Drawing from the Well
After three months, you would think more was done. Motivation has been hard with this book. This is easily the hardest book so far (for reasons I can’t even explain yet since books one and two remain unpublished). More arcs, more questions, more events, more characters and locales, just more of everything than ever. It’s a lot and, honestly, I’ve struggled to address this herculean task.
With all of that being said, I’ve made a lot of progress. When last we met in June (literally just over three months ago…I know, I’m sorry), I had finished one character arc and was sixty scenes in. Now we’re on the final arc, which makes six, with 214 scenes logged. You would think there would be more but many of those scenes between 60 and 214 are pretty darn dense. I’ve gotten a little less molecular with my scene construction as I’ve gone. Always be learning.
We’re getting close to finishing this process of scene mapping. Then we get to one of my favorite parts: drafting. The point where I get to shut off my planning brain and just put words to page and draw the picture for all of you is joyous. It’s really metric-driven which gives me a huge amount of drive. I’m really looking forward to it. When we get into my new plan below, you’ll see why.
Filling the Well
I read a bunch of books the last three months. That should be no surprise since I have an ambitious reading goal for the year. Let’s see…
52. Freelancer by Jake Lingwall
53. Endgame by James Frey
54. Sky Key by James Frey
55. Rules of the Game by James Frey
56. Origins by James Frey
57. Descendant by James Frey
58. Existence by James Frey
59. Endgame: The Training Diaries by James Frey
60. Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
61. Your Creative Brain by Shelley Carson
62. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
63. Lore by Alexandra Bracken
64. Mage Against the Machine by Shaun Barger
65. The Big Trip Up Yonder by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
66. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
67. Reign of Shadows by Sophie Jordan
68. His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novak
69. Throne of Jade by Naomi Novak
70. Black Powder War by Naomi Novak
71. In His Majesty’s Service by Naomi Novak
72. Witchshadow by Susan Dennard
73. Intermittent Fasting by Philip Ghezelbash
74. Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
75. Raven Strategem by Yoon Ha Lee
Most of these were good. Bird by Bird, Lore, and Witchshadow were outstanding. Those are definitely in the running for Six Star Book of the Year. We’ll see where we land by the end.
I’m currently reading Followed by Frost (Charlie N. Holmberg’s debut), Think and Grow Rich, and I start Revenant Gun tomorrow. The first two are good, though in different ways. I’ll let you know how they come out.
Well Chat
Three months is entirely too long between blog posts. I’ve been meaning to make a plan for weekly content production in various directions in addition to writing. I work well with schedules, habits, and routines. Today starts a new routine.
The first part is my two daily routines. I write best when I write every morning so I’m starting that habit again. Get up early, put on some music, and put in an hour or so of words to page. As I said above, I’m still finishing mapping my scenes, but we’re close. Putting the time in will still finish setting up my dominoes before I start knocking them down in drafting. The other thing I want to do daily is a social media post across Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with a photo of something I’m working with or on in some way. If I can knock each of those out each morning, I’ll be way ahead before sunrise and will start building momentum for the most important part of novel-writing: writing the dang novel.
The second part is a list of weekly tasks. Those are for me to work on at night and include blogging, working on and sending my newsletter (coming soon), working on publishing tasks (of which there are many), incubation, and bonus material. Blogging and newsletter are pretty obvious. Publishing tasks include everything OTHER than writing the novel. Cover art, back matter, website, and formatting all fall into this category along with several others. Incubation is a new task I want to work on once a week for future stories. Ideation, magic systems, and world development all apply. Lastly is bonus material which includes short stories, character interviews, and personal art.
It’s ambitious. It’s a lot of work. This is my passion and my dream, though. I have to pour everything I am into it. Think and Grow Rich is teaching me about taking desire, blending it with faith and hard work, and transmuting all of that into reality. Now’s the time to do it. And this blog post is the first step.
I’ll let you know next week how this first round goes.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG