Category: The Writing Life

The Writing Life, June 30. Letting some things go

Eight Days Until The Big Announcement!

If you’re a long time reader of Paper Beats World, or if you’ve at least been reading since April, you know that I swear off all contests and anthology submissions while I’m working on a rough draft of a novel.  My theory is that I only ever want one rough draft at at time.  Rough drafts are tiring, creative wise for me.  They’re also time consuming.  When I’m working on a rough draft, I want that to be all that I’m working on, except for my weekly blog posts.

That’s fine and dandy when my rough draft takes six weeks to two months.  When it takes me six damn months to finish a rough draft, like the last one did, that grinds on me.  I find so many cool contests, and come up with so many awesome ideas for the site.  So the whole time I was rough drafting, I kept a list of project ideas.  And I kept my eyes open for contests with long off due dates.

When I finally finished my rough draft, I kind of exploded.  I found so many cool contests that I wanted to enter, and I had three pages in my bullet journal full of ideas for special PBW events.  I always think I’m a machine, so I was sure I could do all of the things that I wanted to do.

Then I got promoted in the day job.  Then reality happened, and I realized that there was no way, no way at all, that I can do all of the things that I want to.

That’s a hard thing to realize.  When I want to do a lot, and I just can’t find the time, I do three things; lie to myself, make up crazy schedules in my planners, and guilt myself when I can’t do it all.

Thankfully, though, I managed to stop this downward spiral before it got really started.  Here’s how.

  • I started by figuring out exactly how long I thought each of my projects would take.  Then, I doubled the time.  I took out my planner, and looked at each and every due date for my contests.  Then I blocked out time to write my stories.  This give me a realistic impression of where I am, and what I can do.  This also means that if I find a new super neat contest, I know if it’s doable or not.  If I want to pick up a new contest. then I might have to drop something else.
  • I dropped two of my contests because I liked others better.  I’d rather write three great short pieces than six decent ones.
  • I looked through short pieces that I’d written but hadn’t managed to place to see of any of them fit the contest qualifications.

Most importantly though, was this.  I’d been working on a short piece for about a week.  The story was solid, and the contest good.  But the draft was snagged.  I realized that it needed a complete overhaul, and I just didn’t have the time.

So I put it aside.  Crossed that contest off my list, and moved on to the next one.  Because there’s always a next one, that’s the beauty of this field.  The internet is full of contests.  I’ve found at least two companies that exist to do nothing more than publish anthologies, and I wasn’t looking that hard.

It is so easy to think that every opportunity could be ‘the one.’  That’s a lie.  There is no ‘the one.’  Once you get a published credit, then you need another, and another.  One sale isn’t an assurance of a second.  So if I’ve got to put one opportunity aside, then that’s okay.  There’s always a next one.

This week, I want to challenge you.  Take a look at your to do list, and cross one thing off of it.  I don’t know all of you as well as I’d like, but I’m willing to bet that if you fine tooth comb your list, you will fine at least one task that doesn’t need done.  At least, not this week.

Always remember, if we try to do too much, you will do nothing well.

What Rocked This Week-

  • I found out that one of my short stories, called Sticky Fingers, is going to be in an anthology called How to Trick The Devil!  I can’t wait to see the anthology put together.  They’re still looking for submissions, if you’re interested.
  • I sent out a piece to the Imaginate contest I told you about a few weeks ago.  It’s always a rush to send something new out.

What I’m Looking Forward to Next Week-

  • First off, fourth of July.  I love that holiday.  Blow things up, eat greasy food, and drink some cold ones.  That’s my kind of holiday.
  • Today is the end of the quarter, and I’m doing my big, ‘what have I done in the last three months,’ review.  Remember, being a freelance writer is being a small business owner.  Got to check in, look into where I’m spending my time well and where I’m wasting it.
  • As you might have guessed, I’ve got a really exciting announcement.  It’s something I’ve been working on for months, and I am jumping out of my skin wanting to tell you all!

Have you signed up for our newsletter yet?  I’m pretty excited about it.  It’s all about walking the path to full time writers together.  Click right here to sign up.

