Back to Writing

Got Some Details and Schedule Figured Out…

Finally…

So this morning I managed a couple thousand words, a slowish day for me, but a bunch more than I have done in this setting before. And it felt right and felt like I was finally in the right spot with the right timing.

So I guess I have finally made, after more than a month, the transformation from a late-night writer to a morning writer. Trust me, folks, that trick wasn’t easy for this old dog.

And starting on Thursday, I will be mailing everyone who is following along with the 100 day challenge a letter again on the first day of this restart.

So yup, restarting the Living at Pulp Speed Five challenge and will be doing chapter posts here along the way that will form a book of the same title.

The Challenge: Writing 10 Novels in 100 Days.

And I moved the Thunder Mountain book along which will not count in the challenge now. I had to back up a ways to figure out where I went wrong and what stopped me earlier in the month, but I did that as well this morning.

So I will make more progress on it tomorrow and should have it done by next Monday and then get started on the first book of the writing 10 books in 100 days challenge.

And speaking of that challenge, if interested in jumping in to follow closely for the restart, here is how you can get a letter a day from me and read what I write and I will read what you have written if you want when the 100-day challenge is over in February.

PERSONAL FOLLOW ALONG…

I’m going to open this up for just a couple days is all as this restart fires up.

Every day for all 100 days I will send you an email telling you exactly how the day went, the writing, my thoughts on the challenge, what the writing was like, everything. (Not the work in progress, just the stuff around the writing and the process and my thinking as each day goes by, starting and writing and ending ten novels. Including the bad days. And wow, were there bad days in the first start of this. The folks already on board saw all of those. (grin))

Again, the blogs here will be every three or four days about the process will be for the book, general stuff that might cross over some with the letters. But the letters every day will be a ton more detailed. The idea is to help those signed up figure out how to get past their own issues and myths by watching me deal with many of the same issues.

So this is a way to really watch someone like me write ten novels, up close. Might help you break down a lot of writing myths.

And you can ask me questions at any point along the way.

Then as a book gets finished, I will send it to WMG Publishing, they will get it quickly formatted and I will give you a Bookfunnel code to get it. So within a week or so of me finishing a book, you will get to read it in Uncorrected Proof form. (Timing depends on how quickly Kris can read it and WMG can do a rough of the book.) No matter what, it will be sent to each person signed up way, way before it is published in Smith’s Monthly and then later on stand-alone.

So this will be ten novels of mine you will not only be closely watching me writing it, but get to read quickly after it is done in the form I wrote it in. (I do not want comments on the books.)

Also, another bonus as part of this. Since you are watching me write, I hope you will be writing as well, so if you want to send me anything you started and finished in the same 100 days, I will read it. Short stories or novels. You will send them to me after the challenge is over, not during. It could be one story or a lot of novels, doesn’t matter. This is just a bonus for you to get some reader feedback from me if you want it. Not required.

The cost to jump into this is $500. Send the fee to dean@deanwesleysmith.com which is the WMG Publishing account.

If I do not get at least 7 novels finished by the last day of the challenge, WMG will refund your money completely even though I have sent you 100 letters.

So let me put this in a check-list.

— Cost $500.
— Only reopened for a few days.
— A letter every day from me for 100 days about the process of writing novels starting November 1st. (even on my bad days.)
— Questions about the process when you want.
— Early read on every book I write. (Those who were signed up for the September Start get the book I am finishing now as well. They deserved it, they got to see me suffer.)
— Anything you start and finish writing inside the hundred days, you can send to me to read after the challenge is over.

Any questions, feel free to ask. Jump in by paying to Paypal, no need to ask me if there are spots open. It will only be open for a few days.

6 Comments

Nate

October 30, 2018 at 6:53 pm

Need some help?

I fix WP sites for a living, and I’d love to help

dwsmith

October 30, 2018 at 9:34 pm

Might take you up on that Nate if I can’t get a few things shifted around. I updated the theme and things went nuts. This isn’t much of a sight, but this winter going to give it an overhaul, a badly needed one. (grin) Thanks!

emmiD

October 31, 2018 at 2:23 am

Good luck on the website rebuild. I started in June to streamline and finished Sept 19. Granted, more was going on, but for a while, I felt like I was herding cats with all the links and things. Still not exactly as planned, but it’s much better.

