As I’ve written before, I’m a die-hard fan of using planners to note writing progress.  This is the first year that I actually started using the data in the planners to tell me a few things about my process.  first of all, if I skip one day writing, I am very likely to skip numerous days of writing.  I tend to think this happens because I get out of the story’s rhythm.  I also wondered if I was actually nailing the first draft quicker than before.  Turns out, I am writing at the same pace (i.e. I can finish a novel in 1-2 months) but in previous years, I just had a lot more of what I call ‘dead days’ in the mix where no writing was accomplished.

While this information is hardly newsworthy, it does tell me useful facts about how I put a book together so I can adjust those ‘dead days’ and at least finish a page each day to keep the flow going.  It also tells me that I’m keeping the same pace as I always did, which is a minor miracle considering the number of distractions I have.

With the new year upon you, you might want to take a look at your own writing habits.  You just might discover some interesting things that will help you up the pace!

Yep, that’s me. Stubborn to the core. Of course it does pay-off sometimes. In writing, stubbornness pays off big, sometimes. Take for example the very first novel that I wrote and polished, and polished, and polished. No, it wasn’t the first novel I finished. It was the first one I knew was finished right and had a shot. So I submitted it. And submitted it. And submitted it. No, it wasn’t picked up by an editor, and the agents wouldn’t touch it either. so I self-published it through Createspace and put it out for the Kindle.

Strangely enough, the novel that all the agents and editors rejected is selling more and more copies every month, and that novel is helping to sell other books with very little cost out of my pocket. Of course with self-publishing, you aren’t bound to single genres the way traditional publishing wants novels to be, so I think that has helped out a lot of independent authors.

Seventeen-year-old Misha Malloy has always dreamed of Ramsey, a beautiful teenager from a world called Alterna.  Ramsey has always been there to love and protect her, but even he could not stop the car accident which left her in a coma; however, six months later, Misha has recovered and quickly finds that her world and Alterna are blending.  Ramsey now comes to her in the flesh, and so does his brother, Elijah, who will stop at nothing to make Ramsey pay for an old transgression–including killing Misha.

Book One of the Dreamwalker Series

All of the print editions of my novels are through Createspace, and I have to say that I’ve had really good luck with things so far.  Just recently Createspace has opened up new distribution channels, and I submitted my one of my novels, New Life Incorporated, to those new channels.  Although Createspace says it may take six months to see the books in the different channels, I’ve already found the print edition in Barnes and Noble online, which is really cool.

For those of you considering self-publishing, I would definitely consider Createspace.

Sorry about the long break.  I guess I’ve learned that no matter how well you dodge most things, chaos cannot be avoided.  I usually handle it pretty well, but this month, it definitely got the upper hand.  While it might have stalled my blogging, it really didn’t put a dent in my writing progress.

Speaking of writing progress, I’ve been analyzing just how much I’ve been able to get done this year and why the page count is so high.  First of all, before this year, I’ve had a hard time finishing more that one book in a year.  I’m a fast writer, but for some reason I couldn’t get past that wall.  Now let’s talk about what happened this year–I discovered the Snowflake Method.  No, it’s not a miraculous cure for writers’ block.  But what it does, amping up the conflict and solidifying characters and motive, it does extremely well.  By the time you go through the pre-writing process, you are ready to hit the novel running.

As I said, I’m a fast writer.  This year the speed went off the charts.  I completed over 1700 pages.  In finished works that adds up to five complete novels plus the current WIP, five scripts that I’ve co-written, and several poems.  I’m not writing this because of pride.  I’m writing this to tell you that since I started using the Snowflake Method, I’ve really enjoyed writing more because it keeps the stumbling to a minimum and let’s me focus on what I love most–the characters and their worlds.

If you are interested in The Snowflake Method, check out the website here.

