S.M. Butler's Blog, page 9

I’m having so much fun with this serial. And it’s interesting sharing my process with my Patreon supporters. They get to see all the messy stuff before I clean it up for public consumption. I find myself cringing a lot, but they all seem to like seeing this glimpse into my brain.

Here’s a quick list of all the published parts of the serial up to this point.



Part 1 (which is visible to everyone, regardless of whether they are patrons or not)Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5

I need to go record my Friday morning podcast for Patreon supporters, so expect that at some point today as well. And then today consists of writing on the novella for the Reapers series, writing on Project Royal (which I really haven’t talked about much, but it’s because it’s still in the very beginning stages) and starting to plan out revisions for Reapers 3. I’ve had enough distance from it since I finished it at the beginning of the month. It’s time to get to work on making it better.

At some point, I will work on Story Nerd Studio stuff but it’s not really a high priority today. I just want to sit down, catch up on Patreon rewards, and do some writing. And maybe run the laundry while I’m doing this stuff.

We’ll see about that last one…

It’s been a good week, y’all. I mean, I haven’t written since Tuesday, but still it’s been a good week…

The Writing…

So if you read the last writing update, I mentioned that I was super close to finishing the zero draft of Reapers 3 and that a surprise novella came out of it. I’m really excited about it because it was supposed to be part of the Reapers 3 book, but the story didn’t end up tying in with the main story as I’d originally intended. But I really liked that subplot and didn’t want to completely trash the more than 10k I’d written on it. So it’s sitting in a new Scrivener file and I’m going to sit down and fill in the holes and such this next week.

Over on Patreon…

I put out the State of the Suz on Patreon for June this week. It’s a little later than I’d planned on doing it, but I kind of like putting it out during the first week of the month after the month it was for. It’s a good reflection time for me, so probably look for that to be the regular from now on.

I did a Patreon-cast as well, so if you like to listen to me ramble on about everything I’ve probably already said at some point, check that out as well. I don’t edit myself beyond some minor audio tweaks to make it sound better so it gets interesting when I record these from time to time. LOL.

Bloodlines Part 4 is out! I’m really loving this story. It’s so much fun to write. $1 a month helps to support that serial, so if you are able, please consider hitting up my Patreon page and subscribing. I’m working on ideas to post in addition to Bloodlines, but that will probably be in future stretch goals as the page grows. I’m trying to keep it simple for now.

Ze YouTubez

I put out my Q3 goals video this week. I meant to record next week’s video too, but for some reason, I just haven’t gotten to it yet. Maybe it’s because, on the heels of finishing Reapers 3, I’m suddenly overcome with the procrastination bug… I don’t know. Any way it goes, I at least got one video out almost on time. LOL.

I think that’s all for this week

I probably forgot something. That wouldn’t surprise me. LOL.

I’ve been making an effort to post on Instagram at least once a day, so follow me there if you’re on there for other randomness I don’t post here. It’s more of a by-the-moment sort of place for me rather than me collecting my thoughts and writing longer posts here. I’d love to see you there.

I’m headed over to my parents’ today for swimming and food, probably not at the same time, but I wanted to drop in and send this post today to wish you guys a Happy Fourth of July if you’re American…

Well, I suppose it’s still the fourth of July everywhere else too, but it’s not capitalized. LOL. Happy Independence Day, America.

I will be watching Independence Day later on tonight, because what’s this holiday without Will Smith kicking alien ass? It’s like Christmas without Die Hard. That’s what.

Hope you guys have an amazing day! I posted a YouTube video today, in which I talk about goals and what I’d planned for myself and what I am planning. Check it out between the fireworks today.

As always, be safe. Don’t look the fireworks in the eye (because you know, they have eyes….) and don’t stand too close to them.

Happy Fourth of July!

My favorite part of the zero drafting process is when I get to that tipping point where I pass the Swampy Middle, take a left at Albuquerque, and start rolling down the hill towards the End of the Book.

Like many writers, I’m sure, I have an issue with the middle of the book. People have suggested lots of things… skipping around, adding in a substory, but nothing seems to work except powering through it. The middle trudge is when I do 500 word days instead of 5000. Because it takes everything in my brain to power through that damn middle.

Which I suppose is what makes coming out on the other side so sweet. I start that downhill slide with an extra 1000 words for the day. The next, I’m tacking on 2000 words to that draft. And pretty soon, I’m hitting those record 10k days several days in a row.

I’ve probably got about another 15-20k to write on Reapers 3. I’m kind of excited to be done with it. I know there’s a lot of revision to be done, but right now, it feels better than Her Last Kill did, so I’m actually hopeful that the revisions won’t include rewriting the last half of the book like the last one. There’s still a lot of work to do… there’s no denying that. But revisions are easier when you don’t have to change the basic structure of the book’s story.

Just sayin.

