A Lonely Thing on Lonely Street

When I worked extensive overtime in my day job, I spent untold hours in front of the computer. Now that writing is my job, I realize that I only thought I experienced solitude during work.

The time spent alone to write, because there is absolutely no required interaction with others during the process, is most definitely a trip down a lonely street.

Because of this aloneness, I very much appreciate contact with friends and family via phone, text, and social media. I also am grateful for an awesome husband who does most of our cooking, the puppy that requires lots of petting and walking, and the three cats that sleep in kitty cubes near the writing table to keep me company.

While for some being part of a group is rejuvenating, for me, alone time is how I ground and regain my energy. But THIS much alone time...

Even for someone who enjoys quiet solitude, this amount of alone time does tend to foster a feeling of a lack of connection with others and, at times, a deep aching loneliness.

For now, I am tapping into that ache and using the discomfort to finish my current revision; yet, in doing that, the next four books in the series tend to loom before me.

Writing coaches Cathy Yardley and Kat Duncan both suggest setting up and fostering support systems. Awesome writerly friends check on me every few days and fantastic non-writer friends touch base every day or every other day. In taking breaks, I reach out as well. I so welcome the connecting and interacting!

Since, I want writing and revising to be something I look forward to with enthusiasm, I am experimenting with scheduling and potential techniques to increase productivity but also encourage balance.

I hope to blog about potential options soon. In the mean time, a singular task conducted in solitude, writing is a lonely thing on a lonely street.

Under Attack (I Was Warned)

SCREECH!!!! That was the sound of doubt bringing my writing and revision to a halt.

All during the writing of my series, from several writer-friends and associates, I was warned to be prepared for when doubt set in. Doubt? Nah, not me. I'm enthusiastic. I love the series, the story, and my characters. All five first drafts are written, and I believe in the books so easy sailing from here on out, right? Not so much.

Over three-quarters of the way through revising the first book...something insidious and ugly happened. The thing they tried to let me know was coming rose from the depths of the swamp. Monster-like, doubt crept onto my doorstop and seeped under the door.

Wrapped around my ankles and creeping upward, Doubt whispers, "The story isn't engaging."

"Your style, your voice, your WRITING is weak, weak, weak," the guttural voice taunts. "With five first drafts, you've not finalized one book in the series. You SHOULD HAVE written better first drafts. You COULD HAVE written faster. You keep spinning your wheels. What's the matter? Are you scared, little girly." (Shades of Mr. Gold from Once Upon a Time here.) Doubt smirks and laughs a low rumble as dry as the desert and taunts, "Not good enough."

According to my writing coach, during revision is an expected time for doubt to pay a visit. As many tried to tell me before, going through the doubt process IS part of the process. It's a phase, or at least, that's what I'm telling myself.

As if in a small town speed trap, I'm letting up on the gas and easing through.

Okay, I admit it. At first, I tromped on the gas peddle and tried to barrel through by putting in long hours and trying to force my way through. Didn't work. That's how I actually got stuck -- I over extended and physically drained, couldn't push on any farther.

"Doubt," I say, "They told me you were going to pay a visit. Almost finished with the book's revision, I thought you'd decided not to drop by, but since you're here, why don't we take a little drive. A road trip, slow and easy, over the scenic route."

Doubt, still eager to attack, looks, er, doubtful.

"We'll take it page by page," I suggest. "Let's give it a once through, then send it to the writing coach. She can have a look through before we send the manuscript on for editing. We'll probably pass the book back and forth several times, before it goes on to be edited. How's that sound?"

Quiet, Doubt remains a puddle under my feet, ready to turn blob-like and attack at any moment. Perhaps like Talking to da Fear, doubt can be addressed with negotiation and reasoning.

Perhaps...

Deep down, I know I can revise and finish the series. Yet, Doubt is doing its best and its worse. I am under attack.

How will I deal with this phase of the writing process? I hope to blog about my success in surviving a mega attack of doubt, or at least my continued battle, in a later blog.

Doubt, is the enemy. I was warned.

Snobs, Con Jobs, & Thingamabobs

SNOBS

"So what sort of books do you write?" I asked.

Literary fiction author said, "I write literary fiction."

"I see... Um, what is your book about?"

"A woman's life's journey." Literary fiction author's nose lifted ceilingward.

"Ah, so woman's fiction?"

"Not hardly. And what is it YOU write?"

