“But what does it take?”
These words might be flying around your mind as you try to navigate the engulfing ocean of writing.
I know firsthand how overwhelming and shaking, the prospect of writing can leave you and that’s why I want to give you an insight into my writing.
I’m not doing it to boost my ego or make you say, wow he’s good, but because I hope you might be able to gain something from my thoughts and ideas.
I want to show you what’s possible and what might be required to turn your idea into a novel.
“But why not wait until you’re finished?”
It feels much more personal to share my work with you during the process. It’s exciting and I feel it gives you a better picture of the process. But, most importantly, I won’t remember a thing if I waited a year before sharing my work.
But how would I know right? I’m just an average writer with a dream of making a difference with his stories.
So let your fingers rest a bit, grab your favorite drink or snack, and follow me as I take you through my current situation and where I’m trying to steer this ship.
A short recap: the numbers
As you may know, I’m write a minimum of 30 minutes daily and at this point my fingers are conditioned and it doesn’t feel like work anymore. They know when I put the headphones on, it’s time to get into the zone.
Last status’ number: 4930 minutes
Current status’ number: 5941 minutes
I have put in just over 1000 minutes since last status, which amount to about 33 hours. I’m happy about the constant daily writing and I’m happy about my routine, but I feel it’s time. Just like any other training, it’s time to increase the intensity a bit.
But before I do that, I’m going to introduce a well-known friend to all of us: A deadline.
I know it’s such a trivial thing, a date in the future, how is it supposed to keep me to the fire?
Easy, it forces me to put in more time.
But why a deadline?
I’m still in the editing phase and are currently finishing up the 4th draft. It’s the biggest single draft I have done. The time you see, 5941 minutes, is mainly me trying to write out the characters, fix dialogue and fill out the empty spots that caused adhesion.
It has been a lot of back and forth between the letters and the delete button on my keyboard. And while I got things done, it felt like I was stuck, but not really. It felt like I was in a pool of quicksand.
I wasn’t progressing, so the deadline is to help me focus my focus on a date and help me push the last bit of the draft.
28th February 2025
“Feuruary 28, 2025” – It’s the date I’m working towards.
It’s in my project management tool, it’s the name of a document in my folder, it’s on my screensaver on my phone. It’s basically everywhere, so I get daily reminders whenever I do anything.
I know this might be too much, but I think it’s an important decision and I had to go all in. (You don’t have to if you choose to follow my example)
But as I said before I floated around slowly editing my novel with the idea “I just need to edit” and it started to irritated me. So, I’m desperate enough to do whatever is needed to make it work.
But to be honest, it wasn’t quite random.
Because I did a bit reading up on it. And it’s recommended you don’t set a deadline to “force” yourself to work over your capacity.
And that’s why I choose a month. It’s long enough to motivate my ass to work, but not too short that it’ll stress me.
What I’m trying to say: If you struggle to finish a novel, setting a deadline for 1 week won’t give you magical powers.
You need to find a deadline that feels challenging, but that’s also realistic enough. You need to find a deadline that feels right and your mind won’t discard.
The future of the draft
I don’t know if you were wondering, but what about the deadline?
Just because there’s a deadline doesn’t mean it’ll meet if the work isn’t enough, I thought, so to make sure I hit the deadline, I have increased my daily minimum from 30 minutes to 1 hour.
It’ll still be in 30 minutes sessions, because they fit so perfectly. But placed separately: One in the morning, one in the evening.
This might seem like a minor increase, but there’s two reasons for it:
- It’s not a limiter. I can put in as much time as I want, I just need to hit at least 1 hour.
- Burn out. If I suddenly increase the amount “required” a lot, then there’s a much bigger chance my mind will crucify itself.
And I recommend you do the same with your own goal. Unless you’re just starting out, then focus on reaching your daily minimum and keep the deadline for later.
You need to get into a writing habit, or build a routine as a minimum, before you start giving yourself deadline.
