New Year’s Projects

Laura Highcove

We’re into the new year and I’ve been using my new spreadsheet to keep track of my hours and so far! …well it isn’t much different, truthfully. The changes I implemented are more important for summarizing and ease of looking back, for now I’m working on a few new projects into the new year.

I did a pass through of the Huntsman and sorted through everything I’d written. When I finished writing the rough draft the ending was sort of all over the place in terms of order and all stuffed into the same folder. I have since pulled those pieces apart and reassembled them into chapters.

After I got that done, I sat down to determine what my biggest problem is right now. And I’m pretty sure it’s ‘what the heck is Rose doing!?’. I know what I want him to do, but the path there is a hodgepodge, so I did notecards of scenes to figure out what I did have, what I needed, and then I went back and started smoothing. I haven’t hit the “messy” place yet, but I’m trying to tighten his focus a bit. Not sure if I’m being successful yet, but as I try to remind myself I don’t have to fix everything in one pass, just made it a bit better each pass.

I also have a new announcement for my newsletter which disappeared in August of last year. I am going to be restarting that with a new focus. I’m still going to use it as a place to talk about the lessons I’ve learned from life’s difficulties, but I am also going to be posting the “Chapter 1” of stories I have written, a new one each month. I’ll also be including a quick (like only 1 question) questionnaire at the end of each chapter for feedback. I want to use this feedback as a way to gauge interest in my projects and use it to determine what my next project may be.

For the newsletter going out at the end of January, I am going to be sending out the first chapter of Angelic Links: The world is run by computer code and only heaven has admin access. If you’re already signed up for my newsletter, then you don’t need to do anything to get this chapter. If you’re not yet signed up, you can do so here, and you’ll receive my newsletter at the end of the month that will include the first chapter of Angelic Links.

As for my goals, I am hoping to get through to Chapter 15 in the next two weeks with a lot more focus in Wildrose’s motivation. If I can get through Chapter 18 without any major problems, that will be a huge success.

2018 Timesheet

Laura Highcove

So one of my long term projects for this year was an excel spreadsheet that I recorded the hours I spent toward my writing career. I’ve heard the advice over and over that if you want to be a writer you need to treat it like a job. So one of the things I decided was that I needed to spend 20 hours a week on my writing. The spreadsheet was to help me track when I’ve done that. It also helped with the times when I felt like I haven’t spent enough time writing, since if I have the actual numbers, then I know. And when they’re low, I knew I needed to spend more time on it. Plus I love organized data.

I was still getting used to the idea and figuring out which things I was going to keep track of. By the end of January I settled on the basic DIY MFA sections of Writing, Reading, and Community with several subsections, and here’s the summary for the year:

Feb-April I was super on point, with hitting my 80 hours a month (20 hours a week) goal, with a solid 50% spent toward writing and ~25% ish toward the other two.

I was on vacation the first week of May and while I did some writing, I did not track the hours. The middle two weeks were less than productive due to making up hours over the weekend and then some depression.

June-August were Nationals as well as the beginnings of Nickel getting sick. I’m not really surprised that my hours plummeted. It was probably one of the worst periods of consistent depression I’ve ever had. I’m actually proud I got as much done as I did.

Sept and October are a little nuts. That is almost entirely due to the Writing Excuses Cruise. I chose to count the entirety of the time spent on the cruise on my timesheet, since I was technically there for my writing, but I didn’t want to spend time nickel and diming each little thing I did. This encouraged me to add an ‘event’ section to next year’s timesheet for things like writing retreats and conferences. Anyway, that retreat lit a fire under my butt for the next month to get the Huntsman draft done and do some heavy rewriting.

My November hours were curious to me, because I did NaNo, and I did it very well, but I had a sad dearth of hours. I think that since I had given myself the NaNo my goal, as soon as I had the words needed, I didn’t really push myself to do anything else. Two of my weeks were nothing but writing. Something to keep in mind for next year. Perhaps there’s a place between 50k and 90k that I can hit without burning out, or perhaps I just need to give myself two goals for November. There was also Thanksgiving travel, of course.

