. And yet it was typical. I woke up. Worked out. Walked the dogs. Went to the cafe where I did my first revision of the final novelette in my romance series, then I came home early. Mostly because of family stuff. And then I did edits for the final Violet Blake book (thank you Annelies), edit the Scrivener documents for both Violet Blake and Elder Origins boxed sets which should be out this week. Then I ordered a new cover for the Violet Blake series. Trying to think of how to arrange them.

That was my day. Not gonna map it out this time. But for the next 11 days, I will be working from home. Things might get boring. Just warning you. Even so, I should be able to get a sizable amount of work done. Or at least I hope. Sometimes working from home is okay. Other times not so much. We’ll see.

Sorry for this fantastically boring entry.

12. Writing Out Loud

Some may or may not have noticed that while Monday’s ‘Writing Out Loud’ came out late, Tuesday’s was never posted at all. There is a reason for this. Tuesday was a cluster fuck of a day. I got run down, needed a break, and desperately tried with all my might to get some words written. I maxed out at about 800 and that was all I could do.

I have come to learn a lesson that has taken me years to really learn. I have always felt guilty over time for the fact that I don’t have a regular 9-5 job. When I’m writing, I can sometimes reach a certain word count goal in less than a few hours. And sometimes (not often, but sometimes), my editing process doesn’t take too long. Then after that, what do I do with my day? Feel guilty over the fact that others are doing a lot more with their work day and can’t leave the office until 5.

I realized a long time ago but only recently applied to my life, the notion that the hours I spend working are highly efficient. What I do is something that not many people can do. And I have the discipline to do it. My work hours are crazy intense while I am in the mode of writing, and in those few hours I think it’s safe to say that I get the equivalent done of some else’s regular work day. So I’m trying to alleviate the guilt off myself. At least a little bit. So I took yesterday off after reaching 800 words. Mainly because it was a sucky day and I have been embracing the fact that I need to heal from the drama that has recently been going on in my life.

So…. here’s to a new day.

6:15 AM – Woke up

6:45 AM – Worked out (Lower Eccentric today)

7:15 AM – Breakfast

8:00 AM – Goofed around online

9:00 AM – Shower

10:00 AM – Filmed a video

11:00 AM – Arrived at a cafe to work… Hopefully. Scrivener is loading an update, which interrupted me for a little while.

1:00 PM – Finished 2,500 words. I would like to write at least 700 more later, which is easily doable. But right now I’m going easy on myself. Or at least I’m trying to have patience with myself. My heart isn’t really into the story I’m trying to tie off and I hope it doesn’t show. I just want to get it done. By Friday, I should be done with the first draft and I can go back to my trilogy. Slow and steady wins the race! Or at least it does for the time being.

3:00 PM – Finished editing my video…well, almost. I realized that the audio I wanted to change can’t be fixed without my reinstalling some software, so it will be tomorrow before it comes out. Hopefully… I also finished my writing for the day. I thought about going over some edits for my other book, but I don’t know if I want to push myself too hard today. We’ll see…

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As for the following two days, Thursday and Friday where I am not writing a whole entry because I’ve been too lazy…. I finished the novelette at 11,060. It’s Friday. Cut me some slack. Gah!

11. Writing Out Loud

6:15 AM – Begrudgingly got out of bed. We tried something different last night and put the dogs in the living room. Then I snuck out while they were asleep and barricaded the door so they couldn’t scratch it and get in to wake me up. They kept me up all Saturday night and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I needed a break.

7:00 AM – Workout. Yoga day. And thank god because I didn’t have the energy for cardio.

8:00 AM – Breakfast smoothie

9:15 AM – Arrived at cafe

10:15 AM – 2,000 words written for the final romance book in the series I’m currently working on. I want to tie off the story. This final part isn’t due for release until next Friday, Oct 16. Then the following week I will release the boxed set. They are each 10,000 word installments that I can usually write in two days. But I’m taking my time with the last one because there isn’t another looming deadline.

After careful consideration (meaning a few hours), I decided that I’m going to put the romance pen name on hold for a little while. At least during the month of October and NaNoWriMo. Once this series is done, I’m done with it for the time being. I want to dedicate the next few months to my Bre Faucheux books. I took a look at my sales and figures. While I love writing the romance it hasn’t brought in any more revenue than my paranormal stories did. In fact, things are kind of the same financially as they always were. I can write the romance and the paranormal together because I know how to budget my time. But I would much rather write paranormal if the romance doesn’t really perform any better than the paranormal. I was hoping it might help my income. And it hasn’t, so I might be putting it aside for a while.

