Tag: writer’s life

Hello brain, it’s me, myself.

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God, my attention span is shot. I’m thinking that I have developed ADHD or something like that. I reminisce on my past ability to concentrate and churn out word after word and wonder, were those my golden years? I don’t remember having such difficulty concentrating. Maybe it’s because I also have a forgetful memory.

I thought I’d have accomplished more by now. But I think I won’t get any writing done until I finish moving back to Australia. I am both disappointed with myself, but also know that there is no rush and I can move my goals to better fit me.

But jesus, come on brain matter stop being grey mush in my skull and be that amazing organ you know you can be.

Grammarly, showing you that you’re a shit writer

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So I went and bought the premium version of Grammarly last night. I figured that since I want to go over all my work and revamp it, I should invest in some quality help (but on a budget). Well, if I had any inkling that there were parts I should improve on, I now have confirmation. Red and blue underlines everywhere. Makes me wonder how I managed to string two words together, let alone two sentences without sounding like a mess.

Here’s a joke. How do you show an impressionable writer with 10 years of writing experience that thinks they are somewhat decent, they’re actually still just a novice?

I’m dreading going back over Feet or Fins. Anyway, this one novella I’m working on, I can’t go a paragraph without at least three issues. Well the only way to fix them is to fix them. After my initial shock, I started going through the suggestions and saw that they kind of made sense. Sentence fragments, commas and the need the re-write bits and pieces.

Just goes to show that thinking up a story isn’t the same as expressing it well in the written form.

One Month In

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Been in the UK for a full month now. In the meantime we got a new place, I got a new job and just had my first covid jab. In the next few days we’ll be moving our stuff into the new place and settling in. It’s hard to believe that in just under a month how much life has changed and not changed at the same time. I’m not sure where we’ll be in 6 or 12 months, maybe we’ll still be in Edinburgh, maybe we’ll be back in Australia.

I have a few goals that I want to compete by the 6 month mark. I want to:

  • Finish a new first draft.
  • I want to publish that story.
  • I want to build up savings of over a thousand pounds.
  • I want to hit the gym and get down to my goal of 55kg.

I am hoping to have all that done by January 1st 2022.

Four day mini-holiday

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It’s super snowy in Utrecht atm and work closed down on Sunday. But fortunately for me I had Saturday, Monday and Tuesday off, so with Sunday added, I had a four day break 🙂 Because everything is cold and miserable with a thick layer of snow I’m stuck inside, setting my laptop up on the kitchen table because it ended up being the warmest part of the house.

On Saturday I spent it adding to a novel that had been on the back burner since ’18. I’m not sure what genre it fits into atm, but maybe magical realism? It’s set in an alternative world with mostly current technology and focuses on a generation of individuals who are descended from a ruling class of people who possessed telepathy and telekineses, but had been massacred by the general population. So far the book is 60k but I’m planning on making it into either two long books or a trilogy. I’m going to finish the entire story first before publication.

On Sunday I spent it doing nothing and felt bad about it. I couldn’t seem to get my head in order and nothing happened.

On Monday I edited a 42 page novella (yes that many pages) that I completed last year. I made up a cover image for it and I think it will be ready for publication in a few more edits. The tag line for this tale is, A supernatural tale of lust and human sacrifice. I think I wrote the entire thing in under a week. It’s divided into five parts instead of chapters and it has a lot of bumping uglies in it lol. I think I might have to alter the end as it is more telling vs showing. But I would not be afraid to publish it as it.

On Tuesday I again did not do anything productive 😦

Now what?

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My NaNoWriMo journey has been a failure because I have given up on it. On the other hand, I have landed myself a job 🙂 I’ll be out of action for about nine hours a day, not including sleep.

I’ve come up with two more story ideas, one is a YA thriller and the other is a zombie story. Note, all writers need to have a zombie story because there isn’t enough in the world right? HAHAHA

So I have about four stories that are currently occupying my head and all of them are about two chapters in with not much of an ending in sight.

Writing during the Quarantine

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Time, time, time.

Since March I have all the time in the day to write. For the most part I have spent my time equal parts writing, moaning about not writing, and wondering why my organic self cannot work like a machine. However it has not been a complete waste like I infer. These are the things I have done during quarantine;

  • The Dragon’s Mate: I wrote, edited and self-published this novella in two months.
  • Matt and Rose: A novelette that is just about ready.
  • Those in the Forest: Plan for a supernatural story about an escapee from a recluse cult. Only has a few thousand words have been written. Probably won’t be done for at least a year.

Seven Years

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Had a notice that said it is my seventh anniversary on this blog. I can’t believe it. I set this up during a uni class back in Melbourne and it’s been going strong for all that time!

Thinking back on what’s happened since then, I went and developed a bunch of feels. I’ve self-published seven stories ranging from the short ones to a novel. I failed my goal of reaching 10 stories by 30 and I might not reach it this year. I have also been living overseas for five years now. Prior to finishing high school, I had never thought that this would be where my life would end up.

I wonder what the next seven years will be like . . .

Days 81 – 90

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I haven’t done anything related to writing or editing at all. However, I do not feel bummed out. I think that is an improvement. In the last few days, I have however thought up a third story during this pandemic. It’s a portal fantasy and I have only the bare bones of what I want to happen. But I’m going to have a fun adventure with it.

Days 71 – 80

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The last ten days have been unproductive. I didn’t edit or write anything. I have been looking at writing a new supernatural thriller though. I’ve got some story planned, but I don’t know how it ends. I’m not sure how long it’ll be either.

However, at the same time a YouTuber – Derek Murphy, I follow came out with this long video about novel writing basics. At the end of the video, there is a small exercise where who fill in the blanks about what your story is about. It actually helped me a bit with the story I’m working on. I have added some more things to it and it’s starting to become something more.