Camp NaNoWriMo Plans

The July session of Camp NaNoWriMo starts Saturday and I am not ready!

Originally my plan was to get to work on my novel near the beginning of June, so that I could get some more done and be back in the habit of writing by July.  June has been one big thing after another, however, so up until this week, I hadn't had a chance to refamiliarize myself with where I'm at in the novel and start working on it again.

I've had a hard time setting aside some time to get back to work on the novel.  Right now I need to focus on getting caught up so I know where I'm at and don't introduce any new continuity errors.  I want this draft to be as clean as possible when I'm done with it.  I may have some extra stuff to cut when I'm done, but I'd rather write too much than not enough (which was the problem the first time around, besides the plot issues).

My original timeline for finishing and publishing the novel is shot at this point, of course.  Right now I'm planning on a release in the fall, which I suspect won't be as good for sales as a spring/early summer release, but that's okay.  I'm hoping to finish the draft by the end of August, then do revisions and cover and formatting and hopefully release the book in late fall or by Christmas.  After that I have a few short stories that I can release through the winter and early spring while I work on the next novel.

This is all getting a bit ahead of myself, though.  First things first: I need to get this draft finished, hopefully in the next 1-2 months!

Book Review: We Were Liars

I don't normally do this, but this book is worth recommending.  Not only did it keep me up late reading last night (a fairly common occurrence for me when I'm engrossed in a good book), but it also had me starting the book completely over the instant I finished it.

I am not usually a re-reader, so this is a big deal.  I have too many books I want to read, so rereading is usually saved for a few select favorites.

In this case, the book is We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.  It's a fairly short, quick read, too, so it's not a big deal to reread it.  And the plot twist is so compelling, so huge, that I wanted to know what clues I'd missed in the first reading.

The story is about a teenage girl who spends every summer on her wealthy grandfather's island, hanging out with her cousins that are the same age as her.  They're close and enough trouble when they're together that the family has nicknamed them the Liars.  The summer she was 15, however, something traumatic happened, and she has no memories of what.  All she knows is that she's absolutely destroyed by whatever it was, so when she has the opportunity to go back to the island the summer she's 17, she goes to try to figure it out.

There's only so much I can say without giving it away, but there's a plot twist that erupts like a bomb and completely changes everything.

I'm about 17% through my re-read, and I have already noticed a few things I didn't pick up on the first time.  I expect it'll be just as wild a ride the second time through!

Advertising Update

I decided to try Amazon's affiliate program again, partly because I found out I did get one sale last time I tried it.  I have a plan this time to hopefully make more sales, so we'll see how that goes.  But just so my readers know, this blog is now running Amazon affiliate links as well as Google AdSense ads.

What it boils down to is that since I'm not freelancing anymore, I need some more income streams.  I'd like to be able to write more and focus on that, but I need ways to make money with it.  While ultimately my goal is to make money by selling books, monetizing my blogs a little better now sounds like a good idea.

I'll have much more to blog about soon, since I'm picking Ruby back up this week and into July, which is Camp NaNoWriMo (more on that later).  But I hope to also drop some recommendations and links of interest into my blog posts.  I promise my recommendations will always be genuine!

New Writing Goals

I blogged a while back about how I'd lost the habit of writing daily, and created a new goal for spring.  I didn't actually get any writing done during that time frame though (I'd set the end of writing for May 31st).

Now, with Camp NaNoWriMo's July session coming up, and with a new weekly push on my regular habit to track my progress on various projects each week, I decided I need to get a move on.  I have a marker in my calendar to start working on Ruby daily again next week, and I set up a new writing goal on the NaNoWriMo website ending June 30th.  I'm planning on working on Ruby during July too, and hope to finish the draft by the end of Camp, so that means I have just shy of two months to get through the rest of the novel.

Hopefully I can get a few things done this week to free up some time to write, next week and moving forward!

Refocusing My Writing Life

I mentioned in my last post that I'm not freelancing right now.

Essentially, last year I lost a couple of clients, not through any fault of my own but due to business changes, until I was down to just one writing platform.  At the time I didn't have the time to look for other clients to replace the lost ones, due to my horse being sick.

Well, said writing platform and I parted ways about a month ago, after we disagreed over payment terms.  There's another platform I used to write for on occasion, but for various reasons I've elected not to write for them anymore either, due to payment not being guaranteed.

