Slow Down, Little Doggie

I feel like I’m going too fast

I have been working 8 hour days on my book marketing and writing from 6-3 (with time for lunch), taking occasional breaks to answer student emails. This is a lot of work, and I feel productive. But I realized yesterday that I am missing necessary steps in getting this novel self-published.

It’s had a dev edit and complete revision, but it needs:

Another pass with a fine tooth comb.
A reload into Atticus (or Scrivener depending on which version I edit)
If I like what I see there — beta readers. If not, return to step 1
ARC (advanced reader copy) readers
Finally, publishing.

Reining myself in

Obviously, I need to slow down, and my book won’t be out by July barring a miracle with readers. But at least the book will be good.

Self-publishing Another Book?

Nothing for the summertime

With me publishing Christmas romances, I have nothing to attract people in the off-season (that being from January-October). I’m still dreaming about being professionally published, but I do have a fantasy romance/romantic fantasy book I could get going pretty quickly The name is Gaia’s Hands, and it’s a prequel to a three-book (or more) series I have already written.

Working with a talented artist

If I publish this on Amazon, I have to come up with a cover. Because this is a fantasy, my idea of the cover was impressionistic, and the elements it needed to have were fire, apples, and protagonists in shadow.

Luckily I have a talented artist close by — my niece Rachel. She has her own style and usually draws very goth-esque designs, but I saw one of her pictures that cemented the deal in its similarity to what I was looking for.

The picture is going to be different than most romance novel covers, although I think it’s fitting for fantasy.

I’ll show you when it’s done.

The novel blurb: First glance

Jeanne Beaumont, a plant scientist, feels uneasy about the growth rate of the vine in the corner of her research greenhouse. And then Josh, fifteen years younger, comes into her life with his mysticism and his obvious feelings for her.

Josh Young, English instructor, devotes himself to his writing, his aikido, and his practice of Shinto. And, when he sees Jeanne Beaumont in a vision standing naked in a voluptuous garden, he devotes himself to her as well, even though he feels he’s too young.

Jeanne and Josh discover Jeanne’s powers even as a malevolent force threatens her career and Jeanne’s misgivings about her age tear them apart. But the project of her lifetime throws them into the final confrontation with her shadowy adversary.

Just Do It

I’m having trouble writing this blog today.

I’m struggling with inertia when it comes to writing the blog today. Inertia is, so far, winning. To the point that I stare at this vista of screen space and … blank.

I try to write this blog as a show and tell — I show you what I do today and tell you the practical underpinnings. Not “You should do this” as much as “I’m trying this and this is how it’s working for me.”

At this point, I can abandon the blog till later — a practice we call procrastination.

So what do I do about my blog-writing woes?

I’m going to address this in terms of procrastination advice, which goes beyond “just do it” (thank you, Nike) and into practical advice. Procrastination breakers I’ve learned are as follows:

Break the job into smaller parts — this gives you motivational boosts in small doses when you need them
Put a reward at the end of the task
Do five-ten minutes of the task, promising yourself you’ll quit if you’re still unmotivated.

So, how’s it working?

You might notice I have headers. Not just because it makes it easier for you to read, but because it makes it easier for me to write. This is my breaking up the job into the smaller parts. (Yay, I’m done with two parts so far!)

My reward at the end of the blog? Another cup of coffee, because I can be motivated by caffeine, always. Coffee, tea, it doesn’t matter.

Doing five to ten minutes of the task — I always work like this, and for some reason I never quit tasks after that 10 minutes. Why? Because once I’m into the task, my brain wakes up and I end up finishing the task.

I’m almost done with this blog, and I didn’t know if I would abandon it at the beginning of the writing. Now time for coffee!

Now for you

Tell me what your go-to procrastination!

Just one more thing

I finally have my professional website updated for the spring and highlighting the Christmas in July deal I have for The Kringle Conspiracy. There are blog entries there too, but they’re more professional writer type things — book plugs, cover reveals, logos, that sort of thing. You can find my professional blog here.

Stop by and say hi!

Productive Day Yesterday

In-between grading final exams

I spent much of yesterday sitting around waiting for final exams in my Happiness class. (Yes, I teach a Happiness class). But I didn’t wait idly (or watch House reruns).

I instead worked on some Canva products branding my contemporary/fantasy romance side. (I still need some logo for my contemporary fantasy line)

So, this was fun

Here’s the logo:

I chose this logo because:

I use small initials to initial items, and so this is my “signature”.
It’s simple — I wasn’t into florid floral patterns
That heart.

Here’s an advertisement:

I highly recommend Canva

I’ve been doing all this work on a web-based design program called Canva. I have exactly one course in design under my belt, and that was 37 years ago. (I didn’t go further in design because of my profound hand-eye coordination problems).

What should I do for my fantasy persona?

Urgk — I don’t mean my persona as a karate-wielding grandma. I mean my professional logo, etc for my fantasy books. I’d like to use the initials again, but what do I dot the j with? Let me know what you think.

Pushing Myself to Write

The goal

I’ve been pushing myself to do one writing-related thing per day (this blog doesn’t count). I’m pushing myself because I am not currently enamored with an idea; no project obsessions here.

I thrive on project obsessions, so when they’re not there, I tend to panic. Which is why I’m doing the daily writing gig — to jog me into that state of flow where there’s nothing except the writing and me.

“How’s that working for you?”

I wrote and edited a poem, so that counts for something. I’ve revised two cover letters and sent in queries of two books (one small press, one large). I haven’t come up with any big ideas yet, but there’s a whole summer to work on things. I have an idea for this fall’s Kringle story, but I won’t work on that till NaNoWriMo in November.

I really need to write some short stories, flash, and poetry. Those will give me submittables for Submittable. As I’ve said before, I’ve been advised to stop writing novels for a while and start with smaller story submissions.

What I want to work on this summer

More stories in the Kel and Brother Coyote arc
Some short stories and flash based on prompts Richard gave me
Work on my own list of prompts — I’m actually playing with this this morning and need to write these down:
- A middle aged housewife fights a fae infestation
- The denizens of Hell unionize
- A little girl inherits her grandfather’s dragon

That should keep me busy.

Hope and the Writer

Sometimes I feel like Sisyphus

Getting (traditionally) published seems like an endless bout of submit, rejection, revise, repeat. Like Sisyphus with that rock he kept pushing up that hill. I admit that, when I get a rejection, I feel like that boulder has rumbled over me. But then, after a few minutes mourning, I appreciate the opportunity to try again.

Then hope sets in

I can’t stay sad for too long when there are revisions that can be made (to my document or to my query materials), submissions to make, and new possibilities that I have to check out. What pushes me forward is hope — hope that I have a better product, that someone sees promise in it, and that I will finally get the chance to show my stories to other people.

Hope carries me

Hope carries me past the rejections, past the self-flagellation, past the desire to give up. With hope, each round of submissions is new as I try something else. Perhaps I will give up and self-publish, but self-publishing doesn’t push me toward excellence as much as trying to get traditionally published does. Hope is a heady sensation, like the sunlight on a June day, whispering “Maybe this time … “

P.S. for May 2, 2021

I tried to do nothing

Today I was supposed to do nothing. Instead, I revised two query cover letters and submitted two novels and two stories on Submittable.

Then I lazed around

So it’s okay; I got some rest.