I’m looking forward to a great week.  I hope you are too.

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The Writing Life, June 23

I had a much better week this week guys, how about you? I’m fitting more into the grove of my new schedule, and back to my old self.

When you’re a creature of habit like me change can make for some unhappy days. I got through it eventually, though.

Things that rocked this week

* I finished the title story for my upcoming self published collection, called Days. I’m making a concious decision not to submit it anywhere, so that it can only be found in the book.
* I also wrote the rough draft of a new short story. I’ll be sending that one out when it’s ready. I don’t like to let a month go by when I don’t send something out. Unless I’m in novel rough draft mode.
Things that I’m looking forward to this week

* There are three contest deadlines in July. Two for Imaginate, which I covered here, and a Mash deadline. Assuming all goes well, I want to have all three rough drafts done this week. All will likely not go well, but I can dream.
So what are you excited about this week? Do you have anything you want to add to the brag board?

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The Writing Life, June 16

I am not going to lie to you guys, this has been a really, really tough week.  I am very used to working 29 hours a week, and having time while I’m at work to write.  I’m also used to being home two days during the week, when the monsters are at school.

Well, my whole life went upside down this week.  I started my full time hours, and I’m doing a lot of training this week, which means I haven’t had the time at work I’m used to.  The monsters are done with school until August, which means they’ve got more free time than I’d like.

All of this is meaning two big things that are super bad for me.  One, I have little to no energy, even with coffee, Coke and a B complex.  And two, I’ve gone from having an average of thirteen hours a week to devote to my writing to about nine.

I intended to get up before work and write, since I’ve got to be there an hour later than I used to.  That didn’t happen.  I intended to write for an hour in the evening, but I’ve been too tired to manage more than one twenty five minute session.  I’m hoping to get more done this weekend, but the state of the house is getting a little mad.

Not writing isn’t healthy for me, mentally.  I have found that there are two things that will toss me into a depressive phase faster than a vegetarian will tell you all about her ‘alternate lifestyle’; being in the house alone and not writing.

Have you been here before?  I have.  Here’s what I’m doing to get out of this very bad hole.

  • I am being very kind to myself.  I am remembering that this is just one week, a week where I added eleven work hours to my week, and that is going to take some getting used to.
  • I’m also remembering, though, that I used to work 46 hours, and that was when I wrote the rough draft of Broken Patterns.  I know that I can do this, because I have before.
  • I am working hard to figure out what my new writing schedule is going to be like.  A lot of my writing’s going to fall on the days off, now.  For instance, I’ll be writing all of my posts on the same day.
  • I am prioritizing my projects, just as I was telling you last week.  Woven is the most important, so if I’ve got time, it will go there.
  • I’m also remembering that if something doesn’t work, I can try something else.  Hear me when I say that I will try at least a hundred things that will not work.  But if I keep trying, I’ll find two or three things that will work.

I don’t want you to think this week was all bad.  I love my new position at the day job, and I am learning so much.  I’m sure that this week is going to go better, writing wise.

Things that rocked this week-

  • I’m going to be linking to some of my very favorite blogs this week during the IC Blog tour, which is tomorrow, by the way.
  • I finally like the direction part one of Broken Patterns is taking.  I’m excited about the project, and when I get the time to work on it, I’m loving every minute of it.
  • I got a chance, finally, to sit down for Tipsy Writer Twitter chat last week, and had a blast.  Hoping to do it again tonight.  As always, if you want to join us, just hop on twitter and follow the Tipsy Writer.  Chat starts at 8:30.

Things that I’m looking forward to this week.

  • I’m ready to devote some real time to writing this week, wherever I can find it.
  • Hopefully I’m more used to the extra hours at the day job, so I’m hoping to have more energy for my little Monsters, and my short stories.
  • Getting all ready to contact some bloggers I love about participating in a new little project.  I’ll keep you posted, as always.

So, how do you handle periods of transition?  Do you freak out like me, or do you have some tips for a tired writer this week?