Miona

October 31, 2018 at 9:15 am

Wow, switching from late-night (or all-night) to early morning functioning seems like pure fantasy to this night person. Would you be willing to share how you managed that amazing feat?

dwsmith

October 31, 2018 at 1:08 pm

Forced by the exercise schedule, actually. If I wanted to run the 5k morning fun runs every week, I had to switch. So those helped.

And it took me close to two months of no writing to do it. Brain would not function in the morning. Mostly it took a comment from Kris that made the final switch. She said, “You used to get up at 1 pm and then do business when you wrote at night, so why not just not touch any business until 1 pm and get up at 9am and be at your computer before 10 am with nothing else to do but write. That made the difference because I was used to doing business when I got up automatically, but that was at 1 pm and the world didn’t seem to end. So that mental change was the last key.
- Céline Malgen
  
  November 2, 2018 at 7:00 am
  
  You always speak about the power of habits to help us write, but I guess the reverse it also true. We also need to beware of the power of habits to *stop* us from writing. Habits like doing something else first thing after getting up, and then having your mind stuck on that something else and not getting to the writing.
  
  BTW, I guess those “bad” habits are probably the reason why it’s so hard to start or restart writing.
  
  In your case, it made perfect sense to start doing business after getting up at 1 pm since you needed to have that afternoon in common with people who had a more conventional schedule than you. But after switching your schedule, you would work on business things both in the morning and in the afternoon, driven by your habit of working straight after waking up and in the afternoon.
  
  Easy to see in hindsight, but so difficult to see when you’re in the middle of your own habits. It’s great that Kris could help you see it, and I’m glad for your that you’re back to writing.

Nate

October 30, 2018 at 6:53 pm

Need some help?

I fix WP sites for a living, and I’d love to help
- dwsmith
  
  October 30, 2018 at 9:34 pm
  
  Might take you up on that Nate if I can’t get a few things shifted around. I updated the theme and things went nuts. This isn’t much of a sight, but this winter going to give it an overhaul, a badly needed one. (grin) Thanks!
emmiD

October 31, 2018 at 2:23 am

Good luck on the website rebuild. I started in June to streamline and finished Sept 19. Granted, more was going on, but for a while, I felt like I was herding cats with all the links and things. Still not exactly as planned, but it’s much better.
Miona

October 31, 2018 at 9:15 am

Wow, switching from late-night (or all-night) to early morning functioning seems like pure fantasy to this night person. Would you be willing to share how you managed that amazing feat?
- dwsmith
  
  October 31, 2018 at 1:08 pm
  
  Forced by the exercise schedule, actually. If I wanted to run the 5k morning fun runs every week, I had to switch. So those helped.
  
  And it took me close to two months of no writing to do it. Brain would not function in the morning. Mostly it took a comment from Kris that made the final switch. She said, “You used to get up at 1 pm and then do business when you wrote at night, so why not just not touch any business until 1 pm and get up at 9am and be at your computer before 10 am with nothing else to do but write. That made the difference because I was used to doing business when I got up automatically, but that was at 1 pm and the world didn’t seem to end. So that mental change was the last key.
  - Céline Malgen
    
    November 2, 2018 at 7:00 am
    
    You always speak about the power of habits to help us write, but I guess the reverse it also true. We also need to beware of the power of habits to *stop* us from writing. Habits like doing something else first thing after getting up, and then having your mind stuck on that something else and not getting to the writing.
    
    BTW, I guess those “bad” habits are probably the reason why it’s so hard to start or restart writing.
    
    In your case, it made perfect sense to start doing business after getting up at 1 pm since you needed to have that afternoon in common with people who had a more conventional schedule than you. But after switching your schedule, you would work on business things both in the morning and in the afternoon, driven by your habit of working straight after waking up and in the afternoon.
    
    Easy to see in hindsight, but so difficult to see when you’re in the middle of your own habits. It’s great that Kris could help you see it, and I’m glad for your that you’re back to writing.