"YA paranormal," I said, "with aspects of science fiction and fantasy."

Literary fiction author gazed at me with THE look that was meant to pity and to put a lowly genre writer such as me in my place.

(Bet I had more fun writing in my nose-upturning genre than literary fiction author did with literary fiction! Just saying.)

CON JOBS

From a recent writing class, the instructor offered to edit a few chapters for a set fee. The turnaround was quick, and the editor asked for a couple of more chapters to edit as a bonus. ("I just love your writing style." "You're such a fast learner.")

For further edits the editor offered to edit for a set fee per hour. The edits took a bit longer, with the same chapters undergoing multiple edits.

Next go around, the editors fee went up 50%, and deeper editing per chapter was suggested.

I passed.

THINGAMABOBS

Hubby is my initial reader of edited chapters.

When I used the method from You Can Write a Novel by James V. Smith Jr. to adjust chapter pacing, he was impressed with the increased pace.

I was thrilled when he asked about the technique.

A few minutes into my Readability Statistics explanation, he said, "Whatever you're doing, it's working."

Off to revise using my thingamabob process.

Catching Fireflies

Ideas are like fireflies.

When I was a child, growing up in the South, we called them lightning bugs. In the spring, with more yellow glowing flickers appearing toward dusk the beginning of summer, fireflies captured our interest and our imaginations.

First the mason jar, then the canning lid and sealing ring. Second, a nail and hammer. With gentle taps on the nail head--a few slips and a lightly smashed finger or two later--and tiny holes dot the metal of the lid.

Breathless, insides zinging, the after sundown coolness takes away the sticky heat of the day. The cool of the night is forgotten in the excitement of catching the lightning bugs. We run, with many squeals and dodges, to gently cup the fireflies in our hands.
 
Cupped in my hand, how do they light and not burn? The flickers light the flesh of my hand, and I press my eye to the open circle of my thumb. The lightning bugs crawl over my inner fingers and palms, bringing their magic to the night.

Held inside the jar for a brief time, the fireflies blink and glow, making a childhood memory as magical as any that I recall.

In the book Manuscript Makeover, Revision Techniques No Fiction Writer Can Afford to Ignore by Elizabeth Lyon suggests we catch fireflies of ideas by carrying around a notepad, because ideas are "difficult to catch if you don't act quickly."

Like fireflies on a spring or summer night, ideas appear bright and shiny, but also can provide distraction from the current project. Currently, I am revising the first book in a five-book series, with four more to go.

Yet, the blinking glow of a firefly of an idea tempts me to run barefoot in the grass, hands cupped, reaching outward...

Task at hand: Book #1 Series #1 Revision.

BUT, I've got this idea about my next series you see, then about another one in another genre, plus there's this concept for a trilogy of standalone books, with a fourth book that brings the characters together, growing like a fungus in my head. AND what about the OTHER genre I want to give a try, there's a three trilogy series of books that I'd love to dive into and write.

Task at hand: Revise current series.

So, I step back, make notes about future book ideas, series, characters, etc., then I focus on revision. My reward when I finish the series? You guessed it! I get to pick one of the future ideas and move on to the next project.

For now, I twist open the jar lid and let the fireflies go.

Read, Revise, Edit, Read Aloud, Repeat.

Wait, what was that yellow glow I saw out of the corner of my eye?

Pacing is a Booger

Challenge #1: Use the word "booger" in a blog title. (Won that dare!) and  Challenge #2: Revise/update pacing of scenes and overall book chapters to accomplish a thriller read. (In progress.)

Despite Challenge #1, the honest truth is that pacing a scene or chapter IS a booger. According to dictionary.com, in addition to the obvious, a booger is a noun 1. Informal. any person or thing: That shark was a mean-looking booger. A booger is also listed as something or someone frightening.

James V. Smith Jr.'s You Can Write a Novel, 2nd Edition, presents a method using the Readability Statistics feature included in most word processing software programs.

Once I actually get the gist of this pacing tool, I truly believe this process will be The Ultimate Pacing Tool as James V. Smith Jr. claims.

In the mean time... Argh. Grr. Ack.

But I'm sure the learning curve effort will be worth gaining the strength of the technique. In the long run, learning the process will be a positive, in the mean time, I struggle mightily to grasp something that is actually explained in simple terms.

After I finish revising several chapters today, I am going to reread You Can Write a Novel, finish revising Book #1, then move on to using the pacing technique in a final revise-through before sending the revised version to an editor.

