P.H. Solomon's Blog, page 316

This is the beginning of a new feature on Archer’s Aim – Fantasy Authors Unplugged. I hope to frequently share an interview with a fantasy author. If you have authors to suggest and/or questions you’d like to see answered then leave a comment or send me an email. If you are a fantasy author and would like an interview please let me know and we’ll plan one that fits your schedule.

Today’s feature fantasy author is Autumn M. Birt who has several fantasy novel to her name.

1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your books?

I am a conservationist, adventure traveler, and writer who lives in Maine in a small cabin I built along with my husband. It’s located in a woodlot and is a quiet and inspiring place to be… especially when I’m stuck next to the fire during a snow storm!

I love writing and have written off and on throughout periods of my life, but only started taking it seriously about four years ago when I self-published my first book, Born of Water. I made a lot of mistakes! Which is one of the reasons I blog about writing and the lessons I’ve learned. Everything from editing, that you need an editor, to methods of using POV to build tension.

Now writing is very much a part of my life. I have dedicated daily writing time and this summer signed on with a small indie publisher, Creativia. And in June of 2014, I published my fifth book, which was also the final book in my epic fantasy series the Rise of the Fifth Order. Finishing a series felt as big, if not bigger, than finding a publisher.

 

Born of Water, Rule of Fire, and Spirit of Life make the Rise of the Fifth Order trilogy. It is an epic fantasy adventure series on elemental magic aimed toward young adults, though I’m a young-at-heart adult and very much love them!

The description for book 1, Born of Water is: In the buried archives of the Temple of Dust may lie the secret to defeating the Curse, a creature which seeks to destroy 16-year old Ria for the forbidden gifts she possesses. But it is from among the ranks of those who control the Curse where Ria will find her best chance of success.

Only the Priestess Niri can save Ria from the forces that hunt her, if Niri doesn’t betray the girl first. Along with Ria comes Ty and his sister, Lavinia, both bound to defend Ria from the Church of Four Orders. However, Ty has been living a life less than honest and keeping it from his sister. To survive a journey that takes them across the breadth of their world, the four must learn to trust each other before pursuit from the Church and Ty’s troubled past find them.

Welcome to the mythical world of Myrrah, ruled by the Church of Four Orders – Fire, Earth, Water, and Air.

Born of Water is perma-free on Amazon too, which is a great way to introduce readers to the series and my writing.

2. Is there an inspiration for the book?

Absolutely, though it is a little odd! Two ideas combined to create the foundation idea to Born of Water. The first was a short story idea bouncing around in my head about an executive, who was also an earth elemental, attending a conference. She sees a girl with abilities like hers but different. It was set in the modern world and I never wrote a word of it. I had no idea what happened after that brief description and no motivation to find out.

While I was pondering what to do with that, I was also frequently staring at a massive painting of a mediterranean city that hung in the bathroom, of all places, at my work. Wondering what life was like in that city was easier than worrying about deadlines. And one day, I wondered what the characters from the short story would be like if that was where they lived. That is how the city of Mirocyne and the characters of Niri and Ria were created.

3. What draws you to this genre?

I’ve read epic fantasy since I stumbled upon a short story of Pern written by Anne McCaffery. I love the genre for its magic and adventure. I love to travel in real life and see new cultures while learning about past civilizations. Now I pour that interest into my writing, trying to balance creating a realistic world and civilizations with the action – along with a frequent touch of romance.

For those reasons, epic fantasy became the first genre in which I wrote, but it is hardly the last. I’m also very attracted to dark fantasy and dystopian. I’ve read sci fi for a long time too, and have a few ideas for stories along those lines too.

4. What do you think of “trailers” for books?

I have a love/hate relationship with book trailers. I don’t spend much time perusing the internet, Facebook, or YouTube. But I know some potential readers do. So I’ve contemplated doing a series trailer.

But researching options and seeing so many trailers with static images set to music along with a few lines of text… I’m just not excited by them. I’ve only seen one or two exceptional book trailers, and they were amazing videos that really drew you in. And they took some time. And possibly some money. But there were amazing.

So I’ve set the bar pretty high to what I would want to see if I did a book trailer. And right now it is out of my budget for both dollars and time. But I play around with notes on a script and maybe, maybe I’ll do one at some point.

5. How long on average does it take you to write a book?

Born of Water took me three years. Seriously. I wrote it, took a few novel writing/creative writing courses, joined a writer’s group, re-wrote it, re-edited it, and then self-published it. Eventually, I edited it again even after that!

