Camy's Writing Diary

Another day of no editing! Ugh! To be honest, I did a lot of work today. I had to catch up on messages from one of the box sets I’m in, as well as check email, all of which took about an hour. Then I had to text back and forth with my cover designer about buying the licenses for the stock photos for the covers in my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series. I wanted to make sure we were getting the right photos, plus I ended up changing one photo last minute. Then I realized I should create my drip sequence because I have a BookFunnel promo starting tomorrow. (If you don’t know what a drip sequence is, check out this podcast by Thomas Umstattd at Author Media.) I know, it’s really last minute and to be honest, I had not been intending to update my welcome email at all since it’s adequate , and it’s a lot of work to create a drip sequence. But I’ve been reading Elana Johnson’s book, Writing and Marketing Systems (Indie Inspiration for Self-Publishers Book 3) , and decided to do my drip sequ...

WOW today has been busy and I didn't get any editing or writing done! I had a phone call with my cover designer first thing and we talked about the covers for my Hawaii Christian Contemporary Romance series, as well as my Hawaii Christian Romantic Suspense series, and then we also segued into my Christian Regency series. I had forgotten about the cover for my Reader Magnet , The Gentleman Thief , so I talked to her about that a bit. She needed the stock photo image for The Gentleman Thief , so after we got off the phone, I decided to spend a little time to look for one. Except that I ran into the problem of what model to choose, since several would have worked. I also realized I hadn't picked the covers (or the models) for the other books in the series, and I didn't want to choose a cover model for The Gentleman Thief that I would later wish I could have used for a book in the series. I had always planned to have a single model on the cover who would be the dominant ...

I’m reading Elana Johnson’s book, Writing and Marketing Systems (Indie Inspiration for Self-Publishers Book 3) , and I’m really enjoying it. For one thing, I read her book Writing and Releasing Rapidly (Indie Inspiration for Self-Publishers Book 1) , and I just really like her writing style. It’s breezy and casual and easy to zip through. I also like how she’s very much into hard data. For this book, she doesn’t give her own hard data so much as teaching you how to create your own. It’s also really neat how her own writing routine and writing process is pretty unconventional, but she’s still a very successful author. It’s refreshing and also gives me hope. In the book, she is constantly encouraging you to find out what works for you , and she gives examples of how to try different things to figure out what will work best for your own personality and lifestyle. I was especially inspired by some ideas she gives of how to think outside the box in terms of writing routine and proces...

Maybe because I finished The Gentleman Thief yesterday, I’m moving a bit more slowly today. I had a bunch of home chores to do, then I took my time making breakfast. I think part of it is that I’m fighting the same old resistance to doing self-editing that I’ve fought before. I really don’t know why I’m like this. But like the procrastination issue, God doesn’t require me to have it all together. Meaning, I don’t have to be perfect and be able to completely fix this self-editing issue in my brain, I simply have to manage it . Unlike when I did the cycling experiment, the self-editing for volume 1 isn’t just a quick scene or two, it’ll be a significant commitment of time , which might be why I’m reluctant to start . The idea is daunting. I thought about doing it in just 30 minute increments , which are easier to handle. However, while I can start and stop editing fairly easily, I don’t want to take too many breaks because I’m still struggling to keep my breaks short. I could en...

Woke up late today, and then got a late start on work since I had a bunch of house chores to do. However I think I can finish The Gentleman Thief today, since I only have 2 scenes to write. I have 8 scenes to edit, not including the two scenes I have to write today, and I don’t think the editing will take too long. I’ll have to see. Once I finish The Gentleman Thief , I’ll be able to start editing volume 1 in my series. I had done some editing on it earlier this year, but now that I’ve plotted the entire series (which changed some things) and almost completed the prequel Reader Magnet (which changed even more things), I’ll have to do another complete self-editing pass to make sure things are consistent. I’m continuing both my cycling experiment and my procrastination management techniques, so I’ll start by editing what I wrote yesterday (which is going to take a really long time since I wrote a lot yesterday), and then when I start writing the last two scenes, I’ll continue t...

In light of my brainstorming yesterday on my procrastination issue , I'm ready today! 1) I'll set a timer and write for 90 minutes rather than just 60 2) I'll listen to an audiobook for 30 minutes during my breaks 3) I'll start a 2-3 hour monster on 4thewords.com to force me to get back to work within 30 minutes. 4) I'll use a reward system of a snack every 500 words 5) I have my Positive Self-Talk written and ready for me to read when I'm procrastinating. I'll repeat it over and over if I have to! Yesterday I also experimented with other means of writing besides the Alphasmart, since the keyboard is not as nice as my gaming mechanical keyboard and it also tends to have errors if I write too fast. I attached my gaming keyboard to a USB/lightning toggle and hooked up my iPad mini with both my keyboard and a charging cable, and I started typing in the Pages app on my iPad mini. it worked great! The iPad mini is too old and slow for me to be ab...

The streaming church service today was really good because our pastor talked about how we don't have to have it all together. And I realized that I don't have to solve my procrastination problem, I just have to manage it . It's okay that I'm not perfect and I have a terrible tendency toward procrastination, but if I can find ways around it or to fool myself, or just find a way to get my work done despite it, then I've done a good job. I've brainstormed a few things I can try: 1) I can try writing for 90 minutes at a time, timing myself, and then give myself a 30 minute break. Right now I tend to write for 60 minutes before a break, but I think I can extend that to 90 minutes without too many problems with my back. 2) I can try to listen to audiobooks or read a book during my breaks. (I am leaning more toward audiobooks rather than regular books because I will sometimes keep reading if it's a really good book and I'm near the end.) The reasoning b...