Ready for Tomorrow

Although, today has been a productive satisfying day, writing-wise and otherwise, I have decided to forgo daily progress reports... The time spent logging how I spent my writing time takes away from the actual progress.

Perhaps, I'll try weekly reporting...

Today, I made it to the keyboard by 7:00 a.m. Played catchup with emails and blog visits from yesterday.

At 9:00 a.m., I reviewed mentor/coach's comments for Chapter 10 again. (One thing I am noticing is that the comments for the first draft are incisive and minimal. First things first, I address the comments, then start working down the list of items on the Revision Checklist.)

With short breaks through the day, the steps on the Revision Checklist for tomorrow include AutoCrit Analysis, Pacing, and Dragon NaturallySpeaking Reading the chapter aloud.

Tomorrow should be another productive day, with finishing Chapter 10 and diving into Chapter 11 (formerly the last scene of Chapter 9).

Today is the Day: Tuesday - September 3, 2013

With longer appointments than expected, today was a bust revision-wise.

However, Dean Wesley Smith has completed 50,000+ words of a novel in 12 days.

Inspiring and exciting!

So much so, I signed up for Dean's 3-week Your Strengths and Weaknesses: A Personal Workshop beginning October 7th.

My upcoming doctor's appointments are October 7th and 8th, so I have much to look forward to...hopefully leading to less fatigue, better focus, and and improved writing skills.

BTW, Dean's advice is when you have an off-day of writing, tackle your goals the next day, don't play catchup, and keep moving forward.

Therefore, Chapter 10 will welcome me to the computer in the morning.

Today is the Day: Sunday - September 1, 2013

Inspired by Author Dean Wesley Smith, who's at it again with a year-long Public Writing challenge, I intend to maintain a daily writing progress journal. Right now, due to continual health issues, keeping a daily tally of my writing and revision, may be just what I need to provide self-accountability and encouragement.

So, today is the day I write AND write about writing.

Behind schedule on Book #2, Series #1, this morning I made it to the keyboard at 7:30 a.m.

For the first 1-1/2 hour session of the day, I read through Chapter 8, and fleshed out some of the movements and dialog.

I took a short break for breakfast and to gather books for donation for our local library.

During the next 1-1/2 hour revision stint, I listened to Dragon NaturallySpeaks software read the beginning, middle, and end of the chapter, and adjusted the pacing of the sections for each section, in line with the overall pacing of the book.

During the next break, I surfed the net, read a few articles, listened to the radio while eating an early lunch.

12:30 p.m., back at the keyboard, I started this blog post and made a few notes of what non-writing tasks I want to accomplish today.

Then, I pulled up the next chapter, addressed my mentor/coach's comments from her earlier first draft review, printed the chapter out, and read the chapter.

Next, item-by-item, I started working through my revision checklist. (I've learned that if I work my way through the checklist the revision of each scene/chapter is well-rounded.)

I received a welcome phone call from a dear friend and took an early break to visit on the phone with her.

The next break, I decluttered my office, boxed up paperwork scattered from looking for hard-copy documents last week, and took a video of the hummingbird swarm on our front porch.

For the next revision session, I continued to work my way through the revision checklist. Items on the list include weather descriptions, visual cues (hair/eye color, height/weight, etc.), senses layering, anchoring the characters in the scene, review of scene aspects, visceral reactions, foreshadowing, AutoCrit analysis, pacing, and copy editing.

Next, I took a break to reflect on what addition work the scene needed and took a short afternoon nap. 15 minutes or so this time of day (between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. seems to rejuvenate me for a more productive afternoon and evening writing sessions. This from a reformed non-napper.)

I made it only part way through the checklist when Hubby invited me out to dinner. A great Mexican meal and a quick shopping trip.

Home and weary, so in a quick overview of today, I see that I did only three (3) 1-1/2 hour revision sessions in which I completed the last part of Chapter 8 and made it 1/4 of the way through the revision checklist for Chapter 9.