The next two books in the series took around seven months, but there were a lot of breaks too (I was building the house!) and then editing took a few more. But as I agonized over finishing the last book in the series and saying goodbye to the characters, I started writing the series that is my current WIP.

This had two great advantages: I was excited to keep writing as the series ended (so it was less painful letting go), and I found that writing two books at once actually increased my pace! When I’m stuck on one, I switch to the other.

I now keep a main WIP in which I write at least three chapters a week, a side WIP that usually sees a half chapter a week, and edit a finished book at the same time. Plus I blog. And have a job. And husband, hobbies… really, I have no idea how it all works! Somehow the chaos that is my life continues and is really productive (hence the no surfing the internet!).

Right now my pace is to finish the first draft of a main WIP in four months or less (not counting lots of pondering, world building, and character development that comes way before I start writing!). I’m about two weeks from finishing a book that I started writing in early October, and a vacation and the holidays slowed me down. After that, editing can still be another three months. But since I have a small backlog of finished work that is being handled by my publisher, I think I’ll see the complete series I’m writing now published in 2015, which will be four books. Plus, potentially, the first of a new epic fantasy series.

Trust me, I think that sounds crazy too and would never set that as a goal for myself. It will double the number of my currently published books. BUT… I’m about to finish writing book 2 and it is only January. The first book, which is a prequel to the trilogy and consists of a series of short stories, is already with my publisher. And I’m about to finish the edits to book 1. As for the epic fantasy, I’m on chapter 12 out of around 40, and stuck at the moment as I finish edits. I think it might be ready to go by the fall, since it will become my primary WIP once I finish book 3 of my new series… which might be sometime around May? And I should be half done with it then, so… maybe an early fall release?? Five books, I don’t believe it so don’t hold me to it, but I’m keeping my toes crossed (can’t cross my fingers – I need them to type!)

6. Do you ever get writer’s block?

I definitely have periods where I get stuck or my writing slows, but I have yet to ever suffer from a prolonged lack of ideas and no writing (thank goodness!). Usually problems come from realizing I need to do more world building or understand the history involved with the story I’m writing, sometimes it stems from not liking the previous chapter or thinking that something is missing in the plot, and sometimes simply from not being able to think of a name for a place or person that fits. Seriously, the name thing screws me up a lot. But that is part of why I write two manuscripts (of different story lines) at once and edit a third. One of those three will not be stalled. And if it is… I’ll go read a book!

7. How do you think you’ve evolved creatively?

Now that is a tough question and so much harder to pick out. Everything about my writing style and method has evolved since I first wrote, and then rewrote, Born of Water. I went from full out pantser to a complete plotter with notes about EVERYTHING, to having a general plot and chapter outline and I pants what actually happens in each chapter.

But creativity is so much more than the method of how I write. That speaks to ideas and how I manifest them. And though I know I have grown as a writer, it is hard to describe how. I can say that as I started writing Spirit of Life, I itched to write a more ‘mature’ novel, one with harsher language, less optimism, and more serious consequences: basically a dark fantasy novel. I don’t think I could have tackled the maturity of my current WIP if I’d written it before the epic fantasy series, and I definitely know the events that take place in book 2 would have been beyond me even six months ago. This is very much a book I would have thought beyond my abilities. And now I’m nearly finished writing it. And that gives me a personal sense of accomplishment as well as enthusiasm to see where I’ll be in as little as a year. I’ve not even dreamed of the novels I’ll be writing three years from now. Goodness knows what they’ll be like!

8. What is the hardest thing about writing?

How consuming it can feel to want to take an idea that is in my mind and put it on paper (well, electronic letters). There are times I want to write like it is a drug. And as it does release endorphins, I’m sure it definitely does provide a kick! Fortunately, that drive isn’t there all the time or I’d never leave my desk, resulting in a job loss, failed marriage, and missing out on life in general. I love to write, but I also love to go camping, canoeing, hiking, cooking, spend time with family. Just every once in awhile I have to be reminded that I love those things too… And lets not talk about my recent vacation and the debate of leaving behind all of my writing for over two weeks. Talk about separation anxiety!

So the hardest thing about writing is that it is very much my passion. And that is a good thing, but it can be too much too. Especially when I’m trying to fit it in around a full time job, family, and other hobbies. Hopefully some day I’ll have more time to write. Until then, I try to keep perspective and everything balanced!

