First, in the news this week -- I finally got my Twitter account back! @LazetteG there, but it is going to take me awhile to get used to checking it and posting things again. Still, after nearly a year, it's nice to have it back!
That will be one of my May goals: Start remembering to post on Twitter, Forward Motion, and maybe do a bit more on FB that is targeted toward my work, and not just random posts now and then. Also, there is still the WattPad stuff. I believe I have the novel I'm going to place there. It is a YA fantasy called Circe's Gifts. I have a good start on the final edits and I can start posting as soon as I figure out all the extra little things that need done before it goes up.
I had hoped to have Raventower & Merriweather 2: War published before the end of the month, but I had a week of miserable illness where I spent most of my time curled up in bed under the heated blanket and wondering if the apocalypse might not be better. I am still not well, but my brain has started to put words together and get them into something like a proper order again. It's not quite up to things like formatting and publishing books, but I'm getting there. The book will be out soon. The last of the Surviving Elsewhere flash fictions will go up this Friday. I hope to post the first of Circe's Gifts at Wattpad this week. Busy stuff. Lots of busy stuff.
I've had more than one person ask me this week if I always have multiple projects going.
Yes. The only time I do not is in those hours after I finish the last writing on the last day of the year (yes, I plan it that way) and before I start the first project of the new year. Which, by the way, I generally start a couple minutes after midnight. It's fun. It's my way of saying 'this is me, and welcome to the New Year!'. Later in the day I often start my first rewrite and/or edit of the year as well. After that, work just grows and lessens and grows for the entire year.
And I love it. I really do. I have written every day for decades. Why not? It's what I love most to do. Apparently according to some people this is a sin when it comes to writing. Oh, don't write so much! Slow Down! It's evil to write more!
It's a joy. It's fun. It is not for everyone. I think I've mentioned this a few times already, right? Writing a lot and writing fast does not mean you can't edit afterwards, and honestly, I edit slowly. I edit multiple times. I edit until I drive myself, my husband, my cats -- and probably the stuffed plot bunnies around my desk -- insane. There is the 'it is never quite right' problem.
Unfortunately, it never will be.
At some point you have to let go. Maybe someone else will find something for you to fix. Maybe others will hate it. Maybe you could have written the novel an entirely different way -- change the POV, go with a different main character, change the setting....
And maybe you would be writing an entirely different book if you did any of those things. At some point you need to stop changing things just to change them. I know. I've been there. I've written over 100 novels and hundreds of shorter works. They may not be the best stuff ever written, but I do understand how the process goes and what problems you can make for yourself.
One of the worst is not letting go and moving on. So that's part of why I have multiple projects. (See, this comes back to the point!) If all I have is one story and I can't step away from it when I need to and work on something else, I am just going to nudge and jab at it forever. So when I'm done, I close it down and work on something else that's already in progress, whether that is something new or an edit. Just move away.
And sometimes I even get something to the point that I'll publish. I hope to do so this week. Wish me luck with the second Raventower & Merriweather book!
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