September 2015 Motivational Thread

[hunt]

Here's what they see at my table (eight years of evolution shown here - assuming you can see this) https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=7f1a686ca3689d827cec6940e468786b&oe=569B42B3

That's a great display! The banner/poster is especially compelling.

 

[hunt]

Feeling a bit of extra fire this month due to my recent sale, so I'm trying to figure out ways to stop procrastinating.

This month, I'm going to launch a self-guided workshop-thing. It will consist of: reading Le Guin's "Steering the Craft" and doing the exercises; watching Sanderson's series of writing classes on YouTube; and setting myself regular, scheduled critique and drafting goals.

Generally speaking, I'm happy with my prose, but I know I still have to work on my plotting and characterization. It's not going to happen by magic, and the way I'm going about it is too slow. I need to finish more stuff, even if I trunk half of it because it doesn't work out like I hoped.

My goal this month is to make it through the first 3 weeks of my 5-week plan without completely derailing.

 

[N. E. White]

Here's what they see at my table (eight years of evolution shown here - assuming you can see this) https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=7f1a686ca3689d827cec6940e468786b&oe=569B42B3

Very nice! Congrats, indeed, on the sales. Tracks is a great book.

 

[N. E. White]

This month, I'm going to launch a self-guided workshop-thing.

Self-guided is great and good luck to sticking to it, but for me, I find signing up for a class every six months or so keeps me learning and motivated.

Come to think of it...it is about time I take another class!

EDIT: Oh, I managed to finish a story I started months ago. Woohoo! (Thanks to all who helped with the revisions.) And I pulled out the outline to an epic dragon story I shelved two years ago. After getting positive feedback on the first bits, I think I'm finally ready to tackle the beast. It is a very complicated story with lots of characters and moving parts (armies even!). I'm not sure I can pull it off, but I'm ready to try. I'm just hoping this won't consume my life for the next year or two...or maybe I do...

 

[Wilson Geiger]

Awesome to hear, Nila. Keep at it, I want to read that finished dragon story someday soon.

I found out a couple weeks ago that my military sci-fi story had been shortlisted. I was really happy about that, especially because I had nearly waited until the last second to submit the thing. I knew it wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, and I left some holes that I just ran out of time to fill. But there were apparently a ton of submissions, so I was quite thrilled to make the shortlist.

Tonight the other shoe dropped.

Yep, it's my own fault. It ran nearly to the 10k wordcount limit, and I submitted it with five minutes to spare after rushing through edits and an entire scene re-write. But that doesn't mean I'm not disappointed.

 

[kmtolan]

there were apparently a ton of submissions, so I was quite thrilled to make the shortlist.

This is what to keep in mind. Final decisions can be arbitrary btw, and even involve things that have nothing to do with your writing as much as other production considerations. You did good.

 

[KeyBear]

I don't know in what direction to go with my next novel (to write a sequel or start a new project), so I've been "procrastinating" by writing short stories. I tried to write stories completely out of my comfort zone (regarding topic and narrative structure), but it's only a diversion. I'll have to make a decision about that next novel soon...

 

[kmtolan]

I don't know in what direction to go with my next novel (to write a sequel or start a new project), so I've been "procrastinating" by writing short stories. I tried to write stories completely out of my comfort zone (regarding topic and narrative structure), but it's only a diversion. I'll have to make a decision about that next novel soon...

Generally, I tend to toss the first book out and see how it does before hitting a sequel or series - in that interim I usually will write another stand alone novel (or one that might tie in later) and see how much readership I get. This works except when the first book takes off - then you're rushing to get that second project done (grin).

 

[KeyBear]

Thank you, @kmtolan! It's a good strategy and I'll consider it. I already outlined a sequel but I'm thinking now to do a list of pro and cons for both options.

 

[RedMage]

• Outline 5 chapters for Halloween book 2
• Start novella for the novella challenge
• Write a query letter for Halloween book 1 and maybe the rest of the submission package
• Finish reading a friend's book and get it back to them with my thoughts.

Mark one goal down for the month! Now my nights are mine again!