9. What’s your next project?

I’ve been hinting at this throughout the questions, lol! My current WIP is a trilogy titled Friends of my Enemy. It is dystopian/dark fantasy set in the years 2055 to 2069. The first release, Stories from the War, will be a set of eleven interrelated short stories that lead up to, and through, a world war that really alters living conditions and the politics of the planet. Book 1, After the War, takes place after the war has officially ended.

What I love about the story is that the foundation is about the friendships and relationships of a small group of people. A plot that sweeps the world along is pulled and twisted by love, hate, and expectations based on lovers, friends, family, and perceived enemies. And real enemies too! The story is easy to write because the intensity and passion of the characters keep everything moving. Which is good because the story is very complex, tacking everything from corrupt governments, flawed heroes, military battles, and strategic enemies. I’m writing the final chapters of book 2, Battle for Europe, now and am as happy as I’m surprised at where the story has taken me. I can’t wait to start book 3, The Fight for Peace!

And my side project is a new epic fantasy trilogy based in the same world, and with many of the same characters, as Rise of the Fifth Order. But how the characters convinced me to write that series is another post!

Media Links

Facebook (me)  Facebook (writing page)  Website

Writing Blog  Travel Blog  Guild of dreams (another blog I write for)

Twitter  Google+  Wattpad  Goodreads

Thanks to Autumn for being first in this feature.

Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Amazon, Blogging, Creativity, Fantasy, Fantasy Authors Unplugged, Fiction, Goodreads, Indie Publishing, Marketing, Self-publishing, Social Media, Writing

Jessica had always been haunted by the fear that the unthinkable had happened when she had been “made-up.” For as far back as she could remember, she had no sense of a Self. Her mother thought of her as the “perfect infant” because “she never wanted anything and she never needed anything.” As a child, just thinking of saying “I need” or “I want” left her feeling like an empty shell and that her mind was about to spin out of control. Terrified of who––or what––she was, she lived in constant dread over being found guilty of impersonating a human being.

Jeffrey Von Glahn, Ph.D., an experienced therapist with an unshakable belief in the healing powers of the human spirit, and Jessica, blaze a trail into this unexplored territory. As if she has, in fact, become an infant again, Jessica remembers in extraordinary detail events from the earliest days of her life––events that threatened to twist her embryonic humanness from its natural course of development. Her recollections are like listening to an infant who could talk describe every psychologically dramatic moment of its life as it was happening.

When Dr. Von Glahn met Jessica, she was 23. Everyone regarded her as a responsible, caring person – except that she never drove and she stayed at her mother’s when her husband worked nights.

For many months, Jessica’s therapy was stuck in an impasse. Dr. Von Glahn had absolutely no idea that she was so terrified over simply talking about herself. In hopes of breakthrough, she boldly asked for four hours of therapy a day, for three days a week, for six weeks. The mystery that was Jessica cracked open in dramatic fashion, and in a way that Dr. Von Glahn could never have imagined. Then she asked for four days a week – and for however long it took. In the following months, her electrifying journey into her mystifying past brought her ever closer to a final confrontation with the events that had threatened to forever strip her of her basic humanness.

This excerpt happened a few months after we had started meeting for several hours a day for four days a week. This session format was ideal fertile ground for the deepest feelings to emerge, which, of course, was exactly what we were hoping for. However, neither Jessica nor I ever imagined how deep that experience would be. In the earliest stages, Jessica’s initial reaction to the spontaneous emergence of deeper feeling was, of course, the most intense, and gradually became less so.

This session started as all of them did. She started talking about a recent event that, at least in my mind, didn’t seem all that upsetting. But as she continued talking, long buried feelings started to emerge. One day as this started to happen, she suddenly jumped up and rushed out of the living room, with cries of “I can’t do this!” trailing behind her.

I waited to see if she was going to stop in the kitchen, but I lost the sound of her steps somewhere on the other side of the house. The rattle of a coat hanger catapulted me out of my chair and sent me hurrying through the kitchen to the small utility room. Jessica had her shoes on. She was holding a light jacket in her hand.

I jumped past her and stood with my back against the outer door. The room was so small that I could easily have reached out and touched her with a single step in her direction. Her coat hung limply from her hand. Tears began to trickle out of her eyes. I raised my arms for her to tumble forward, but she stood in place.

“Listen! Please! I can’t do this!” A few moments passed as I smiled at her, hoping she was receiving the warm vibes I was silently sending her way. Her coat fell to the floor. Then her hands slowly transformed themselves into tight fists, and she pressed them against the sides of her head. Fresh words came.

