Writing Check In- June 2020

I’ve been wanting to dedicate more time to writing. My husband had the suggestion of making a monthly feature to talk about my writing and how it’s going. It helps keep me honest(ish) and lets you all know when my masterpiece will be released to the world!

Again, not much to report. I’m currently reading a book about writing, Fiction Writer’s Workshop by Josip Novakovich. I thought this might inspire me to try some of the writing exercises or to do some editing to my existing works but I’ve got nothing. I’m not even getting ideas for new books. I’m reading it slowly and filing the information away for ‘later,’ whenever that might happen to be.

With triathlon season in full swing, I anticipated not having a lot of time for writing, submitting, or editing right now. I didn’t anticipate a complete lack of interest in writing, either. I’m not sure what will finally light a fire under me and get me writing again. Anyone got a match?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

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Writing Check In- May 2020

I’ve been wanting to dedicate more time to writing. My husband had the suggestion of making a monthly feature to talk about my writing and how it’s going. It helps keep me honest(ish) and lets you all know when my masterpiece will be released to the world!

This will be short. No change since last month. I haven’t been motivated to write at all. I’ve started my triathlon training routine so I have even less time to put toward writing if I’d wanted to. It seems this goal is going to get pushed off for now at least.

I have to wonder, too, how much good submissions would do. Are agents still reviewing submissions? I know movies have been delayed and I have to imagine that some books have been delayed as well. Without the ability to do book tours, releases will likely not draw as many initial sales as they used to. So would agents clog their pipeline even more? Doubtful.

I’m going to try reading a book about writing soon and see if that helps push me forward. I’ve found that reading books about craft periodically will push me to write at times. I’m hoping it works. You’d think I have more time with quarantine but I’m finding the opposite.

Stay safe, everyone. And until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Writing Check In- April 2020

I’ve been wanting to dedicate more time to writing. My husband had the suggestion of making a monthly feature to talk about my writing and how it’s going. It helps keep me honest(ish) and lets you all know when my masterpiece will be released to the world!

Well, this isn’t pretty. I’m not even going to pretend things are going well here. I haven’t written and I haven’t submitted anything in well over a month now. I wanted to put this topic off until the end of the month but I’ll start on it now. Corona’s got me down.

I want to start off by saying I’m safe. And I’m lucky to be working from home in a critical industry so I have a job. But, like the majority of people, I’m stuck inside my apartment for the majority of the day. I try to get out once a day to pick up food or go for a run but I’m staying inside. And it’s not fun for me. My husband described me as a wanderer by nature; I don’t do well at home for long periods of time. I’m having to adopt some coping strategies. And they’re not writing.

I’m exercising at least once a day. I’m drinking plenty of tea and water. I’m rewatching favorite movies. I’m tackling cleaning and craft projects that have been lingering. I’m not writing. I’m reading. I’m talking to friends on Zoom. I’m doing laundry. I’m not writing. I’m doing things that are part of my routine and things that bring me joy. Right now, writing isn’t one of them. And I’m okay with that.

Maybe I’ll get into the mood in the next month. Maybe not. I’m supposed to start training for triathlon national championships later in April. I’ll bike and run when I can but there’s no swimming in sight. I haven’t (yet) resorted to my bathtub. I’m thinking about it. I’m going to concentrate on what I can control. This stage of writing, releasing the story to be judged by agents, doesn’t make me feel like I’m in control. I’m going to pass on it until I’m ready to give up some control over my life. I understand that might be a while. And I’m okay with that.

Stay safe, everyone. And until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Writing Check In- March 2020

I’ve been wanting to dedicate more time to writing. My husband had the suggestion of making a monthly feature to talk about my writing and how it’s going. It helps keep me honest(ish) and lets you all know when my masterpiece will be released to the world!

I didn’t make a lot of progress last month. I submitted to one more agency and I heard back from them late last week that they’re going to pass. So I’ve heard back from everywhere I’ve submitted to and they’ve all passed so far.

I’m trying to make a plan to move forward. I think I want to submit to ten agencies before I regroup and make some changes. I’m at five so far. So my goal for the next two months will be to submit to five more agencies. Once I’ve heard back from them all, I’ll see if I can workshop my pitch, cover letter, summary, sample pages, and anything else I’ve been asked for. Maybe I’m missing something obvious. For the record, my husband did read over it so I didn’t do this without any other eyes.

This is my last ‘calm’ month before triathlon training kicks into high gear. I know that will slow down my writing until August so these updates may become a bit shorter.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Writing Check In- February 2020

I’ve been wanting to dedicate more time to writing. My husband had the suggestion of making a monthly feature to talk about my writing and how it’s going. It helps keep me honest(ish) and lets you all know when my masterpiece will be released to the world!

I heard back from the first agency I submitted to and, unfortunately, they’ve passed. Oh well, I didn’t expect the first one to stick. I wish I’d gotten some feedback from them, but no. I wrote back thanking them for their time and moved on.

The submission marathon continues! I’ve submitted it to three more agencies. I heard back from one almost immediately and they passed. I must have hit that agent at just the right time of the morning! Another wrote back that she passed and I was feeling courageous and asked her what made her say no. No response yet, but I’d love to get some substantial feedback.

I’ve changed my pitch letter a little, too. I added more of my elevator pitch which has intrigued some people in the past. I’m hoping that the new hook might get agents to read a little further. Fingers crossed.

I’m wondering how soon I need to seriously consider going to a writers’ conference. I know it’s a big expense, but it might be the information I need to really move forward with this project. It could give me an insight into where I’m falling short and maybe some more details on how I could edit in a different way or look for agents in new places.

