A Week of Writing: 6/10/19 to 6/16/2019
Another week of writing and stuff.
Words to Write By
This week’s quote is another from Mark Twain.
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”
― Mark Twain
I’ve been thinking a lot about productivity or more precisely the lack of it. A lot of folks call that writer’s block, but when I’m not productive it’s generally not because I can’t write, it’s because I’m terrified to start writing or editing or revising or whatever. Mark Twain’s quote describes almost exactly what I do to get out of my funk. Looking at something like a novel (or the revision of said novel) as one colossal task is completely overwhelming, so much so that I just spin my wheels and fail to get anything done. If I break down that huge task into a bunch of little ones, like Mr. Twain suggests, I can get on with it.
With a novel, those little tasks are writing an outline, then finishing the first chapter, then writing 2,000 words a day. Basically, I never let myself dwell too long on the overall task, I just complete the task(s) I assigned myself for the day. If I do that for like 90 days in a row, one day I’ll look up and have a completed first draft. For revision, it’s roughly the same process. I’ll assign myself one or two plot points to resolve and focus entirely on those, or if I’m doing a more general proof, I’ll assign myself a number of pages per day.
There’s a bit of self trickery in this process, but I’ll use every dirty trick in the book if it means I can push past the fear and doubt and get more done. 🙂
The Novel
Well, I’m back to revising Late Risers and making good progress. Last week I primarily focused on starting from page one and re-reading the first half of the novel. I did a lot of work in the first half and added a ton of new material. So I needed to reacquaint myself with all those shiny new words and figure out if they’re worth keeping. The good news is that most of them are worth keeping, and, as usual, with a little distance from the novel, it reads a lot better and more cohesively than I thought it would. This week I plan to plow through the second half of the book. I won’t need to revise as much, but there’s one huge plot point I need to rework in the third act. After that, it should be pretty smooth sailing. I hope.
Short Stories
Yes, behold my shame.
- Submissions Sent: 0
- Rejections: 1
- Acceptances: 0
- Publications: 0
- Shortlist: 0
No submissions last week, but, hey, I did get a form rejection (womp womp). I’m lagging this month with new submissions, though I am working on new short stories that will become new submissions. I hope to get one or two or three of those out this week. I was also invited to contribute a story or two to a sword & sorcery magazine, so I’ll be starting those stories this week.
The Blog
Here are the blog posts from last week.
6/12/19: Weeks of Writing: 5/20/19 to 6/9/19
Getting caught up on the weeks I missed.
6/15/19: Submissions: A Pair of Never Have I Evers
In this post I discuss two publisher responses I’ve never received.
Goals
Novel, novel, novel. Short story, short story, short story.
Curious Fictions
I’ve started posting some of my reprint flash fiction and short stories up at Curious Fictions, and I plan to do that every Monday for a while. I’ll eventually get around to posting new material, and maybe even a serialized novella. For the moment, getting some of my old reprints some fresh air has been a lot of fun.
This week’s story is “Caroline,” a zombie tale published by Red Sun Magazine a few years ago. It’s definitely one of the darker pieces I’ve written, and you can check it out by clicking the link(s) below.
“Caroline”
That was my week. How was yours?
6 Comments on “A Week of Writing: 6/10/19 to 6/16/2019”
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Acts of War: Aftershock
Acts of War: Stormbreak
Aeryn Rudel's Rejectomancy 
Caroline was gripping!
Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
I’ve never heard of Curious Fictions before, but it looks really interesting. How did you decide to start using it?
Curious Fictions was recommended to me by an author friend. I’ve been looking for a platform to publish some of my reprints and possibly serialize new material. After a little research, I really liked what Curious Fiction had to offer.
Your process reminds me of when I am slowing down with my hobby painting. I push myself to do at least one thing every day. Prep models, prime, work on a little sculpting, or even just plan a color scheme. Once I get started I usually put in some quality, productive time. However, some days I just get the designated task done and I am OK with that. I’m just a hobbyist after all.
Yeah, that’s essentially it. Get SOMETHING done, even if it’s small because it’s forward momentum and big projects are completed by finishing a lot of small tasks.