“I couldn’t make anyone love me! Not even my own mom!” Big tears ran down her face, and her body suddenly arched backward. She exclaimed, “If you can’t make your own mom love you…Ow! Ow!” She grasped her head in her hands and finished her agonized cry, “What kind of a person are you?” Instinctively, I nudged her shoulders with my fingers. She collapsed in my arms.

Jessica’s emotional upheavals over who she feared she was repeated themselves once or twice a week for about a month, each time diminishing in intensity. It took only a few of these sessions before she began to hear from other people that she was behaving differently. At a barbecue she had attended where she knew some of the people quite well, there were comments about how real she looked. One person actually said, “You look like a wanting person!”

Jessica had maneuvered her way through life by doing what was expected of her and never failed to do so! Everyone who knew her thought she was extremely responsible. How could they not? That was not the real Jessica, though. Despite how she appeared to others, that was the made-up Jessica with no inner self, capable only of wooden behavior.

Before, no one had been aware of the emotional storms brewing inside her. They had come out only when I was around. I understood why this was so, though I never stopped being amazed at how calm Jessica could appear to others, while being just the opposite with me. Now, however, people were becoming aware of the Jessica who had always been protectively hidden away.

The social gathering at the barbecue had been the occasion for the debut of “the new Jessica.” It had also shown how insidious the ill effects of deeply hurtful experiences can be. Throughout the evening, Jessica had tried hard to enjoy herself. She had chatted with many people, some of whom she had never met before. However, her conscious attempts to engage freely with others had triggered yet another layer of unresolved feelings. As she was telling me about the evening, she suddenly became very frightened and said, “I feel like I did something I wasn’t supposed to do.”

“What was that?” I quickly asked, having not a clue as to what she meant.

“Have a good time!” she answered and cried a little. The fact that she could state exactly what she was feeling, cry about it, and still recognize the experience as positive, impressed me. She was looking forward to her next social event.

PURCHASE LINKS:

“JESSICA: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN INFANT” by Jeffrey Von Glahn

CONTACT INFO:

Twitter:  @JeffreyVonGlahn

Website:

http://JeffreyVonGlahn.com

***This tour was sponsored by 4WillsPublishing.wordpress.com  To book your own tour, please contact us.***

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Filed under: Amazon, Blog Tour, Blogging, Goodreads, Indie Publishing, Jessica: Autobiography of an Infant, Marketing, Rave Review Book Club, Self-publishing, Social Media, Twitter, Writing Tagged: 4WillsPublishing, Blog Tour, Indie Publishing, Jessica: Autobiography of an Infant, Launch, Marketing, Rave Reviews Book Club, Self-publishing, Twitter, writing

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Scrivener has been a key component to improving my productivity this year. I’ve recently written about various uses for Scrivener such as blog posts, newsletters and even template email messages. Additionally, I’ve shared about using Scrivener templates including some resources for these. In my last post I shared about managing templates. In Part 4 I released my Author Platform Management template. A few posts pastin this series I indicated how I’ll use Scrivener more in the coming year. In my most recent edition I revealed how I’ll approach my increased usage. Today, I’ll reveal a new template and I’m planning another how-to post next week as well as another addition to the Author Platform Management template.

I recently had a Twitter conversation with someone who read how I’m using Scrivener more this year. She expressed her interest in the software with a retweet. I noticed that she was, among several things, a reviewer.

What ensued was a short conversation about how she might use Scrivener – as a reviewer. I hadn’t thought of it previously but what another great way to make use of this software. Some people do short reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, etc. But some people review more seriously than others. The Binder is a great way to manage numerous reviews.

Screenshot: Book Review Template

Imagine reviewing lots of books but being confused as to what you’ve done already. With Scrivener you could easily track them and schedule your reviews. What an improvement over individual files if you used a single project for each year.

Well that gave me another idea for a template – reviews. It works much like those for newsletters or blogs but I’ve added some specifics that I imagine serious reviewers might need. I’ve include a rudimentary binder organization and a calendar of schedules as well as tracking. Again, it’s free to download. Feel free to make your own suggestions and I’ll be happy to update and share a newer version.

What other ways can you think of using Scrivener? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Also, in no way do I represent Scrivener or sell the product. All questions about the product, its sales, support and licensing for your own computing needs should be referred to the company.

Filed under: Blogging, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Fantasy, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Planning, Reviews, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tech Tips, Templates, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: Announcement, blogging, creativity, Facebook, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Planning, Reviews, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, Templates, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Twitter, writing

This is an ongoing series about using the writing technique – deep point of view. The original posts began over last summer after I attended a webinar on the subject. Previous are listed at the end of this post.

