January 6, 2022
Week 65
Emotional State: Truckin’ On
Books & Writing
The great edit has begun. I spent Sunday rearranging my chapters and figuring out what the overarching theme – Seraphina’s need vs want – was for the book. Okay, okay. I should’ve known what that was when I wrote it, and I sort of did. Maybe?
But it’s tricky, especially when you don’t know the mystery, you have a basic premise for the plot and write by the seat of your pants. I love what came out of pantsing it, but it would be a lot more helpful for me to know in advance what the character arc is for the book. Lesson learned. At least I knew what it was for Book Three.
I ended up moving chapters and scenes around, cutting some and adding one to make the theme more interesting. My Plottr screen looks a little intense, but I think it works for me. I was going to share a screenshot and then realized that would be sharing spoilers! so I’ve decided not to.
With the new theme, this book is shaping up to hit Seraphina where it hurts most – her ego and past experiences of telling her what she is – and isn’t – good at. I think it will be a good exploration of her identity theme and baggage that was featured in book one, but we’ll see.
I’ve already started editing Book Two and as with my first book, I’ve had to redo a lot of the first chapters to cut out fluff and fit in the necessary themes. It’s progressing slowly than I hoped, but as long as I get it done this month, it’s fine.
I hope.
Other News
I restarted my exercise regime, plowing through a hardcore beginning ballet course that has my hips so tight, they might just snap. The perky instructor is right when she says, “Don’t hate me,” because there are times when I just might.
I’ve also begun getting a better handle on what marketing I should be doing and when. There’s so much content out there about book marketing and it is incredibly overwhelming. Trying to market while also learning what to do next has been tricky.
One of the videos I recently watched talked about you needing to have two brains – the artist brain and the business brain. I’m not sure if I can have them both on at the same time, but I’m going to give it my best shot.
I’ve also looked for editors, book cover artists, and general other necessities, like should I have a logo for my site? Yes, but it costs so much money. I get it. I don’t think they’re overpricing it, but I also feel like I could use that $300 for the book costs instead. Maybe.
My site has had some changes as well. I’ve simplified some of the pages. I think I have more work to do there, but I’ll keep chipping away at it while I’m editing the book. And learning marketing. And marketing the book.
Did I mention I wasn’t really writing much other content? No? Well, I don’t see how I can do all the things I want to do and still keep on writing articles for Medium. I have a few that are already sort of done, so I may throw them out there one at a time. I have enough followers and enough good articles to pay for my $5 membership. If that starts to drop off, I may need to shift some writing time to that.
Or not. Here’s my problem. I want to do all the things and I just can’t squeeze all the things in with the time I have in the day. I’m not reading as many books this month as I have been and I still want time to have fun, play video games, and hang out with my husband. As it is, Wednesday started at 6 am and ended somewhere around 8 pm, which is a LONG day – with no fun in there at all, including writing my weekly journal post (this one).
My schedule is packed, with no room to vacuum the stairs or do other chores around the house that need doing. I have no idea how people with kids and a full-time job do all of that, plus write, when I can’t handle a part-time job and no kids. If I win the lottery, I’ll have more time, but until then, I’ll squeeze out every minute of the day to make it happen.
And that’s me. Squeezing every single moment out of every single day. I’m tired just thinking about it, but I’m keeping the goal in mind and will just keep truckin’ on.
To read more of my weekly whine fests and writing journal journey posts, click here.