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The Writing Life, June 9

This last week has been pretty eventful, let me tell you.  So eventful, in fact, that I’d like to spend some quite time with some red wine and Insurgent, which I am still not done with.  But I don’t think that’s actually going to happen.  Here’s why.

First of all, I got a super great promotion at the day job.  I feel very blessed, and am super thrilled, but it does mean I’ve got less time to spend writing, and I’ll be missing those summer concerts.  On the other hand, I can now afford to take the family on vacation, and get that new Erin Condrin planner that comes out today. (Not an affiliate).  That means my writing time has to become focused, like a laser.  I’ve had to really prioritize my projects, to make sure that if something goes by the wayside, it’s something that can afford to go there.

I’ve also had to redo my entire schedule.  I used to work about six hours a day, then come home and write for three.  Then I’d write for about five hours on my days off.  Now I’m actually working eight hours a day, like a grown up.  I am now going to be getting up an hour earlier to write for an hour before work, then try to fit an hour in after dinner.  My days off will probably lose some writing time too, to make up for the family time I’ll be losing during my work week. (Family’s always got to come first, after all.)

I also just signed up to be part of the 2015 I C Summer Blog Tour.  I know that sounds nuts when I just added all the time to the day job, but it’s not a huge time commitment.  Although, I do need three other bloggers to link to for the tour.  If anyone wants to participate with me, let me know in the comment section, and I will contact you about it!  My post is going up next week, so I need to know sort of soon, please!

Of course, the kids are out of school, so my free time will be full of activities like pool trips, day plans to Kennywood and the zoo, grilling and all the other awesome things that make summer so fantastic.  I think I might sleep like five hours a night this summer, but that’s okay.

I do want to say a little more about prioritizing, before I move on, though.  I’ve always got a lot of chainsaws in the air, as you all know.  Right now, it’s a financial necessity for me to take this better position at my day job, so the first thing I did was sit down and list all of my projects from most to least important to me.  Here’s what I came up with.

  1. Woven.
  2. Paper Beats World. (I love you guys)
  3. My short story e-books.
  4. Entering my short stories in anthologies and contests.

So here’s how this works.  If I’ve got an hour a day, it goes to Woven.  If I can get another hour, I can write a few posts (Writing Prompts, Markets and Check This Out take maybe twenty minutes.  I usually write all three for a week in a sitting.  The Writing Life and my Sunday posts take a little longer.)  I’m still really hoping to write a short story a week, but if that doesn’t happen I’m not going to beat myself up about it.  An hour a day to Woven, and see what else I’ve got time for.  That’s my plan.

What Rocked This Week-

  • Well, I got promoted, so that’s sort of like the best thing ever in my life right now.
  • Sunday was my birthday.  I turned 29!
  • I read this really great article over on Pulling Curls about taking care of ourselves first as parents, because it does our family no good if we are burned out and have no more to give.  Here’s a link.
  • It’s the first week of Gay Pride Month, and as you can see, I am a proud Ally.  I am super proud to live in Pennsylvania, where Gay Marriage is legal.
  • I am trying to figure out how to put up a map of all the cool countries people read Paper Beats World from.  We’ve got readers in Russia, the UK, Malaysia, Australia, Italy, Greece, Austria, Canada, Finland and Indonesia.  What the what?  You guys are awesome, really.

What I’m Looking Forward To This Week.

  • Pretty psyched about the blog tour.  You know I am a creepy internet dweller, so I’ll be following closely along.
  • I have found out about so many terrific contests recently.  If you don’t follow me on twitter, you are only hearing about one a week, but I tweet them all.  I don’t know how many I’ll get a chance to enter, but I am pumped to have so many opportunities.
  • Still have four short stories out, still waiting to hear about them.  Hoping to make it five this week, we’ll have to see.

By the way, have you signed up for the Road to Full Time Writing newsletter yet?  You should, there’s a link right there.  It’s got even more writing markets, money saving writing tips, time management ideas, and a peek into my own personal road to being a full time writer.  And, it only comes out once a month, so you’re not going to get snowballed by e-mail (because I hate that).

So what are you proud of from the past week?  What are you excited about for the summer months ahead?