Editing for Deep POV

I’ve recently been revising my upcoming novel in preparation for sending the manuscript to my editor. As part of the process of developing deeper POV I want to revise the following:

1. Remove most, if not all, dialog tags so they are associated contextually with the speaking character.

2. Remove most, if not all, thinking tags and replace them with internalization or emotional cues.

3. Remove all internal dialog and replace with internalization.

4. Find as many prepositional “tellers” as possible and remove them. I supplied some examples of what these look like in a previous post listed below.

I thought that I would need to slog through each chapter or scene to find everything that needs to be done but this process proved to be arduous rather than running searches.

1. First tip: run searches to start finding all the problems quickly. The point is to move along and read in depth at a later stage. I delayed too long in following this simple editing hack and letting my editor find deeper issues to fix.

2. I started by running a search for dialog tags. I looked for the word “said” and determined whether it needed to be removed. I also searched for ‘ ,” ‘ in order to find all other dialog tags. By finding these I could edit these out as needed.

3. While I looked at dialog tags I also visually scanned nearby to identify other needed changes with thinking tags to insert internalization and places to insert emotional cues (both internal and external for the POV character, external for other characters). I also looked for other types of distance like viewing words that could be removed in order to show action around the character. However, further searches for thinking words can be found and edited.

4. I originally used some internal dialog so I had to correct for tense. I did searches for the words “I”, “me”, “my” and “we” to make sure tense was corrected.

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5. As part of going deeper with POV and inserting emotional cues I looked for “teller” prepositions that describe, or tell, emotional state. These I’m able to find and replaced with emotional cues and internalization.

6. There remain some issues with sentences that have incorrect order or that lack linear progress. This is where scanning around my target searches helps since I can spot these issues and correct them. However, searching for the words “when”, “as” and “while” helps find these problems also if they still exist.

This helped me get to the various issues I wanted to resolve in a quicker fashion than otherwise. I expect the deeper round edits from the editor to find more issues but I’m further along than otherwise. The main point is that there are searches to use that get at many of the issues rather quickly. However, you must know what it is you are looking for to locate them without bogging down too much. Some of these are well-known shortcuts among writers and editors, I’ve just listed some that help me get to deep POV.

Here are previous posts based on deep POV that may help:

3 Tips for Editing to Deep POV PT 1

Deep POV Tips Part 2

Deep POV Tips Part 3

Deep POV Tips Part 4: Of Sneaks and Shallow POV

Deep POV Tips Pt. 5: Eliminate Narrative Distance

Deep POV Pt. 6: Editing for Emotion

And of course here are more resources for deep POV and showing emotion rather than telling:

Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View

The Emotion Thesaurus

Please share your thoughts in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added anew sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed on 11/10/14 so take a look.

Thanks for reading.

P. H. Solomon

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Filed under: Archer's Aim Digest, Blogging, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Deep POV, Editing, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, Deep POV, Editing, Facebook, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, writing

NOTE: This is an updated version of my blog on why I journal regularly which was posted several months ago. I’ve added some content to share more on the subject. I’m also using my journal in Scrivener as posted yesterday.

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I never considered writing a daily journal until a few years ago. At the time I wanted to see how much I could write per day on a consistent basis. After a month I was surprised by how many words I could churn out. It gave me a baseline for how much I could expect to write daily, weekly and monthly. I even realized I could write most of a rough draft in thirty days – here I come NanoWriMo.

But as I used a daily journal I discovered a few more reasons to continue. I’ve since read Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way and found that she emphasizes using “Daily Pages” (essentially a journal) to write three pages in the morning. I don’t always write that much since I’d rather spend as much time as possible on projects but the notion and reasons discussed in the book are great for gaining creative traction.

I could use it to prime the pump. You want to get started writing but how? Sometimes you need a warm-up and writing about anything can be just the trick to clear the mind. Also, I found that I could set the scene in my mind with a few notes on what I expected to accomplish and how dialogue might flow. I might even return to the journal to further nail down additional scenes depending on what I accomplish.
I can track what I need to do during the day. Yesterday I wrote about how I work with goals but I find that putting them in my journal keeps them in my sites throughout the day. I use the Strikethrough button in Word to mark off goals achieved. I can also easily “re-heat” goals that roll over to the next day for whatever reason.
I also use a journal to create a loose, fluid schedule of what I’m doing – everything. This way I know how I’m progressing through goals and other activities throughout the day. Now you might wish to use a calendar for this function but I find using the journal is one less thing to update than a calendar. Besides, I find a calendar is better for reminders about events and appointments in advance.
A journal can also be used for project development. It’s a great place to explore creative ideas. Once you’ve written these concepts they are easily transferred into other apps or files you use for development such as Scrivener, Evernote, your blog or anything else.
A cure for “writer’s block”. I don’t believe in “writer’s block”. I view this problem as something which is troubling me in some way. I journal to discover what the problem is. It could be personal or something in a project that I intuitively understand is a problem. If the issue is something personal it could also be the seed for for a writing idea to be used in some way which actually becomes a creative opportunity. But either way I work the problem out through my journal.