December was going great until my cat Copper got sick and had to be hospitalized for three days. That really killed the week. She ended up being fine, a known issue that likely flared up due to the stress of the new cat. I also did nothing while traveling for Christmas. Sort of sad to end the year on a down-swing, but such is life.

After looking this over, I’ve decided to take into account vacation time and ‘rest’ days (for sickness or depression) so that I don’t just look at my lack of hours and feel bad. I also noticed that overall, I am not happy with the lack of time spent on reading and analyzing what I read. I might give myself some sort of goal there.

I’m super excited to see what next year will bring. I already have the new timesheet made up, with some cool excel tricks to make the sheet itself less time consuming. Yay data!

Headed for the New Year

Laura Highcove

Most of what I’ve been doing in the past two weeks is smoothing of the Huntsman in order to put into place what I can and see where the holes still are. The first 14 chapters went by very quickly, only needing some minor notes and fixes. At chapter 15 my progress slowed down considerably because, as I told my alpha readers, ‘that’s where things get messy’.

There is far more smoothing and straight up new prose that needs to be done in order to push forward. The other day I literally did nothing other than write out my thoughts on where the story should be going in order to try and figure out where the story was going. It was a bit painful, but it gave me enough to move forward.

I found that keeping track of word count is too difficult because of the way I switch from writing to smoothing and back. It’s disruptive to pay attention to the shift, and it’s not a clear enough divide to get any meaningful data from it. It would’ve been a different story if I’d done it during Nano, but alas.

I also created a timeline to keep track of the different plot threads during the Huntsman. Doing so helps to organize the shape of the story which allowed me to find a hole. It also encouraged me to write out the timeline of the Law of the Prince Charming, so I know how much time the book took. It is 30 days.

My goal is to push through the Huntsman. Wildrose is giving me the most trouble. I’m trying to give him some direction, but mostly I just need the most basics of what is going on. I’d love to try get through the rest of the novel this week before I go away for Christmas. However, I’m not sure how realistic that is. I might need to take off the writer gloves and just do nothing but reorganize what I have and write down what I don’t.

I’m also planning on overhauling my newsletter some. It sort of got …ignored for a while, and part of that is that I think something needs to change. Expect some news on that by the end of January.

Review: Foundryside

Laura Highcove

My Review of Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

My summary: A thief takes the job to steal something, even though the offered money is enough to inform her that it’s a job that would be better left alone. She knows she shouldn’t open the box, but she just can’t help herself.

Why I picked up this book: Truthfully? Because I was impressed enough by his ‘Divine Cities’ trilogy and the ending he nailed, that I picked up this book without even reading the cover. I find myself doing that a lot more, recently.

What I knew going in: The book is called Foundryside and he got some cover quotes by impressive people.

My response: I had my mind blown by the world building at least three times in the first 150 pages of this book. I devoured this book like it was a thriller, it pulled me along so beautifully. There was one span of maybe ten pages somewhere close after the halfway point that dragged enough for me to notice. The characters were all enjoyable, the magic system was amazing, and I am dying to find out more about the world he’s set up.

Do I recommend this book?: In terms of world-building and magic system, I was impressed by this book more page for page than anything Sanderson I’ve read. Wow, that was actually painful for me to write. So yes, go read this book.

And After NaNoWriMo

Laura Highcove

So a few days out from Nano now. It’s time to sit down and analyze how Nano went for me this year and the lessons I can take away from it.

Starting NaNo
I had little to no anticipation about NaNo itself. I’ve been doing NaNo consistently since 2008 and getting words down has never been a problem of mine. I knew I would be able to produce the needed words. My worry was more that I wouldn’t write anything of substance, or that nothing would work with the story. I went in with my goal of 2k words every day but Fridays.

Ending NaNo
By the end of NaNo I could feel my pace slowing along with the ideas for new scenes to write. I was able to tell I was about a week into needing to revise. It’s something I recognize about my process, the need to go back to the beginning of my story and smooth before I can push forward again. I actually tried for a few days to do this while keeping track of the new words I wrote toward my daily goal. Unfortunately this is more difficult than writing straight up, and by that point I was into the black hole surrounding Thanksgiving. So I shifted back to just getting my 2k words a day through brute force. I finished three days early then stopped writing. I’m pretty sure I was just on the very edges of burnout.