In the meantime, I am going to do my best to finish the fantasy/paranormal trilogy I have been trying to complete for well over a year. I want to use NaNo to finish the second book, and December I will conceivably write the third.

I am planning a whole new marketing strategy, new covers, beta readers, the works. I want this series to do well and then next year be onto something else. It will be a new year soon, and I want a new series to add to my palette. I already have ideas churning for three different series. One of which I have had in my brain for over six months.

11:00 AM – Finished the edits on part four of my current romance series. I got this all done this morning a lot faster than I thought I would.

LUNCH BREAK – I actually got lunch at the cafe where I’m currently working. This isn’t something that I do often, but sometimes. I like having a lunch break and just taking an hour to myself. But today I didn’t really feel like driving somewhere else. Just don’t…

5:00 PM – Edited pages of the fantasy I have been working on for over a year just to realize that I was editing a previously version that I already revised. :::headdesk x 5::: Waste of paper, ink, and brain power. SO UPSET! Can’t believe I was doing that. And I didn’t even realize it until it was too damn late.

That’s it. Throwing in the towel today.

10. Writing Out Loud

5:30 AM – Woke up early again. Don’t know why. My brain just fired up all at once. Not that I minded. It gave me an extra hour before working out to drink my coffee and mess around online before the work day really got started.

6:45 AM – Workout. Triometrics again today. My legs and thighs are going to be so sore tomorrow. I’m thoroughly convinced that Dreya was on drugs during that whole recording session. Something about that woman just…*twich twitch twitch* Mean, I dunno know, but ugh…

8:30 AM – Went to Panera for a light breakfast. A sandwich, which I know is weird so early in the morning, but the house was out of everything healthy and the smoothie mix was gone too. So I settled for a veggie sandwich and argued with myself that it was healthier than what most people eat for breakfast. At least I hope so. Then I read for a bit.

10:00 AM – Arrived at the cafe where I usually work. This new place is just amazing. Great wifi speed and generally quiet. I met with my career coach here for a bit and got halfway through my first revision of the novelette I wrote this week. Not ideal. I generally like to get through a whole revision by morning, but I’m going easy on myself today given that it’s Friday. And I plan on working tomorrow morning to compensate a little for the time lost. Or at least that’s the plan right now. We’ll see how that goes.

LUNCH BREAK – Okay, okay. So it was more like a lunch vacation. I took in a movie with a friend. Because its Friday and I can’t give two fucks. As a matter of fact, maybe not one fuck can be given.

2:30 PM – Arrived back at the cafe.

5:30 PM – Finished first revision, applied edits, and got 25% through my second revision.

And that’s a wrap for today folks.

9. Writing Out Loud

5:30 AM – Woke up. Don’t know why I woke up so early, but it was just a general case of dosing after that.

6:15 AM – Gave up on trying to get back to sleep as the idea of coffee appealed to me more. And for once, the dogs didn’t try to wake me up. I was the one waking them up. I think they were sore from their walk yesterday. They’re so out of shape. My fault really. But that heat, urgh!

9:00 AM – Got all 15 bags of random books, clothes, movies and more to give to Goodwill into my car. I have been purging like a mother fucker lately. That book ‘The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ by Marie Kondo seriously changed my life for the better. My dad told me not to get too ruthless with my belongings, but meh.

9:15 AM – Arrived at Goodwill and gave all that shit away. It felt so damn good!

9:30 AM – Arrived at my current favorite cafe and got to writing.

11:30 AM – Tapped out at 2,991 words to end the new romance novelette I’ve worked on all week. Part of me wants to write those nine more words to get to 3,000. The other part just says…’eh…fuck it.’

LUNCH BREAK

1:30 PM – Back at the cafe. The owner gave me a free sample of his new Jasmine Tea Ice Cream and holy shit….YUM!!!!!!!!!!!

3:00 PM – Finished drafting news letters for last week’s short story release day. That shit makes goo of my brain. I hate it, but damn it creates results.

4:15 PM – Applied edits to Violet Blake 4 from my amazing beta reader Annelies. Sweetie, you are the best! You get everything I’m trying to say and point out all the things that need changing so beautifully and nicely. Thank you!

Think I’m gonna call it a day right there. Nearly 3,000 words written, two campaign letters drafted and almost ready for release, and edits made to Violet Blake. Good day.

8. Writing Out Loud (Late Again…)

6:15 AM – Woke up. Made coffee. Blah.

6:35 AM – Decided to go ahead and send out the newsletter early to romance ARC readers. They have been asking about it, so I sent it bright and early so most would get it in their mail box before work.

