Writing: A Conversation Without Interruptions

First up, sorry to miss this morning’s post. 😦 The world got away with me and I just couldn’t catch up the time to write the post to my usual standard. Rather than write something poor and lackluster, I decided to leave it until next time.

Right! Following last week’s bonus blog, I’ve done a lot of thinking and a lot of reading. Not only have I read through ‘On A Knife Point’ in full, but I’ve also read through ‘Clash of the Animal Kings (Mach II)’ with a view to begin editing on it.

But last night I decided not to pursue that.

I know, I know, it sounds like a most un-Ileandra-like thing to do, but I have a number of reasons for it. First up, it’s not in my goals for the year. It was never my intention to edit my NaNo novel so soon and doing so would push the last of this year’s goals to the side. Second, I want Saar’s Legacy finished. I need it done. That trilogy is a major part of my marketing plan going forward and I won’t be able to do anything until it’s out of the way. Third and most important: I don’t want to rush Clash.

I know myself well enough to understand this: if I try to do it now, racing to get it done before Jan 31 then I’ll not do anything else. Not only that, but I’ll feel obligated to ensure that I send it in and I won’t be able to resist doing so, even if it’s not ready. That would be a real shame, especially since I have an open invitation to send more work in when it’s ready following my semi-success with ‘Silk Over Razor Blades’ last year.

So . . . yeah. In light of that, I won’t be working on Clash. I’ll be following my original plan and going through ‘On A Knife Point’ instead.

Actions Over The Past Fortnight

~Complete digital read of ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ (paperback file) and order proof from CreateSpace
This is done. I ordered the proof and, if you’ve seen my Facebook page recently, you know I’ve received it. Now I just need to complete my read of the physical copy and ensure there are no last minute corrections that need to be made before I send it out.

~Ensure final digital file of ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ for Kindle is uploaded to Amazon
Done! There should be no issues with this file unless I find them in the body of the text during my read of the physical proof.

~Format ‘Target Beta: Episode Three’ for Smashwords
Also sorted. Pretty easy once I’ve done the main body of work for getting it on Amazon. There were a couple of things I had to tweak but Smashwords formatting is pretty easy now. No errors and the pre-order has gone straight out to the premium catalogue. Yeeeeeey!

~Ensure final digital file of ‘Target Beta: Episode Three’ is uploaded to Amazon and Smashwords
As above, this is done. Once it was formatted, it was just a case of adding it in. Which is done.

~Finalise covers for episodes four and five of ‘Dead And Alive’
Five is done, four is giving me trouble. I just can’t get the balance of tone right . . . so far it’s either too dark or too light. I need a hint of menace in it too and my design skills just may not be up for it. I’ll have to try again later.

~Read ‘On A Knife Point’ in it’s current form and make broad notes on editing
Done. Most of these notes are in my head, however, since I’m trying to use less paper by editing directly into Scrivener. I am, however, making more notes in my book about what’s coming up next and what needs to be sorted in each chapter. That should allow me to work through the necessary tweaks fairly speedily.

Activities For This Fortnight (complete by 28/12/15)

• Write blurbs for the last three Dead and Alive episodes
• Create cover art for Dead And Alive episodes four and six
• Complete proof of physical ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge
• Complete deep edits on at least half of ‘On A Knife Point’ (around 45,000 words)

Thoughts…

With Christmas right around the corner I wonder if this is too much. And yet, I also think that if I give myself too little to do I might just go mad. I need to be doing something or else I feel like I’m wasting time and I found that last fortnight, despite the length of the list, I didn’t quite have enough to do. This should keep me busy and ensure that I don’t end up skipping off into the sunset with crazy ideas about adding more things to my to-do list right at the end of the year. Seems like a daft thing to do, right?

Also, knowing that I won’t be working on Clash right now should go a long way towards keeping me focused. That uncertainty last week really affected my out put as I didn’t know which way was up and which was down. This should be better.