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What can you use to journal? I mainly use Word and update it during the day but I only keep a monthly file and transfer developmental ideas to other files and apps. You could use Evernote as a purely developmental journal and tack in links or pictures. You could also use Instagram as a visual journal. While Scrivener would not directly serve this purpose, research containers could be used as a developmental journal as well.

Do you journal? If so, what do you use? I love to receive comments so feel free to leave one.  See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend but don’t spend too much time writing in the journal.

PHS

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Filed under: Blogging, Creativity, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Planning, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: creativity, Facebook, Goals, Indie Publishing, Journal, P. H. Solomon, Scrivener, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, What is Needed, writing

Scrivener has been a key component to improving my productivity this year. I’ve recently written about various uses for Scrivener such as blog posts, newsletters and even template email messages. Additionally, I’ve shared about using Scrivener templates including some resources for these. In my last post I shared about managing templates. In Part 4 I released my Author Platform Management template. In my most recent edition of this series I indicated how I’ll use Scrivener more in the coming year. This post reveals how I’ll approach my increased usage. Next week, I’ll reveal a new template and I’m planning another how-to post the week after.

As I indicated earlier this week, I want to increase my Scrivener usage in two ways:

1. With my daily journal

2. Tracking my daily goals

Daily Journal

Journaling has become important to my daily writing process. It’s were I come up with blog ideas and solve all kinds of writing issues. But I’ve started collecting numerous Word files for each month.

Scrivener makes managing my journals much easier. I can use the binder to organize my journal in a central location. I’m handling my blogs and newsletter editions this way so why not my journal?

Goals

I also set daily/weekly/monthly goals – usually in my journal. But why not use Scrivener for this as well? If I already have it open why not use it for this task?

My main question was how I wanted to approach organizing my journal and goals in Scrivener. I could make a new template or incorporate it into my current Author Platform Manager. Either way it’s extremely useful to consolidate this way.

However, as I thought about what I wanted to do, it didn’t make sense to create a new template. Much of what I do with my journal and goals are an extension of what I’m doing with my author platform. So I decided to incorporate these into my current template. If you have this template already, here’s what I did if you’re interested in doing the same thing. If you don’t have the template yet, here’s the updated one.

As you can see, I’ve just added primary folder for daily activities and sub-folders for the journals and goals. Now I just need to remember to kick the year off right and begin using these instead of Word.

Are you using Scrivener more in the coming year? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Also, in no way do I represent Scrivener or sell the product. All questions about the product, its sales, support and licensing for your own computing needs should be referred to the company.

Filed under: Blogging, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Fantasy, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Planning, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tech Tips, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Facebook, Indie Publishing, Journal, P. H. Solomon, Planning, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, writing

1. Be consistent – most veteran bloggers advise new bloggers to be consistent and post regularly. I’ve learned this lesson well. I was inconsistent with my content but when I committed to the blog it started growing. Part of the reason is that the more content you have the more visits you get.

2. Work ahead – I’ve found that the more I work ahead the less stressful blogging is. If I’ve got several posts scheduled then I seem to churn out more content ahead of time. Also, in working ahead you may have several ideas in the works but you may find that the content just doesn’t work for some reason and you have time to replace it with something else.

3. Write your ideas down – if you are working ahead then you can keep writing your new ideas down. I use Scrivener to plan and write my posts. This way my ideas – good or bad – are in a central location where I can write them as necessary.

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4. Double-check your schedule – several times I’ve found my posts weren’t published as I planned. I use the scheduler in WordPress but a few times I’ve left a post in draft mode by accident. Verify your scheduled posts are actually in the hopper and not waiting in line for publication. There’s nothing worse than losing several hours of a day for the post – or worse yet having tweeted something that hasn’t been released.

5. Make sure you’re using correct forms – I thought I was using a good “Follow this site” form but it wasn’t correct for my needs. I had much greater success getting email followers with my current form.