6:45 AM Workout. Power went off  twice during workout, so I had the pleasure of being set back a few times. Today was upper eccentric. Push ups and pull ups mostly. Gah!

8:00 AM – Breakfast. I saw that my ARC Review List had an open rate of 26.7% already by this time. Go ARC team! You rock!

9:30 AM – Took the dogs on a walk. They were pleased. But poor Gigi was struggling in that last ten minutes. Pup needs to lose some weight.

I did some thinking while on my walk. I read something yesterday about a guy who wrote 5 novels in one year. I wondered how much I wrote and published. I did a tally in my head.

Two ‘Violet Blake’ novellas at 25K words. Equals 50K. Not to mention the one I just finished at 30,000 words. That’s 80K. Then the romance novelettes so far this year. They tap out right now at 110K. The fourth Elders which I don’t know if I’ll publish but here’s hoping at an additional 30K. And I finished a novel that I hope to have published by January. That’s 40K since I wrote the first half last year. Then another 40K for it’s sequel. Then 60K I wrote on a paranormal romance under another anonymous pen name. Under that pen name I also wrote three shorts at 10K each.

25K + 25K + 30K + 110K + 30K + 40K + 40K + 60K + 30K = (Don’t ask me to do math, but this is me trying) about 390,000 words so far this year.

If we equate that to typical novel length at 50-80K or so when combined in total… That’s approx 5-8 novel length books this year. And we have three months to go.

Fuck me.

10:00 AM – Shower. Liking this whole slow morning, working from home thing. If I ever get to making this my full time career and functional, this might reflect a lot of my mornings.

11:30 AM – 1,790 words for my morning writing session. Light for me, but I’m trying not to overload myself right now. I really afraid of burn out at the rate that I was going. I just need to get 3,350 words by the end of the day. That leaves 1,560 words to go for the day. Completely do-able.

1:30 PM – 3,540 words in total for the day. Only 2,800 to go tomorrow to make my weekly goal for my romance pen name. Phew! It was harder today for some reason. Don’t know if that’s because I’m home or if because I have a lot on my mind. But man… moving on.

And then my work day was done. My loved one that I’m a caregiver for needed my time, so I’m just glad I got my word count in.

7. Writing Out Loud (Sorry, it’s late)

7:30 AM – I woke up. That’s right. I slept in. A whole hour and a half. Or at least an hour. The dogs had me up, but they got a very stern “GO LAY DOWN” from me when they wanted to go out. Sometimes I think they just see me flutter an eye lash, assume I’m awake, then want my attention. I was sore from my zumba class and the workout from yesterday, so my dad and I both decided to take a break this morning.

8:30 AM – Finished editing my monthly Wrap Up while sipping my morning coffee.

You can watch it here:

10:00 AM – Arrived at the cafe.

11;45 AM – Wrote 2,000 words on new romance novelette. I know I can write more, but I’m trying an approach of not burning myself out too fast. So I decided to tap out for the morning after reaching 2,000 words instead of my usual 2,500. If I get 1,000 more this afternoon, I will be very pleased.

LUNCH BREAK

10:00 AM – Arrived at cafe.

12:00 PM – Wrote 2,500 words on new novelette romance for weekly serial series

LUNCH BREAK

2:30 PM – Wrote additional 1,300 words before I got a call from home saying the family needed me for something. Got some family stuff going on right now and it’s likely that tomorrow I will have to work from home. But c’est la vie.

3:00 PM – Finished drafted tomorrow’s newsletter from home.

6. Writing Out Loud

5:30 AM – Damn dogs decided that there was no going back and they had to go out right that second. Fair enough, mutts. I went to bed early and you held it for eight hours.

6:15 AM – Gave up hope of trying to fall back asleep.

6:45 AM – Workout with my dad. Today’s P90X3 workout was MMX. I like cardio kickboxing, but that was way more sprawl’s than I can commit to in 30 minutes. Sorry, Tony.

7:15 AM – Took the dogs on a walk. Because it’s finally cooling off enough for me to do. Before the concrete would burn their delicate paws. They were pleased.

8:00 AM – Showered and got dressed.

9:00 AM – Got done filming two new videos for my YouTube channel. Filmed three, but decided the third wasn’t good enough and I’m going to maybe redo it tomorrow.

10:00 AM – Arrived at the cafe. And to my luck, I didn’t get to work. It’s strange luck though. The woman who works behind the counter is very sweet and she pointed me in the direction of a writing group that meets at the cafe. Very nice ladies greeted me and wanted to know everything about what I do and how to get published. I don’t mind this kind of thing and I gladly sat with them for a couple of hours. And the lady behind the counter gave me a free tea as a thank you for helping them (her friends) out, but it did cut into my morning writing session.