Very much a challenge. But I am learning, and I will get there. I'm gonna conquer this pacing booger. Dare me! Come one make a dare...

Writing Dark Suspense

Suspense, Thrillers, Romance, Paranormal, and, yes, Horror Fiction are on my To-Do list of what type of books I want to write.

While there's still a few weeks of revision remaining of the five-book Young Adult Paranormal Thriller series, in the back of my mind, there's a dark suspense brewing.

Something haunting and twisted lurks just beneath the surface . . . whoa, am I watching too many scary movies and haunted this or that television shows and reading an overabundance novels of terror, or what?

Yet the story stays with me, evolving and expanding, in the deep recesses of my mind.

A long-time Stephen King and Dean Koontz fan, I completed a Savvy Authors workshop Make it Horror, presented by P. June Diehl. Good timing in that I will be able to digest the lessons before time to start the standalone fiction book, slated to be a novel of terror.

The syllabus to the Make it Horror workshop consisted of the following topics:

• Starting with a Dark Idea
• Writing from Our Fears
• Horrible Characters & Creating Monsters
• Horrible Events (Plot)
• Eerie Landscapes and Nightmares (Setting)
• Creating Dark Story Tone and Mood
• Crafting the Impossible
• Marketing Your Horror Story

The workshop was a satisfying savvy experience for me! (Hat tip to Savvy Authors and P. June Diehl.) 

Why write dark suspense?

The scary and the obscure call to me (Stephen King, Dean Koontz), they always have, which is why I suppose for the current series, I was drawn toward writing paranormal thriller.

The how and when and why of events draws me in (Stephen King's The Shining and Dean Koontz's Watchers). The inner workings of the human mind -- greed, skewed belief systems, phobias -- has always intrigued me. The thought of haunted houses and night graveyard visits send chills and thrills up and down my spine.

What frightens you in the night or what scares you most during the day? What potential happenings cause goose bumps or encourage you to double check the locks on your doors? What's your biggest most invasive worry? Is there a childhood memory that haunts you still?

Choose one or even a combination of one of the above and write a fictionalized story about those fears, concerns and worries. Keep upping the level of those fears and the strength of the source of those fears and intensifying the conflict between the two. That's dark suspense.

The story slithering through my head, perhaps a psychological thriller with horror elements, will soon rise to the surface. How will I manage to get the story out and how will it evolve? Okay, I gotta say it -- wait for it -- now, that's suspense!

Follow the Revision Road

In pulling together the separate chapter files that comprise the first book in Series #1, the road to revision stretches out into the distance.

First of all, I have to admit, pulling the individual working chapter files together into one single file solidified that, yes, this IS a book. Being in the fictional world while writing a draft of a book tends to be very different than entering the fictional world via revision.

The bricks that make up Revision Road are many.

The items on my Revision Checklist for each scene/chapter include include:

• Spell Check
• MyWriters Tools
• External Environment Layering:
  - Weather
  - Outside bldg. details
  - Outside sounds
• Layering Outward / Physical Details:
  - Hair/eye color
  - Height/weight
  - Style of clothing
  - Facial expressions
  - Body language
  - Visceral Reactions
• Senses Layering:
  - Sight
  - Hearing
  - Touch
  - Smell
  - Taste
  - Pain
  - Temperature
  - Time
  - Motion/Acceleration
  - Direction
  - Balance
• Anchoring:
  - POV
  - When / Time passed
  - Where
  - Current Feeling
  - Voice
  - Dialogue / Tags
• Scene Review:
  - Beginning Hook
  - Exposition
  - Backstory
  - Sensory Details
  - Emotions
  - GMCD Clear
  - Themes/Motifs
  - Ending Hook
  - Pacing
• Foreshadowing:
  - Plant
  - Payoff
• AutoCrit (Details):
  - Typos
  - Repetition
  - Continuity/Timeline
  - Clarity (Who’s who)
• MyWriter Tools Round 2
• Spell Check Round 2
• Levels (1 thru 10):
  - Level of Caring
  - Level of Worry
  - Level of Conflict
  - Level of Tension
• Character Growth Arc
• Beginning Scene Pacing
• Middle Scene Pacing
• Ending Scene Pacing
• Overall Scene Pacing
• Dragon Speaks Reading

By reading each chapter, I enter a fictional world and make sure that each of the above items are layered into the story and/or applied to the revision process (such as using MyWriter Tools, AutoCrit, the Pacing Techniques from You Can Write a Novel by James V. Smith Jr., and Dragon Speaks Naturally).