6. Anything can be a topic – I learned to keep my eyes open for any stray thought, headline or other piece of information for blog post ideas. A stormy topic may be just the thing for your blog as well as something many people use. If you learned something you can bet other people may be informed by it. Just don’t think it’s been written about and doesn’t need to be re-hashed. Your followers may not have read that information so your new learning curve may be helpful. Also, you can link to other sources as a way of sharing additional information. Look for ways to give you opinion about an issue and you may find that you have more followers – even if they disagree.

7. Don’t worry about what you don’t know – I hesitated about blogging because I was uncertain about the whole activity. I didn’t know that much and couldn’t gage how well I could do it. If you are a writer, it’s a great way to consistently produce words and an opportunity to…

8. Keep learning – by blogging you will learn more about blogging. You will learn more about SEO, attracting visitors with relevant topics and linking to other blogs. Likewise, you will learn about sharing ideas through interviews, hosting guest posts and book tours. Also you find…

9. It builds creativity – by blogging often you will find that it sparks your creativity. You begin to write frequently so your mind generates ideas with greater frequency which also…

10. It enhances writing confidence – those old newspaper writers never had trouble with writer’s block. They churned out their content and went to the next story. Over time, they developed consummate confidence in their writing ability such that they wrote without much thought. If they chose to write a book, they did it. Start blogging and you’ll find there’s little time to tolerate a block. This very blog is one such example. I was looking for an idea for this day and it just popped into my head. I’ve written the content to this point in less than twenty minutes.

11. Link your site to as many social media channels as you can – I’ve linked my blog to send tweets and Google+ announcements. I also have my blog linked to my Author Page on Goodreads. There are any number of ways to do this with apps depending on how your hosted. I’m currently limited by being free hosted on WordPress but you can bet when I grow my site into self-hosting or more customized on WordPress I will link my blog in as many ways as I can find. The word of mouth is incredible. I have readers who link my posts over various forms of curation like Rebel Mouse or topical sites built on writer.ly.

12. Schedule social media communication – I use Hootsuite.com for scheduling my tweets about my blog as well as other announcements. Since I use a free account at the moment I’m limited with how many social media channels I use but do make use of them. I also schedule my posts to my Facebook page. I tweet my posts numerous times a day. Why? With a growing number of followers all over the world people won’t see just one or two tweets due to varying schedules so I must tweet multiple times a day. Likewise, I tweet some of my most popular posts regularly as well as keep my newer posts in my feeds for up to a week. People are busy so give them a chance to find your content.

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What lessons have you learned from blogging? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Blogging, Cover Reveal, Goodreads, Indie Publishing, Marketing, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tech Tips, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Facebook, Goodreads, Indie Publishing, Marketing, P. H. Solomon, Self-publishing, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, writing

This is a continuation from the blog, The Serendipity of Christmas Generosity. It took time to get to the place where I was ready to commit to writing after the events described in my previous post. But that bit of serendipity certainly affected what I’ve done this past year as well as where I’m going next year. In Part 1 of this series I shared an overview of my goals and now I am posting a discussion of why each is important to me as a writer this year. Part 2 covered why I want to engage with a local writer’s group. Part 3 addressed my review and conference attendance goals. Part 4 expanded upon my publication aspirations for 2015.

Being an author in the digital age requires commitment to brand and it’s not static. These days the vocation demands a writer’s attention to their platform in addition to content. Building a web presence requires not just construction but maintenance and the willingness to expand as necessary. Two of my goals for 2015 relate to maintaining my writing enterprise in this way.

Website Upgrade

If you’ve read this entire series, you know that I started with a low-cost web presence. However, I cannot stay at a low-cost level indefinitely. I eventually need to improve this site either by moving to a self-hosted site or premium customization through WordPress. As the site and my writing career grow the hosting will need an overhaul.

I’ll need custom themes for the site to make the site distinctively branded. Likewise, the ability to brand the site in a manner consistent with my books is important. I’ll also need to use additional plug-ins not available to me now. There are also ways that I’m not linked to such social media channels as Goodreads that I would like to use as an author. So in 2015 I’d like to improve this website as funds allow.

Writing Craft

I don’t know of anyone who claims to have truly mastered the writing craft. My goal this year is to continue improving my own ability. With blogging and the use of deep POV in my fiction I’ve made leaps forward. But there’s still far to go.

By attending conferences, webinars and reading about techniques, I hope to continue my own education. If the website improves, my content must continue to improve as well. While I push forward with publication I also want to push the boundaries of my ability well beyond what they currently are. It’s ambitious but then writing requires moxie.

