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Agony Aunt
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Today I mostly wrote ... the word count thread.
Friday's gig was a lot of fun. And I came away with enough new material to force a revitalised rewrite of the stalled Banned Underground book...'Press the button on the amp! Press the button on the amp!'
'That one?'
'Yes! No, the other that one!'...
436 today and 419 yesterday. Editing so I take some out but I add more than I remove.
Yay, Kath.I did a bunch of peripheral work yesterday, but no actual writing of fiction (except maybe the bio...).
There was a day, this week, when I did 370 words, the rest has been a blur, sports day, party planning and other gubbins. Real Life has done for any progress for the moment but I am optimistic that I should be able to get going again soon. I have to write a Christmas story for an anthology. It’s allowed to be up to 15k, which is great, as it’s about the length of the shorter shorts I’m producing.In the meantime, I just need to accept that anything other than administriavitive shit will cause burn out, relax and let it go for a while.
Keep it up everyone, I’ll be back to posting progress in a month or two I think.
Cheers
MTM
Yes, frustrating, busy and I've got an Idea for a full Tallis Steelyard novel. I had a novella that just wouldn't work because there wasn't enough room to follow things up and do it properly, and then I suddenly realised at 70,000 words it would work beautifully
I'm so tired, splitting time between working and keeping the grounds reasonable, that I'm just too knackered to get the word count going. Need some rain so that I can stay indoors.
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun...Just when I decided I had enough short stories for the collection in progress, another one forces its way into my head, so second drafts are on hold whilst this one works its way out onto the screen. It's on course to come in at about three to three thousand five hundred words.
Short stories do that, sneaky little beggars they are ;-)
Mwahahahrgh, nice one Darren. What’s a cheeky little 3k between friends?Well done everyone. K’Barthan activities seem to have resumed in my head now, which is good, although there’s no way I’m ready to write anything down yet. I’m just amazed that I’ve blown nearly another year without releasing anything or writing after mid April. Bit pissed off with myself but think it’s best to just chalk it up to experience and try again when I can.
On the upside, I have a Christmas story to write which should ease me back in nicely. I was intending to set it in the new space world I’m currently creating which is a little lighter than K’Barth but it looks as if it’s going to be K’Barthan.
Anyhoo, onwards and upwards.
Cheers
MTM
M.T. wrote: "...Well done everyone. K’Barthan activities seem to have resumed in my head now, which is good, although there’s no way I’m re..."Well done if you have ANYTHING playing in your head after the year you've had! You met yourself coming back, many a day.
And you still have your mum and the mini to orchestrate. Be patient with yourself. It's all still in there - and will come out to play in due time.
I actually managed to choreograph a scene, which happens to have a Bollywood dance in it (all background, so I can't lavish too many words on it). And wrote a few new words today.
Will be happy when this one is finally done. I swear the battle in the previous book was easier.
Been making some slow progress on the paperback but have added some more chapters today.
Well done Pam. Here's a complete OMG. I've planned out a Christmas story I have to write for an anthology and managed to produce 332 words for it. Woot!Cheers
MTM
Total of 600 words in the last two days - and a complete reboot of my writing skills books. It's been so long I have to check out my own finished chapters to see where I am.Eventually, I will be faster. I hope.
Slowly working up the Tallis Steelyard novel and realised how much more planning you have to do with a novel over a novella :-(
Brilliant Alicia, really pleased to hear you are getting some done. 150 for me this morning in my 10 minutes. Jim, I've noticed that. If only I could do the stages of a novel the way I do the novellas I'd be set, but after writing four novellas I found myself hankering for something more complex! You just can't win with this muse stuff.
Started a short I am supposed to have written by September 7th. It's unlikely I'll get it done, especially as I've just tipped over into constipation, headache and brain fog week, but it might get me back into my 10 minutes a day again.
Cheers
MTM
Finally another 1600 words down on Star Spy. Need to keep this up, now
M.T. wrote: "Well done Pam. Here's a complete OMG. I've planned out a Christmas story I have to write for an anthology and managed to produce 332 words for it. Woot!"Cheers MT. Have been back at it again and had a load of Word related page numbering issues to resolve today. It kept changing section break info and resetting the number to 1 in lower case Roman numerals for a couple of chapters. Think I've sorted it out now. Word is infruriating.
I can afford to look at my edits so I need to get my finger out and do it while I still have the cash to send them back to the editor for a second sweep!Cheers
MTM
I have some questions about formatting for KDP paperback where I just want to make sure I have made the right decisions about fonts/sizes etc and to ask if I need drop caps for example. Where should I post those please - another post under Agony Aunt, or would it go in the Author zone?
The brain came back yesterday, and I got another bunch of words - 700 or so if you don't count the edits.Pray the brain stays - I have given up carbs again, and hope that keeps me working.
Pam wrote: "I have some questions about formatting for KDP paperback where I just want to make sure I have made the right decisions about fonts/sizes etc and to ask if I need drop caps for example. Where shoul..."Agony Aunt is nearer the top so people see it ;-) We have some smart techie people who are not necessarily authors
Yeh, I’d go for agony aunt.Alicia, fine effort!