I kind of like doing these weekend roundups of what I’ve done this week because it reminds me that either I did a lot or I did nothing and I should feel ashamed of my lazy ass. Either way, it’s a good look back at how the week went for me.

Ze YouTubes

I posted another YouTube video. This week is a Plan with Me for July. I was so tired when I was editing that I put August in the title line and didn’t notice it until after it was live. But I’m not fixing it. It can stay that way forever.

On the blog…

I did nothing. That’s okay. I’m going to fix that this week. Writing update is coming up in a couple of days.

After I do the Patreon stuff I’m behind on.

Speaking of Patreon…

Part 3 of Bloodlines 1 is up. I need a title for Bloodlines 1. I can’t keep calling it that. It’s weird. So, that’s now on the task list. A title for the first Bloodlines book. Maybe I’ll do a poll on Instagram, but that would require having options. So yeah, “brainstorm Bloodlines 1 titles” is now on the task list for this week.

What’s on the list for this week?

Reapers 3. Gonna finish the zero draft if it murders me. And it might.

Reading. I’m on a royal romance binge. Found some really great ones by asking Facebook peeps.

Oh, and my succulents are doing well. I did not kill them yet.

I think that’s all that went on this week. I wrote a ton of words on Reapers 3 this week. I’m pretty happy with my productivity. I jsut need to keep myself focused and not get distracted by that cute little plotbunny in the corner…

I did some things this week. So, I thought I’d just catch you up in case you haven’t been following my adventures on Instagram or Facebook.

First, the YouTubes.

My #authortubenewbie video is up. Check it out, hit that Thumbs Up button and the Subscribe button. Help a girl out that is just starting to be serious about posting on YouTube.

Over on Patreon…

I posted the second installment of Bloodlines. Unlike the first one, it is locked to Patreon members only now, but you can read it and future installments by supporting me over there. I’ll be posting weekly starting in July, so that’s four installments, plus a mostly weekly podcast, and a monthly business letter for only $1 a month.

And I am now a succulent plant owner.

I’ve been trying to find a way to get some greenery into my apartment without bringing in high maintenance plants that need water and food a lot. Because I’ll feel bad if I kill them. Someone told me even I couldn’t kill a succulent. Sooooo of course… Challenge Accepted.

But look how cute they are right now. They’re so little. I wanted to name them, but someone told me if I named them and I killed them, it would be murder.

Nobody wants that…

They did survive the repotting, so there’s that. Maybe there’s hope for me…

I did some things this week. So, I thought I’d just catch you up in case you haven’t been following my adventures on Instagram or Facebook.

First, the YouTubes.

My #authortubenewbie video is up. Check it out, hit that Thumbs Up button and the Subscribe button. Help a girl out that is just starting to be serious about posting on YouTube.

Over on Patreon…

I posted the second installment of Bloodlines. Unlike the first one, it is locked to Patreon members only now, but you can read it and future installments by supporting me over there. I’ll be posting weekly starting in July, so that’s four installments, plus a mostly weekly podcast, and a monthly business letter for only $1 a month.

And I am now a succulent plant owner.

I’ve been trying to find a way to get some greenery into my apartment without bringing in high maintenance plants that need water and food a lot. Because I’ll feel bad if I kill them. Someone told me even I couldn’t kill a succulent. Sooooo of course… Challenge Accepted.

But look how cute they are right now. They’re so little. I wanted to name them, but someone told me if I named them and I killed them, it would be murder.

Nobody wants that…

They did survive the repotting, so there’s that. Maybe there’s hope for me…

A lot of times I compare it to being in the honeymoon phase of a book. But maybe “first date” is more accurate. Everything is new. You’re learning about the characters, the story. All the ideas are bright and shiny. But it’s still awkward because you really just don’t know the book like you want to. You’re excited to get to know it, to learn about it, to create this relationship between you and your fiction.

Okay, maybe I’m anthropomorphizing it just a tad. But you get the idea.

I’ve been working on Reapers 3 this month. It’s been a little slow, even though the ideas are flowing and I keep needing to pull over into parking lots to jot plot notes down. It also turned out to be more complicated than I expected. I have three sub-stories within the main plot itself. This was part of my plan to not forget about the guys that already had their HEA or HFN. I wanted them to be real characters and continue their growth as people in their own right. Also, I needed certain things to happen outside of the main story that eventually would tie into the main story and I needed a way to do that. LOL.

This is really hard to talk about without giving away things in the book that I haven’t announced yet. Haha. But I really need to make sure I’ve got a decent handle on the book before I start blasting out promises on the Interwebs. I will say that I’m planning to have this book out in the fall, say October-ish, but it might end up November before it’s ready. Revisions and editing usually take up the bulk of the process for me and it’s not something I’m willing to rush, so while that’s the goal timeframe, it’s not a promise. Just a goal.

