After such a busy few weeks, yesterday was a dream. I had chance to relax, spread out, and let my hair down. I had a lovely lie-in and when I got up I just went about my day at a slow and steady rate.
I went to put a washload into the washing machine only to find a previous washload in there I’d forgotten to hang out. I put that on a quick wash, as it had already had it’s new and improved supercharged full wash with real washing powder. When it was done, less than half an hour later, it went straight out on the washing line and the next wash went in.
I wrote yesterday’s blog, chose the image, and posted it to WordPress, to Patreon and to Medium, and I shared the graphics Patreon made for me on Instagram for the last two blog posts.
The rest of the morning was spent catching up on reading. Reading about writing short stories and about horror stories in particular. I’ve spent about 35 quid on a series of books, most of which are ‘quick guides to writing’. I bought the first one, started to read it, and realised straight away that here was a method I could engage with, a method where the suggestions were more likely to stick without me having to read it over and over again.
I cherry-picked a number of other books by the same author and made sure they were all saved to my phone, my tablet and my Kindle PaperWhite. Normally I wouldn’t bother if they’re only available on Kindle, but this time I decided I’d be missing out on what seem to be some good books. I only have to sell one story to the right market, and the books have paid for themselves.
They’re not just all about the horror either. There are some very sensible suggestions in all of the books about writing anyway, short or long, genre or general. One of the books is specifically about Christmas books, another is about building a solid and reliable writing routine, another is about building a series of books, and so on.
I’m not excusing the reading. I haven’t had a proper reading session for weeks. I’m not excusing the reading about writing, either. I love to read about writing and enjoy trying new-to-me ways and suggestions. My problem is stepping away from the books about writing and doing some actual writing! But I do enjoy reading them and often discuss what I’ve learned or discovered with the poet.
I started today’s blog post just as the second washload trundled to the end of its cycle and I went and hung that washing out as well. But before I had a look at the editing job, I wanted to sit down and see if I could find a trigger that would set me writing without getting distracted and doing a gazillion other things first instead.
I opened up the short stories Scrivener file but before I chose a prompt I checked the details. I thought the story was 1,000 words maximum, but it wasn’t. It was 2,000 to 4,000 words, and that was too many for me to try and write in a short sitting when I had editing to do later.
The topic was Halloween horror. It could be any kind of horror, so long as a character died…which was a bit of a sticking point, actually. I mean, I’m perfectly happy to kill a character or three for the sake of a murder mystery, but much less happy to kill a character in any other kind of story. I quite liked the premise, apart from the killing a character part, and I filed the market in case they have something similar another time of the year when I can give it more time.
I’m still trying to identify that trigger…
Instead of writing, I updated my calls for submissions file, the spreadsheet that has the opening and closing dates, the word counts, and all the other details, and I added about another half a dozen to the list for this year, although I deleted those all the way up to the end of June, as the deadlines had already gone. Once we’re settled, I want to try and choose one a week, maybe, and get them sent off. But for now, it was back to the editing.
I had a good two-hour session on the editing, which got me back into the swing of things. I updated today’s post to the end of the day, but didn’t post it until this morning. Then before finishing for the day, I rejigged the schedule to the end of the month.
We took the dog for a walk before tea this time, due to England v Argentina being on the telly at 8pm. And we had poached fish for tea. The new oven isn’t connected yet, so we’re still using just the hob. The oven is in the kitchen, though…getting in the way. There isn’t room for three of us in that teeny, tiny kitchen!
This post appears on Words Worth Writing, Medium and Patreon.
That sounds like a lovely day!
I love reading writing books and learning new things. I learn even from techniques that I wind up not liking.
Thank you, it was a nice day. A day to recharge and take stock.