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The Writing Life, June 2

So, I’m turning 29 this coming Sunday.  It’s okay, not like I’ve only got one year left in my twenties or anything.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s birthday makes them think about how far they’ve come in their lives.  Pretty sure that’s what birthdays are for, to remind us that our time on this earth is limited, so we’d better get on whatever it is we intend to do while we’re here.

Personally, I think I’m doing alright for 29.  I’ve got a goal, and it’s a pretty big one, that I’m working towards.  I’ve got a good day job, got married this last January, and have two great kids.

So, my real question is, where do I go from here?  I usually take my birthday as a chance to look at my five year plan, and my plan for the rest of the year.  (It’s helpful that my birthday is in June, halfway through the year.)  My other birthday tradition is reading The Giver, by the way.  It’s an important book, if you haven’t read it.

What Rocked This Week-

  • I found two more great contests from Horror Tree that I’ll be working on.
  • Had some time to spend with my little monsters.
  • Finished the rough draft for the title short story of my first short fiction E-Book, meaning that project is getting more and more solid every week.  I’ve now got roughly half of the stories that I want to include written.

What I’m looking forward to this week-

  • With three short stories out right now to different contests and anthologies, I am checking my e-mail every five minutes!
  • I can not wait for the end of school.  My town is hosting weekly concerts, and they start tomorrow, so I’ll be taking the little monsters to those.
  • I’m reaching out to some awesome ladies about maybe doing some collaborative projects in the near future.  I don’t want to say a ton about it now, in case it doesn’t pan out, but I’m really hoping it will.  (Normally I don’t like making plans that involve other people, because I like to control my own productivity.  I’m working to get out of my comfort zone on that one.

By the way, I’m still on the road to being a full time writer.  In fact, I’m not past the very first step yet.  You know, the one where I plan to fail by creating a financial safety net with Dave Ramsey inspired steps.  You don’t know?  Then you haven’t been getting my monthly newsletter, Road to Full Time Writer.  Well, you can fix that by clicking here, and signing up for the newsletter, silly.

What are you excited about this week?  What did you do this past week that really rocked?

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The Writing Life- May 26

So, something pretty awesome happened last week.  Well, it’s awesome for me.  Probably no one else will care, some might even think it’s sad how excited about this I am, but that’s okay.

At the start of 2015, I made a whole list of goals for the year.  I want to publish an e-book (still working on it)  I want to start submitting Woven to agents (still working on it)  I wanted to join writing communities online. (Done!)

All of those are what I call self controlled goals.  That means that the only person who has any say over whether they get done or not is me.  I made only one goal that I needed outside help for.  I wanted to double my readership for Paper Beats World from last year.

Last week, thanks to all of you awesome people, we reached that goal!  Twice as many people now follow Paper Beats world than in December of 2014!  I can not express enough how much I appreciate each and every one of you.  Thank you all for reading.  I hope that I might have helped you reach some of your writing goals for the year.  And, since we’ve got six more months in 2015 to go, I hope we can keep reaching for our goals together.

Things That Rocked This Week

  • Making a lot of progress on Broken Patterns.  Not done or anything yet, but I’m making progress.
  • Sent out my submission for Second Hand Smoke, and started on the title short story for my first e-book.  It’s going to be a collection of short fiction.  Some of it will be published, some not.  I’m pretty excited about it.
  • Got to spend some time with my best friend who came in from Pittsburgh.  I really wish I got to see her more, but I can at least appreciate the time I get with her.

Things That I’m Looking Forward to This Week

  • The kids have only got two more weeks of school.  Then there will me no more classes in my living room, homework to help with and all the other fuss that goes along with the school year.
  • I’m working pretty steadily through my rather massive to do list, which means I’m working closer to two rather big projects I’ll be launching for you all here very soon.
  • I’ve got just two more things to set up for the awesome surprise I’ve got for you all in August.  I think you’ll agree, it’s well worth the wait.  I wanted to wait and do it during the month of Paper Beats World’s one year anniversary.
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The Writing Life- May 19 plus a pretty exciting announcement.