Post NaNo
I gave myself several days off. I was planning a few weeks to work on a different project, but Monday morning, ideas were literally shoving their way out of my head. I had to pull over on the way to work to write one down. I poured out two new scenes (1.2k words) in 42 minutes this afternoon.

When I look back at the numbers on my excel spreadsheet, I noticed I had never spent more than two hours a day getting the needed 2k words. Usually it was closer to 1.5h. 7.5-8.5 hours a week in order to churn out 12k+ words. Not too shabby. And there were good ideas in there as well, even if the prose isn’t all worthwhile. The week of Thanksgiving and the week after were a bit of a wash in terms of total hours spent on writing stuff. I got my Nano words, but I did little else. I’m a bit disappointed in that.

From Here
Part of my path forward will be giving myself more than the one goal. It’s possible my lack of output was simply due to my whole focus being getting Nano done, so I didn’t really put effort into working on anything else.

I also have a few more things I want to play around with: How many words can I write easily in one day, knowing I need breaks in between writing sessions? What do I need to do in order to recharge my ability to write during a single day? (ie, what refills my creative well) I also want to figure out if there is some way to tell how long I can write new prose before I feel the need to smooth, or if it’s just a feel thing.

Goals for the Week
Writing 30 mins/day assuming I have a scene idea I want to write (which so far I have).
Revising and eventually Smoothing the Huntsman for an hour/day.
Keep track of my actual words/hour because numbers!

Review: Vicious

Laura Highcove

My Review of Vicious by V.E. Scwab

My summary: Two college students discover how ExtraOrdinaries, people with special abilities, are created. And then they try it for themselves.

Why I picked up this book: I liked her first series, plus I heard it was really good.

What I knew going in: I knew it was about people with special powers.

My response: The cover certainly portrays the correct feeling. I found myself intrigued by how she draws the reader through the book using time skipping to introduce questions to get you around the fact that the main character really isn’t all that likable, especially to begin with.
I enjoyed this book, and the characters in it, but it didn’t really hook me in any meaningful way. But then darker, grittier series tend to really have to grab me with characters, and this one just didn’t do that. I’m not sure whether I’ll pick up the next book or not.

Do I recommend this book?: It was well written, just not my cup of tea. I have a few friends I’d recommend it to because I know their reading habits, but I won’t go out of my way to talk it up.

Finishing the Race

Laura Highcove

So I just finished NaNoWriMo on Tuesday. With where I am in my writing life, finishing NaNo is really sort of a given, at the same time it is great to look back over the month and be proud of all the words and ideas that have poured out over the month. Of course I also have a lot of questions about what the heck this story is still going to do, or how it’s going to fit together. Still, forward is forward.

Still anticipatory about ending this trilogy. But that’s to be expected right?

I think I’m going to take a few weeks and organize in general, my life and my writing. I’m still feeling off since Nickel died, and I figure that’s normal since my normal has shifted. Plus we just got a new kitten, so that’s another shift. Lots of traveling for the holidays (past and future), the house is a bit of a disaster, there are presents to buy for Christmas, and normal demands of the season (fricking cold).

So no pressure on myself for a while. Plans in the future involve smoothing the Huntsman and then what I have written for the Wizard. Hopefully that will give me more insight and ideas. I’ll make a more solid plan sometime soon. Goal from where I’m sitting now …I’d like to have beta readers for Huntsman in …six months? That will be pushing it a bit with how rough some of the rough draft is, but we’ll see. It also depends on how the Wizard develops (or doesn’t) in that time.

But one thing I am oh-so super excited about is that I have been keeping track, well as best I can, of the amount of time I spend on my writer job in an excel spreadsheet. It started out because I was curious how much time I was spending, and then continued on as a way for me to motivate myself when I was slacking, and give myself a rest when I had worked enough. I started in January of this year, which only *feels* like a million years ago. As such, I am coming up on a year’s worth of data to look at. It’s so beautiful and organized. /dreamy eyes

Review: Partials

Laura Highcove

My Review of Partials by Dan Wells

My summary: Eleven years after a virus wipes out 99.9% of the human population, there have been no babies that live more than a few days. A females over 18 must have babies as often as they are able, in the hopes that one will be born immune to the virus. All while the Partials, super-human soldiers who released the virus in the first place, loom over them as an ever present threat.

