Yeah, I know. Don’t [...]]]>

Hmm, isn’t it interesting that the first 4 things listed above, constantly cited as the absolutely bare necessities for a successful Indie ebook, are the things that an author going through traditional channels typically has NO control over at all?

Yeah, I know. Don’t go on that rant again.

I have a confession to make. So far the posts concerning this experiment has focused on the development of the Salmon Run series, specifically the first book. The posts concerning development aren’t even close to completion, and yet, I need to move on.

Why?

Because not only is the first draft of the first novella completed, the first THREE are completed. And they were completed in July of 2010.

So, let’s skip forward a bit to the actual writing process. (I’ll see about completing the other posts in the series later)

Getting great ideas, worldbuilding (or universe building), and planning are all fine and good, but if an author can’t finish the actual writing then they are only fun diversions. A lot of writers have trouble with the actual writing and finishing projects. There are a variety of reasons why this happens, but I want to talk about one technique for getting past all the hang-ups and excuses:

A deadline.

I had a self-imposed deadline for launching the first book of this series. I also knew that the last half of 2010 was going to be insane. And wow, was I right about that.

Which meant I needed to get the first draft finished as soon as possible so I could fit in the revision process where and when I could. Stress can have a huge impact on creativity, and I needed a good way to move past it. To get the words down. To finish that important first draft.

Which brings up one of the “National Novel Writing Month“-inspired groups. This one is in the month of July called “July Novel Writing Month” or JulNoWriMo for short. It is the same type of challenge: 50,000 words in 31 days.

I already had a deadline for the completed and revised manuscript, and JulNoWriMo gave me a good deadline for one step in that direction: the first draft.

So, during the month of June I plotted and planned like crazy. When July 1st came along I had the first three outlines ready to go. Along with hundreds of other writers I hit the keys and hit them hard.

Having the deadline helped me put other worries and concerns out of my head, allowing me to focus only on the words using the support and creative energy of everyone else working on the same challenge at the same time.

That is one of the great things about this type of challenge. You aren’t alone in writing like crazy. Others are doing it with you and at the same time as you.

The above paragraph is important for a lot of writer. Writing is an isolating activity. That isolation can become overwhelming at times. Doing something with a group can give a person the strength and focus to do things they might not otherwise be able to do.

With all that creative energy and informal support from so many other authors during that month, I knew I would win.

And I did.

At the seven day mark book 1 was finished. Book 2 finished ten days later. Before the month was out, book 3 was finished.

There is something exhilarating about reading “The End” of a first draft. While first drafts are not usually very pretty, at least the bare bones of the story are down. As long as there are words, there can be a revision to polish things up. There are no more blank pages. Words have conquered the white spaces.

Long live the words!

This illustrates something important for goal making and goal keeping. Having the final goal is all well and good, but it doesn’t do much good unless there are smaller goals along the way that help you get to the final goal. Having smaller goals along the way can help a person feel like they are making real headway, that they are succeeding. Writing a book can be a long process. Reaching a mid-point milestone can help keep an author from getting disheartened at the slow progress.

Deadlines and mini-deadlines can be a writer’s best friend. A way to motivate an author to take the smaller steps needed to finish a project and reach the ultimate goal.

First draft word counts:

Night of the Aurora (Book 1): 26560
Alien Winter (Book 2): 26399
The Singing Lakes (Book 3): 25533

_______________________________
“The E-Book Experiment” chronicles the business and creative side of an experiment with the business opportunities new technology and creative outlets now afford content producers. Will it fail? Will it succeed? The only way to know is to approach it with a solid plan and try. No regrets!

I hope the details of this journey will be a help to other authors. As the process proceeds to selling the final products I will also share hard data that might be useful in the decision making process of other authors who recognize that only they can take charge of their careers. For a listing of all the posts in this series, please click here.

If you find this information useful or interesting, please encourage others to come on by and visit.

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I went into it with 3 outlines. Saturday night, well before the deadline, I finished the first draft of the [...]]]> “July Novel Writing Month” is over as of midnight last Saturday night. While the result is the lowest word count of any July or November writing month so far, it was far from a failure.

I went into it with 3 outlines. Saturday night, well before the deadline, I finished the first draft of the third novella. Here are the stats of each of the three:

26560 – Night of the Aurora
26374 – Alien Winter
25553 – The Singing Lakes

Talk about close to each other in word count. I’m not sure I could have done that on purpose if I had tried!

Congrats to everyone else who participated, no matter how many words you wrote. 1 word more is a victory.

More information on the books will come out as “The E-Book Experiment” posts continue. Which, will be later this week!

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As for word count, out of the 50k to win the month, I’m [...]]]> Yes, I’m still alive and kicking. In fact, I’m writing like crazy! I’m participating in July Novel Writing Month, and I’ve already finished one novella and started on the second. More details about the novellas as the E-Book Experiment series continues.

As for word count, out of the 50k to win the month, I’m already up over 35k. Yeah, barring an unforeseen disaster, I’ll make the 50k.