Adjustments I need to make tomorrow include shortening the sessions to 1-hour stints, blocking the internet until the chapter is finished, and setting a timer for tasks away from the computer.

In keeping track and making this blog post a method of accountability, I've learned why I have not been completing revisions for two (2) chapters per day. I am also aware that I am definitely battling concentration and focus issues, which is affecting my productivity big-time.

Time to replan and regroup.

Diving In - Writing and Staying Afloat

One year ago today, I created and made my first post on this Alexa Writes Books blog. The post, Diving In - First Learn to Swim, depicted my beginning of a journey to write full-time and to make a living doing the same.

My very first blog post featured Jude Hardin's guest post on J.A. Konrath's blog about pushing the button and going into writing full time. Jude's part two blog post, Pushing the Button Part 2, includes his sharing of his experience with traditional publishing and independent publishing during the past year and forward.

As of June 13, 2013, I have accomplished the first part of the goal. Five books drafted, with revisions to be completed in the next couple of months.THEN comes the second part. Independent Publishing. That entails book cover design, e-book formatting, internal paper book design, professional editing, offering the books for sale, etc., etc., etc. 

Where are your books? Why did you wait until all of them were finished to revise? Why not finish one, publish, then move on to the next?

In studying those that have succeeded big in the Independent Publishing arena, the thing most of them have in common is a back list, which means they have written multiple books and have many books available to the reader.

I also discovered that newly published authors, without back lists tend to struggle with finding and maintaining readership. (Jude Hardin's Part 2 post tends to lead possible credence to this observation.)

SO, I decided to try a different tact and create a back list first. This five book series will serve as my completed books, with a goal in place to publish a new book approximately every two months.

Will this tactic make a difference in garnering sales and in building a readership? We shall see. (I'll shoot an e-mail to Jude Hardin and J.A. Konrath if it does.) The books for Series #1 be released within a very few weeks of one another, with additional standalone and standalone series books to follow in consistent succession.

While this first year of writing full-time involved some health issues that derailed my time-frames for goals, I still will mange to complete a five-book series in just a little over a year!

Let's celebrate. Where's the chocolate?

A Bump in the Road (Writing Onward!)

Just like slowing your car for a BUMP AHEAD sign on the highway, I've been forced to slow my writing pace; however, SLOW does not mean STOP.

Goals all worked out and tasks targeted, the past few weeks, I've been writing material better and faster than I've every produced, then unwelcome health issues interrupted my writing flow and are serving as a bump in the road.

Just like on a day job, I have only a few days built into my schedule for unexpected hitches and glitches (such as illness or unexpected family demands); therefore, since writing is my job, writing is a MUST.

Even unwell, when I write, I feel filled up and fulfilled. There is a connectedness to words and to story that makes me feel whole. For me, writing is like coming home.

For today, I have quartered my daily goal. Yet, today, I write.

"Sometimes it just be's that way."

"Sometimes it just be's that way," is one of my favorite colloquial sayings. Basically the saying depicts that there are times that life and what life throws our way just, well, IS.

Not until my health started to improve did I realize how unwell and sick I have been. Nor that I had been so seriously physically ill for such a long time. Despite suffering intense fatigue, quite a bit of muscle and joint pain, and major brain fog, I kept working and kept functioning the best that I could.

Now that I'm on the path the wellness, I look back and don't see how I managed to keep going at times. Sure, I had to let things go (housework) and had to prioritize to the max to coordinate what I was best able to do (work), but I recall many times that I had my doubts whether I'd be able to continue on.

I have been writing full-time for five months. Beginning June 13 through July and into the first week of August, I completed the first draft of Book #1 in series #1. After an invaluable developmental edit performed, reviewed and the resulting replotting implemented in September, I began the the second first draft in October and will complete the draft on November 19th.

Not the amount progress I wanted, expected or planned during my first five months of writing full-time, and hopefully, the next few months will prove quite a bit more prolific, however, as I did before when I was unwell and didn't realize how sick I truly was, I will continue on.

How much progress will I make and how much will I write in the coming months? I don't know. What I do know is, that as I have done before, I'll keep on keeping on, fully aware that, at times, intentions, wants, expectations and/or plans don't always manifest or translate into reality.

Yet, as I determinedly finish each book in the series and each book beyond that, I look forward to being able to grin and say "Sometimes it just be's that way."

Chapter by Chapter

"Keep your head down, Flossy. Just do your job, and you'll get by." My mother used to have a saying like this. I suppose it might be a regional-type quote. Regardless of who Flossy might be (I don't have a clue), I think a lesson lies in the saying.

As it pertains to writing, I keep my head down, so to speak, and focus on the chapter before me.

Before I begin a chapter, I look at my GMCD chart to review the gist of a few previous prior chapters, then I consider the GMCD of that particular chapters scene(s). Does the current GMCD still apply? Did earlier changes of direction in previous chapters alter the direction of this one? 

The GMCD Chart has turned out to be an incredible tool to work out plotting issues and keep track of  the story's path. If for nothing else, I would recommend creating a chart to assist in keeping track of chapters and scenes.

Once I review the chart, I focus on the Point of View Character for that scene and begin to share that characters experience. When I'm writing a chapter, that's all there is. There is no before and after. Just the now of that chapter.

So, chapter by chapter, just do your job, Flossy, and you'll get by.

Yesterday's Progress Status - 9/16/12

Yesterday, I focused on writing three (3) scenes. Two (2) scenes are drafted, with the beginning of one (1) scene written.

With five (5) out of 75 (seventy-five) scenes drafted, seventy (70) scenes remain to be written.

For a goal of 75,000 words, with 6,633 words written so far, the First Draft, of Book #2 of Series #1 is 9% complete.

Today's Progress Status - 9/15/12

The Inciting Incident started the story rolling. The two following scenes are strong and move the story forward at a good pace.

With three (3) out of 75 (seventy-five) scenes drafted, seventy-two (72) scenes remain to be written.

For a goal of 75,000 words, with 3,630 words written today, the First Draft, of Book #2 of Series #1 is 5% complete.

Those Lovely Acronyms - GMC, GMCD, EQDA

GMC is the acronym for Goal, Motivation, Conflict. Every story has a GMC. Each main character's GMC drives the story.

My main character's GMC for the first book in the series is:

Goal: To get back home 

Motivation (Internal/External): Homesick, Misses grandparents / Taken away from family, Current negative situation

Conflict (Internal/External): Scared, Uncertain, People-pleaser / Kidnappers, Held against will, Inside mountain, Others threatened

That's the main character's story GMC. Her story, what the book is about, is how she journeys through her GMC.

GMCD stands for Goal, Motivation, Conflict, Disaster. Each scene is written to this model. The main character, in Scene #1 of Book #1, has a GMCD of:

Goal: To go fishing

Motivation (Internal/External): Loves fishing / Her grandfather

Conflict (Internal/External): Fearful of doing something she's not supposed to do / The wind is blowing too hard to fish, Her grandfather's presence to witness her doing something she's not supposed to do

Disaster: Yes, but her grandfather isn't well

Potential Disaster endings for scenes include: 1) No; 2) Yes, but; and 3) No, and furthermore. (A straight-forward Yes, as far as reaching the scene goal, is not a good option, because it leaves the end of the scene flat and without expectation for what's going to happen next.)

EQDA, which is Emotion, Quandary, Decision, Action, serves as a sequel to the scene and may consist of as little as a sentence or a paragraph or as much as several paragraphs or several pages. The EQDA for the first scene is depicted in a few sentences at the very end of the scene.

Emotion: Excitement

Quandary: Doesn't want to get in trouble, but maybe it's okay to do something she/her might get into trouble for.

Decision: She/he is going to do it.

Action: Does it.

