How's the New Process Working Out?

Thanks for asking.  I LOVE it.  It is, as you might remember, working on a single project each day I have time to write, instead of working on a specific thing on a specific day.  I was trying to get too much done at once and not getting enough done of anything.  What I was missing was the sense of accomplishment.  I didn't have enough time to accomplish anything.  I'm happy with this; I'm getting more done and I feel like I'm getting more done, which may be more important.  I know it takes two weeks to make a habit, but I'm liking this a lot.  Specifics?

The long project has a little tweaking left on the notes before it's ready for blocking, but by little, I mean little.  The basic structure is there, I'm just tweaking a few details.  I'm anticipating that should be done by the end of the month if not sooner.  Best of all:  I figured out the OS moment and it's a goody.  Can't wait to write it!

I finished section 3 and just started section 4 in the short project.  The planning is holding up pretty well and, when I finish section 4, I'll be half-done.  The length is looking pretty good, too, but I tend to not look seriously at that until revisions.  I want it to go faster (of course), but I'm happy with what I've done so far (before revisions).

Marketing is proving more of a challenge.  I need to do a little more research on what press releases sound like (and end like) before I can pronounce that done.  I have a lot of ideas, so many that I could do this full time.  Wednesday will be my next session and I'm going to price out find-it cards (where to find the book for those who ask me directly) at a couple of box stores and a local print shop.  I also have some ideas for ancillary advertising/promotional artwork for T-shirts and the like.  I'm sure those will end up in the Public Access file, or at least the sketches will.  I plan on selling these things eventually, so I'm not giving away the golden goose.  And then there's the paper copy to be set up in WordClay and all the other stuff I've got planned, including coupons and specific campaigns aimed at maybe schools?  We'll see.

So now I'm off to work on a KNN blog post.  What's it going to say?  What, you can't go here and find out for yourself?  :)

Thanks and TTFN!

Where I am thus far

I get points for persistence, right?  Checking in every six weeks or so (!) is good, right?  Better than not at all, rather.  This summer has been rough on my writing time, but I'm looking forward to a calm week.  Yes, I wrote that aloud and have surely damned myself to complication.  Just like the last...six weeks?  Well, I lived through that, so no harm in optimism.  At least it's too hot and dry to mow.

Little progress on any of the four parts of my projects, except for little dribs and drabs here and there. 

The long project is still sticky with the details, but it hasn't left my consciousness completely.  I keep having thunderbolt revelations about one or the other of the characters, so it's still building in the musty recesses of my brain.  It's just big and without a lot of attention, things are going to happen this way.  Remember, the ideal for me right now is to spend just one and a half hours on each project per week.  Tough to get a lot done that way, but I'm happy with something.  With my schedule, I pretty much have to be.

The short project is just the same way, although the dribs and drabs are producing more wandering from the plan than I like.  My last writing session involved scrapping much of what I'd done the session before and getting back on the plan.  Perhaps for the actual writing of a project, I need to set aside a full day's 1.5 hours rather than split it up, in order to maintain focus. 

And since I tend to focus on the writing before marketing Turning Springs or posting to the blogs (ahem), nothing whatsoever has been done on those, except some half-hearted work on a press release.  I'm not really comfortable with projects, so I tend to push those to the bottom of the pile.  Both of those items could benefit from a big chunk of time once a week rather than a couple of small chunks twice a week. 

Seeing a pattern here?  I am.  All of my projects could potentially be better served by working on them once per week for the full hour and a half allotted.  It's not like I'd lose track of what I did last, since I do keep a journal of what I do in each session.  And here I am at the start of a new week.  No better time to start to make things better than today.

Since I've nominated today as Blog Post Day, I'd better get cracking on Knews Not News, too.  Thanks for listening as I dissect my work habits to uncover the obvious.

Where I Stand Today

Here's a quick update of where I stand with all my projects. As always, any advice or comments are greatly appreciated and will be duplicated here.

Blog Posts

I got a little side-tracked in my post about Conflict, which was intended to be a help-to article about writing. That's not what this blog is about. The title of the blog says it all, and that's what I'm going to write here. I'm going to promote my projects, trumpet landmarks, and reject failures. That makes this a regular feature.

Marketing Turning Springs

My ads aren't doing as well as I'd like them to. I'm going to try different regions of the country next. A lot of the ads are up for renewal soon and I'm going to spread them around a little.

I'm going to take some time to review the Smashwords treatise on marketing your work (I just remembered that).

I'm going to design some cheap business cards that I can leave around on bulletin boards locally and/or pass out that advertise the book.

A t-shirt design would be good marketing, too. Not just for the title of the book, but for some of the elements in it. How's this for an ad slogan for Berlengame's Constructed Servants Company: "When people just won't do..."

I'm also considering paper copies through a service called WordClay. It's intriguing, but I need to do a little more research.

The Long Project (MrsGM)

I've finished compiling 40+ pages of notes and they lead all over the place. All this stuff is nice, but I have a story to tell and not all of this material will fit. There is a rough progressive line to the information, however, and that helps. I've also categorized the notes as to where they might appear in the work (beginning, middle or end). The next step is to go back to the basics and determine what the essential elements of the story are. Then I keep the notes that apply and junkpile the ones that don't. Story arcing should be finished in March.

The Short Project (OSV)

I'm into blocking the scenes now and it's going very smoothly. I'm about half-finished with that and hope to have it done in March also. A meticulous plan makes for easy steps and easy advancement through and beyond those steps. There are a few holes, but nothing I can't fill on the fly.

The Summary

Although it all looks like future projects, it is an improvement over last month. I will be cutting down my writing time to about six hours per week (necessary because of the two other jobs and other demands on my time), I still think I can get many of these steps done by the anniversary of the release date of my book, April 1st. So, TTFN!