Sunday 31 July 2016

The rewrite: WEEK...Remind me?

Before anything I will briefly talk about the writing I have managed to do (lol):

After I  published my last blog post on Friday 8th July, that evening, I decided to do some writing and wrote 764 words. I simply loved every minute of it. Even though I had very limited time the following day, I managed to fit in 643 words and found that old excitement returning. On the plane to France the following day, then when I arrived later that evening, I wrote a total of 1,246 words. I went to sleep full of hope and wonder what the next ten days in the magical land of cheese and baguettes would bring to my writing ... it turns out not too much. The next day, on Monday 11th July, I wrote 1,129 words but found myself very uninspired to continue. A huge part of that was down to the heat which acted like a fog over my brain ... but if I am being honest, more than anything else, it was because that horrible cloud of self-doubt returned to tell me I should give up and that I'm no good. Since then I've thought of nothing but writing but haven't had the time (or confidence) to return to it. I know in my heart that this idea, if I really worked at it and believed in myself, could be something very exciting - but I'm human and life doesn't work like that. The last few months have been in my personal life intense to say the least but that is no excuse - I want to write, I know I do but I've got to find some way to overcome my, at times, crippling self-doubt. Saying that, slowly but surely, I know I'm getting there. As an incentive to finish the draft, I've told myself I can't buy Harry Potter and the Cursed Child until it's done *starts frantically panic-typing*

Apart from all that nonsense, I've noticed I have been getting more sales of my eBook WEIGHTING TO LIVE. It's been quite exciting really. Still hilariously small numbers mind you but significant enough to start considering reading all those dreaded eBook entrepreneurs again and striking while the iron is hot(ish).

I will be back with another blog post when I have something profound to say ... so it's been nice knowing you :-/

Until next time...?

Friday 8 July 2016

The rewrite: Week 2, Week 3, Week 4...Week 5 *HANGS HEAD IN SHAME*

I promised I would write this draft in my own time and not worry about word counts so this shall not be a post full of regret - I couldn't write for many reasons which I will explain as best I can without sounding all 'my dog ate my homework':

On Monday 13th June I wrote 1,153 words and on Tuesday 14th June I wrote 1,491 words. I was immensely happy with this and really felt like what I had written was pretty good but aside from that, I was going through a bit of a hard time. On the 6th June, I hit 3 years since I became ill (which I've written about on my blog many times before) and used that anniversary as the start of a new phase in my life. In doing so, it brought up a lot of emotions, memories and thoughts that hit me all at once. I had a pretty rough time at secondary school and since then it's had a huge impact on my life and how I've gone about things. For the last few weeks I've basically been coming to terms with it all and really woken up to my present situation. I had a really hard few weeks dealing with all that, then to top it all off, at the same time, I got a seriously bad cold that I've just got better from. I will also add to the over-stuffed table that I was working too much so I think I just ran myself down in every way possible. I'm feeling a little better now but this time, I need to move slower and just chill out about everything if I truly want to succeed.

As I had a few weeks away from writing while I recovered from my bad cold etc, on Monday 4th July, I decided to read through all 9,810 words I had written so far - I know you aren't meant to do this with a first draft and just keep on writing but I really wanted to see how it was. My initial reaction was excitement - obviously it's not perfect, and parts are a bit of an expositional dump, but it shows promise. Over the day, I wrote...wait for it....nine more words but on Tuesday 5th July I was able to continue writing properly again and wrote 1,045 words bringing the total to 10,864.

This week has been a little crazy with work but come next week, I am away in France working for 1 hour a day max (I know, a ridiculously good deal) and I'm going to use that time away as a writing retreat of sorts. Hopefully I can just immerse myself in the world I have created and come back to London with something more substantial on my laptop. I'm feeling positive for the long writing journey ahead, minus a little less emotional baggage.

Until next time.