Right now I’m on about page 215 of my science fiction thriller, and that’s a good thing.  It always seems that around page 175 I start to want to work on other projects.  It’s not writers’ block.  It’s not that there is something wrong with the current WIP.  It’s that I’m at the halfway point and my muse wants to play…with other books.  So not fair, right?  Of course I do have a way around this.  I have a new Sojourner book that I am so dying to write.  Of course I won’t start it until I finish this one.  Otherwise I won’t finish this one.  We’ve worked on 23 finished books together.  I know how distracted she gets.   So I’ve been telling my muse that she can play when the work is done, which is getting results.  Yesterday it was 11 1/2 pages.  Today I’m shooting for at least ten.  I’d love to have this novel wrapped up by X-mas break, but I guess we will see.

So what happens when your muse wants greener pastures?  How do you get her to finish the darn story she started in the first place?

I know the title probably sounds strange, but if you are like me, you never really think much about the opportunity or ability to put pen to paper and get those words out.  The simple fact is that this one part of your life is something you should be thankful for as well.

I teach a lot of remedial students, and the one thing I’ve realized is that while writing seems to come easily to me, (okay easily after years anyway) it doesn’t work that way for a lot of people.  They don’t understand the basic process and it frustrates them.  Can you imagine not being able to do what you love to do?

Besides, gratitude for just being able to write helps in another way, too.  When your life is filled with negative things, if you remember that being able to write is a blessing, the other negative things fall into place.  You aren’t going to be able to please ever reader every time.  People will find fault with you no matter what you do.  Save yourself a lot of grief and be grateful for the gift you love.  It will reward you in ways you hadn’t really expected.  Trust me on that one.

There are a lot of people out there who say they would like to write novels if they only had the time.  The funny thing is that I don’t have any more time than anyone else.  Life doesn’t willingly give you time for your passions.  You have to prioritize and work to get time.  And you have to know how your time is spent.

The year I finished four novels and co-wrote three scripts.  No, I don’t have some super writing power.  How I wish I did.  No, I’m not retired.  No, my children, all three of them, are not grown.  No,  I do not take extended vacations.  What I do is account for my time.  I have a planner every year.  In it, I keep track of the pages I have completed each day.  If I am not writing new pages, I also note how many pages I edited or my progress in Snowflaking a novel.  I also note which bookes I finished reading, and yes, that is important.  I also note my sales on Kindle novels so I can track my progress. 

No, I’m not anal retentive.  But time is kind of like money.  If you don’t keep track of it, it’s gone before you knew you spent it.  Besides, it’s easier to call myself a writer if I know I’m doing something writing related.  My planner proves that. 

So how do you account for your time?

Christmas is coming, and no matter how much you might drag your feet or hide, December 25th, will find you.  So what do writers really want for Christmas?  That’s easy. 

1.  An organizational troll who is a mind-reader to help us find a place for eveyrthing and put it there.

2.  A smart cat who can read our stuff and puke hairballs only on crap, thereby saving us from trying to edit it into something better.

3.  A computer that will not eat any word files, images, or videos associated with writing.

4.  A handy pad and pen so that when we are trapped in the mall and forced to Christmas shop with lunatics we can do detailed character research.  Nobody will believe we actually modeled it after humans anyway.

5.  For romance writers, a thesaurus for body parts.  No kidding, this really would be extremely handy.  If I read ‘throbbing manhood’ one more time….

6.  A lifesize cardboard cut out of ___________ for inspiration.  Notice I didn’t fill in the blank.  That’s dependent on the recipient.  Of course I’m always open to Gerard Butler.  Just sayin….

7.  Socks that automatically change colors to match.  So not kidding.  Writers are not real-life oriented.  We are more worried about what our characters are doing than if our socks match.

8.  For fantasy writers a DK interactive book of medieval clothing.  How else are we gonna know how to dress the characters.

9.  A smart cell phone that knows when not to ring.  It could even ask the caller if he or she is a) at the hospital, b) needs to go to the hospital, or or c) losing more than a pint of blood as he or she calls.

10.  A pair of ruby red slippers that will transport him or her to her writing place after clicking the heels three times.

 

When I started self-publishing, I first put my novel out for the Kindle.  It’s amazing just how much that has changed as the competition among e-readers is now heating up.  The good news is that my books aren’t just available for the Kindle.  The also appear as e-books on Barnes and Noble’s website and Smashwords.  Amazon also just released a computer application which allows readers to download Kindle e-books and read them on their computers without having a Kindle.  I think things are about to get interesting.