I didn’t get anything written yesterday but today I’ve written 2046 words, which wrapped up the 2nd draft of a short story I wrote a few months ago. I think it’s helped having it resting for that time and it feels like I’ve improved it as I’ve typed it up.
What’s next is doing these final few tweaks to Penal Earth before sending it off to an editor. I’ll also be typing up another of the short stories I’ve written this years as well as working on the one I’ve just started.
I did make a ‘day in the life of a writer’ video recently, but it’s a mess and I’ve lost my confidence with it, so it’s scrapped. I would like to give it another try in the future though and I’ve learnt a fair bit about the process.
Look at that smug little face. No guilt at all for just sticking a claw into my leg! 🙄🤣
Right, I’m done with writing for the day now, well I may do some little bits later on but I’m quite content with what I’ve done today.
Twenty-one pages on the Penal Earth book 2 read through. I’m now going to start brainstorming some ideas while I transfer the parts I want to keep to a main file, probably in Scrivener. Then I’ll start connecting the dots and building the rest of the story.
I am thinking about my goals for next year, and I’m thinking I’m going to keep them simple. Penal Earth book two will likely be one of those that will be a major part of my writing year.
I’ve got a few other projects that are simmering, but mostly they are either short stories or completed pieces that need editing.
I just need to get my arse into gear. Strangely enough I’m finding doing an hour or so work at this sorta time of night is working out quite well. At the moment.
Right, I’m going to log out here. Finish watching Die Hard (first Christmas movie of the year for me), and then try and get some sleep.
Good afternoon, folks! I hope everyones day is going well?
I’ve spent the last half an hour or so looking through files for an early draft of Penal Earth, which I found and printed out as I’m going to mine it for book two. I also printed off three short stories from that universe as since my mum read Penal Earth and The North Side, she’s been asking me for more of that world. That is part of the push behind bumping the second book up. Penal Earth is my most completed novel length piece as of this moment (just gotta save up for an editor to look it over) and I’m itching to get back into that world and play with some of the story lines that were in that original draft that I wrote for NaNo 2015.
Now, I’m not going to dive in and start writing right now (it’s tempting but no). I want to read it through a couple of times, make a few notes and kinda scribble out what I don’t want and then copy and paste it into a new file and then start connecting those all together and tying it into book one.
With NaNo just a few days away I’m tempted to say I’ll do it for next NaNo 2022, but I’m not quite ready to commit to next years project just yet. After this years NaNoWriMo I’ll have a lot of editing to do and I’d like to get Zombie, Black Blood, and Vampire done and dusted. Or at least to the point where I can have them off to an editor once I’ve got the cash together. Zombie is still my priority. The cover art is all but done, and once I’ve gone through and done what needs to be done I’m probably going to send it off to the editor again just to make sure I’ve not cocked it up even more!
I’ve mentioned that Leah Solmaz has adapted a short story of mine(Serial Pensioner) into an animated short. Well it’s now done and will be out on Sunday! Below is a video Leah posted on her YouTube where she talks about that and what she’s been up to the last few months and what she’s got going on in the near future. Please have a watch and check out her work. She’s not only a talented actor, writer, producer, director but she’s a fantastic person as well.
I’m not writing much at the moment. I sat down to write yesterday but I was trying to work on Penal Earth which is more outlining than writing at this moment and I just couldn’t get my head into it.
I need to write at the moment, I’ve not written properly for so long now I’m scared that I’ve lost the knack to just sit and write. I did a little during a break at work on pen and paper, but that was early rewrite for my vampire book. I’m tired of not being able to get this stories done. I’ve got both Penal Earth and Vampire book eating away at me to get them down. I love both universes and am eager to expand beyond what I’ve got at the moment.
There are a lot of things in my life going on at the moment that are priority over writing but I’ve got to make the time to write as I find that it’s always been something that helps me see the world and makes me feel better in myself.
On a different note, I’ve been blogging with WordPress for ten years. Although I have a blogger account I never really blogged there. So pretty much everything I’ve ever blogged is here on WordPress. Blogging has been incredibly rewarding and I’ve met some amazing people through it and made friends, including my best friend.
Time to wrap this post up. I’ve got a few bits and pieces to do today, not sure I’ll get time to write but I’ll see what I can do later on tonight maybe.
Not to start on a negative note, but I am already behind where I was hoping to be. I’d wanted The Space Watch done by now so I can get onto the next project but that’s not how it’s gone. I don’t think I’m going to be setting dates to be done by just yet. I think it’ll be a case of once one is done then I’ll move onto the next one. If I set targets by date and I don’t hit them then I’ll get demoralised and that can lead into falling into a rut easily.
I’m trying to be realistic with my expectations for the year. I’m going to try and have The Space Watch done by November, and one other novella length piece. That’ll probably be something with Penal Earth (NaNoWriMo 2015). I’m not happy with what I’ve got right now, but I know what I want to do with it now. I can see turning the book I’ve gotten written at the moment into two and then add a third which will make up a trilogy. Then I’ve got a few ideas of where I want to go forward with stories in the world I’ve created there after the trilogy has been wrapped.
I’m not sure what I want to work on for NaNoWriMo just yet, and I know it’s quite sometime off but I want to be ready for it this year. I thought I was ready last year but not even close. I’m tempted to write on an idea I’ve got that’s been inspired by war children. That’s the piece I was planning to work on at the start of this year but I’m not nearly ready for it. I’ve got a lot of research and building work to do to be ready for it. This is something that I’ve learnt from FanFiction (and spoken a lot about) but having much more depth in my work and I need to lay groundwork before I start writing.
I am going to work on a few short stories and novelettes during the course of the year, but I don’t want to set myself targets that I’m not going to be able to achieve.
This year I just want to keep some focus on what I’m writing, and not to loose momentum. I spoke in my post Looking Back At 2016Â about getting into ruts, and I’m going to try and keep alert to it and if I see it coming I’ll do what I can to stop myself falling into it.
Reading wise I’ve set my Goodreads challenge and I’ve gone for sixty books again and intend to hit it and not just get halfway like I did in 2016.
Peter Germany's World 