Oh man. November already, and Slater's Claim still isn't finished. Ugh.
I'll confess, I've been going through a minor crisis of confidence for the past few months. This hits me periodically as a writer. I start to doubt my talent and skills, start to worry about the choices I'm making, the books I'm writing, whether I'm really any good, and whether I would be happier if I stopped writing for publication and just wrote for myself.
Usually this is really about something completely different from writing. Writing is just an easy thing to project my anxiety onto. Much easier than facing up to whatever the real problem is. This time though, it kinda was about the writing mostly, with a side order of grief, illness, and probably a touch of seasonal affective disorder (which is ongoing). Thanks, brain! The bottom line is, I've been avoiding writing for the most part since the end of August, and that's why Slater's Claim is still unfinished, despite my confident (and obviously fake) claims that it'd be done in September. And then in October. Again, ugh.
I'll confess, I've been going through a minor crisis of confidence for the past few months. This hits me periodically as a writer. I start to doubt my talent and skills, start to worry about the choices I'm making, the books I'm writing, whether I'm really any good, and whether I would be happier if I stopped writing for publication and just wrote for myself.
Usually this is really about something completely different from writing. Writing is just an easy thing to project my anxiety onto. Much easier than facing up to whatever the real problem is. This time though, it kinda was about the writing mostly, with a side order of grief, illness, and probably a touch of seasonal affective disorder (which is ongoing). Thanks, brain! The bottom line is, I've been avoiding writing for the most part since the end of August, and that's why Slater's Claim is still unfinished, despite my confident (and obviously fake) claims that it'd be done in September. And then in October. Again, ugh.
So what's a girl to do? Books don't write themselves, and no matter how much I'm occasionally tempted to jack it all in and stop writing for publication, I don't actually want to. I love sharing stories. For me, the whole point of writing a story is to share it. So I've got to get back to it. And, well, here's November.
I don't do NaNoWriMo. But traditionally in November, for the past several years, I've entered into the spirit of Nano with Anti-Nano, my own month-long challenge where I set a writing goal and keep myself accountable with bi-weekly check-ins on the blog. My goal this month is simple: Just Fucking Write. I'm not setting a daily word count. The important thing is to re-establish the daily writing habit. Once that's back in place, everything else will follow. Obviously I'll be working on Slater's Claim, so hopefully maybe this month I really can finish it!
I've got plenty of other stuff to work toward in November too. The LAWLESS anthology is out later this month and I cannot wait for you to read Vandal's story. I loved writing it so much, and I really want to write more stories about Psycho City MC. I've also just had an acceptance for a vampire menage story called SOUL REUNION (you can read the blurb here). I don't have a release date yet, but I'm excited for this one too! It was originally part of a vampire-themed anthology, but I've extended it and polished it up, and I'm pretty damn proud of it!
Away from writing, I have a couple of other goals I want to work on this month. First is daily yoga/physio. I was getting some good results for my knackered shoulder in the summer with a few sessions a week, but in October I pretty much stopped altogether. I want to get back into the habit, so I'm aiming for short, daily sessions before bed.
Second is giving up Starbucks /o\ I don't know why I'm doing this to myself. I actually don't have a massive Starbucks habit. I get maybe two or three drinks a week from them. But I'm me, so I always get horrifically calorific drinks laden with cream /o\ My diet could always stand to be improved, and cutting out those Starbucks trips is a good, attainable first step in changing some other bad habits. I will regret this next time I walk past Starbucks, but I'm determined to stick with it. Think of me as you sip your zombie frappucino, or whatever they're currently serving.
So! That seems like plenty to be going on with. Check back on Friday to see how I'm coping without green tea lattes. Happy November!
I don't do NaNoWriMo. But traditionally in November, for the past several years, I've entered into the spirit of Nano with Anti-Nano, my own month-long challenge where I set a writing goal and keep myself accountable with bi-weekly check-ins on the blog. My goal this month is simple: Just Fucking Write. I'm not setting a daily word count. The important thing is to re-establish the daily writing habit. Once that's back in place, everything else will follow. Obviously I'll be working on Slater's Claim, so hopefully maybe this month I really can finish it!
I've got plenty of other stuff to work toward in November too. The LAWLESS anthology is out later this month and I cannot wait for you to read Vandal's story. I loved writing it so much, and I really want to write more stories about Psycho City MC. I've also just had an acceptance for a vampire menage story called SOUL REUNION (you can read the blurb here). I don't have a release date yet, but I'm excited for this one too! It was originally part of a vampire-themed anthology, but I've extended it and polished it up, and I'm pretty damn proud of it!
Away from writing, I have a couple of other goals I want to work on this month. First is daily yoga/physio. I was getting some good results for my knackered shoulder in the summer with a few sessions a week, but in October I pretty much stopped altogether. I want to get back into the habit, so I'm aiming for short, daily sessions before bed.
Second is giving up Starbucks /o\ I don't know why I'm doing this to myself. I actually don't have a massive Starbucks habit. I get maybe two or three drinks a week from them. But I'm me, so I always get horrifically calorific drinks laden with cream /o\ My diet could always stand to be improved, and cutting out those Starbucks trips is a good, attainable first step in changing some other bad habits. I will regret this next time I walk past Starbucks, but I'm determined to stick with it. Think of me as you sip your zombie frappucino, or whatever they're currently serving.
So! That seems like plenty to be going on with. Check back on Friday to see how I'm coping without green tea lattes. Happy November!