So, I had an aha moment this past week.  I realized that I’m doing a lot of good things to help set myself up as a full time writer.  I have a few e-books in the works. I’m very nearly done with my first novel, Broken Patterns.  I was published twice last year.  I’ve got this awesome site right here that helps me meet and interact with so many other like minded people.

But I didn’t have any real, tangible step by step goals to quitting my day job, and becoming a full fledged full time writer.  My plan, so far, has been ‘write, edit, submit, repeat.’

That’s a great basis, but I need something more.  I realized that I couldn’t visualize what it would take for me to be comfortable leaving the day job and writing full time.  How would I ever know if I was making enough to insure we weren’t going to starve to death?  Writing isn’t a guaranteed paycheck, what if something happened, and I lost all of our income?

The answer came back to Dave Ramsey.  Have you heard of him?  I love the guy.  He’s got the best, most down to earth and easy to follow money advise of anyone, ever.  Have you heard of his debt snowball plan?  It’s awesome!

I decided that the first step down the path of being a full time writer was planning to fail.  I needed to achieve the first three parts of Dave Ramsey’s baby steps.

  1. Save $1,000 in an emergency fund.
  2. Pay down debt with the debt snowball method.
  3. Put 3-6 months worth of bills and expenses in saving.

That’s step one.  I can’t even think about quitting my job until I’ve done those three things.  Well, two things, actually.  Fortunately I’ve managed to live debt free.  My savings, however, is nothing.  Not a dime.

So, while I’m saving my pennies, here are some other things I’m doing to prepare for full time writer-hood.

  • I’m finishing Broken Patterns.
  • I’m setting specific work hours every week, and sticking to them the same way I stick to my day job hours.
  • I’m considering other revenue streams, like ads on this blog, super sweet writing tools I can create, and investing.

So I was thinking, maybe this might be something that we could do together.  I’m starting a newsletter for writers who want to start writing full time, but don’t know how feasible it’s going to be.  If you want to come along, and share your story as you go, please sign up for the newsletter below.

Subscribe to our mailing list

I’ll be sending out a letter probably about once a month, so please don’t feel like I’m going to flood your inbox.  Please, I do not have the time.  However, I think you’ll be pretty excited about what you do find in the newsletter when it comes out.  Here are just a few awesome things I have planned.

  • Even more paying freelance markets than I post on Paper Beats World.
  • Some money saving tips, because frugality is a step on the path to full time writer-hood.
  • Some links to posts from other sites that helped me out on the path.
  • And, once I get to the point where I’m selling my e-books and writing tools, you’ll get heads up, pre-ordering, freebees and discounts.

It’s been really exciting for me to have a clear, attainable goal.  I hope that it is for you, too.

Things That Rocked This Week-

  • I finished up a new piece to send to Every Day Fiction.  Hoping that ends well.
  • Wrote the rough draft for my Second Hand Smoke piece.  It was really hard to write, I don’t mind telling you.  But I feel better having written it.
  • Also wrote a clever piece for the Stingy Jack Anthology I told you about last Friday.  I think it’s a solid piece.

Things That I’m Looking Forward to This Week-

  • The Tipsy Writer twitter chat is tonight, and every Tuesday night at 8:30.  Just follow The Tipsy Writer on twitter, and join us.  Hope to see you there.
  • I got a ton of books off Amazon by some super fantastic indie authors.  I’m going to read them, and tell you all about the good ones in coming Check This Out posts.  There are so many great indie books out there, and so many that make me want to slap the authors for making the rest of us look bad.  I want to tell you more about the good ones.

So, what did you do this week?  What are you pumped about?

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The Writing Life, May 5

Much better week this week.  Home life is calming down, and my writing can go back to center stage.  I even get, gasp, a whole day to focus just on writing, at my favorite coffee shop.  Of course, this was after a very sick day on Monday.  I’ve always been a really dedicated employee, so when I take a sick day, I am super sick.  Needless to say, I didn’t get much writing done that day.

