The Resurrection of the Novella

As promised, I come bearing the July's plans for writing. I know that there are plenty of avenues I could choose from, but I wanted to make sure I put my effort towards something that could get out relatively fast, draft to final version. That's why I'm turning my attention back to novellas. I have two distinct novella projects that are still in the first-draft-of-a-first-title-in-the-series stage. I want to push at least one forward, but hopefully I will have the determination to get both of them chugging along once again.

If you haven't been hanging out here for a awhile, I'll refresh your memory about the two series. The first series I started was a sweet romance novella series that has a mostly revolving cast of characters because the series is based around a specific place, rather than a bunch of the same characters.

The second novella series started as a single story, but since it takes place over the span of anywhere between 20-40 years, breaking it up into smaller bites seems to be the way to go. This series does revolve around a family (and close friends) following their trials and tribulations.

I'll have to be very strict with my schedule, but I'm sure I can bring something out of the first draft stage by the end of the month. Stay tuned!

Writing Off Write On

The time has come to let the dream die--Write On was not all that it was cracked up to be. I thought that I had found something that would help out with some significant gaps in my writing process, but it all ended up just being a big headache.

Write On, for those who don't know, is platform where you can upload your work-in-progress or completed project to get feedback from other members. I've tried it with two different projects and the results were less than thrilling. Is it a beta read site? Not really. Is it more of an online critique group? Not quite. Is it more like Wattpad, offering your completed work for free to build an audience? No. Definitely not.

Before publishing it last year, I put up my novel Seeing What Develops. I initially thought Write On was geared more towards the beta reading aspect of writing: users would take my almost completed project, tell me what's still not working, and I could go from there to complete a final round of revisions. While there was some interest, the comments were more of a "I like it" aspect without any suggestions. And once I put up the final chapter and marked it complete, it only received about 58 reads--and it's unclear whether those reads were counting the whole project or counting every time someone read a chapter.

So it wasn't for beta reading. This year I put up In Another Life to see if users would be more helpful earlier in the writing process. This project was two revisions in (I usually do 4+ before I think it's ready to go) and so far, I've had one helpful comment. But this time around, Write On has more options to provide information to the reader. You can choose to label your project as Drafting, Revising, or Complete. I left it on drafting for some reason. I don't know why, even though I was definitely in the revising stage.

The site isn't for early-stage critiques, either.

I guess the issue with this site is that most of the users are writers, not readers, unlike Wattpad where there's a more even mix of readers and writers. And the biggest problem with writers? We have egos when it comes to time management. Example:

"Oh, I would love for all these people to read my story. But I'm not going to bother with theirs. I don't have time to read something that isn't finished yet."

I'm not criticizing anyone--I've had these thoughts too. So if the site has something like 80% writers on it, then you're probably getting upwards of 60% with this mindset.

I don't like how the site works for my projects, but there are authors who've found success, like one author who only put up the first 5000 words of her novel, then took the critique of that and used it to build her Kindle Scout campaign (and won a contract). Let's just say that might have been my own intention, but again, it's not working for me personally. What I failed to realize from trying to mimic this situation is that she brought an audience with her. I was trying to use this resource to build one.

I haven't tried a fully formed, finished project upload to compare it to Wattpad. But I don't think I'll bother. Aside from the lack of enthusiasm I fail to generate, I also realized that my novel was 20k short of a standard-size novel, which means a massive rewrite or combining book one and book two (which I know at first draft is only 25k). Nowhere near ready for the plans I had for it.

I need to find something that's more helpful in shaping my writing to be the best it can be, which is probably building a small beta reading group just for myself. Of course I'll have to build twelve separate groups because I hate writing in just one genre, but whatever. As long as the story gets what it needs, it's worth it.

Many Plans in Place

As you can see, I've planned out my next three and a half months of writing projects and some marketing stuff to go along with it. I've never been so organized about my own writing in my life. I usually save my organizational skills for my day job. I knew that if I just gave myself solid deadlines, it wouldn't work. I have to see the space between today and the deadline to make sure I stay on track. If all goes according to plan, Seeing What Develops will be released soon and I'll have plenty of drafts on the road to publication in 2016.

Of course all of this planning makes me think about my future, so I was looking for ways to supplement my income doing what I do best. I had the idea of offering services on Fiverr, but for the price of the work (and the service fee subtracted from price), it had to be something within my time constraints. I want to offer a book spotlight on this blog or Book Review Bin, but my biggest concern is my followers will think it's too many posts. I may have to limit the amount of spotlights I do per week, but I think it can be a great way to help other authors with exposure. I'll get back to you on this one once I have my job posted.

Until next time, Folks...

It's Not Over #CampNaNoWriMo

I met my goal for Camp NaNoWriMo this weekend! It's a good thing, too because I woke up this morning in one of those moods that's not particularly good for getting a lot of writing done.

Anyway, it was a goal of 25k which is really only half a novel. And I technically ended up with a whole novel because that's where the draft came to a natural end. Book #2 of the trilogy has a drastically short first draft, but that's just the way I tend to write. Most writers suffer from overwriting. I suffer from underwriting. Oh well... it's nothing I can't fix during the revision process.

And I'm not done yet. Since April isn't over and I still have a third book to write, I started right in on it yesterday. This one has a much longer, more detailed outline so I should be able to get a full-length draft out of it.

Oh, and don't forget to help support NaNoWriMo and all the great things it does for writers by visiting my donation page. You still have plenty of time to contribute!

Still Chugging Along...

My head is filled with plans and plots and dreams and inspiration. Some have even ended up on paper. It's a writer's curse, but it's still lovely.

I'm at one of those points where I just have to stick with a project and see it to the end, rather than trying to manage two, three or more. Today I'm choosing one project to finish the first draft and one project to finish revisions. That's it--no more until they are done.

Along with all of my writing, I'm still trying to make my move. Again... there's a lot more planning going on than action. While I would just love to pack a bag and take off, I'm the type of person that has to consider every single positive and negative outcome imaginable first. This may take awhile... ;-)

All of this stalling can end with taking in a deep breath and making a decision. I will get there... even if I have to reread those self-help books I read a few months ago to get my butt in gear.

In more mundane news, my book auctions on eBay ended today. There was some interest, but no bites so I'll be relisting them tonight. I may also get a few new titles listed, but no promises on that one. If you don't want to wait around for me to list books on eBay, you can always check out what I have on Half.com if you are interested in building up your library as I downsize mine. 

Have a great week! I'm going to make sure mine will be.