I have found a writing routine can be a helpful way to avoid writer's block. At least for me. For the last two months, I established a late morning writing session since I work second shift in the middle of the week. The only days that this differs on is Monday and Friday because those are the days I donate plasma in the morning. Those days I write in the evening between lunch and dinner.When it comes to a writing routine, I believe in consistency. Writing at the same time everyday creates...
1.06.2024
12.22.2023
Half Way Done with Draft One
3 days before Christmas, 4 days before my birthday and I have exciting news. Just over a month and a half of writing every day and I have completed 23 chapters of my epic fantasy novel! Dragons, magic, deadly creatures, and [something else], I can't wait to see how the next 23 chapters turn out.I have hit a snag when it comes to the major relationship. I am changing the pacing from long-term to slow(ish) burn. This requires me to change the mindsets/actions of my main characters. And that...
12.15.2023
How I Track My Progress
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I remember a neat tool Mrs. Johnson gave me in Pre-calculus my junior year of high school. At the start of the year, she handed us a sheet of paper with several columns labeled things like assignment name, points earned, and total points. It was a way for us to track our grade throughout the year. The OCD in me loved it and I used my own grade tracker throughout college.Before I started writing and after I set my goals, I wasn't sure how to track my progress. And then I remembered Mrs....
12.01.2023
One Month Check In
One month ago, I embarked on a new journey, one I thought of attempting for years. Now, after thirty days I can say with confidence: man, this is tough!Writing is one of those things you don't realize is so hard until you try it yourself. The hardest part for me thus far is finding a rhythm to write. I'm trying to establish better habits such as waking up earlier and working out (more on my writing routine later). The biggest problem I've found is the three days I work second shift. Those...
11.27.2023
Projected Word Counts
I think one of the first questions new writers ask themselves is: how long should my book be?The easy answer is: however long you want it to be!Believe it or not, there are not hard and fast rules to writing a novel. There is no set number of chapters, pages, or words you novel has to be. I remember my novel writing professor in community college give us an example as a short chapter by William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. It reads "My mother is a fish". That's it. That's the entire chapter....
11.14.2023
So Far, So Good...
It's been two weeks since I started the first draft of my first novel and I feel...pretty good. I've completed 4 chapters out of my plotted 46 (subject to change). Already I can tell that no matter how much world building I did before, I am still world building as I write. Sometimes it's little things like background events that play no role in the main story, but add depth to characters or new plants and creatures my characters encounter. Other times, its quick interactions with unnamed...
11.01.2023
Let's Get Started
Well, the day is finally here!After weeks and weeks of world building, character creating, plotting, and more plotting, I am finally ready to sit down and start writing my first novel. And is it going to be a doozy.Think Tolkien meets Martin.There's a fellowship, magical creatures, a (by Mr. Sanderson's definition) hard magic system, violent, sex, and yes, dragons. Multiple different types of dragons too. I've did a lot of homework to put my own twist on the genres and the tropes that...