Writer’s Life Feb 3, 16

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I semi-wasted yesterday trying to find stock art at a reasonable price. I used to use Depositphotos, but they’ve taken the price of their plans up. I finally went with Adobe. Heck they have even got a one month free trial. Can’t go wrong with that.

Or can you?!

I did finally complete the editing of short story #2. Woot! On tomorrow’s list, it’ll drop to completed projects. Things are moving!

Anyway, mainly edited in the morning, went to paint a warehouse with a friend, came home and wrote for 30 more minutes before supper.

Today I got up at 4 am, so as soon as I’m done with this post I’ll get some writing in. Today through the end of next week I’m working for the post office, so I’ll be desperate to find time to write.

Also, today marks the end of week 5 for the year, so today’s the last day for a word count push.

Word Counts

2/3/16 Word Count: 854 (ave. 1,702 wph) Editing: 1 hour

Hungry Gods 3 +0. 52,925/50,000

Time Travel Novel +851 4,632/50,000

Spilling Blood ep. 12 +0 9,262/15,000

Pen Name Short Story #3 +0 1,374/5,000

Pen Name Book +0. 22,874/20,000 Editing

Apocalypse Witch 3 +0. 21,648/20,000 Editing

Pen Name Short Story #2 +3. 5,429/5,000 COMPLETE!

February Word Count: 6,909

January Word Count: 103,398

For Year: 110,307

2016 Completed Projects: Spilling Blood 11, 2 Short Stories

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Life – It’s a Trap!

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2ZEqehG9T6G14lzYgIiH_Horse LaptopIf you want to be able to pull off a writing routine, you need to have  a time frame that allows for life.

I say that because life keeps happening. That’s not me being witty or inspirational, it’s recognizing that I have writing goals, and a life that sometimes does not accommodate letting me write when I want to.

Yesterday, for example, I expected to have all day to write. I received a call from a friend to go painting. That’s fine, but I’d only just begun to write (8 am) and we would head out to paint at 9. That’s my fault because I think I can sometimes have leisurely writing days. The truth is, there is no such thing. There will always be interruptions. Maybe it’s your cat. Or Netflix. Or kids.

I don’t say no to painting because it’s a little extra money. Plus, I’ll be finishing the painting project today, which this time I’m ready for. However, starting tomorrow and going through all of next week (with the exception of Sundays), there are mail carriers going on vacation locally which means I will be working full time.

As you can expect, my writing time is severely compromised. With a goal of 4k+ words, I need 2 hours of time. Afternoon? Possibly, but I usually just want to crash. My time is the morning, so therefore I’ve got to adjust to getting up earlier… in this case, 4 am.

I usually waste bout an hour reading blogs and writing my own blog post, with a little bit of browsing social media. That’s my wake-up time. After that, I can usually move on to writing. The later I get up, the better my chances are of being interrupted. There is only one mostly safe window of opportunity to write for me, and that is early.

Even if I hate getting up sometimes.

So there’s the battle, juggling writing and life, because it’s not always easy to have both. I call myself a writer because it’s what I do. More importantly, it’s what I want to do. Therefore, I’ll make the time.

Word Counts

2/2/16 Word Count: 855 (ave. 1,580 wph) Editing: 30 minutes

Hungry Gods 3 +0. 52,925/50,000

Time Travel Novel +790 3,781/50,000

Spilling Blood ep. 12 +0 9,262/15,000

Pen Name Short Story #3 +0 1,374/5,000

Pen Name Book +0. 22,874/20,000 Editing

Apocalypse Witch 3 +0. 21,648/20,000 Editing

Pen Name Short Story #2 +65. 5,426/5,000 Editing

February Word Count: 6,055

January Word Count: 103,398

For Year: 109,453

2016 Completed Projects: Spilling Blood 11, Short Story.

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Writer’s Life – Feb 1, 16

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Starting a New Month

Yesterday I managed to keep myself writing until I had over 5k words down for the start of February. When you can start off strong, it gives a nice buffer against the less impressive days. I managed 2.5 hours of dedicated writing time and then…

…we headed to Twin Falls to go shopping. When we got there, before we could even park, my 3 year old’s stomach decided it no longer liked the car ride. What happened next was a puking scene from the Exorcist. End of shopping trip.

