Tag: writing

The witch Room on sale

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Since buying Grammarly I’ve seen how much it improves my writing. It made me think that I should go back and go over my old stories. This is the first story I’ve gone over. I figured a short story would be perfect. I found that I have a lot of issue with commas. Like where to put them or that I need to add them. Anyway, I went through the story and fixed many things. And I figured that since I was updating the manuscript, I should update the book cover. So I hop onto Canva and create a free cover by just adding the sketch drawing of the seaside cliff, the circle and adding a transparent vignette over the teal background. I’m surprised that I was able to put something together so quickly.

I also changed the name from The Witch’s Room to The Witch Room as I thought it sounded better. I updated the blurb and decided to celebrate this event I’ll make the short story free on Smashwords for a month. The coupon code is XG79P. I would really appreciate it if anyone who downloaded a copy would leave a review.

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.

Shiny new idea

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Every once in a while I get an email about this one book cover designer creating new designs. So of course, I rush over and check it all out. There was this one image that captured me, but I didn’t buy it in time so it got snapped up by another. It was just a picture of blood dripping down a woman’s face. I loved the image so much I had to think of a story to go with it. And I did. I’ve got a nugget of an idea and slowly expanding it.

Anyhow I still wanted to use the image and found it on iStock. I downloaded the watermarked image and experimented with some minor effects on Pixlr.com and I think I got it just right. Does that mean I’m copying the designer? Anyway, the story is only one chapter complete so it’ll be awhile before you see it.

10 days of isolation: Day 3

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Day 3:

I spent most of the day playing Cities Skylines, spending most of that time working out the public transport. However, before that in the early hours I can up with a potential new story. I’m calling it Fish Boy and I think it’s somewhat decent. Our friend posted the day 2 covid packages and my new sim card has not arrived. We also ordered some ingredients to make Shepard’s Pie for the next day. Chris also ordered that rapid release day 5 test because he wants to get out of the house.

My next projects

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The last few weeks have been blah. I’ve got no motivation for writing and I’m not sure if it’s burnout again or something else.

But what I do have is a whole bunch of ideas that are in various stages of to-be-planned-out. Some have already got a few chapters, other are just dot points, and all of them do not have any endings.

Soooooo, what I am going to be doing next is spending the next month or so just sitting down and planning them out. Not sure how I’m going to allocate my time, but I’m always using my noggin to be thinking up stuff. I’ll probs be jumping all over and maybe add some existential thoughts to the mix.

Anyhow I also wrote an erotica under a pen name and it’s going better than all my other stories combined. So there’s that.

K is for thousand

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Just found out that the reason that we use the letter K to represent a thousand words is because of the Greeks. You know ‘coz K is for kilo. Also writing a 80 kilo book is beyond impressive.

Unlike me, who today, wrote no kilos.

The day before that, I again wrote no kilos.

And the day before that? Don’t know. Probably nothing as well. I’m living in a world of timeless haze to be honest. Will tomorrow be my day of writing a kilo?

So for all other writers of an aspiring nature, write your kilos. No one else will.