Winter is Here

Journal Update 32 Jan10-16, 2022

This would have been a better title for last week’s blog. Too bad I didn’t think of it then.

We had ice and snow on the previous week, whereas this one was just filled with high winds and super low temps. It’s been a frozen wasteland… and now I want to write a story that takes place in a frozen wasteland.

But I can’t allow myself to digress and work on a short.

Last Blog, I chastised myself for being lazy. For barely writing and not putting in the effort. So, this week I hammered at the keys, and despite only getting in three sessions and only a handful of hours on each of those sessions, I had a good week.

Words Count

Yeah, it was a great work for getting things done. And that was with interruptions and other errands.

I managed two and a half chapters, all of which went past me goal (or perceived limit) of 2000 words. I was certain that these chapters would be faster flowing and that each one would barely be 2k. And yet that is not the case.

The week was 8943 words over three sessions. And the manuscript is now sitting at 141,850 total words. I will break 200k on this one. It’s just going to happen and to be honest I think I have been rushing somethings because of statistics.

By the Numbers (Sort Of)

I’m not going to break it down to actual statistics. But by far, most new authors looking for an agent and trying to get out a first novel, usually can’t push a big book. Every class, every mentor, lots of other authors, have all told me the same thing. Write a trim, 80-90k book and sale that, and talk about the bigger series for later.

A lot of them also said never write more than the first book in a series…

Technically I wrote a prequel, and I’m currently on the first book of the series… so I haven’t broken that advice yet. But I’m already planning the later books and such. (Of course planning and outlining is perfectly reasonable, as it give you something to show to an agent/editor to show what you have planned and how they can market you long term).

But I know how I get and I become obsessed with a single story and have to keep working on it. I just must finish and I might come up with other ideas, but I’m always drawn back to the big huge novel. Sigh.

The Week in Review…

Not much happened.

I wrote, I worked the day job, and I was cold a lot.

I’m also starting to cook again. I haven’t cooked in a long time. When I was in my teens, I cooked dinner every night for my family. It was something I loved to do, also when I cooked, I didn’t have to do the dishes. Which I hated to do.

All the way into my 20s I cooked often. And then I lived with a roommate and we were poor and I barely ate more than one meal a day for a decade. And the last decade has been it’s own thing where I rarely have to cook anymore.

But I want to cook more often and I want to cook outside my comfort zone and cook dishes I never grew up with. That’s one of things I’m working on… not as a resolution… as I believe that New Year’s resolutions are garbage. But just trying to bring back some of the things that gave me joy in my life.

I’m changing up my lifestyle to just be better… be happier (hopefully).

What about you guys out there? You changing up anything out there? Reading more? Writing more? Taking up a hobby? Something. Share it.

Well, I don’t know what else to talk about today. I know I haven’t talked gaming in a bit. That will slowly come back. My podcast should be going live again soonish. Hopefully you’re all doing well.

Thanks for reading.