That’s something that I learn and re-learn all the time.  Hopefully someday I’ll learn it for good, but for now I keep re-learning it.  No matter how many times I make a to do list with the best of intentions, something will happen to throw it all up in the air like a snow globe in the hands of a four year old.

But I’m not going to try to play catch up.  You know why?  Because I’m working more on quality, not quantity.  What a concept, right?  I mean, what’s the point of writing a bakers dozen books if they all sound like Twilight?  Better that I should write one story in that time, if it’s a really good one.  So, this week I’m focusing more on committing an amount of concentrated time to each of my major projects every week.   Remember the Pomodoro method?  That’s what I’m using.

Things that Rocked This Week-

  • Even though I’m still reading Broken Patterns, Draft 3, I’m really excited.  I mean, there are still some glaring issues, but it is so much better than what it was.
  • I got my awesome Epic Blog planner by ByRegina.  I’ve been using it to plan out the next twelve months of ideas for Paper Beats World.  Including an awesome surprise gift for all of you this month.  More to come on that soon.

Things I’m looking forward to this week-

  • I’m going to be writing the rough draft of a short piece for an anthology called Second Hand Smoke.  It’s going to be a real life story that’s very important to me.
  • As mentioned earlier, I’m devoting a whole day to writing tomorrow.  I don’t get those very often, so I’m going to take full advantage.
  • With any luck, I’ll be done with my read through.  Which means I get to start writing my next drive.  That’s super exciting, because when I’m done with that draft, I’ve only got a final polish, and I can finally start sending it out to agents.  I’ve been working on this book since July of 2013.  So yeah, that’s kind of a big deal.

What are you doing this week?  What are you super excited about?  Share it with us.

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The Writing Life

So, let’s do something a little different this week.

This week, I want to share some of my own personal journey with you.  My own writer’s life.

Because, let’s face it, I’m far from a place where I can just sit back and give advice like an old wise woman.  I work really damn hard on my writing every day.

So from now on, I want to start something new on Tuesdays.  I’ll talk about what I’m doing with my writing, and you tell me what you’re doing.  What are you working on this week?  What did you accomplish, or wish you could have done more with?

Remember, this isn’t about having written a book. It’s about being a writer, every day, and sharing the journey.

This Week-

If you haven’t noticed, I finished the rough draft of Starting Chains, the second book of Woven.  I’d been working on it since November, so it’s a huge relief, but also kind of sad.  See, now I’m done moving the story forward for awhile.  I’m already excited to write the third one, which I won’t be doing until last year.

I’m starting on four different e-books now that Starting Chains is done.  Now, I know that sounds like a crazy amount of work, but really, it’s not as messed up as it sounds.  One of the books is a non fiction about writing a fantasy series.  I’m not a huge fan of writing non fiction, so this will be a very slow process.  Probably at the rate of a chapter a week.

As for the other three, they’re short fiction collections.  So, while I hope to write two short stories a month, I have no idea what book it will fit into.  With my luck, they will probably all progress at the same time.  So, yeah, that’s four books at once.  This week I intend to edit the short story I wrote for the first week of Writing 101, cautiously titled Letter on The Bar.

Then, there’s the fourth draft of Broken Patterns.  That’s four of five, total, I hope and pray.  I also hope and pray that I’m going to finish this one this year, and I can start sending it to agents.

Oh, and I’m also working on a secret project for Paper Beats World.  It’s huge and wonderful and scary and awesome, and I’ve been working on it for about a month already.  Can’t say anything yet, but just keep watch around July.

Alright, so that’s what I’m working on this week.  What are you planning?  Let us know in the comment section below.

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The Writing Life- A Prayer for My Agent

Lord, please look after the agent
upon who’s desk my manuscript is placed
Let her have a good cup of coffee, and an empty bladder
Let her be in a peaceful frame of mind
Let her not be rushed, or tired
Let her not be jaded
Let her put away preconceived notions and bigotries
Lord, I do not ask that the agent rushes to represent me
I do not ask that she get me a million dollar contract
or make me famous
I only ask that when the agent reads my manuscript, that she be in a positive frame of mind
and that she see its merits, and know how to correct its flaws

Amen

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