Category: About Writing

How Am I Doing In December After NaNoWriMo?

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I know that solid, well-defined goals drive me forward. They give me a sense of urgency that is hard to ignore. I should have created solid, well-defined goals for December after my wildly successful November. Alas, I didn’t do that and my writing, while consistent, has suffered a little. My plan (note, I didn’t say “goal”) for December was to finish one book (needed about 6,000 words to do that) edit two books (one of them my NaNo novel) and continue work on a third. I did finish the one book. I have continued to work on the third book (so far adding about 6,000 words to it) and I’ve set myself up to edit one of the two. Not […]

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Way Outside My Comfort Zone

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I have an idea and it scares me. The idea is a story idea and before you say anything, I fully acknowledge that I have lots of those. The difference in this case is, the idea is in a genre I’ve never really read, telling a story that could be more…personal…than I’ve ever done before. A friend of mine, Leah Crichton, was telling me a couple months ago about one of her most recent novels. When she wrote it, she found it to be immensely challenging. It struck so many emotions and other raw nerves that it shook her as she wrote it. It is also, she acknowledges, one of the best things she has written to date. That’s saying […]

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I Just Typed “The End” on Scouts 3

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I just typed the words, “The End”, on Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie Masters. Let me just savour that for a moment. “The End” normally means something is finished. For we writers, it only signifies the beginning. There are still edit passes (both developmental and line), a cover, layout, getting the book to the printers, promotion and so on. Clearly, there is lots left to do. But, it means I wrote my novel from start to finish in 36 days. Is it perfect? Hardly, but a first draft (and I feel confident saying this) never is. But there is something there for me to edit now. And this series, this trilogy, is now one giant step closer to being finished. As […]

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So Close I Can Almost Taste It

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One of my personal writing issues is I sometimes gloss over scenes. Usually that happens when I’m in a hurry to move onto the next scene or I am struggling to find the right way to put my vision into words. My editors, without fail, call me on it and force me to put in the time a scene needs to flesh it out. I’m working very hard not to do that right now with the ending of Scouts 3. I am so very close to being done, I can almost taste it. I know that I could skimp on the ending and fix it when I revise it, but I don’t want to take that shortcut. I want to […]

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