Oct 5, 2024
Went to start writing this morning and found my computer stuck in a software update. Fortunately I have access to my writing on my phone so I ended up writing half my morning words that way. It was surprisingly comfortable to work on my phone, although it’s not something I want to make a habit of.
I ended up having to troubleshoot my computer because the update got stuck. Then I had to take a break to make breakfast for Oscar and watch a video of a new computer game he wanted to show me. So by the time I got back to writing I didn’t feel up for doing much more. I still ended up with an additional 101 words for the day, and that all helps.
I think I should finish the story tomorrow, it feels as if it’s near the end now. Then it’s onto the next one.
Going to spend the morning doing some decorating, which I really don’t enjoy but want to get done.
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Words written today: 1,101
Words written total: 6,742
Plus / Minus target: 742
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Currently writing: Sisterhood
Currently publishing: n/a
Latest release: n/a
Sep 23, 2024
It has been over three years since I last published a new story. Everything I’ve published in the last few years has either been a re-release of an existing story, or something that I had finished previously. I finished my most recent release, The Long Winter, over ten years ago.
I haven’t really stopped writing during that time and maybe a couple of things got as far as a finished first draft, but nothing went further and most things didn’t even get that far. I made plans, worked on projects, even wrote about some of them here, but nothing progressed, nothing actually got finished.
There are reasons for this. It has been an incredibly difficult few years for our family, but not finishing stories has been bugging me. I don’t like it. I don’t really feel like I’m living if I’m not writing, and as I have come to realise that I’m not finishing what I’m starting, it’s become increasingly difficult to convince myself it’s a good idea to start a story.
Which is where this challenge comes in.
Over the next year, I am going to write 52 short stories and publish them all. That’s one short story a week.
Which is a bit of an over-simplification of what I’m planning, but I’ll get to that in a minute. Effectively, what I am going to do is spend an entire year finishing stories. That is what I want to get out of this challenge; to return to being the type of person who finishes the stories I start.
The slightly longer version of the challenge is that I am basing this on the average short story being around 5,000 words long, so my daily challenge will actually be to write 1,000 words. That gives me 2,000 extra words a week for stories that require more space. There are a few other things involved as well, like editing, designing covers, formatting, etc., which I have accounted for so that I can publish an average of 5,000 words every week.
Normally I release books on all platforms, but for the sake of this challenge, I am going to be releasing on Kindle Unlimited. Later on, when I put them into collections, I will release wide, or if I change my mind during the challenge.
Another element of this challenge is accountability. That is why you are going to see a lot more blog posts from me. I am going to be writing here every day, even if it is only to let you know what my word count for the day is. Although, hopefully I can add a bit more than that!
The fiction part of the challenge kicks off next Monday (30th September). The blogging starts now as I put things in place and get ready. I’m looking forward to getting started and to finally getting over the hurdle of finishing what I start.
May 2, 2024
The whole reason I started writing stories is because it is fun. Little five year old James laying on the floor with his Ghostbuster’s notebook and pencil wasn’t making up stories because he wanted to make money, run a business, post about it on social media and all the other stuff that comes along with being an independent author. The only reason that little guy did anything was because he thought it was fun.
It’s easy to lose sight of that, and I’m certainly guilty of doing so, from time to time. I get so focused on the metrics, on fine tuning my processes, on being as productive as possible that I forget the simple pleasure of sitting down and making up a story out of thin air.
When that happens, you inevitably get bogged down, the whole thing starts to feel like a slog, like hard work. Which I think comes through in the story. If I’m not enjoying writing it, is anyone going to enjoy reading it? I can’t see how they would.
I started writing because it was fun, and most days it still is fun, but I need to get better at recognising when I’m sliding into not fun and do what I can to pull myself out of it. There’s no point writing if you don’t enjoy it.
I’m sure there are other things that we started off doing because they were fun, but turned them into hard work. I don’t know why. Part of me wants to blame it on the culture of side hustles and the nature of capitalism, but I don’t think that’s all there is to it. Maybe people are just wired this way?
Nov 24, 2023
Production
Untitled Cozy Catastrophe
I am currently at 44,000 words on the first draft of this, which I started at the beginning of November for Nanowrimo. That’s around about 70% on the first draft.
Hell Hole
This was about 95% written when I stopped work on it, due to things going on in my life. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to ever work on it again, but things change and it’s probably what I will be doing when I finish work on the Cozy Catastrophe.
The Ladies Adventure Society
This is about 50% done. Not sure when I will get back to work on it, but it’s still on my list.
Revolver
I am less sure that I will work on this, but I still really like the story. I am keeping it on the list for now.
Editing
Still working through the re-masters and making good progress. There are some new titles which have never been published before that I am going to start working on soon, and that’s more exciting and unexpected.
Publishing
I have published quite a lot of remasters now. I’m not sure which ones I have written about here before, so I will just give a list of all the ones that are available:
Novels
Short Stories
And I think that brings us about up to date. I’m trying to post more regularly to my blog now, so check back again on Monday.