PHP Freelancer

Not for a writer!

I’m addicted to writing. I admit it. Life doesn’t feel complete without plotting, planning, writing and revising all the stories coming out of my head. Even if no one ever read them, [...]]]> Revision on the current book is almost finished. Does that mean it’s time to rest and take a vacation?

Not for a writer!

I’m addicted to writing. I admit it. Life doesn’t feel complete without plotting, planning, writing and revising all the stories coming out of my head. Even if no one ever read them, I would still write.

Hey, there are a lot worse addictions to have!

I’m also prolific. When I’m on a roll I can write 10,000+ words on a single full day. The highest word count in a single day has been 18,000 (I’m not aiming for that last number ever again. I suffered for it for days after.).

So, it follows that I have a great deal of fun in November for National Novel Writing Month. Apparently so do a lot of other people…

Because other events have sprung up all over the place. July is one of them. “July Novel Writing Month” was inspired by November’s NaNoWriMo. The premise is similar: 50,000 words in 31 days (1613 words a day). Where the November and July event differ is that JulNoWriMo invites those with previously started projects to join in. The idea is to get 50,000 words total.

And yes, despite life being rather crazy, I’m joining in for the second time. You can find me over at the JulNoWriMo website under the user name “Dreamerscove.”

This works out well with “The E-Book Experiment” premise. I need product, as in plural. Time to create more.

Now to get a few outlines in place…

Hope to see you there!

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The entire story was plotted out, the first few chapters written. Started up the webpage and started publishing it as a [...]]]> Many years ago I had an inspiration for a funny, family, science fiction adventure. As I had for years dreamed of doing a comic of my own, it turned into a web comic.

The entire story was plotted out, the first few chapters written. Started up the webpage and started publishing it as a webcomic. At first it had a frequency of one a month. As I became more comfortable with the process it moved up to two a month.

All might have been well, but an old injury reared its ugly head. It meant I could not draw for a long period of time. The webcomic went back down to one a month. But even that wasn’t slow enough. Considering how long the story was, doing a page even once every two months, or one a quarter, would result in a story that could not be told in a lifetime.

That was too depressing for words.

I tried all sorts of things. I experimented with black and white, but I didn’t care for the look of it. I pared down the pages to an illustrated story, but by then the injury flared enough that even that was too much art.

Yet, the injury didn’t affect my ability to type!

So, there it is. I have this lovely little story that I still want to finish. It cannot come to fruition through the original vision of a webcomic. But it can be told another way.

I have taken the original story line and realized it comes out perfectly into three books. “Dreamers Cove” will still be told (perhaps under a different title, but the characters will remain the same). This year, for either the July JulNoWriMo or the big November NaNoWriMo, the first book in the trilogy will be written.

And the story lives on.

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Perfect! (not for the characters, but you [...]]]> On day 11 at about 10pm, I reached 50033 words. The writing didn’t stop however! Before midnight, the count had grown to 51661. The novel “The Phoenix Eggs” is really shaping up. The climax is within sight and the characters are finding themselves in rather a big pickle.

Perfect! (not for the characters, but you know what I mean)

JulNoWriMo has been a lot of fun. They doubled their participation numbers compared to last year and there are already 10 winners (I was the 11th). Also, quite a few writers from Forward Motion are also participating. We’ve been encouraging each other in the FM chat most nights, helping all of us do a little better than we would have if alone.

I’ll definitely be able to finish the book this month. As if knowing the time for the November Nano is approaching, my muse has thrown several ideas at me about the other books I’ll be writing. The idea folder just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Back to the words!

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I continued with the momentum gained. As of the middle of May the book is completely finished. I’m really happy the way it turned out, [...]]]> I won NaNoEdMo with 74.5 hours. That was good enough to place 7th on the final list of editors. Whee! The time really helped whip “The String Weavers into shape.

I continued with the momentum gained. As of the middle of May the book is completely finished. I’m really happy the way it turned out, and it feels so wonderful to have such a big project finished. I came up with the concept for the book in late September of 2007, wrote the first draft for Nanowrimo 2007, and finished editing in May of 2009. A little more than 1 1/2 years. I’m thrilled to be under the 2-year mark.

Now to see if I can keep up the momentum! I have three one-off books that are in no way apart of a series in the planning stages. The plan is to have them ready for writing for Nano of 2009. So far I’m on track for that goal. However, that is a few months away and I don’t want to stop writing. So, I’ve taken the sequel to “The String Weavers”, which is a called “The Phoenix Eggs” and written for Nanowrimo 2008, and have started a complete rewrite. I’m using JulNoWriMo to help out on that project.

JulNoWriMo is run by a different group of people than Nanowrimo but inspired by the same concept. 50k of words from July 1st to July 31. Because of the extra day in the month the minimum wordcount per day is 1613 compared to 1667 for Nanowrimo. So far I’m on track, and I’m pleased at how “The Phoenix Eggs” is coming along.

After July, it’ll be time to focus on Nanowrimo 2009.

Onwards and Upwards!

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