Unfortunately it’s constipation and brain fog week so there’s been rather less headway than I hoped. However, I have written another blog post so I guess that’s 1500 words or so.
Cheers
MTM
PS said blog post is here https://mtmcguire.co.uk/2019/08/17/ra...
Thanks - about to try another day of it. It sure feels good to have your mind click on, and be able to write, and find you are still the same writer you enjoyed being before.
Have posted a thread about my paperback setup and queries if anyone who has published a paperback, especially using KDP but also general comments welcome, could comment please?
Things are really firing at the moment. I have been on holiday a little bit and I have blasted through to the end of the first draft of my work in progress.I'm now at a bit of a loose end because the short story collection is with beta readers and I leave the first drafts alone for a couple of weeks before diving into the second.
Thought I might go back and redo my earlier books, because I'm a little better versed at kindle formatting and book covers now.
We'll see how it goes.
I've actually progresse3d my word count this last week. Amazed, rather
Well I finally got the paperback formatting done and have contacted the nice lady who did my ebook cover to produce the paperback one. In the meantime, re-edited chapters 7 - 12 of the second book I intend to self publish and sent them round my critique group. Now need to look at their comments for chapters 1 - 6.
It's been going back to school week this week so I've achieved sweet FA so far. I have a desperate hope that I might complete a Christmas story for an anthology but I only have five days and hormonally, those five days are the ones where my originality goes away on holiday and I usually write non-fiction. I might write next week's newsletter and blog post and hope that the fiction centre of my brain comes back on line in time ... decisions, decisions! Otherwise, I might just submit the story about my brother and I lobbing snowballs onto a car from his bedroom window to 'persuade' it to move.Cheers
MTM
Wrote a 2,300 word story over the weekend. It could possibly be joined by other linked stories in an anthology - if I ever get around to writing the others. 😉
That's a chunky piece of workI've had to step back from the Tallis novel because I'm doing the stories for the next blog tour, there are two novellas to come out
Owing to having too many balls in the air at the moment, no writing is getting done. So the word count has been nil for the last week and is likely to remain at that for the next month.However, all is not lost because I staggered on to make it to the end of the first draft before I picked up another hefty cannonball to try to keep in the air. You'll all know that a bit of space between first draft and tackling the inevitable rewrites is not a bad thing.
I am in awe (and I mean that) of those of you who manage to write a book within a year or less and sometimes add short stories and blog posts too.
Been working on some edits for the second book I mean to self publish - a lot shorter, with far few characters than the first!
Anna Faversham wrote: "Owing to having too many balls in the air at the moment, no writing is getting done. So the word count has been nil for the last week and is likely to remain at that for the next month.However, a..."
Me too. They probably have really uncomplicated lives or more emotional stamina! ;-)
Did more editing today, on all sorts of things. Still haven't more than the start of a story for the anthology I'm supposed to be submitting to by 17th September.On the up side, it looks like I might have a book out in November.
Cheers
MTM
I'm now putting together the stories for the blog tour to go with two more novellas that are ready for release :-)Which basically means writing about a half to two thirds of a novella when the word count is totted up!
Jim wrote: "I'm now putting together the stories for the blog tour to go with two more novellas that are ready for release :-)Which basically means writing about a half to two thirds of a novella when the wor..."
Blimey Jim, it's all go. I'm just sitting down to write. I'll let you all know how I did when I come out the other side!
Cheers
MTM
He's you, when you scratch the surface, that's why.I've forgotten to keep count with these individual stories but I'll add it up soon and let you know.
Kath wrote: "He's you, when you scratch the surface, that's why.I've forgotten to keep count with these individual stories but I'll add it up soon and let you know."
Word!
Did 1500 words yesterday but doubt I’ll finish the anthology story in time. I will finish it though because I can submit it to next year’s!Cheers
MTM
Kath wrote: "He's you, when you scratch the surface, that's why.I've forgotten to keep count with these individual stories but I'll add it up soon and let you know."
and all the people I've met over the years :-)
Did some editing in the bath yesterday. ;-) Not so many words but it was all useful stuff.
Well after cranking through the final formatting and some correspondence with the nice lady who designed the ebook cover and was doing the paperback version, I finally submitted the book today. Can't say published as it has to be manually reviewed by Amazon apparently. Fingers crossed.
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Blimey! Good going. Glad it’s reading well.
Bernie wrote: "My diary, that I do every day anyway, so my bad. But I also write quizzes for my local social club of pensioners. They do love these and it helps to keep their brains in gear. They are all keen on ..."
It’s all words innit?! And that quiz book sounds a great idea!
Darren wrote: "M.T. wrote: "Yeh, I hear you. When my books come back from the editor I look at them and think ... Did I write this? How?"
I tend to look at my books and think… Did I write these? Why?"
Mwahahahargh! Love it.