Although the draft is rough, the GMCD and EQDA are depicted clearly. The scene has a purpose. It moves the story forward, plus, hopefully, if I've done my job correctly, the scene leaves the reader curious as to what she's going to do that 's wrong, as well as giving a sense of foreboding and hinting at bad things to come.

So You Want to Write a Book? Being an 80-Percenter

According to the statistics I've been able to research, 80% of people want to write a book, and of those that want to write a book, only 1% actually do.

I am an 80-percenter.

Yes, I have written a first draft; however, my book is not yet finished, and will more than likely go through three or more drafts.

I've finished a cohesive first draft, and that draft goes to a developmental editor the second week of September. Then, I will edit according to the editor's suggestions, then polish the writing for a second draft.

And even though, I have technical copy editing experience, the book will be copy-edited by a professional editor to provide a second set of eyes for the third draft.

Once the manuscript is ready for publication, THEN and only then, will I consider that I have actually written a book.

With health issues that involve difficulties in focus and concentration, the past few weeks have been a struggle, however I did finish Book #1 of Series #1, and have started Book #2 of Series #1.

My goal is to get back on track by making index cards my friends for the next couple of days, then will begin a writing routine of 1,000 words per day, and will build up from there. My additional goal is to turn in the first draft to the developmental editor this upcoming Saturday; therefore, I need to work on that in the evenings.

Working toward transitioning from an 80-percenter to a 1-percenter is just that -- work.

Will I get there?

I want to and hope to do so. I am committed, and I'm determined.

One day at a time.

Experiencing "THE END"

A few days ago, I typed, THE END at the end of a writing session. I finished writing the first book in a series.

I just completed a manuscript that's not a jumbled toss of words into a computer file. The plot makes sense. The story is cohesive, and the concept of the series and each of the books in the series is strong.

Someone asked, "How did you feel when you typed THE END?"

I was excited and thrilled and uncertain and nervous, all rolled up into one unsteady breath, followed by a sigh of tremendous relief and a feeling of accomplishment. All of a sudden, I wished my mother and father were still living so that I could call and share this milestone.

For a few minutes, I sat without moving, feeling both giddy and breathless, knowing that this is a process I want to experience again and again and again.

So, what DID I do?

I texted a few folks the picture shared in this post, and since Hubby was attending a seminar, I did what any writer gal would do. To celebrate, I ate a chocolate croissant and began plotting the second book in the series.

Progress Status - Weekly Check-In 8-6-12

The past week, due to travel and the emotional toll of going through our deceased mother's and father's remaining property, was a slow week writing-wise; however, I did manage some forward progress.

My current First Draft Progress, as it stands as of 8-6-12, is as follows:


Project A: Novella: ON HOLD
 
Project B, Novel:

For the Novel in 30 Days, I'm postponing posting totals for the 60,000 Words in 30 Days total until August 12th.

Of note, Project B is almost complete, therefore, Project A, may go on hold. I'm not sure that the genre for Project A is right for me because I am struggling with getting into the groove of writing in that particular genre. OR it may be a genre that I put on hold and attempt to delve into later on.

Writing a Novel in 30 Days - Day 16

Despite travel, I was able to write 850 words today; therefore on Day 16 of my personal Writing a Novel in 30 Days challenge, the overall word count total is 30,533 and the goal is 51% complete.



At the end of day 16, with a goal of averaging 2,000 words per day, I am 1,467 words behind schedule.

While I'd prefer to be ahead in word count, it is reasonable that I will be able to catch up with the daily goal; therefore, although I'm concerned about and frustrated with recurring health issues, I'm moving forward and onward!

Progress Status - Weekly Check-In, 7/29/12

This week's word count has been sparse; however, I'm still writing and have increased the word count by 6,174 words. (While I would have been thrilled to have accomplished this goal while working full-time plus overtime, since writing is now my real full-time job, I must increase production significantly to achieve my publication goals.)

My current First Draft progress, as it stands as of  7/28/12, is as follows: 



Project A, Novella:


Project B, Novel:


Novel in 30 Days (60,000 Words), through Day 16: