Hi All,
Summer was a difficult time for me because my son was home from school, and whenever he is home I get so easily distracted that I don’t get much done. Fall was slightly better because he was in school, and I had some time by myself during which to concentrate on my writing. However, I started a new part time job this fall too, and even though it’s only ten hours per week, it’s still occupying most of my time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So, that leaves me with three days per week to write: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
I’m sure anyone that’s been following my writing has noticed that I haven’t been putting out as much content as I did earlier in the spring. I think I’m finally figuring out my limitations, and unfortunately they are quite severe. I’m thinking about the max that I can do during those three days is 500 words unless I get in the flow and on a roll. I’ve broken a thousand words a few times, but that’s rare.
Needless to say, my content production has taken a huge hit. I was hoping, initially, for a short story per week, but I’m lucky if I can get one done per month. I won’t even speak about the poetry. I haven’t written a poem since the spring I think. Right now, I’ve been focusing all my energy into the novel. I’ve set a target of June 30, 2023 for a finished rough draft. I’m currently at about 66% or 53,000 words out of 80,000. I’m thinking that I’ll come out somewhere closer to 85k or 90k.
There are several reasons I’ve been focusing on the novel. The short stories/flash fiction have been getting me readers (mostly family and friends), but they aren’t really growing my audience that much on Patreon or the website. As of now, there’s a close friend who is my only subscriber to my Patreon. That fee that she’s willingly paying is basically covering the fees for my google business suite. So I’m extremely thankful for that, but I would feel really bad if anyone else subscribed because I would not be able to keep up the short story and poetry content schedule that I initially set out to do. Another reason that I want to focus on the novel is that I plan to try and get it traditionally published. I think it’s really going to be the best path toward opening up a career in writing for me. Finishing the flash fiction and short stories are good practice for getting structure and content together, but I think actually finishing a full length novel would be the best practice, even if nobody ever wants to publish it. Finally, I’m focusing on the novel because I have limited energy, and I’ve set a goal for myself to finish it. The June 30th deadline is putting a fire underneath my butt to try and actually build a functional writing practice. It’s just unfortunate that nothing will be visible until the book actually comes out.
I did have some ideas though. I was thinking about putting together a Pinterest board for the novel and putting in quotes, pictures, etc. that would represent the characters and settings and stuff in the novel. I could also tease a few scenes or portions of the novel on the website or on Patreon as well. I think those two ideas might give people who are interested a sense of what the novel is about without having to reveal it outright before getting it published. I’ll post on Facebook or Instagram (and of course on Pinterest) if I publish anything like that though. So, keep an eye open for those things to come.
That’s all I can think of for now. I do have a short story coming up soon, a sequel to the Spirit Blessed story that was done earlier in the year. I’m about two thirds of the way through a rough draft, and it’s looking like it’ll come out over 2000 words, which is longer than I typically do for flash fiction, but I like the way that it’s shaping up. In any case, Happy Holidays to everyone, and thank you all for sticking with me if you’re still around!
Love,
Cassandra