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Introduction: How To Write a Novel In Five Days While Traveling
WRITING A NOVEL IN FIVE DAYS WHILE TRAVELING… INTRODUCTION… Yup. A crazy idea. Especially considering I have not once been successful at writing while traveling. How’s that for a negative start? So I figured it was about time to teach myself how to do this and as I figure it out I might as well write this nonfiction book as well as the novel. Win… win… If I pull it off. Otherwise, it will be an entertaining failure for you all to watch right out here in public. And what’s really silly is that I will be doing all my normal e-mail, normal workshop stuff, and still doing the CFO job…
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1/7/16 Daily
For the Second Day I Hope Everyone Stays Safe… As I write this both coasts and a bunch of the middle part of the US is getting pounded by some nasty storms. Really nasty stuff. Hang in there, this winter will pass eventually. Run from This Guy At a Poker Table Not kidding. Remember I played poker professionally for a few years between my traditional days and my indie days, meaning I made my living at it. (grin) What I Learned Today (Streak Day 7) I learned that some people have far too much time on their hands. Some guy wrote me all angry that I had a typo here on…
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1/6/17 Daily… Stay Safe
I Hope Everyone Stays Safe… As I write this both coasts and a bunch of the middle part of the US is getting pounded by some nasty storms. Really nasty stuff. Hang in there, this winter will pass eventually. What I Learned Today (Streak Day 6) I learned once again how easily distracted I am. This challenge project coming up starting Sunday has my imagination, so the novel I am working on just sort of stopped. Actually, it came to a halt at a perfect cliffhanger. I wrote the cliffhanger, started to put in the next chapter header and went, “Nope, perfect place to put this book on hold for…
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1/5/17 Daily… Gaining Speed
Getting Ready for a Writing Challenge… I have a writing challenge that will be starting on Sunday, at least in a partial way, and I am slowly trying to do two things at the same time. First, I am trying to pull back my sleep schedule, getting up earlier and going to be earlier. Second, I’m trying to slowly get up to speed on the writing. Managed that today with three sessions and 3,700 words. Might not get this book done by the time the new challenge starts, but it will be easy to finish when the new challenge is over. Also managed some meetings, a bunch of running around,…
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1/4/17 Daily
Day of Meetings and Planning and Meetings and Planning… Yeah, one of those days. Actually great fun. Not only were we planning for the coming year and beyond at WMG Publishing, but I was doing some planning on a new, short-term challenge I’m going to try starting on Sunday. So stay tuned. It will be just over a week long and is one of the crazier things I have tried to do. At least crazy for me. And I did three sessions of just over 3,000 words. Last session was short. Got tired. What I Learned Today (Streak Day 4) Learned a bunch of stuff today about podcasts. How they make…
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1/3/17 Daily
Date Not Sinking In Yet… Still getting settled into the new year. But I really like my new system of tracking over on the right of the page the running days and the writing amounts per day. And by having to pay attention to what I learned each day, that seems to be giving me some focus as well. So with the adjustment yesterday, I have a hunch this new system will really work for me. With all the workshop stuff today and me shifting my schedule back slightly, I only managed 1,200 words on the novel, but I also got five miles on the exercise. What I Learned Today…
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1/2/17 Daily… Adjusting Slightly
Learn How To Adjust… My goal of starting streaks with both the writing, learning, and exercise got started in two of the three areas. But I realized that was going to not work exactly as planned in both exercise and writing. So I adjusted. Something I would suggest everyone be willing to do quickly when needed. My adjustment came in how I am tracking this as well as the streak format. I will still try my best to maintain a streak of a fact or detail I learned each day. Some will be minor, some will be topics of entire blog posts. And at the end of the year they…
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1/1/17 Daily… Some Learning…
A New Year Fires Up… My goal of starting streaks with both the writing, learning, and exercise got started in two of the three areas. I got the four miles of the exercise done, but it was difficult at best. I left it too long into the evening instead of doing it earlier in the day and that got me tired out. Live and learn. Any new system has adjustments in it. So I’m not worried that I missed the 4,000 words and got 2,200 instead. So that streak will start tomorrow. The Day Had a great writer’s meeting today. Lots of fun and good conversation about the future, how…
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Got Your Goals?
New Year Firing Up… The key is to set some goals. Not talking about some sort of silly New Year’s Resolution. I’m talking about real production goals with your writing. You can and should also set business goals, but for this post let me just stay focused on production, the most important aspect of any writing business. Remember: Goals are something that are in your control and that push you toward a desired objective. How to Set a Goal? Start with the objective. Then backtrack to set the daily and monthly goals. Example: Say your objective is to write four novels in 2017. Each novel around 60,000 words. So back that…
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Once More… For the New Year… Pulp Speed
Pulp Speed… Once More (I wrote this post about three years ago, then brought it forward over a year ago. But with these other posts, this one might help for 2017 more than most. Or at least let you know what some people talk about when they say “Pulp Speed.” I have updated it for this coming year.) Not at all sure why this idea of writing at Pulp Speed sort of hits me right. I think because it flies in the face of all the myths. A writer has to have all myths under control to even attempt this. So this post might just make you angry because it hits…