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What goals are you considering for next year? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Blogging, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Fantasy, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Marketing, Planning, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, Facebook, Goals, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Twitter, writing

This is a continuation from the blog, The Serendipity of Christmas Generosity. It took time to get to the place where I was ready to commit to writing after the events described in my previous post. But that bit of serendipity certainly affected what I’ve done this past year as well as where I’m going next year. In Part 1 of this series I’ll revealed how I’ve progressed this year in several ways but now I want to get more specific starting with my email decisions. Part 2 covers my choices with email. Part 3 was a review of my blogging growth. Part 4 reviewed social media growth during the past year.

What I didn’t know I needed

There were two things I didn’t know I needed as an author. Through this year’s journey to becoming a writer I learned I needed:

1. A book club

2. A strong Goodreads presence

Why I needed a book club like RRBC

1. I needed the support of other like-minded authors – I’ve found the support of other writers extremely helpful. I can see what they are doing and learn from them.

2. I needed to broaden my scope with blog tours and networking – making connections through other club members has grown my social media immensely while blog tours have allowed my blog to grow while assisting other authors which is a win-win opportunity.

3. I needed to review books – this is a goal for 2015 that is in progress but the reviews I’ve received and that I’m learning to give to other authors is another win-win situation. It also teaches me what readers and reviewers are looking for in good books.

Screenshot of Goodreads Button

Why I needed a strong Goodreads presence

1. In relation to the book club membership – I needed to review other books. In posting reviews for the club, I’m also posting them on Goodreads which helps me with the next reason.

2. Reader engagement – as I mentioned in the last post in this series, my advice from Michael J. Sullivan was invaluable. Goodreads is the venue to engage with readers in a positive way. I’m still working on this but I’m emphasizing the engagement more each day.

3. I needed to relate to the book market and see its constant shifts – being on Goodreads allows you to observe what is selling, receiving positive reviews and understand what readers a thinking. Likewise, you can learn to market your work effectively – to readers.

I’m working on my Goodreads and RRBC reviews more in the coming year as well as engaging more readers – the relationships matter. While you understand this as an author, you still have to embrace it with increasing interaction.

How seriously are you taking your Goodreads engagement? Are you a member of an authors group that provides support? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Blogging, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Fantasy, Fiction, Goodreads, Indie Publishing, Marketing, Planning, Rave Review Book Club, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing, Writing Groups Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Facebook, Goodreads, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Planning, Rave Reviews Book Club, Scrivener, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, writing

Scrivener has been a key component to improving my productivity this year. I’ve recently written about various uses for Scrivener such as blog posts, newsletters and even template email messages. Additionally, I’ve shared about using Scrivener templates including some resources for these. In my last post I shared about managing templates. In Part 4 I released my Author Platform Management template.

As I move into 2015 I plan to use Scrivener far more than I have this last year. I’ve found this software to be so useful that I’m already using it for my blog, some email communication, platform management, newsletters as well as my fiction projects.

I’m currently in the process of transferring ongoing projects into Scrivener. I’m working on a few novel rough drafts that needs be imported as well as those for some short stories – both complete and in development. As I work on these different projects, I’m making the transition to Scrivener. For the short stories I’m using a template for SFWA markets to make things easier when I am ready to make submissions.

I’m using my own template for newsletters already as well as my platform management template. For blogs, I’m using a template that I downloaded. I’ve already got my 2015 project for blogs ready to go and I’m working on the others.

However, there’s one more change that I’m making to may daily process. I journal almost daily, but in Word and not Scrivener. I open a new file for each month. This is rather cumbersome since there end up being so many files. So I’m considering shifting my 2015 journal into a template somehow.

Likewise, I track my daily goals in my journal so I’m also considering how I want to do this in Scrivener rather than Word. My goal is to handle as much of my work-flow through Scrivener as possible – it’s that useful to me.

I haven’t decided yet how I’m going to handle this change. I may incorporate the journal into my Author Platform Manager template. I may also make a simple template much like those for blogging or newsletters, just less detailed since it’s intended for my own use only. Regardless of where and how I handle my journal and goals these will be centralized and easier to handle each day. If I make a new template I will share it like my other recent developments.

Are you using Scrivener more in the coming year? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Clip art licensed from Microsoft Office.

Also, in no way do I represent Scrivener or sell the product. All questions about the product, its sales, support and licensing for your own computing needs should be referred to the company.

Filed under: Blogging, Creativity, Editing, Fantasy, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Planning, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tech Tips, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, creativity, Facebook, Goals, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Planning, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Short Stories, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, writing