The Grind, or, Getting Down to Business

I do not necessarily endorse any of the authors, writers or literary professionals who produce the sites I link to in my list of writing resources. I add links for you to those sites because I believe that the sites will be very helpful to you if you write. I am adding a new link, a blog by a Dean Wesley Smith, because I find it extremely enlightening in regards to the production process.

Some of the steps he covers are, to have a place where you can write productively, chart and analyze how you use your time, find out how many words you write per hour and keep a record, a word count sheet rather than a time sheet. All necessary to set your production goals.

This is where I write most of my blogs. It works well for concepts I mull around for a while and plan to put into words over the course of a few hours or less. It does not work for my fiction writing. It is our window to the Internet and the Internet is something one should stay far away from if you value your time. I plan to keep a word count on my blogs and professional work as well as for my fiction. But I also need to seriously set post count goals and stick to them in order to keep my blogs relevant to hold readers. I have seven blogs on various issues, two of which, my first two, I should post to once a week if not more. All my blogs are linked to in the sidebar and yes, that is a rocking chair.

I bought this calendar to track my word count (as recommended by fore mentioned professional). It will be a log of all my work, including time editing. The primary purpose is however to set, track and reach word number goals for new writing. The notebooks I plan to use for my short stories, rather than a laptop.

Here is my true work space; my home office. I threw out all the shoes my wife had filled it with as part of my New Year determination. I am not sure what it says when an Asian woman turns her husbands professional space into her shoe closet. I don’t think I should spend much time thinking about it. The space is well lit by two drafting lamps, a ceiling light and a large north facing window.

This is the place where I write, draw and design. In other words it is where I scribble. My scribble space; a sanctuary of scribbles for scribbles.

Production is something I have been lacking. I have many distractions in my life. I could spend twenty-four seven just rehabbing my house if I had the money. I am very grateful I found this new resource site. I found this through a Create Space Facebook post.

Editing

Last week I thought to myself; I really should move these books to the top of the bookshelf and take the picture I have been planning for my blog. I didn’t and a few days later our dog acquired a taste for books. Books passed down from my father that made up some of my early childhood reading; A source that shaped my vision of Chuck Hammer and his adventures.

I should listen to my inspirations. I should be getting them down in writing as they come, not only so I do not lose them but because time is the best tool in editing your own work. As I review again, more than a year after publishing on Kindle, my first book in “The Fortunes of Chuck Hammer’ series I am a bit embarrassed. The passage of time has given me a fresh perspective, removed me from my own concepts and it will ultimately produce a better product as I prepare to publish a print edition.

I am not sure when I will release the revised edition but one consideration will be how far along I am on the second book of the series. Ideally I would like to release the next a year after the previous volume.

If I could afford an editor the process would progress at a much quicker pace. I did acquire an editor for my first book. Though I would have to wait nearly two months for the completion of one editing contract I now have other books to work on in the mean time. I found this article on publishing via a Create Space Facebook posting. Yes, the editing process is much more involved and extensive than it appears. Can I really have a break through novel without using editing and marketing services?

If you have any considerations of writing a book start getting the words down on paper now. Even if it is only a single scene or chapter of a much bigger plot. Even if you are not planning to sit down and write your book for years. It will pay off immensely if you have your ideas written out, no matter how piecemeal, for review from the distance time puts between the concepts rushing through your brain and proper construction.

I have added additional resource links to the sidebar.

Five Days Five Hours

Reverend Moon passed into the next life last week at 92. It has become a time of reflection and self determination for myself and other Unification Church members. I have many copies of Reverend Moon’s autobiography and would be happy to give a copy to anyone who asks.

I have been struggling now, along with my wife, for seven years to make a living. I was recently asked by a man I worked with many many years ago for advice for his son who wants to become a writer. Well, his son is most likely far more accomplished in the technical aspects of the written word than myself. The only advice I could really give is to write, write, write as much as you can. If you look over my blogs for these past seven years or so you will see drastic improvement over time. The majority of that has come from simply practice.

I have written nearly 640 blog posts on my multiple blogs since I began. That does not include many posts and some poetry that I never posted and some I never finished. I also wrote the books you see in the sidebar and am working on two more. All my blogs are available in the sidebar also. I apologize for not being as diligent as I should be on getting my latest book finished.

In these difficult times we hear a lot about those ‘who did build that’ putting in 70, 80, 90 hours a week. For those unemployed or under employed like myself this can bring you down, as without a system or medium to plug into it is hard to consistently put in so many hours of productive efforts. You need a plan and to stick to it. An office away from home would help, but that will come.

So I am setting aside five hours a day to write and design, at least the five days, outside of Sunday, that I am not working on our flower business from morning to evening. I put in over twenty hours a week with our flower business, half of that in one day, and adding twenty-five hours of writing or design I will approach fifty hours of productive effort. Add some work on other Internet opportunities to make money, like advertising, getting some rehab work on my house done every week, miscellaneous work I may put in on a Sunday and I am working on over sixty hours a week. Add my physical training and spiritual pursuits of prayer and study and I will be on my way to getting back to a full and productive life out of some truly tough times. That’s the goal.

Educated and trained in Architecture I am designing a lunar colony for one of my latest books. I will also develop some construction documents off sketches I have for remodeling our home. I am committing to this and the writing above all else and will not expand, and will cut back, on the flower business as soon as opportunity provides. You have to be what you’re gonna be, or you’re not.

I hope you enjoy my work and find your own success whatever your circumstance.

The Literary Agent

I really have to spend some quality time reviewing the Create Space and other blogs to develop my brand, market myself and correct some bad habits in my writing.

I hear often that one needs a literary agent. Publishers do not receive manuscripts. They suggest that if you send a manuscript to them that it will be thrown away and if you then discover a book that has the same plot or identical characters etc. too bad. They are not liable.

I have read many who warn against unscrupulous literary agents. You should never have to pay a literary agent anything; they make their fees from distributing your book. So I have spent a bit of time here and there trying to find a good source for reputable literary agents.

Then I read something else. ‘A literary agent will help you write what people want to read.’ And there lies the rub. I don’t care what people want to read, I care about what I want to write.

I am not currently looking for a literary agent. For now I will stick with create space and the tools and services they provide.

Resources

Amidst my procrastinating on my latest book I have been I have been working to get “A Vendetta’s Wage” ready for print. A bit of re-editing and enhancing some scenes and fretting over how I am going to prepare the PDF file: a headache. But reviewing my Create Space account I found that they have greatly advanced the cause of self publishing with their interior review feature where you can upload documents as .doc files as well as other formats and review how it will look printed.

The Create Space blog that one can follow on Facebook is also a valuable resource I should be spending more time reading. Lulu has a blog. These blogs as well as a link to the “Chicago Manuel of Style” are linked to in the sidebar.

The most recent resource I was put onto is the website for “Writer’s Review.” My cousin recommended the site and again …I should be spending much more time research it. I will add it to the sidebar.

When I asked my cousin what he thought of social networks for writers, he said writers need to focus their time on writing not socializing. Good advice. Maybe I should delete my Facebook account.

Yes, the latest Chuck Hammer has been started but I have spent a good deal of time creating the world for the next story. Character need to be developed. They need jobs and schedules and a purposeful place in the story. A whole pile of scraps of paper I keep sorting through to double check for consistency. Can’t have someone with brown eyes suddenly have blue eyes. Well actually I can. I am the author. Maybe they are a robot or some hideous shape shifter.

Some highly recommend, think it a absolute necessity that a complete outline be developed. I have the world in my mind, know the beginning and end and essential scenes to the story and then let it grow from there as I write it. I heard an interview of an Iranian author on the BBC and it sounded like that is how she wrote her stories also.

Many thanks to those who have read my books. I will try harder to make my production efforts more efficient. I have been swamped with financial concerns and even getting the print version ready completely on my own, cover and all, with Create Space’s free tools, I still need as much as $1,000 to get copies (250 of Chuck Hammer and 100or more of Struggles) produced. I will sign and number them and use them for promotions.