Work is continuing on Halloween book 2 and I've started that novella. Now just to keep at both and...write that query letter?

Last night I tried to go to bed and was forced to get up to write down what I thought was 1 story note, but turned into 2. That hasn't happened in a loooooonnnnngggggg time.

 

[RedMage]

Oh, and @Wilson Geiger. You said something recently about my using a lot of exclamation marks. Now I'm all self-conscious, thank you very much.

 

[Bodhi]

Don't be self-conscious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit: reminds me of what I said about you

The trick to identify the Red Mage is that his posts are almost always free of errors and he writes in a very risk-averse way, with very methodical flow and pacing, regular sentence structure and similarly-sized paragraphs. Often asks rhetorical questions and frequently answers them immediately after. You never get lost reading the Red Mage, it's all perfectly clear, and usually polite. Often starts with a bang (exclamation point).

 

[RedMage]

Don't be self-conscious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit: reminds me of what I said about you

When in the world did you say that?

Actually, that is very nice. Thank you.

Edit Reason: had to cut out some exclamation marks....

 

[Wilson Geiger]

Think of it this way, RM: I only tease like that with my friends (and expect it to be flung right back at me).

 

[RedMage]

That is how I was taking it. And, yes, I made my comment with the intention of throwing it back at you a bit as well.

 

[Edward M. Grant]

Been busy the last week, but just hit 85,500 words on Condemned. This thing is probably going to break 100,000 by the time it's done...

Need to go back shortly and clean up the last few chapters, then reorganize them so they make temporal sense. At the moment they're jumping between night and day in the different characters' viewpoints.

One thing I'm definitely doing in the sequel is reducing the number of characters... that's why this one has ended up so long.

 

[J.D. Carelli]

Oh my! Where has the time gone?! (Do I get to use RedMage's unused !'s)

September has been hectic for me. We opened a second school, a preschool, at the beginning of the month and my wife is making me work there...so I've been otherwise occupied.

I managed to finish the first three chapters of my next novel, which I put up on the workshop thread, and early feedback is positive. While I wait for others to get back to me, I've picked the pirate book back up. It's been a little while since I've worked on it, but the upside to that is that I've become a little nostalgic over it. Time away from a project will do that, I suppose. I'm hopeful we'll be able to get a 3rd draft ready by the holidays.

Not much new on the short story front. After selling that one piece to Diabolical Plots, I only have one other circulating. I'm hopeful it'll be a pro sale...

----
Do we have plans for a NaNoWriMo thread? Not sure if I'll be doing anything this year, but I'm certainly there for support.

 

[RedMage]

Oh my! Where has the time gone?! (Do I get to use RedMage's unused !'s)

What? Noooooo! What makes you think anyone but I can use them?

The past week has been iffy for me, with ups and downs. I'm struggling a lot to get back to writing and can't seem to work through problem spots when I encounter them.

Upside, I did write 500 words last night which I want to keep, but that was only after spending the whole day writing between 1,000 and 1,500 words that are all throwaway.

And I think I may have a problem of having too many projects going at once, and having done too much planning and removing the mystery of What and How things happen in some of those projects, which was one of the main reasons I was writing them.

 

[RedMage]

Update on my previous post:
I took a very late lunch (I ate earlier) and was able to knock out 357 words to begin the next chapter in my Halloween book 2. Ideas about how to do this were fluttering around in my head all day and they finally coalesced into something workable and which I'm sufficiently happy with that I can continue with the scene and leave agonizing about until the editing phase.

I've also had a breakthrough today on the big problem I've been trying to work through that's in the chapter after the one I wrote on today. I don't have the whole answer yet, but I think half of it's there. And that's a half more than I'd had before.

 

[Facing]

September has been very frustrating. I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. I am getting some new writing done but no where near as much as I hoped. It's been an edit heavy month. I know it needs to be done. I know it is making things better but I'm feeling a little petulant at the moment. I'm currently sitting at 3948 new words to my novellette/novella project and I think I may pour some wine and shelf the rest of the editing until tomorrow or at least until I add another 52 words to my Alice story. I'm a grown up I can do whatever I want.