Becoming the writer I want to be

I'll respond to you as soon as I can. I should have more time for it the rest of this week and the next.

 

Thank you so much @Anakin66 , )))))

 

Have you guys ever thought about contacting online stores and offering to improve product blurbs? I don't mean web design, but the actual writing?

The late Sunday session wrecked 2 days and I'm repeating it today. My productivity and passion to write are off the chart after everyone goes to bed. No anxiety, just creation.

I don't know how to fix that.

I got another chunk done tonight. 2-3 more sessions might wrap it up. I'd like to get that done ASAP. I've got the 2nd vaccine dose over the weekend and that seems to knock lots of people out.

I have next week off on vacation. I'll probably take a break from writing then as well. Once I let the completion goal push it hasn't felt as urgent.

 

Yes, this is generally part of a copywriting job, which I apply for quite often to various places. Like I said to Aspiringwriter though I have had no luck so far. I would love to be able to make enough money to live off my books but as that is quite unlikely, I want to at least make money writing in general.

Probably a good idea to stop writing and take the break. Easy to go from passionate to obsessive and then burn yourself out.

 

Another haiku for you all.

A garden in bloom.
Flowers pink, blue, purple too.
Anxious souls at rest.

 

Ohh this is beautiful. <3

 

Thank you!

 

Stumbled across a very annoying issue when editing today. I use Google Docs to write, I know its bad but I dont know I am used to it. It has proven to be incapable of understanding the correct use of apostrophes, and I've spent the last 40 minutes changing every incorrect usage of the word "it's" back to "its" and visa versa. Looked in my previous book and the issue is there as well. Wont actually take THAT long to fix, as I can just search for the word and manually make the change without needing to sift through every sentence, but damn, why is it doing this at all? It isnt with most other technical aspects, I dont get it.

 

Delving deeper into the software, it seems like for some god forsaken reason Google Docs own grammar checker is wrong. For example, when I write something like

"Its hand shot out to grab the ball," It wants to correct it to "It's hand shot out to grab the ball," ie its literally telling me that "It is hand shot out" is correct when it clearly is not. Excuse me what the fuck??????

 

I highly recommend the paid Grammerly for final edits. I'd ignore it and finish the second book, then go back and hit both with a revision or three.

I wrote without a grammer checker turned on, so I had lots of work to do. (I apply grammer rules with precision if I want to, but I don't want to lol. I write like I do on here the 1st draft on purpose lol. My dialogue is helped by the approach - each character gets a unique voice, but everything else is a dumpster fire lol.)

Grammerly isn't perfect, but it's the best software I've seen by a mile. The time it saves is well worth a short subscription.

(Also, if Grammerly isn't making a mistake about which version of a word you are using, look up the results. It's right almost every time. I've eaten some crow on many occasions. The clarity suggestions aren't always great and it struggles with plurals, but otherwise lean towards trusting it.)

 

Thanks, I'll be sure to check it out. I'm 99% certain there arent any other grammar errors I am not aware of but I suppose the point is I dont know for sure. I plan on doing many, many sweeps for this kind of thing as I progress.

I wish I could say I'm in a good position but honestly I'm not. Its only my writing that keeps me going and without it I'd be miserable. I'm glad that you are in a better place though. I hope to get there some day.

 

Finished my read-through of this years work so far. As of halfway through act 2 of 3, I am up to 383 pages and 136150 words. I do believe that the rest of act 2 will be long, but after that I will start to see an overall reduction in chapter length. Still on track for the book to be 500+ pages overall.

 

No writing today as I'm getting braces removed and may be gone for most of the day.

 

I'm 3/4 through my personal rewrite and 1/4 through reading it with my wife from the start - take the help when you can get it haha.

The first 15k words are polished but my wife pointed out the section we read last night needs more description. I think she was also saying it lost that page by page tension. She is right. I think it will only take minor adjustments.

The good news is there is another smooth and polished section soon, so when I rework the 2-3 chapters we are on now, I'll have a game ready 1/2 of a book.

For a new author, I believe the start of a book has to be on point, so I'm stoked to see it coming together.

I'm going to try to find time to rewrite those sections today. A few sentences sprinkled into a chapter can dramatically alter the feel.

At some point I need to sneak ahead and wrap up my rewrite of the last 1/4 as well.

 

Real life stuff getting in the way and work is getting back to precovid levels.

I did some more beta reading together with my wife. It's not easy to he critiqued but the section that needs more description is expanded. We are getting close to the next polished part soon, so there is hope lol.

I've got a four hour session full of rewrites at least. Then I'll probably need at least 2 more drafts of those sections.

I find I stay productive with a near term goal, so I'm picturing getting 1/2 of the book polished and ready to query. I'm still telling myself the entire manuscript could be ready soon lol.

 

It has been only my second day of being "truly" away from my writing and the existential dread is already setting in. When my mind is not occupied I find myself slipping into catastrophic thinking patterns and in general I can feel my anxiety getting worse over time. Having more and more mild panic attacks. I keep worrying about all the things that are wrong or I dont like in my life and its making it hard to relax myself. I dont know why I'm even posting this here I guess I just wanted to vent.

 

Are you doing okay now? Is there anything we can do for you here?

 

Thought I'd share this, if anyone cares - I finished a rough draft of a fiction suspense/fantasy/horror novel I've been working on back in January. It took me 3 whole months to write and I was so exhausted and burned out afterward it's just been sitting since, and I've only done a little bit of editing and revision to it; but it's going to need a LOT of rewriting, I already know. The story's length is about equivalent to a 450 page novel though so I'm super excited just to have it finished, even if it's only a very rough draft. I have it sent out to a couple of friends right now and awaiting feedback on it.
I'm all about fiction writing short stories and novels, and one day I hope to get published and make a living writing stories.