Just out of curiosity, which part do you like hearing about the most when you follow an author? If you’re a writer, what part of the process is the most fun for you?

You guys know I have a bit of a planner obsession. That whole obsession grew from my love of lists. I’ve tried a hundred different planners, of all sizes and prices. But the thing is, I made it difficult on myself, because all I really need is a place to list shit.

That’s why I found bullet journaling so effective for me. But I got caught up in all the whole “make the spreads pretty” thing and my minimalist approach didn’t quite fit that bill. Also, I’m lazy and I didn’t want to have to make spreads every month/week/whatever.

Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to talk about. This is more like a venting post than anything. I discovered that when I don’t sit down with my planner every day when I get up and make that day’s To Do List in my Hobonichi Cousin, I forget so much, or I flail around all unfocused like from task to task and generally don’t get anything done.

But with my planning for the SNS website launch, and recording new podcasts (which will be out soon) and launching regular content for my YouTube channel… I can’t afford to let myself flail. Above all, my writing comes first, so these are all tasks that come after I finish my words for the day. But I’m scatterbrained, so by the time I finish my words for the day, I forget half of what I need to finish for everything else.

So I have a new routine, which seems to be effective even during my work week when I’m working overnights.

I get up for the day, make coffee. While that’s going, I sit down and look at my weekly spread.

I have four categories on my weekly. Publishing/Writing, Story Nerd Studio, Content Creation, and Admin. At the beginning of the week, I brain dump everything I need to get done (which I use my monthly goals as a jumping off point, see what I haven’t accomplished yet and break those goals down into manageable tasks). Then I pick the most urgent of the tasks on that weekly, or what I think I’ll have time to finish, and I list them out on the daily page for that day.

A section of my weekly spread.

I usually overtask, meaning I write too many of them down, but I kind of adopted some aspects of bullet journaling into this planning style. I have checkboxes for each task. I’ll color in the ones I finish, but if I don’t get to it, I’ll write it on the next day, and put an arrow through the checkbox to denote that I migrated it to the next day.

I’ve been doing my planning this way for about a month straight now, and it’s really working for me. I’ve been more focused. I’ve been getting the words in. I feel good about my productivity lately. And I’m not feeling overwhelmed or overtasked (which is usually what happens when I make too much work for myself). The best part is that I see things moving forward.

My daily word count is still lower than I’d like, though it’s steadily rising the more time I stay on this routine. I still might not make that June 30 deadline for Reapers 3, but the thing is… it’s a self-imposed deadline. I can always change it, give myself a little more time if needed.

I don’t like to, because that means I have to shift other deadlines, but it’s possible to do. I really wanted to get this book written this month, because I’ve already shifted everything a month. I’d hoped to get this book out in September, but if I don’t get it done this month, I’m probably going to have to push that goal back to October or later. I need to allow enough time to do the revisions and send to Editor Lady, which reminds me, need to set dates with her as well. Hehe. *adds to To Do List*

Also on my To Do List this week? A title for Reapers 3. Because I can’t just keep calling it Reapers 3. LOL.

What do you have going on this week?

I know I’ve been beating this horse to death lately, but this is what happens when something sticks in my head. It’s all I can think about.

Sometimes, I find it really hard to start a book. That blank page is daunting. It’s so… white. And bright.

And it’s worse when it’s the next book in a series.

Which is where I’m at.

Reapers 3.

I kinda knew what this book was going to be. I knew what I call the “A” story, which is the series arc. I had no idea who the hero and shero would be. I toyed with the idea of the secondary couple from the second book, but… they’re not ready for a book of their own yet. They have a long way to go. Stubborn fuckers.

I finally picked a couple. Well, I picked the hero. Then I had to figure out who I could pair him with that would bring both the best and the worst out in him. She’s new. She’s not been in any of the books yet. I think bringing in fresh blood into an ongoing series is important. Otherwise you get character inbreeding and no one wants that.

And yes, I just made that up, but I kind of like that term. Character inbreeding.

Anyway, these two make my “B” story, which is the focus story of each book. I’m feeling pretty good about my choice here, but as with all things, I’ll find out if I’m write once I get into writing them for real. Right now, they’re new and fun and I don’t know everything yet.

So naturally, because I need to start this book like weeks ago, I’m procrastinating. Because that’s what I do. But I’m pretty sure it’s still percolating in my head, even though I’m trying not to think about it. I’m sure about that because it hit me hard at work the other night. Like I had a light bulb moment and I spent like 20 minutes writing out the idea that hit me in the noggin.

So like I said… I like this exploratory phase of a book. I like figuring things out… But trying to actually start the book? I’ll procrastinate that until I don’t have any excuse left.

It’s not that I don’t want to write it. Maybe it’s just my subconscious. Like it knows I’m not ready to dive into the story and is making me wait until I have a better plan. Who knows?

This is also probably why I’m writing this post right now instead of working on the book. #procrastinationstation