I have an hour dedicated to writing during the week, and not much more on the weekends. That’s it. It is probably the most productive, and usually my favorite, hour of the day! And I’m short tempered when something interrupts it (many apologies to my husband…).
I’m surprised at how much writing I get done during that short span as well as any other stolen moments I can find. It helps that right now it is simply too cold and snowy to build cabinets for the house, so I do have more time for writing on the weekends. Though that is also when I schedule blog posts for the week!
But as of last week, and the reason I’m bringing this up, is that I gave myself a backpack load of more writing work. I decided after weeks of debate to leave my publisher.
The split won’t come until May, but I have a LOT of work to do to get ready, including re-formatting my existing books, learning CreateSpace, finishing a marketing course, implementing some new marketing techniques, and publishing the short stories of my new dark fantasy/ dystopian series. And lets not forget that since I’m going this alone, that means creating cover art, getting help on edits, completing final edits, and doing the formatting. Eep!
Some of those tasks are far from horrid. My husband has been working with me on the cover art, which is great. But I know I have to acccept the fact that some nights for the near future my writing time might be half an hour. Or less. I might find time for a paragraph rather than half a chapter. That is a touch choice to make when that means letting go of one of my favorite activities for the day!
But my writing speed has picked up enough, and I’m far enough ahead, that I think I can absorb the extra workload. I still hit my goal of three chapters in the Fight for Peace and over half a chapter in Spark of Defiance over the last week. And that was on top of this week’s with five blog posts to finalize and schedule (because, of course it, is my week for every blog I write for!), re-formatting two novels, playing with some photos for a cover, working on some marketing info, tackling edits, and somehow Adam and I found the time to throw in snowshoeing!
So I think I can handle the added work. But I can’t promise I’ll never slip or miss a post. I won’t tell you how close it came to not getting up the next part in the Untold Story of Darag in Portoreayl this week! The half dozen or so of you who follow that link as soon as it is published are the reason I pushed myself to get it written and posted on Sunday. Your interest is noted and mattered!
And I’d also like to welcome the handful of new blog subscribers. I’m not sure if you are interested in the Monday Reads series or the Friday posts on the craft of writing, but if there is something you’d like to see more of, please let me know. 🙂
As for the actual writing update, instead of the list of everything involved with publishing said work, things are good. This week moves the Fight for Peace to chapter 20! That is approaching two thirds complete with the last book in my dark fantasy/dystopian series Friends of my Enemy, whose release will begin this spring! And now the Fight for Peace has passed Spark of Defiance, my secondary WIP and the first book of my new epic fantasy series Games of Fire. At chapter 18, it is inching beyond the half-way point. Both books are fairly well mapped out and moving at this point. The writing would take care of itself, but I haven’t figured out how to make the typing happen without me. I would say alas, but I love writing and seeing what will happen next. Because as much as I plot out the storyline, it only takes form as I write. I don’t want to automate that process at all. It is far too much fun!