Dec 11, 2024
Although I am still getting up and writing my 1,000 words every day (and fulfilling the goal of my challenge) I am being less strict about the planning and editing aspect of things and accepting that there are some days when I can’t do those.
That’s working out pretty well for me. Today I sat down and worked on planning The List (that title is going to change really soon) for a lot longer than 20 minutes. I got a lot done and now think I’ll probably be ready to start work on it when I finish the first draft of The Storm (which will probably also have a title change).
It’s not working out so well on the editing side because I don’t love doing that so it’s easier to put off. I might need to figure out a daily goal for that again, just so I can keep publishing stories.
Giving myself more flexibility around this stuff is really helping in a lot of ways. Most importantly though is I’m feeling less stressed out about it all. That’s important because there are a lot of other things going on in life at the moment and although I am still trying to follow my five lessons and the sixth I have to accept that writing is an entirely voluntary thing right now so it can’t be the number one priority every day.
Another thing that’s probably contributing to my sense of calm is that I have decided to do a digital detox. Basically that means that I am avoiding all non-essential online activity. So no reading the news, no scrolling Reddit or any other social media, no YouTube, nothing. I’m only a couple of days into that, but it is already making a big difference to the amount of time I have for things like reading and writing.
I think a relaxed approach is generally better. A bit like driving 5mph under the speed limit. Over the course of a whole journey, it doesn’t make that much difference to the time you arrive, but it’s way less stressful and more enjoyable.
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Latest release: The Last Outpost
Currently Writing:
- The Storm: a cozy apocalypse novella. Today’s progress: 1,077 / 12,419
- The List: a dark fantasy novella. PLANNING
- Son of Mars: a science-fiction short story about the construction of a colony on Mars. EDITING
Nov 9, 2024
I decided to go for it on the Bradbury Reading challenge. At the bottom of this post I’ve added a section so you can see what I’ve read. It seemed appropriate to go with a Bradbury short story for day one.
Although I have an Enlish degree, I’ve never really gotten into poetry for pleasure. I’m not sure if that’s going to change during the course of this challenge or not, but I think I get something from reading it.
The way I was taught to read a poem is to read it at least five times. Once in your head, followed by three times out loud, then a final time in your head again.
This is not all the reading I will do in a day. I am also listening to the audiobooks of the Expanse series, and reading Unruly by David Mitchell. I don’t expect to read them any less because of this. This reading is extra, the time it takes will come from time I was otherwise spending online.
The writing is still going well. My current story is going to be the longest one so far, but that’s not a problem. On the editing side, I am just working on the product description fo Sisterhood, and will hopefully have that up for order next week.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 25
Production
Words written today: 1,056
Words written total: 44,332
Plus / Minus target: +3,332
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 22
Minutes total: 208
Plus / Minus target: +28
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Reading
Short story: All Summer in a Day – Ray Bradbury
Essay: Dentists Without Borders – David Sedaris
Poem: Dirge in Woods – George Meredith
Nov 4, 2024
One of the reasons that aiming for a small amount of work each day is effective for me, is that it’s hard to say I can’t find the time. A single story idea, a thousand words, twenty-minutes of editing, a short blog post. None of it seems like a lot, but doing it every day adds up.
Today I had Oscar’s friend over from school and if I’d had a lot of editing to do, I might not have done any. The excuse that I couldn’t make the time would be right there. But twenty-minutes isn’t much time, so I did it.
In a single day, twenty-minutes doesn’t look like much, because it isn’t. But that’s ten hours a month, 120 hours a year. That’s more than I think I would manage if I was aiming for 40 minutes a day or something.
I think the key is that it’s easy to do, and difficult to make excuses not to do. If I can’t find 20 minutes to do some editing then I would have to question how committed I am to all this.
The writing is continuing to go well. I haven’t hit the pit of frustration yet, so I’m probably still quite early in the story, but I’ll get there. This is story number four and I’m beginning to see patterns in things.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 20
Production
Words written today: 1,040
Words written total: 39,116
Plus / Minus target: +3,116
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 24
Minutes total: 97
Plus / Minus target: +17
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Nov 1, 2024
Today has been a bit rushed, but I managed to find the time to sit down and do some editing. Maybe not as much as I would have liked, but I hit my target and got six minutes ahead.
I have never really loved the process of editing a story. I love planning stories and I love writing the first draft, but going back over it to look for spelling mistakes and things has always been a bit of a struggle. That’s why I have so many stories that only exist as a first draft. But I need to do it before I can start publishing them.
As you can see below, there is a new section to my daily roundup of work done. I am aiming to average 20 minutes of editing every day. I got a decent chunk done on Sisterhood, but don’t know how long it will take before that is actually published. Once the editing is done I still need to make a cover, format the book, and put it up for sale.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 17
Production
Words written today: 1,049
Words written total: 35,991
Plus / Minus target: +2,991
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 26
Minutes total: 26
Plus / Minus target: +6
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Oct 28, 2024
Most people probably wouldn’t think it to look at me, but I suffer from an all or nothing personality. No idea where I got it from, but it’s mine to deal with.
It comes out at times like when I try to improve my relationship with the internet. A sensible approach would be to reduce the amount of time I spend online, but I find myself jumping straight to not using the internet at all.
And it snowballs. I go from not using the internet at all to trying to reduce all my technology useage, until I’m ready to sell my phone and computer and go and live off the land.
This writing challenge is a good example of me trying to do the opposite of that. But it wasn’t until yesterday that I realised it.
The first writing challenge I set out to do was a million words in a year. Which I failed. To be fair, I got something like 800,000 so I failed well, but even if I’d managed it, I couldn’t have sustained it. This time things are different. 1,000 words a day is a goal I can hit pretty much every day. It’s not an impressive number, but it’s something I can do consistently. And that’s what I’m looking for.
The same is true for the planning (one story plan a day) and the editing I’m going to be starting on Friday. And now that I’ve realised it, I’m looking at other areas of my life where I can apply this simple goal of being a bit better.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 13
Production
Words written today: 1,048
Words written total: 31,787
Plus / Minus target: +2,787
Currently writing: Son of Mars
