Category: Writing Life

Updates August 29- September 01

Hello,

Thanks for the likes and follows.

Photo by Cup of Couple on Pexels.com

The quick recap of last week went like this. Monday was my birthday. I was not ready to be a year older and slower. However, my superpower is resilience. I will continue until I get to where I want to be, provided haters don’t destroy the world. Tuesday was my sister’s birthday. She is 12 years older than me, she had a special birthday party. I attended because they had a cake for me too. The rest of the week went as planned, I went to work. Relatives came up from Georgia to celebrate my sister’s day. Over the weekend, I drank more than I planned to and was typically hung over. Fortunately, I have recovered enough to write this out. There were times I would have been horribly embarrassed but this time I am just unsettled. The silver lining, I didn’t hurt myself and I didn’t hurt anybody.

In writing news, I spent most of last week, dealing with fringe issues on Connection Lost. It feels like it is developing into something more and I am working on it. I want by the end of September to have the roughest draft ever but it will be complete 25-30k words. I always stop short at 10k and that is not good. Because of this, I have pulled out the outlines and gone over them again. For clarity, there is a GMC outline and a line outline. I have not decided on which was better. What I did notice is that both outlines were incomplete. I don’t get into the plotter/panster quandry. When I have thought about it, I am somewhere in the middle and neither title has helped me complete a draft. For next week I will be working on the outlines, the 5 W’s and 1 H’s, the primary plot line, subplots, major twists, and resolutions.

It might feel like I am starting at zero, but if that is what has to happen, it will be done. This story has been with me for five years. Many might think I should give it up and try something else and I have but I always come back to this one. Perseverance is another superpower I have to cultivate. I have written about it before to no avail. I have not given up on the other ideas, I just want this one to be complete, edited, and published on Amazon or Kobo or someplace else.

I can’t write about what I am reading or watching. A lot of media that has passed my eyes have blended together and not what good it would do. The few things that have stood out, My Friend Superman on Max, Extra Credits on YouTube, and various campaigns by Critical Role. They have a lot of content it is hard to know where to start. Extra Credits has content that is 11 years old or more but still good for creating. I got into watching Critical Role on YouTube b/c of the Legend of Vox Machina on Amazon, not Stranger Things. No shade on that series, I just never went back to it after season 1. There are many good series that I have put on pause because as a writer, I decided to focus on my own instead of diving deeper into someone else’s content.

That is the goal for this week and most of September. When November comes around I will be dusting off another Novel Concept Outline and do my best to complete that draft in 30 days. This story will be in the editing phase.

This is all I have to write about my life and writing life. I hope it is entertaining and inspirational. I hope you are all doing well. Remember to be kind.

End

Updates April 10-14

Hello,

Thank you for the likes and follows.

For authenticity’s sake, I will attempt to be honest about what I did last week. It was an uneventful day-job week. The client was reasonable, but I wanted to get home. I had loosed out my hair and made an appointment with my braider for the weekend. I didn’t think about Easter and my Holy Day is not Sunday and my braider is Muslim, so she didn’t mind either. My daughter has been out of school for 5 years now. The holidays come, go, and still feel like ordinary days. So yes, instead of scrambling to get this post complete on Sunday, I was making myself look pretty. I don’t regret it. Hair care is self-care which equals wellness. Consider this a late edition. 

I am still behind on Connection Lost. I may have written in previous entries that I didn’t see myself using writing AI for any reason.  That bridge was crossed last week, and I probably fell over a little bit.  I signed up to Sudowrite from the recommendation of author and podcaster, Joanna Penn.  A tutor from Sudowrite suggested new users try out their ideas Chat GPT.   I think both AI’s services use the same program.  Disclaimer I may be writing this wrong.   It was a way to refine the wording to get the outcome we most likely want.  I set guidelines for myself.  Joanna Penn and other writers have written up an AI use guideline for Authors, who wonder about the ethical use of machines. I am not sure how other authors use the services but for now I am only using them for outlines and character profiles.  It was interesting because I had to agree with author Leslye Penelope, who also spoke about using AI about two weeks ago on her podcast Imaginary Friends.  They algorithm doesn’t write anything for you or doesn’t take the narrative in the path you want.  It just gives you ideas and other things to consider.  So, I workshopped some ideas, my term for what I was doing, two or three contemporary romances and two speculative fiction stories.  Now I gathered a bit of data and eventually I will have to pick and choose what I want to keep and what I want to toss.  In comparison I like the Chatgpt a little bit better than Sudowrite, Chatgpt is a language AI, it told me this a million times when I asked it what it wanted to do or what it could do.  Whatever I use I plan to add a disclaimer to my stories when I publish them.  I think that would be honest.  Most of the outlines generated were basic.  Something that I should have come up with and most likely thought about but didn’t because I was waiting for a better idea from inspiration.  I am tired of waiting and willing to try other things.  

In reading news, I started to re-listen to Leigh Bardugo Shadow and Bone book 1.  I watched two episodes of the series on Netflix.  I don’t remember when I bought the audiobook.  It is a young adult or new adult series and I have stated my thoughts on those a long time ago.  I did like it and planned to continue with the series I think but life and a budget got in the way.  Netflix gave Shadow and Bone a second season so that is good for the fans that like it.   This was my way to catch up with everything.   Re-listening or rereading a book is always interesting, you are anticipating the parts you loved and find new aspects of the story that you didn’t pay attention to before.  It is always fascinating.  I want to have that skill for my audience. 

The goal for this week is to work on the priority writing projects, Connection Lost and possibly Gothic.  There is a scene playing out in my mind that I want to explore on paper.  This may not have been mentioned as a project for the quarter, but the short story Dark Science Manifesto will also be a writing project for this quarter.   This Wednesday there will not be a review just a random post on my thoughts.  I am on the fence about what to review a single book or a series.  I am open to suggestions.  I will explain more about this subject on Wednesday.  

That is all for now. I hope these words find you all doing well.  Remember to be kind and open to all positive opportunities. 

End.

P.S. For those of you doing Camp Nanowrimo, You can reach your goals.