I chose my novel to write for February. Despite a bit of a rocky start, it’s now a go. Since I don’t have an official title, I’m just calling it Time Travel Novel. I’m still writing Hungry Gods 3 and am hopeful it will see completion by the end of this week. Spilling Blood ep 12 is around the halfway point, and I started another short story (#3).

I still didn’t do any editing.

So today’s priorities are still everything from yesterday (HG, SB12, Time Travel book, and short story) and then getting into editing. I’ll probably do my taxes tonight too. 😛

Word Counts

2/1/16 Word Count: 5,200 (ave. 2,080 wph) Editing: Nope

Hungry Gods 3 +888. 52,925/50,000

Time Travel Novel +1,984 2,994/50,000

Spilling Blood ep. 12 +954 9,262/15,000

Pen Name Short Story #3 +1,374 1,374/5,000

Pen Name Book +0. 22,874/20,000 Editing

Apocalypse Witch 3 +0. 21,648/20,000 Editing

Pen Name Short Story #2 +0. 5,361/5,000 Editing

February Word Count: 5,200

January Word Count: 103,398

For Year: 108,598

2016 Completed Projects: Spilling Blood 11, Short Story.

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Month 1 Update

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January’s over. It’s time to modify my goals and see where I want to go based on what I accomplished.

First off – What January Was –

In January, I completed 2 short stories, Spilling Blood ep. 11, Apocalypse Witch book 3, a and 20k novella under a pen name. I hit the word count target for Hungry Gods book 3, though the rough draft won’t be finished for a few more days (it’s going to come close to 60k). Editing is taking a while, I have 3 books in the editing stage. It is what it is.

I wrote 103,398 words in January. I averaged 3,335 words a day. That’s better than the 2,750 word low target (which is enough for 1 mil words for the year). I averaged 1,746 words per hour.

My most popular book with sales for January was Spilling Blood Season II. My most popular book in Kindle Unlimited was Soul Sister.

My Quote of the Day and Daily Writing Prompt Posts are going away. I will keep them on Twitter only. The posts aren’t popular, so I’m not going to keep them alive any longer.

ON TO FEBRUARY!!!

February is set up to be a home run. I have three books about ready to publish. I’ll be editing Hungry Gods 3 for most of the month (after it’s completed this week). I will also start writing a new novel today.

I want to put January’s Word Count to shame, so I’m going to shoot for 4k-5.5k. I want to keep taking it up each month.

What else for February – Spilling Blood ep. 12, and a few pen name projects. I’ve got the word count room for more stories, but I haven’t decided what, exactly. It won’t be starting anything else until SB12 is done, anyway.

(Last day to get Spilling Blood ep. 1 for Free).

Word Counts

1/31/16 Word Count: 4,224 (ave. 2,112 wph) Editing: Nope

Hungry Gods 3 +4,224. 52,037/50,000

Spilling Blood ep. 12 +0 8,394/15,000

Pen Name Book +0. 22,874/20,000 Editing

Apocalypse Witch 3 +0. 21,648/20,000 Editing

Pen Name Short Story #2 +0. 5,361/5,000 Editing

January Word Count: 103,398

For Year: 103,398

2016 Completed Projects: Spilling Blood 11, Short Story.

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Writer’s Life Jan 30, 16

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If there’s one thing that gets me focused and writing every day, it’s probably this blog post. Recapping on my progress and thinking of what I need to do puts me back into a writing mood.

Yesterday I got up too late to get much of an early start, but I did manage to set aside 30 minutes and go for it. After that, I went and delivered mail. When I got home, I took a nap, but I don’t remember because I was unconscious.  😛

So today’s my last chance to get words written for January. Let’s do this. 🙂

Btw… tomorrow’s blog post will be about my January results – successes and failures. I’ll also take a look at February and where I want to go (and 29 days to do it in). There’s a few habits changes I’m going to make, one of which will affect this blog. Not a biggie, thus the change.

(Spilling Blood ep. 1 is Free today).

