I will devote part of this weekend to a few small writing projects. Now that the bulk of a big project’s behind me, I find my will to write back in full force. Closing a project is always soul-draining, for a number of reasons, but if nothing else, it looks like I’ve learned to bounce back quick enough.
So, what will I be doing?
Category Archives: My Projects
Zen and the Art of Making a Living by Writing
My brother, who plays the role of my conscience better than Jiminy Cricket, told me yesterday that I have to grow my Patreon. I was telling him that I started following a Japanese girl who has a Youtube channel where she teaches Japanese, and has over 900 supporters on Patreon, for an average of $ 5 per follower per month.
I have 42, of supporters on Patreon, people who trust me every month and bet on the fact that I will continue to write.
“You have to make sure you get more,” my brother tells me.
“Eh, it’s not easy,” I reply. “This girl holds courses, she teaches, it is clear that those interested in learning Japanese follow her …”
He shrugs his shoulders. “You also hold courses on your Patreon. That writing thing … “
An evening with Mr Shunn
A story bounced back, about one hour before dinner. Polite, cold, standard editor’s mail: good story, not our genre, worth keeping on the lookout for a publisher, good luck.
Oh, well, it happens.
As we dined it started raining again – there’s storms passing across the skies of Astigianistan – so no after-dinner walk tonight.
I sat down and started tweaking that story – it’s been so long I had forgotten a lot of things. I revised it. Cleaned it up.
Cut about 150 words. Nothing major, on an 8000-words number.
Tightened the dialogue a little, made some minor adjustments.
Checked for American vs English spelling.
Doodling and Crimes
Today I spent a fair part of the afternoon doodling as I tried to get my next story going. I owe one of my Italian publishers a story by the end of the month. I know what I want to write, I have the characters and the general outline and direction the story will be going, I could easily have a first draft by the end of the week, just writing after diner.
But I still need an entry point.
Where does the story start?
As close as possible to action, of course, which means in the convent’s entrance hall.
But from whose point of view?
The former landed-gentry belle now making a living as a highway-woman?
Her lower-class, deceptively rough sidekick?
One of the nuns?
The old doorkeeper nun? The shrewish mother superior? A naive novice?
Somebody else altogether?
Summer solstice microadventure challenge
Today I had three revelations of sorts, three proper alarm signals ringing at the same time.
First, I realized that the deadline I had been dreading these last three days is actually still one month away.
Second, I realized the chapter 9 of the book I was to deliver “by Sunday morning, before lunch”, worked a lot better as chapter 5, but this meant doing some extensive rewrite.
Third, I realized it was actually Sunday, and not Saturday as I firmly believed. And yes, I realized it after lunch.
I spent the afternoon rewriting and am now quite satisfied with the end result. I’ll give the manuscript one last check and fine tuning (no more chapter juggling!) after dinner, and then I’ll send it along.
Meanwhile, I also decided that I need to take my mind off writing for a few hours or days, or I’ll have to face a definitive meltdown of what’s left of my mental faculties.
And in a snap, an opportunity presented itself for a brief vacation, and a proper adventure to boot!
Continue readingRevision time
Tonight I spent about three hours revising my story Bottled Up, following the extensive notes I received a few days back from the project’s editors.
It was quite interesting, because revising took me almost twice the time writing the story had taken.
As I mentioned elsewhere, working with an editor is always a great opportunity to learn something new, and this was the case.
I cut mercilessly the excess text from the opening, and then expanded the action scenes, making life for my protagonist a little harder. In full agreement with the editors, I also shortened the sentences and clarified a few points. The only suggestion I did not follow 100% was about the ending. First, because the editors had reached a split decision about the effectiveness of that last half page, and second, because in my opinion it works and gives the story a nice symmetry.
And there’s not much you can do in 2500 words – but I actually cut 400 words and added 450 new words, so I am well pleased with what I did.
The short story is already on its way to the editors, and it will be out – hypothetically – this summer.
And over the weekend my Patrons will have a chance to see the opening paragraphs of the story, before and after the editing, with some of my observations.
Because it’s good to be my Patrons, or so the story goes.
And the second’s in, too
My second book proposal of the week has been approved by the editor, and so as the pros say “we are in business!”
And it’s a good thing to get a mail in which your editor closes the dances with “now I’ll wait for your outline and your advance estimate.”
It’s really good.
On the down side, now it really looks like I’ll have to talk with my accounting agency, because should everything work out for the best (fingers crossed) I might be crawling above the poverty line in the next months – which means Johnny Government will knock on my door asking for a larger share.
But that’s good, too.
Sorta.
Karavansara 