Writing Tips – Page 49 – Marie Alice Writes & Reads

Diary of a writing project. Day 59: So sleepy

Work count goal this week: 47 500 words
Work count goal so far: 34 139 words

I had a crazy busy day / evening. It will all go back to normal once I’m done with the extra-work, extra-chores, somewhere next week or so.

I went back to drafting, for the little time I could spare to write today.
While doing some work, I had this super fun idea for the chapter I was working on before I started revising.
So I went on and wrote the scene.

The scene feels like a keeper. It’s emotional, dramatic, it really get the main character going and reflect on herself. Fun!

For now, it is mostly dialogue. I usually don’t suffer from « white room syndrome » (it would be quite the reverse in my case), but today I had to make haste.
The past few weeks, I’ve been waking up around 4:30-5 am, so I’m feeling sleepy around 8 pm and just crash around 9…
The evening writing time is growing shorter every day, and I don’t write a lot of words.

But I write and it makes me happy. That’s the important thing.

You only fail if you stop writing, right? Right!

Good night already, writer friends !

Writing Tips: How to keep up with the writing routine during the Holidays?

How will I keep up and find time to write during the Holidays?
By being ruthless, mouhwahwahwah ! And by using some faithful Writing Tips, of course.

Since September, I got myself used to a nice little writing routine.
I write after kiddo is fast asleep, about four or five nights a week.
The day job may be exhausting sometimes, but I finally reached a point where I’m happy to go back to my stories each weeknight.

It was all good until I recently realized the Holidays were coming oh-so-fast again this year, I got a bit stress out.

Getting the presents, the gift wrapping, the food, food, more food to prep…

Continuer la lecture

Diary of a writing project. Day 55: Does this book still has a chance at being traditionally published?

Word count goal for the week: 47 500 words
Word count so far: 32 806 words

Revision is a bliss. For me anyway.
Even though I’m revising the rough draft, it feels so good to work on making the writing better and the characters more layered.

One of my favorite part of writing a story is making the story better. Adding more details without being info-dumpy. Trying different angles for a character’s answer to a conflict, to an unpredictable event.
Isn’t that what writing is supposed to be in the first place?
A fun way to try to make good art, a great way to contribute and help the world smile a little and wonder a lot.

I think my writing goals are slowly shifting. Of course, I will really work hard at finishing the rough first draft before December 31st, and I will keep writing this journal (seriously, one of the best writing tip I tried this year, keeping a diary of this writing project; it really motivates me to write each day, even if it’s just a little).
But.
The stress of finishing as soon as possible to send it off to the publishers « at the right time » is slowly vanishing.

A recent visit to my local indie bookstore helped a lot in that manner.

There’s nothing like my book on their shelves.
The books all look the same.
They all sound the same.

Does it mean I have a better chance? Au contraire. It means publishers can’t afford to take a risk on something that’s not « what the readers want ».

I did my research, I know I can sell this book to at least three publishers. But I think if this book is gonna make it, it’s because its gonna beat-sheet perfect, written in a unique voice, and surfing on classics tropes everybody enjoys, but with the must-have twist and « wow » factor.

In my mind, and taking a realistic look at what I have to work on, a book like that might take more than six months to complete…

Better sleep on it I guess.

Thank you so much for reading, dear writer friends, and until next time…