IWSG: Blogging Blues

 

 

Welcome to June's issue of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Many thanks to Alex and his minions for taking the time to support us writers. If you'd like to join, go HERE.

 

I've got the Blogging Blues. I love blogging, and it makes me so sad that I can't keep up.

 

In fact, I haven't posted anything since last month's IWSG post. I had planned to blog once per week, but it didn't happen. To be honest, I didn't even finish visiting the people who commented on last month's post. I think I got to half of them. I apologize to all those bloggers I missed. I plan to go back this weekend and pick up the thread. I truly do want to know how you're all doing and to support you all.

Thanks for your patience. And thanks for visiting, even when I'm not pulling my own weight.

P.S. The writing is going well, though :)

How often do you blog?

 

Do you have trouble keeping up?

IWSG: Doing It All

Thanks, Alex Cavanaugh, for hosting the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the best go-to spot in the blogoverse for writer support. The first Wednesday of every month, we post our insecurities and concerns related to our writing endeavors. You can sign up HERE.

And now to my most recent concern: Doing It All.

What about Doing It All? I can't. Not even close. I've tried writing, editing, marketing, blogging, all while working the day job. Something always suffers or gets neglected. I've done zero marketing this year. I've barely started writing again. And blogging is suffering big time.

I think it's safe to say I'm suffering from burnout. I've considered quitting and throwing in the towel. But when you're a writer, that's not an option, is it? Besides, what about my WIP? And what about the story ideas that are running around inside my head? If I don't write them down, who will? I'd hate for Hugh Howey or Neil Gaiman to write my story because I gave up, ya know?

However I look at it, something is going to suffer. That's just a fact that I'm learning to accept.

Now that I've gotten all that out of the way...

I HAVE started writing again. I actually set a schedule of sorts that I'm sticking to. Marketing and blogging are not part of the schedule, so I will do them when I can. I had to set priorities, and writing is NUMBER ONE!

I've never been a fan of word count in my writing, but I'm learning to really respect the idea. My goal is 500 words a day, five days per week, aka 2500 words per week. I've found that it's manageable, and once I start writing, I usually write more. The minimum word count works because I work from a numbered outline, and 500 words can encompass an item from the outline and a darn good scene. It's a great starting and stopping point every day. I'm on week three of this routine, and it's working!

BUT BEST OF ALL?

I'll publish the novella series I'm working on in October if I stick to my schedule. I'm already thinking about covers and getting excited about writing again.

 

What about you? 

 

Do you use the minimum word count method?

 

What works for you?

My Wacky Writing Life and A-Z

I'm back! It's been a wonderful few months off, but I didn't get nearly as much done as I had planned. I'm starting to figure out the best times for me to write, and that was a huge accomplishment.

I'm such a fickle creature (speaking of creatures, please see below). Once upon a time, everything had to be perfect; a whole day to write, nobody home, right mood, right background noise--or maybe that was me procrastinating.

The next obstacle I put in my own way was my fear of putting the words down on paper because they weren't good enough or perfect enough yet. Pretty much got over that, and yeah, even after editing, it's never going to be perfect.

Then, almost a year ago I went back to my day job and boy, did that throw a wrench in things. I wrote next to nothing during this time--I edited my second book, but writing? Nah, it was a no-go-lost-my-mojo.

Now I'm learning to steal minutes here and there. Mostly "there," aka Starbucks at lunchtime. There was a time when it took me an hour to even settle in, let alone write. But I've found this works better for me than evenings, because I am absolutely worthless after work--I've never been a high energy person. And I have yet to discipline myself enough to settle in at home on the weekends to get much done--way too many distractions. Still not settled in to a perfect writing routine, because that would require being a full time writer.

But I've begun to write again. Finally.

Yeah, I know I am one wacky writer!

What are your idiosyncrasies?

 

What works for you?

AND...

 

 

 

I'm doing the A-Z with Untethered Realms.
If you like spec-fic, you're going to love the creatures theme taken from the creatures in our group's books.