Tag: jumpstart

Jumpstart draft no. 11

~ stephaniehaggarty ~ Leave a comment

iStock-669387114_1I opened this word doc and to my surprise saw that I was already mostly done with this draft. I guess I gave up some time ago lol. Anyhow, I’ve had this story in the works since mid ’17 and god damn have dragged my feet on this. But I’m worried about when I have it done and there is no sequel ready. I have only written the first chapter and dot points for the next series of events.

I did more editing than I thought I would for something that is supposed to be in its eleventh draft. I think I deleted as much as I added. I know I have more to do with it as Chris has given me some pretty decent comments to go on.

I hope that when this is ready to be released I will have progressed with the next story. Also, I have no idea how that story is going to end and where the third book begins eeeek!

 

Another Jumpstart draft

~ stephaniehaggarty ~ Leave a comment

iStock-669387114_1I’ve just started another draft of Jumpstart. I’m not that productive with it either. I think I should have done a few pages a day because the last time I touched it was over a week ago. I could have completed it by now if I had done it that way. I’m doing more edits than I thought I would have too. I don’t know if I’m levelling up or my previous attempts were sub-par. I’m hoping to have this thing out by mid-year, but no date is set.

 

 

General update for my other books

~ stephaniehaggarty ~ Leave a comment

I’ve gone and gotten shiny new idea syndrome and have begun a new book, but what about my other ones?

Beautiful-African-Woman-174795229_2560x3835_preview4largeSave One is mostly completed. Need a few more light drafts and it should be ready. I’ve just grown tired of it atm so I’m giving it some space.

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The Things We Do has been submitted to Tor.com as part of a sci-fi novella submission. Practically ready for release, but will have to wait to see if accepted by these guys.

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Jumpstart is also mostly done. I’m also fatigued by it and have started and stalled on the sequel Tune In. I want that story done before thinking of releasing this as part of the marketing strategy for the series.

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Beyond Calico has stalled. The first draft is not completed, but I have a rough outline of the story and need to write it up sometime.

The Chloris and the Electra has not been touched in over six months and I’m not sure when I’ll go back to it. I enjoyed writing what I have and will finish it. But I think it’s only 60% through the first draft. I think I have an idea of how it ends, but that’s flexible.

Overall I intend for the book I’m writing now to be done by the end of June. Then I might move onto another of the others I haven’t finished and try to maximise my time. I’m still heading towards my goal of 10 self-published stories by my 30th birthday, so I’m not slowing down. I’m hoping to have some stories out by the end of the year so I have that to look forward to.

 

Jumpstart is going to be a loss leader

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iStock-669387114_1I’m thinking that I should make the first book in my Tune series a loss leader. I only came across the term today, but I had the idea of making it free for a long time. But I had been flip-flopping on the idea. I mean, I want to make a steady income from my writing, but I need to create a fan base first. Making some of them free might be the way to go. I also need reviews. Those are like leprechaun gold.

At the moment I’m done to death with editing this novelette. It’s nearing completion and for a bonus, I’m going to be putting the first chapter of the next book at the end. I’ve got that completed, I just need to write the rest 🙂

Decreased productivity :(

~ stephaniehaggarty ~ 3 Comments

In the last three weeks, I have not written as much as I would like. I spent a few days in Germany, then I was sick for another four. And while I thought up another book idea I am still lagging behind in writing up others 😦 I think I might be suffering from writer’s block 😦

I am writing up the sequel to Jumpstart, but it’s going so slow. Perhaps only a few hundred words a day. I don’t know why my brain is so mushy. I know the rough order of events. And work has let me stay in the downstairs part of the restaurant during my split shifts. I have the time.

I read somewhere that writer’s block is the manifestation of a person’s fear of failure so that they are too scared to even try to write. And I feel that. What if I can’t finish it? But that’s a stupid thought because I’ve succeeded with others.

I am a bit worried that I won’t be able to keep the main character the same, but that’s just because I’ve never written a sequel before. I don’t know how this book is going to end either. That’s a red flag don’t you think?

But I have a bit more success with this other book idea. I thought it up while in Germany. It actually takes from this idea I had when I was 20. But it’s a story I never developed that much. Maybe if I do I’ll set it in the same universe or something. I’ve done about 5,000 words of it. I thought that was pretty good, but for some reason the next day I thought that I could have done more 😦

9th draft of Jump Start done

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iStock-669387114_1After an unproductive morning, I finally managed to start and finish another draft. I also discovered a feature on Microsoft Word that that shows how long I was editing my story for. It was, I’m not kidding you, 333 minutes. That’s five and half hours long! And in one sitting.

For the most part, it was just line edits and proofreading. There were no structural changes and it’s nearing completion. Thank God. I’m getting tired of this story and just want to move onto the next part in the story.

Jumpstart edit 8 done

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iStock-669387114_1Finally got the eight edit done. It was like torture. I could only do a few pages a day. It seems that my energy for this story is coming to a close. I think maybe one or two more edits (praying to the writing gods here).

I could see that I had repeated some information and cut a lot more words out than I put in. It was all line edits, nothing structural anymore. I think that was done with that a few edits ago.

I reduced the word count to under 22,000. I have a few bits and pieces that need to be fixed, but I’m just glad I got through this round. 🙂

My impatience! Writing update.

~ stephaniehaggarty ~ 2 Comments

Arrrggg. I’m doing the eighth edit of Jumpstart and I’m still finding things wrong with it 😦 It just reminds me that I’m still working on the stories that I thought I’d have completed by now. I’ve got three almost ready, but I’m getting spent with them. I just want to move to other things. But the fact that they are uncompleted sit in my brain taking up space and energy. I’ve got some sci-fi stories I want to move onto.

This all has to do with the fact that I have this 10 books by age 30 goal thing. I’m turning 28 in a month and I wanted to get at least one story out months ago 😦 I’m just annoyed that I underestimate my time and talent management.

I think the only thing I’ll have done by my birthday is a short story I wrote the other month. I think it is almost done. I need to make up a cover image and do maybe 2/3 more drafts.

 

Jumpstart sequel: first chapter

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I’ve had the first chapter written for months now. It was even the beginning of the series before I went off with Jumpstart. But then I wanted to get that mostly out of the way. Since I have today off I wanted to make it as productive as I could. But the second half was filled with procrastination and a headache. I also wanted to work on something that I already have instead of creating something new. So late at night, I got to this chapter.

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Thoughts on later stage editing

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I finished the 7th draft of Jumpstart last night and at times it was like pulling my fingernails out. There were times when I was taking an hour to do a single A4 page 😦 The previous draft was a lot easier and I thought I was nearing the end of the process. But this one just shows that there was a lot of mistakes to fix.

It makes me think that maybe I haven’t improved as much as I thought when it comes to writing/editing. I mean it’s been five years since I first completed my Feet or Fins manuscript and three since I managed to put it out there. That book took fourteen edits before it was ready and in the time since, I’ve written so much. I should have leveled up by now.

But maybe I am leveling up and I can just see more errors? Hopefully, when I come back to the next edit, it’ll be better 🙂