Why I picked up this book: Been listening to Dan Wells on Writing Excuses forever, and got to know him better while I was on the Writing Excuses Cruise, so I figured I would read another of his books.

What I knew going in: The Partials Sequence was fairly popular.

My response: Not the first time I’ve been late to something because I was reading, but the first time in a long while. This book took a while to get going, but as soon as Kira, the main character, decides she needs to try and capture a Partial, I was loathe to put the book down. The world seemed entirely realistic, if not terrifying, and there were even very good answers to the questions of why a teenager is given so much responsibility, and why she can figure out things that no one else was able to in eleven years.
In addition, I found that in being on a boat with Dan Wells for a week indoctrinated me to his personalty enough that I kept hearing him in the words I was reading. First time I’ve interacted with a professional author enough for that to happen. (I look forward to reading another of Mary Robinette and Howard’s stories to see if the same thing happens with them.)

Do I recommend this book?: Yes. Even though post-apocalypse is not really my jam, I liked the characters and the story was rock solid.

Review: Legion

Laura Highcove

My Review of Legion by Brandon Sanderson

My summary: Stephen Leeds has hallucinations that have personalities and expertise that help him solve crimes, but who he must imagine as realistically existing in the world (ie: Each individual hallucination must have his or her own room, or their own seat on an airplane.).

Why I picked up this book: Mostly because it’s Brandon Sanderson. I actually passed on it when it was just a novella, and only picked it up now when all three stories are included.

What I knew going in: That the main character could interact with his hallucinations.

My response: I always thought this was an interesting concept, but it got a new layer when I realized the lengths Stephen had to go through in order to stay sane. The mysteries he solves, in themselves, are interesting, but I really loved Stephen and his interactions with the other people in his brain. Also, very satisfied with the ending, but then I don’t think Brandon’s let me down on that count yet.

Do I recommend this book?: It’s entertaining enough. I’ve read so much Brandon Sanderson now that I feel no need to champion every one of his books. I’ll still recommend the Mistborn trilogy first, and if (and ONLY if) you’re a dedicated epic fantasy fan, the Stormlight Archives, over this book.

Full Speed into NaNoWriMo

Laura Highcove

Well I’m what, two weeks into NaNoWriMo for this year? It’s going well. I am actually rather surprised at how easy getting 2k words a day (with Fridays off) actually is. It’s taking me, on average, less than an hour and a half to write 2k words. However part of this is that I am writing the words in two or three chunks of no more than 45 minutes. Once I get around there, I start to get antsy and very easily distracted. Not a lot of information about how much time I need between sessions since right now I write before work and then again after lunch, so there’s a pretty big break, and between those two sessions I generally have my 2k words.

Today I pushed for 2.5k since I did a surprising amount of writing at work. I just kept having ideas that I needed to write down, so I pushed for a little more. It does mean, that it’s possible I’ll be able to crank out more words if I learn what I need to do to refill my self for more words. And the fact that my ability to write new story prose takes a sharp nosedive in the evenings.

I might try 2.5k words for a few days and see how it feels. But I had some major breakthroughs with the overall story today at work, thus why I had to write it all down. Can’t really be very specific, which is one sad thing about not having any of these books published. If you were all fans and had read the previous books I would hand out hints and tidbits. But alas. Most anything would be a spoiler.

I have come to the conclusion, however, that I need to cut off my desire to draw out mysteries through the book. The Wizard needs to hit the ground running if I’m going to have any time to actually address the mysteries that need to be addressed. I’m pretty sure I know what the book’s halfway point is now and it’s far earlier than I was thinking it would be. Knock on wood, but I am not stalling out on this book the way I was expecting. Every time I think I have, I get another new idea. The book is, however, coming out very weird. Lots of scenes that are going to need to be stitched together later, there’s almost no flow right now. But I’m not letting myself worry about that, for now I’m just getting the ideas out and letting myself shift what I need to shift to keep going forward. I’m getting so excited about where I’m seeing this book going.