The next agency I plan to pitch to has a lot of information for writers on their website. I’m exploring it as much as I can before I submit. So this next one might take a while, but I think it will help me make some positive changes.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Writing Check In- January 2020

I’ve been wanting to dedicate more time to writing. My husband had the suggestion of making a monthly feature to talk about my writing and how it’s going. It helps keep me honest(ish) and lets you all know when my masterpiece will be released to the world!

A short but important update here. I’m so glad to say that I finally submitted my manuscript! I’m not going to say where, but I looked up this agency and followed them for quite a while before I decided to submit to them. They’ve had it for a few weeks but I know with the holiday that it might be a while before I’ll hear anything back. I have another agency picked out to submit to next and I’m just getting my submission requirements ready to send over to them. I hope to get this up to five soon and then wait for some responses before I decide what to do next.

My NaNo is sitting around, awaiting the time when it will get torn apart and edited. I think there needs to be a subplot that I’m not ready to put together and I’m still trying to find. The book moves really fast because the main plot is the only thing I was concentrating on when I wrote it and I realized it wasn’t enough when I finished the plotline before 50,000 words. I’ll keep thinking about my characters and more layers that could be added to them. I’m sure something else will come to me.

So it’s submissions and editing in my near future. Not overly exciting but I’m looking forward to doing some solid editing again and having more of a plan around it this time than I did for my 20s novel.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Writing Check In- December

One of my goals for this year was to write more. My husband had the suggestion of making a monthly feature to talk about my writing and how it’s going. It helps keep me honest(ish) and lets you all know when my masterpiece will be released to the world!

This should be quite the update! If you haven’t seen previous posts, I’m happy to inform you that I’m a NaNoWriMo 2019 winner! I finished at 8:30PM on November 30th so I pushed it to the end but I made it. I actually ran out of story to tell and had to go back and add a scene. Not my favorite way to do things, but it worked out okay. That one needs some serious editing so I’ll set it aside for a few months and concentrate on getting my 20s novel submitted as I’d planned on before.

I haven’t thought about the 20s novel in a month and I think that was good for me. I got some much-needed distance and I feel like I can look at my pitch (the last thing pending) and make one or two changes before I send it off to this first agent. I understand it’s just the first, but it’s a bit stressful to get through the first one! I have to be ready for the rejections and no-responses but I’ve been through it with short stories before. I know with a novel, it will be more painful, but I’m not as scared now that I have the second novel under my belt.

I’m glad I did NaNo. I needed it right now with how freaked out I am about the first novel. Now I can say it’s a series? But it’s not? I’ll find a way to describe it eventually.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

NaNoWriMo: Day 30 (2019)

IT’S OVER!!!

Today’s word count: 2,750
(Yesterday’s word count: 918)
Total word count: 50,010

Yesterday was a bit of a letdown writing-wise. Our first flight was too short for me to justify getting the laptop out and the layover wasn’t long enough either. Plus, I had to eat. I got it out on our second flight but my batter is terrible right now and only lasted twenty minutes. Plus, when I was checking to see that I had 15 minutes left, my laptop shut down on its own and I LOST A PAGE! Yeah, devastating. So I had more than 918 yesterday, but it’s all lost now. Today I wrote in a few spurts so I didn’t get worn out and knew I could finish. It’s a little later in the day than I would like, but it feels SO GOOD.

As expected, I finished the story shy of 50,000 words. I went back in and added a scene during a slow part of the plot so it all worked out in the end but parts of it feel a bit too strung out. I think this is a rather short story so it needs a subplot and I have some ideas for what it could be.

Tomorrow I start getting caught up on blog posts, a different writing marathon. I have so many to do, it’s a bit daunting. But then again, so is 50,00 words.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

NaNoWriMo: Day 28 (2019)

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m thankful NaNo is almost over.

Today’s word count: 1,215
(Yesterday’s word count: 1,643)
((The day before’s word count: 3,424))
Total word count: 46,342

Well, I think I’ll make it. Today is going to be slow because of the holiday (I’m about to leave for dinner) and tomorrow will be slow because we’re going home. I’ll be optimistic about how much work I can get done on the planes and at the airports, but it’s optimism at best. I’ll have to plan on finishing up on Saturday once I’m home.

My worst fear is realized and I’m out of story to tell. I’ve got an epilogue to go but it’s not a 4k word epilogue. So I’m adding things I hadn’t intended to add. It’s going fine, but it’s not the story I planned on. I’m pretty confident a lot of it will get cut in my first round of editing.

We’ll see how much I can get done at the airports tomorrow. I’d love to finish and be DONE! But we’ll see. My last airport day was amazing. I’ll hope tomorrow can be just as good.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

NaNoWriMo: Day 25 (2019)

It’s a race to the end now! I think I can do this.

Today’s word count: 962
(Yesterday’s word count: 945)
Total word count: 40,060

So these past two days weren’t great, but they were OK. I’m less than 2k off pace right now and with how much I’ve been doing with my family, I’m ok with that. I think I can still make it to the end. It might be tight, but I can do it.

I’ve decided to start my conclusion. I think I’ll end early so I’m going into a bit more detail than I planned on, including more conversations than I had planned on, and trying to stretch it out. I can always delete some later, but I’ve got to get to 50k. It feels very obtainable now so I think I’ll do it.

I’m hoping to get some writing done in the evening. We have lot going on tomorrow because my grandma is turning 100! It’s going to be really fun and I’m looking forward to it.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!