What it boils down to is that it's difficult making sure you get paid enough as a freelancer, and while it's important not to be a pushover, sometimes standing up for yourself makes you unpopular.  But hey, I'm unpopular but also paid in full, which is what counts.

I'm not terribly concerned about the break in income right now, as I do have some other ventures that will bring in some income, such as focusing on my doll repair and sales business, Against Doll Odds.  I also have a nonfiction ebook in the works that should bring in some income over time, and hopefully my fiction eventually will, too.

Interestingly, one side effect of not freelancing right now is that I'm itching to write more often than I normally would be.  When I was freelancing I had less urge to work on my own writing projects, but right now I find myself frequently wanting to write something, anything.

Hopefully this just means I'll be able to get more done!

Writer Talk: What Do You Do When You Get Another Idea?

Most writers get story ideas all the time.  Sometimes one is so powerful that it's hard to stay focused on the current project and not get distracted by the urge to start another.

So what do you do when that happens?

I usually find that trying to ignore it 1) makes the urge to write something else worse, and 2) means a potentially lost story idea, so I usually try to at least write down my idea.  Sometimes that means a few quick notes, sometimes that's a basic outline, and sometimes it's writing the intro or a scene.

In fact, Ruby started out as a middle-of-the-night idea that I hurriedly wrote down one night.  One of my best-ever short stories was also a late night idea, that I sat up writing until about 2am.

A couple of days ago, I got a story idea that just wouldn't quit.  I opened up Plottr and started sketching out an outline, and before I knew it, I had a pretty fully fledged basic outline and character sheets for the main characters.

I'm not done outlining it or writing up the character sheets yet, but the question is, what do I do now?  Do I start working on the novel?  I think it would be a fairly simple one, so possibly a quick write.  Or do I finish my draft of Ruby, and then write this?

I'm aware of the value of getting caught up in the excitement of a new project.  It's good motivation and can be good to follow it.  At the same time, there's also something to be said by sticking with something and not running off after every story idea that comes to mind.

I haven't decided yet what I'll do, but I'm aware that it might not be a bad idea to have other books available than just my Vampire Noir series, especially if I'm self-publishing.  The bigger your network of books, the more opportunity you have for sales, especially repeat sales from existing readers.  Having a few standalone books available when I publish Ruby might be helpful for anyone who wants to read more of my books while they're waiting for the next installment in the Vampire Noir series.

Plus there's the nonfiction ebook I'm working on currently, a specialized piece that's more related to my doll business than my fiction writing.

I definitely have a lot of irons in the fire right now.  I'm not freelancing right now (more on that later), but maybe it's good timing, since I have a lot else I want to accomplish!

Best Laid Plans

Please note that this post contains affiliate links.  As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn commissions from sales made through these links.

After all that work to get Scrivener and Plottr on the Surface Go 3 I bought as a travel computer, I didn't end up working on my novel too much.  That's not to say I didn't work on anything, though: I ended up working on revising a doll stringing ebook I've had for sale for many years, but that desperately needed to be updated.

Despite that, I'm still planning on getting back to work soon on the current draft of my first Ruby Ransome novel.  To avoid working on too many projects at once, though, I'll probably finish work on the ebook first, then get back to work again on Ruby.

As an aside, I'm pretty happy with the little Surface Go.  It was relatively easy to travel with, fit well on the airplane tray tables, charged quickly, and had plenty of battery for my needs.  I carried it everywhere on the trip and its small size and light weight made that pretty easy.  The keyboard is admittedly a little small but not so small I can't type on it.  Sometimes small keyboards actually are better for me, since I can type quickly when my fingers don't have as far to reach.

I had gotten a bump-proof case for the Surface, which incidentally required a Microsoft brand keyboard as the other brand was too large to fit well with the case.  That made me feel more secure about carrying the computer places.  I do need to decide if I want any other accessories for the Surface Go, such as a pen or a USB hub (the Surface Go doesn't have any regular USB ports, only USB-C).

It's possible I'll continue using the Surface Go as an exclusive travel machine or even as an "upstairs computer," which would mean I may end up doing most of my novel writing on it.  I do want to be sure I don't neglect my regular laptop, though, as it's not good for it to be plugged in all the time, either.

Stay tuned for further updates!