Word Counts

1/30/16 Word Count: 947 (ave. 1,894 wph) Editing: Nope

Hungry Gods 3 +947. 47,923/50,000

Spilling Blood ep. 12 +0 8,394/15,000

Pen Name Book +0. 22,874/20,000 Editing

Apocalypse Witch 3 +0. 21,648/20,000 Editing

Pen Name Short Story #2 +0. 5,361/5,000 Editing

January Word Count: 99,174

For Year: 99,174

2016 Completed Projects: Spilling Blood 11, Short Story.

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Daily Writing Prompt and Quote 1/31/16

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Use this prompt for inspiration in your Work in Progress or to create a new work (poetry, short story, illustration, etc.). Feel free to share in the comments, or post a link. Just for fun.

Come back tomorrow for another prompt.

1/31/16: Write About a Book. 

Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.
— George Seaton

You can receive these daily on my Daily Writing Prompts and Quotes Facebook Group or by following me on Twitter.

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Writer’s Life – Jan 29, 16

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Didn’t write much yesterday, got in half an hour, edited for a while, and went office painting with a friend all day. Today’s going to look much the same, but I’ll be a postal carrier instead of a painter.

This month will be dependent on Sunday to pull out any last minute word counts. But I’m in a good place. 🙂 It’s been a good month.

(Spilling Blood ep. 1 is Free today).

Word Counts

1/29/16 Word Count: 898 (ave. 1,796 wph) Editing: 1 hr

Hungry Gods 3 +898. 46,976/50,000

Spilling Blood ep. 12 +0 8,394/15,000

Pen Name Book +0. 22,874/20,000 Editing

Apocalypse Witch 3 +0. 21,648/20,000 Editing

Pen Name Short Story #2 +0. 5,361/5,000 Editing

January Word Count: 98,227

For Year: 98,227

2016 Completed Projects: Spilling Blood 11, Short Story.

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Daily Writing Prompt and Quote 1/30/16

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Use this prompt for inspiration in your Work in Progress or to create a new work (poetry, short story, illustration, etc.). Feel free to share in the comments, or post a link. Just for fun.

Come back tomorrow for another prompt.

1/30/16: Write About a Song. 

I’ll not listen to reason. Reason always means what someone else has to say.
— Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

You can receive these daily on my Daily Writing Prompts and Quotes Facebook Group or by following me on Twitter.

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Writer’s Life – Jan 28th, 16

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With the end of week 4 I have slowed down with my writing, mainly because I have to give time away for editing. This dropped me from 37oo words a day (average) to 3400 words a day. That’s overall, mind you, figured from January 1st, so my output daily this week has been significantly lower (and I took one day off from writing, so that hurt). I might be finding a more realistic pace, since editing has to be part of the daily routine.

However, that drop of 300 words will bring me down from 117k words for the month closer to 107k. Honestly not too big of a deal, but still a bummer from my point of view. There’s still 3 days left for January, I’m sitting at 97k right now for the month, so it’s going to come down to how much time I manage to keep in the chair. But I’m also very freakin’ close to finishing the editing on one of my projects. Sacrifices. *Sigh*

Also, I’ve begun to plan for February’s writing schedule. I’m pretty sure I’ve decided on the full length novel, and then there’s Spilling Blood to finish. Hungry Gods might go a little long too, beyond the 50k. Aside from my pen name projects, I might be able to squeeze in one other project. Don’t know what it’s going to be though.

(Spilling Blood ep. 1 is Free today).

Word Counts

1/28/16 Word Count: 3,501 (ave. 1,750 wph) Editing: 2 hrs

Hungry Gods 3 +1,706. 46,134/50,000

Spilling Blood ep. 12 +1,795 8,394/15,000

Pen Name Book +0. 22,892/20,000 Editing

Apocalypse Witch 3 +0. 21,648/20,000 Editing

Pen Name Short Story #2 +0. 5,361/5,000 Editing

January Word Count: 97,329

For Year: 97,329

2016 Completed Projects: Spilling Blood 11, Short Story.

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Daily Writing Prompt and Quote 1/29/16

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Use this prompt for inspiration in your Work in Progress or to create a new work (poetry, short story, illustration, etc.). Feel free to share in the comments, or post a link. Just for fun.

Come back tomorrow for another prompt.

1/29/16: Write About a Door. 

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
— Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

You can receive these daily on my Daily Writing Prompts and Quotes Facebook Group or by following me on Twitter.

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