Turned out that yesterday was not a writing day. Thinking about marketing set me off on totally different paths: I browsed, did research, read about advertising, and spent too much time considering ideas about book releases. In other words, it was a useless day. At 4, I went to yoga with relief, and then came home and cooked. I try to stay pretty current on the business aspects of self-publishing, but I mostly ignore the marketing posts. For me, marketing is something to be tackled in the future. But does three books completed mean that the future is here? I think not. I think five is the right number of books to have before beginning. But I bet when I get to five, I’ll think six or seven is a better number.
Anyway, today’s goal: some progress on my current story and some outlining on my next book. I don’t want to start writing the next book until January: I want to play in November and spend December revising Time and working on one publishable short story. But Grace keeps creeping into my thoughts. I know her character arc (I think) but I don’t know what happens to get her from one point to the next. At the moment, all the conflict seems to be internal conflict. I need to find the external conflict to make it an interesting story, I think. Maybe I’ll do some reading about plotting today.
But I’ll also try to write 1000 words!
You push forward more days than you stay in place. I admire that.
A very, very long time ago, I had my palm read by someone who took it seriously and knew a lot about it. I wanted him to tell me that I would be a best-selling writer, that I would write great books, that I was creative and artistic and had inspiring novels within me. Instead, he told me that I was very stubborn and that I could do anything I wanted to do if I wanted to do it badly enough. At the time, it was disappointing. I think I’ve only gradually come to understand how very true much stubbornness matters when it comes to writing.