12:00 PM – Went to lunch and decided to stay at the restaurant to work instead of going out to another coffee cafe. It was quiet and it worked out well enough. I write best in the morning, so I decided to stave off my writing again until tomorrow. Instead I edited 22,000 words in ‘Violet Blake 5.’

3:30 PM – Finished revision for the afternoon.

4:45 PM – Finished compiling the rough drafts of ‘Violet Blake 5’ for further revisions.

I think I might go edit a video now. Or at least get started on one. Then off the to gym for today’s second work out. I might not last long after all those sprawls this morning. Screw you, Tony.

5. Writing Out Loud

This might be getting a little repetitive, but oh well. That’s the whole idea. Log everything. So…

6:15 AM – Woke up. The doggies insisted. It was their right since they can usually hold it for up to 7 or 8 hours. So that’s fair enough for me given that I got to bed around 10.

7:15 AM – Workout. Started it late today because my dad wanted to visit over a cup of coffee first. We both had a hard time waking up.

8:00 AM – Breakfast

9:00 AM – Filmed two videos for my BookTube channel, although only one came out descent enough to post. The other I had lipstick on my cheek and I didn’t even realize it. *headdesk*

Here is that video:

10:00 AM – Arrived at cafe

10:30 AM – Finished my daily reading that I talked about above in the Friday Reads video.

12:00 PM – Drafted four newsletters for the new launch of the romance novelette I completed last week. The wheel on those is actually starting to turn. *dances

1:00 PM – Edited half my new romance novelette due for release next week.

1:30 PM – LUNCH BREAK. I decided not to eat out and just order a less than healthy meal at the cafe where I was working. Feeling lazy. It is Friday after all.

2:00 PM – Finished edited the video I posted above. Converted it, then uploaded it to YouTube.

3:30 PM – Finished final edits on new romance novelette, formatted and converted the file formats for my ARC Review List next week.

That’s a wrap for today because I’m going to a friend’s house of dinner. One of my writer buddies, Stephanie. I’m excited because she showed me edits for her first book and it looked so amazing. I can’t wait to talk to her about it some more. Although, I will admit that I might wait a few extra minutes before heading over there. It’s pouring outside right now and I would like for it to taper off a bit before I commit to running out in it.

4. Writing Out Loud

I doubt that anyone noticed, but I didn’t post yesterday like I committed to doing…oh…two days ago. The truth is, I needed a break from the daily grind. I’ve been going through some shit lately and I just needed a little down time. So I sent out a newsletter to my ARC Review Team for a recent short story I wrote for my romance pen name, then I edited a “Top 5 Wednesday” video. Followed by…well…going to a girlfriend’s house for coffee and shooting the breeze for four hours. Then I went to dinner with another friend for the evening. My girlfriends have really come through for me as far as being there during a difficult time in my life and I love them dearly. So I took a day to myself.

You can view the video I posted here:

So… here is what I’ve done for today. Which shockingly isn’t much. I’m being kind to myself this week by taking things one at a time and no places a whole lot of pressure on my mind. And it’s been really good for me.

6:30 AM – Woke up

6:45 AM – Worked out doing P90X3 with my dad. Triometrics day, which I seriously hate. Dreya or however you say her name seemed like she was practically on speed. What was up with that Tarzan roar? I mean seriously! Its morning on this end! Don’t be a bitch like that while the rest of us are struggling with those damn squats.

8:00 AM – Shower

9:00 AM Still not moving very fast. Gah!

10:00 AM – Arrived at cafe and read for an hour. It’s a new thing I’m trying for a little while. I want to read before working for hopefully an hour every day. Or more. Or less. But my BookTuber status right now sucks because I haven’t had the mind to read at all lately. That has to change. So I read for an hour.

11:00 AM – Posted new short story to Amazon and Draft2Digital. It should be live everywhere tomorrow, and I will send out a newsletter letting my subscribers know when it is. Also sent an email with revisions for a friend’s book that she’s working on.

12:30 PM – Finished first round of revisions on new romance novelette.

1:30 PM – Half of second revision completed.

Lunch Break

4:00 PM – Back to the cafe with my watermelon juice and tapioca balls. YUM YUM! Edited 5,000 words for the second revision of my new novelette, then I hit a wall. That’s been a common thread this week. Next week, I plan on getting back to being more diligent with my hours.

Home now, taking a break before making bruschetta for dinner tonight. The family loved it the last time I made it, so here it goes again.