There are some rewrites--amazingly, I've learned a few little somethings during the process of writing the series--then I weave in the above to ensure the scene and chapter best entertains the reader and the writing and characters best connect with the reader.

Revision first, editing next.

What a journey this has been and continues to be.

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?

The End and Then Some

What does it feel like to type THE END?

The first draft of the final book in Series #1 is complete. Five books drafted, with revisions starting later today. In a few days, my one-year of writing full-time becomes a milestone. At the fourteenth-month mark, I will have completed, revised, and final drafted a five-book series. Ideas for the next few books have been simmering, and diving into writing the next series is only a few weeks away.

Those are the facts, yet when asked how does reaching this milestone and finishing the series feel, I didn't have the insight or the words to describe those feelings, so I turned to the Alexa Writes Books blog to tap into the experience and those emotions.

First of all, I am breathless with relief. Not a boy-I'm-glad-that's-over-with relief, but it's as if I've been holding my breath in anticipation when I hadn't realized I wasn't breathing full lungfuls of air for a very long time. This series has been years in the making, and finally found its way to the page.

The this-is-complete relief is tinged with sadness.

I finished a five-book series, whoo-hoo, right? Yet there's sort of a feeling of loss as if I am preparing to let the series go and say goodbye to the characters that will have been with me for over a year. Happy, sad, bittersweet.

There's also a sense of accomplishment, mixed with apprehension about the next phase of my writing-books-and-making-a-living goal. Sending the book to an editor, making final editing changes, self-publishing. Yikes, talk about fish-out-of-water sensations.

Also, I am experiencing a sense of excitement. This is the Yeah, Baby! moment. A kind of satisfaction of pursuing a dream and living it. The thrill of reaching my goal tingles right down to my toes.

Of course, there's also the enthusiasm of diving into the next project and the next, while basking in the surety that I finished the previous book and/or series and did my best before moving on.

THAT's how it feels to type THE END.

Series #1 revisions, here I come!

Tracking Time & Keeping Time

When a writer figures out she's spending more time on the internet than writing, she's got an issue. A big one.

In my former job, I tracked my time to keep up with billable hours and kept a tally of hours of what I worked on when.

Using the same method, in 30 minute increments, instead of 15, I used a daily calender to track the actual time I'm spending writing and in doing other things.

Since I've starting tracking my time, my writing productivity has increased. I had no idea how much time I spent doing what. I was amazed when I tracked a few days to discover how much time I allowed to slip away.

I added the windows clock gadget to my desktop so that I can easily reference the time. The calendar that I use shows 1 day per page, with 24 one-hour time blocks. I drew a line down the middle of the page so that I can track the first half and second half of the hour.

For the first day, as embarassing as it is to share, my time in a 12-hour period included:

• Phone = 2 hours
• Cover Design = 1-1/2 hours
• Internet = 1-1/2 hours
• First Drafting & Writing Related = 4 hours
• Breaks, Puppy play time, Meals = 3 hours

After I winced and flinched and cringed from this time-suck revelation, I disected the time spent.

Right off, I see limiting internet and designing covers for future books equated to 3 hours, added with phone time with several friends (after all writing is an isolated activity), the total now goes to 5 hours.

In looking at the time actually spent doing what and evaluating how to better manage my time, what if I space phone time with friends over several days. What if I talk with Person A today, Person B tomorrow, Person C, the next day, etc., limiting phone time to 1 hour per day.

Okay, I just gained another hour of writing time.

How about the 1-1/2 hours on the internet? How about limiting that to 1/2 hour during the work day, then unlimited after the 12 hour mark. Self says that's acceptable, so okay. Another hour salvaged.

In regard to cover design for future books, seeing possible covers helps me to get a better handle on the stories, but do I need to spend 1-1/2 hours ever day to do that, with the next story scheduled for several weeks in the future. Although I enjoy designing covers, the answer is: Not really.

So, in reviewing time spent, I reclaimed 3-1/2 hours of writing time. In the next few days, I will be experimenting with tracking my time and applying these changes in my behavior and actions.

Yep, I'm going to keep tracking time, because I plan to keep my time for the thing I want to do most. Write.