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2020 Numbers

Peter Germany Books, Editing, Health, Horror, Horror Writer, Insperation, Life, Mental Health, Nanowrimo, Short Fiction, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Originally posted on Buy Me A Coffee.

Last year was a mixed year for pretty much all of I would say. I’m no different. It was both the best and worst year of my life, from an amazing high to a low I didn’t know existed. If you’re a reader of my blog at petergermany.com you’ll know I’m not going to go into details on those moments. I talk about them because they did have an impact of writing. As you will see from the words I wrote and edited last year.

So, let’s get down to business:

  • January – 9011 words written
  • February – 11171 words written
  • March – 5691 words written
  • April – 562 words written
  • May – 1454 words written
  • June – 517 words written
  • July – 4524 words written, 39962 words edited
  • August – 14641 words written, 55323 words edited
  • September – 20471 words written, 7495 words edited
  • October – 15773 words written
  • November – 50615 words written (NaNoWriMo)
  • December – 13698 words written, 4477 words edited
  • Totals – 148128 words written, 107257 words edited

I only started tracking the words I edit in July which is why there are no numbers for them before that.

I was also published in three anthologies:

  • Corona-Nation Street from Burdizzo Books
  • Beneath The Leaves from Burdizzo Books
  • It Came From The Darkness from Red Cape Publishing and Phillip Rogers

I am so proud of these stories. My story in Corona-Nation Street, The Wank Diaries, had been written with this anthology in mind but I didn’t like the ending and with everything in life I’d forgotten about it until I’d seen a reminder pop up about it. So I rewrote the ending, which totally changed the tone of the story and I bled into it a lot. In hindsight maybe a little too much, now that I think back to it. But what it adds to the story I think gives it an impact that wasn’t there before.

The other two anthologies are ones I was invited into, with my story in Beneath The Leaves written long before life took a hard turn. My drabble in It Came From The Darkness was easy to write, almost impossible to get it down to the required 100 words!

Looking back now I’ve got the numbers right there, yeah, I’m incredibly happy with how much I achieved as a writer in 2020. There was a moment late in 2019 that I quit, then during the darkest moments of 2020 I didn’t make a decision but writing wasn’t going to be something I ever did again. When I started pulling myself clear of the dark hole I’d slipped into the words started coming again. I remember when I started blogging again last year, I talked about how I was struggling to get the words out again. The Wank Diaries got me going again. There was a deadline and I got it done in time.

That story got me back to doing what I needed to be doing, writing. Many things have helped me to get to the good place I’m in now, but that was a very distinct moment. Writing to me isn’t just a career. It’s part of my soul. Written into my DNA at the most primal level, and I’m never going to stop.

Good Morning, Sunday 17th of January 2021

Peter Germany Books, Cat, Horror, Horror Writer, Life, Mental Health, Planning, Reading, Short Fiction, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good morning folks!

I was going to write an end of day post on Friday(15th) but I was working on a post for my Buy Me A Coffee page and accidentally wiped out two hours work on it! Yes, I almost cried. So I gave up for the night.

Aside from that, I had a productive day. I wrote 1176 on a new short story in my Penal Earth universe, and edited 3204 words on Black Blood.

I’m still some way off finishing this edit on Black Blood. It’s not like an epic mess, but there’s a lot of work to do on it to get it where I need it to be. The ending is still eluding me. I kinda know what I want it to be, but I think I’ve got to map it out better. Figure out the beats of it and make the pay off worth it.

I had Dizzy’s company for all of two minutes this morning!

The A4 pad I’m using has pages of notes I’ve got to put in and I’ve got a lot of details to put into the character profiles as well. I made notes for Penal Earth in the middle of last year, but I’m not sure where they are. So I’m going to need to have a search for them.

Horror Drabble Anthologies from Kevin J. Kennedy that I won in an online event ☺️

Today, is going to be productive. I’ve got today and tomorrow off and I want to make a good use of that time. I’ve a personal matter to spend time on tomorrow so I expect I’ve get more done today. I’ve had a good nights sleep, I’m in an exceptionally good place in life, aside from that one part that I don’t talk about.

Time to rock and roll!

Here We Go

Peter Germany Books, Editing, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Post originally posted on BuyMeACoffee on 27/7/2020.

A lot of what I’ve been doing recently is trying to get my head back on track with all this. I know I’ve got to get these stories edited. Getting fresh work isn’t going to get me where I want to be. I can work on new stories and keep rewriting the ones I’ve already got until the end of time and it’s not going to get me where I want/need to be.

I know the chances of me earning enough to write full time are very slim, but you know what? That doesn’t matter. I want to have my work published. I want people to read it. I want to grow as a person and as a writer. I think the two can go hand in hand. Even if I just break even, or make a loss for the rest of my life I’m going to write and try and get my work published. Whether that’s through publishers, or self-published or a bit of both I’m going to try and get my work published.

What does that mean for the foreseeable future? Well, at the moment I’m working without much of a direction. I know the three main projects I need to be working on, with one in particular that I should really bump to the top of the list because that one is the one that’ll be out first.

Speaking of out first. I’ve given the artist a heads up that I’ll want him to resume work on the cover for the zombie book (absolutely love what he’s done so far). I’ve spoken to an editor and got a quote, and I’ve spoke to someone about formatting, and gotten a quote for that as well. So, I know what it’s going to cost roughly for me to get this out. So I’m going to be putting as much away as I can to get that sum together. It’s doable, just. Like everyone I’ve got bills to pay, and expenses, but I can do it. Anything I earn from writing until I’ve got that cash together will go to it as well. So anything I receive through this website will be a part of that. All my writing costs (.com fees etc.) are covered for the year, so I don’t have to worry about those until the new year.

So there it is. Not much of an action plan, but it’s a vague direction until I get my head settled properly and I can get a proper plan in place.

January 2020

Peter Germany Editing, Writing , , , , , , , , ,

Evening folks! I just wanted to pop in and write a quick post to let you fine folks know what I got done in January.

I wrote 9011 words, which is almost 6500 words under my target (to be fair I had a whole week off from writing which didn’t help). I have lost a little writing time and I did edits on two short stories in January, one of which has been submitted for an anthology. The other is for a super-secret invite only anthology and is with beta readers as I type this.

My writing time is limited at the moment, but I’m cracking out words as and when I can. I think my target of 500 words a day is achievable. It is just on me to focus and make the most of the time I’m given.

I am also now on. Its a site where fans can buy people like myself a ‘coffee’. I do find it hard asking for contributions to help me fund my art, but friends have recommended this site and if it helps me reach my goals then it’s going to be worth it. I’m not going to throw it down your throats. I’m going to mention it here and I share it on social media a few times a week. If you do like my work or even just enjoy reading my blog and would like to contribute a little then please clicky the link.

Right, I’m going to leave it there for the night, folks. I hope everyone has had a good weekend and a good week ahead!