My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amplanning

Yes, I’m late…again…but at least I totally didn’t forget or ignore or whatever it is I do sometimes. However, I am going to do a little bit of a cop out this week. See, I wrote a great article my group blog, Through Heart Shaped Glasses, that I should just move over to here and post it again.

But I don’t like doing that at all since I want every blog to be new and fresh. Well…sort of…that is. But then again, I don’t like reinventing the wheel and that’s more likely to be the reason than anything. Still, the information presented in this post End of Summer Funk is exactly what is happening in my writing life.

That blog is all about planning and how I need to do it to keep on track. I’ve been re-evaluating just how I’ve become successful at what I do. Since I’ve moved to Europe, I haven’t been that way at all. It seems like every word is a struggle, every book a major accomplishment. It didn’t used to be that way and I want to go back to where I was before I moved.

So I had to sit down and think about it. What had I done that was different? There were many days I wrote over 5000 words a day and now, I’m lucky if I can eek out 500 words a day. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do have moments of brilliance where I do more. I actually wrote a whole 80k book in a month late last year that really killed me on many fronts.

See, I had to trash most of it and start anew. And this was the second book in a series that is currently with my agent. I was spurred on by two great groups of writers that I work with: one is a critique group and the other my word challenge competition group where we are accountable for the number of words we write daily.

I love both those groups and they are the first people I feel I’m letting down when I’m not at my best. The heatwaves this summer didn’t help but they did get me thinking a lot as I was binging on Netflix. It started me reading writing books, thinking about taking classes and tons more stuff that I used to do when I was so prolific. Things by Rachel Aaron (2k to 10k), James Scott Bell (How to Make a Living as a Writer), Kristine Kathryn Rusch (The Write Attitude) and Steve Windsor (Authorphobia). All very diverse and interesting books on writing and an author’s journey.

A lot of what you’ll be seeing in the next few months will be me applying principles I’ve learned that will work for me. And planning, lots of planning, which I will be sharing with you all to see if any of it might be helpful to you.

See you all next week. Until then…

Lynn 

Planning The Best Seller

I don’t think any writer sits down and says I’m going to write a best seller. I know that they all hope their book is well received and they plan what they might do should it make any money. But planning a best seller is out of the question.

What every writer does do is plan on writing the book. Everyone’s plan is different and believe me when I say I’ve probably tried them all. LOL!

Right now I must say it depend upon the book just how I plan for it. A lot of my bigger books, I do character charts and then think about what I would like to happen in each chapter for the number of chapters planned. I also think about the word count for each of those chapters. Long books, I tend to have longer chapters, short books shorter chapters.

For me a long chapter is about five thousand words and a short chapter is about half that amount. No matter long or short, I plan to do one chapter a day regardless of length. The reason I can do this is that all I do is write. I am lucky in this aspect of my life as a few years ago, my loving husband gave me the option of staying home and writing or continuing to work.

Since I was working at the time, I continued until they laid me off and I can honestly say, it has been one of the best decisions of my life. I love writing and love how happy I am when writing. What I don’t love is the constant interruptions from my family who swears I’m neglecting them. LOL! Well, their perception is wrong since I treat writing as a business. There are hours I must be in my office and hours I don’t have to be but frequently am.

If their request comes during a time I’m not required to be in my office, I will go do whatever it is they want me to do. Most of the time, they don’t see it that way at all. But with the youngest finally heading toward college, I know more and more of my time will be my own.

Now back to planning that book. Again, there are many ways to plan as well as the classes online to help you do so. When I first started, I was meticulous in planning every detail. But I am what is known as a pantser meaning I write by the seat of my pants. I just sit down and I write. However, if the book is over fifty thousand words, I will do the character charts and the plotting outline. If my book is a fantasy or sci-fi, I will definitely plan as I don’t want to get lost in the maze of what I’ve made up for that world.

If any of you have specific questions about planning, comment here and I will answer them in a later blog.

I have a quote today which is exactly how I see the planning thing. You do it when you’re doing something you don’t like so well. Here’s today’s quote:

The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes. ~Agatha Christie

Have a great reading and writing day! See ya tomorrow!

Lynn