Writing: A Conversation Without Interruptions

Hmm . . . Consider the last couple of weeks a blip that meant I needed to slow down. Things have been much smoother this week. Not just because I had so little to do, but in my attitude to it all.

Actions Last Week

~Decide which cover option I want to use for ‘Dead And Alive, Episode Two’
Done. At last! I was freaking out, but now I’ve done that, I’m nearly ready to list it as a pre-order (and in the meantime I can get the file edited to completion).

~Collect ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ from beta readers
One down. Three to go. When I have them all back, I’ll get on with working on the comments. So far, however, the comments I do have, confirmed something that I realised in the middle of the week while I was reading the file on my own. I read ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ all the way through and then immediately chased it with the raw, first draft of ‘On A Knife Point.’

Lenina, as a character still needs a bit of work. She doesn’t have holes exactly, but she changes a lot between ‘Silk Over Razor Blades’ and ‘On A Knife Point.’ That’s good, she’s supposed to, but the changes need to happen through the course of ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ and they don’t.

So . . . that needs fixing.

August 2015 Round Up

~Leave ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ alone while betas enjoy it
Yes. Despite what I said above, it was all ready September before I began to read. :-p

~Publish ‘Episode One’ of ‘Dead or Alive’
Eeeeyup! Find it here.

~Send x10 review requests for ‘Silk Over Razor Blades’
11 sent.  Three acceptances. One promised pimping session. Six no responses. One opportunity to pay for exposure (which I’ve had to decline). In truth, that’s actually a pretty good return. But I still don’t think it makes sense to push this as hard as I have been. I need to focus on coaxing people to leave natural reviews. A work in progress.

Changes To My Plans

Completed tasks struck out, changes/clarifications in red and additional tasks in green:

• Edit ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ to completion by end of October (including betas, final proof and formatting)
• Publish ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ through Little Vamp Press by end of November in digital form
• Publish ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ through Little Vamp Press by end of December in paperback form
• Start deep edits on ‘On A Knife Point’ by end of December
• Send one more newsletter to subscribers.
  • Send the first episode of ‘Dead And Alive’ as the freebie in August
  • Include a teaser for the second (and third?) episodes of ‘Dead And Alive’ in November
• Publish Season One of ‘Dead or Alive’ episodically every two months (from August)

Targets for September

• Edit ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ with a particular focus on Lenina’s character growth—show the transition!
• Finalise cover design for ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ with DaveJ
• Clean up ‘Dead And Alive, Episode Two’ and get into pre-order status

Activities For This Week

• Continue using notes from PWG to improve ‘Dead And Alive Episode Two’
• Chase missing beta comments
• Read through received beta comments and make notes

Thoughts…

Unlike last week I feel pretty positive about what needs to be done. You may notice, however, that a lot of changes have been made above. This is mainly because I’m beginning to understand that I need to slow down.

I want to rush. I want to do everything. I want all my work out there and available for people to see, but I can’t. If I want to produce the best possible work, I need to ensure I take my time over it and smooth out known issues when I find them. This is why I’ve separated releases of ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ into paperback and ebook. Perhaps, I’ll even shunt both to December. Who knows?

In truth, I’m really pleased that my first beta to respond pointed out an issue that I’d discovered upon re-reading. It immediately let me know that I was right—and cut out any potential quibbling—and left me open and willing to consider working on those issues. Cheers Lisa! ^_^

On top of that, the snippet of ‘Dead And Alive, Episode Two’ I took to PWG on Saturday got torn to shreds. I was thrilled! . . . yeah, that’s weird, I know, but I went in there thinking ‘This isn’t quite right. What the hell have I done wrong?’ And now I know what the problem was. Since then I’ve hammered at that snippet and the next one, shaving off something like 700 words of faff and flab. The scene is supposed to be a fast-paced, terrifying attack. It now feels far more like it. ^_^ Can’t wait to take it back in again.

Basically, I’m enjoying myself again. I’m busy, I know that, but that’s not a bad thing. So long as I take iddy-biddy steps, I won’t fall into the same trap of despair that I did before.

Heh. Yup. Because that’s so easy to do, right. 😉