Moving Forward

After my amazing book launch for A Blueprint for Hope, I've made some decisions about how I would like to move forward in my writing.

Firstly, I will minimize my time spent on Twitter. What was at one time a wonderful app for connecting writers and readers has devolved into a numbers game and a pissing contest. I don't believe that readers find novels through Twitter. 

As to the Writing Community, you can imagine how dismayed I felt when I shared the happy news of my book launch, only to find a thread of other writers ripping me apart. Apparently, they decided to take the screenshots that I shared as an invitation to criticize a book they had never read and a marketing strategy I never shared. My goal in posting the screenshots was to thank my audience and to encourage other indie authors on their publishing journeys. I never wanted to make anyone feel badly about their own novels. I decided not to engage with the thread, but reading the nasty comments has soured me to the platform for now. I am not going to delete my account at this time. However, I will be removing the app from my phone. I will use Twitter only to share writing and publishing updates in the future.

My time is limited and I have decided to devote more of it to this blog and to writing my new novels. 

I think good things are coming and I will do my best to keep you all updated. As always, thank you for your years of support! 

I Wrote an Outline

That may not seem like an unusual thing for an author to do, but I'm a "pantster". That means, I store all of my book information in my head, write multiple novels at once, often completely out of order, and then fix any errors later. It is chaotic, but it has always worked for me.

As you may have noticed from my last post, I've made it a goal to publish a romance novel. Genre romance is actually more complex than it seems on the service. The list of "must haves' in the novels are lengthy, and readers have certain expectations that have to be met. These include specific beats the writer needs to hit at specific points in the story. So, this week I actually sat down and outlined the entire novel. It's not a complex outline, but it's an outline.

I also drew a character Venn diagram. Crazy? Perhaps a little. I needed to map out exactly what my characters had in common and what their opposing traits are. That way, I can keep the push and pull of their story genuine. I've assigned each character a color season so that I can consistently maintain the image they project. When writing a 50,000 word novel, the author really has to keep things tight. 

My other goal for 2019 is to get my writing organized and I think this is a great start. I know what scenes, major emotions, and atmospheres I need to hit when and I think I can do that without the story feeling forced.

Scrivener is continuing to be a huge help in getting my work to higher standard.

I have also started a writers journal. As you already know, I work full time. That means I need to use my downtime wisely if I want to keep up with my novels, my social media, and the occasional freelance work I do. The fact is that I simply need to write more. Keeping a journal and pen handy for ideas, story-boards, and even writing rough drafts should help me with that.
  

I'm Back!

So... it has been a while. A long while. What happened? Well, I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say real life kicked in and I let social media and the promotion of my novels fall by the wayside. Life has changed for me again, as ever it does, and I think I am finally in a good place to resurrect this blog and my writing career.

Some updates:

Been a long, lonely time...

So… it’s been a while. I won’t bore you with all the details, but last year I got a job which has sucked the life out of me. Very early mornings, long hours, back-breaking work, split days off, and no ten minute breaks in sight left me sleeping on the couch by three o’clock some days and barely leaving the house to get groceries . I wanted to work on my novels. Deep down I have always felt that there would be a future to my writing career so I wanted to keep moving forward, but I still had other things to do.  As little as we may like it, bills have to be paid, beds have to be made, pets need taking care of, clothes need laundering, dishes need washing, and the list goes on forever.

Enjoy Life

I’m young. There’s no getting around that. Sometimes it’s awesome, but sometimes it really isn’t. I started writing The Gates of Nottingham when I was 16. I was homeschooling at the time, living in the middle of nowhere, and friendless. It was a decision that I made out of the blue and it occupied me quite nicely.

Now, I’m 20 and I’ve written two novels and a half dozen screenplays. There is a real divide in the people who think this is great and the people who tell me how lame I am and it has mostly got to do with their age. I see this sharp divide despite the fact that I rarely even tell people I’m writer. A few of the people whom I work with and have worked with for seven months now know nothing about it.

I am lucky in that I appear to be in my thirties, so I get away with more as far as strangers are concerned at writers conferences and other places. A thirty-something writing a book? Good for you. A 20 year old writing a book? Don’t you have better things to do with your time?

The thing is, though, it’s my time. I can do whatever I want with it as long as it isn’t illegal. I don’t criticize other young people for dating, drinking, partying, playing video games, dancing, knitting, or whatever else they do. In fact, I could do all of those things and still write if I wanted. So, I don’t really understand the flack I get. We should all enjoy our lives and this is how I enjoy mine.

However you choose to enjoy your life, I’m happy for you too. Life is too short for us all to waste it trying to be “cool” 100% of the time.