But once you get to a certain point, then you can use a deadline to help you stay focused. Take a step back and take a look at your time sliders. They most likely need changing to make sure you’ll hit the deadline. Just make sure you do it in a good mood.
Because there’s nothing magically about suddenly putting in 6 hours of writing if you burn out shy of the finish line.
The next step of the editing
As I already said, I have just finished filling the holes in the novel and in case you are curious here’s how I did it.
To start, I made an overview of the chapters by going through them one by one. And while reading, I wrote down the main elements of the chapter:
Then with the overview, I juggled the scenes until every scene fit like a piece in very big puzzle. But just like with every beautiful piece of art, there’s always missing pieces, and it was the case here too. And so, after I had ordered the scenes I added the improvements/missing things. (Element highlighted in red.)
From here, the plan is to go rewrite the whole novel into my writing style.
This is going to be the most intense part of the editing, but it’s the part where I have the highest chance to learn and refine my skills.
I don’t have much of a plan other than going from top to bottom. Normally, this is where I would creat a task breakdown, but honestly, at this point there’s nothing to do, except just start.
It’s going to take a lot of mental power, but I think it’s going to be great.
The situation: the words
I’m still trying to figure out exactly how I want the novel to pan out. It’s a lot of work, but does it make sense, when I say I want something I can be proud of?
I know you can’t force creativity.
I can’t force my brain to produce the best quality of words, but I’m putting in the time to shape my writing style and rebuilding my ability to tell a story daily. Because, believe it or not, the more I look at my story, the worse I feel I get at telling a story.
Have a look at this:
I get lost in my ways of describing a story and it feels like I’m stranded and my mind no longer knows what “good writing” is.
But I’m praying the deadline and extra writing time, together with my daily style practicing will help clear up some of the issues.
The future: the dreams
The last week has been a lot of personal reflection and one of the things I really wish to put into words is: I believe in myself.
“Okay Jack, that’s kinda corny, but go on.”
I know the odds are stacked against me: Being a successful self-publishing author.
But that’s nothing to be afraid off.
I have so many dreams in life and I just have to make this work no matter what.
Not just because of the dreams or the people around me, but because I want to prove to you (currently reading this) that your goal is perfectly attainable if you work for it.
“They say to make your dreams come true, you must put your visions into words and make it known.”
Well, I guess I’m lucky because I still have plenty of novels to write.
Also, because I truly believe the only way you ever will improve is by getting eyes on your product and have people tell you mean things.
Okay of course nice words are great too, but if the mean things could be a soft blow to the stomach followed by a big hug afterwards, then I’m good. (And what better way to get this than self-publishing?)
Let’s be honest, some excitement and a few butterflies have never hurt anybody
That’s basically the status of the novel: I’m working towards finishing the first released draft at the end of the month (February 28th) and working towards releasing the novel by no later than the end of the year. (December 31st)
Bonus: A short update on the blog
“In a different, but similar universe”
Welcome to the blog.
It’s like having a child without having a child (I don’t have any, but I’m guessing I can relate because of all the surprises)
I’m currently 10 posts in and I have 0 readers.
Is it lame I write these? Absolutely not.
Does it feel like I’m yelling out to an empty room? Absolutely. But I just pretend the light is turned off and you are out there somewhere.
Because I know my words aren’t lost. It’s the internet and all the knowledge, words, experience and stories, I share. They are there for you when you are ready to turn on the lights and I’m just warming up.
I have my editorial calendar ready with content for the next 4 months and I’m working on reaching a few readers by that time.
I have set up a system of 4 days: Draft, write, edit, and post.
And no matter how long it takes you to find the switch, I know it’s a process, but I’m driven to prove myself worth of your time and therefore, I’m happy whenever I get to write these.
It’s practice and such a powerful tool, but I’m not afraid of the dark.
That’s a wrap for you today.
Until next time – Hope you have a productive and creative day.
Your writing buddy,
Jack