A lot has changed for my writing life in just the first two and a half months of this year. The class I took at the end of 2023 motivated me to get a lot done and look to organization for help.
For years, I’ve been a “pantser” when it comes to writing fiction. That means I sit down at the computer and start with a vague idea and a will to write. I write and whatever comes out, comes out. After I have whatever it is, I go through and edit and rewrite and edit and on and on until I can’t stand the story and characters anymore. I’ve been working on a novel on and off for several years through this method.
The class I took talked about the importance of planning for getting to where you want to be in the future, in life and in writing. With just about everything else in my life, I make a plan, decide the steps, and get whatever ‘it’ is done. I applied this information to creating a better outline for my novel. I created a thorough outline that extended my work from an about 60,000 word, 250 page document that had no direction to the end to a 109,000 word document of 460 pages with a beginning, middle, and end.
It’s currently going through a first full edit. Look for it in Q1 of 2025.
The major con for many is for those who struggle sticking with an outline feel it’s confining. You have to stick to the outline, and not wander beyond that. This is how I felt about outlines for a long time. It was a definite and locked in way to write and there was little room for exploring beyond what you previously decided needed to be followed. The feeling likely came from my academic life of book report writing when I had to submit outlines and rough drafts for approval, and straying from those previous plans was frowned upon in the final product turned in for grading.
I’ve learned that this is certainly not the case in creative fiction. It’s a form of writing that encourages you to take the side roads and paths less traveled. However, it doesn’t encourage you to start out on a road without a map.
Finally, there’s the idea of the “plantser.” That’s a person who thrives on both. They make that detailed plan and outline, but then throw it all in the trash if it ends up not working out the way they want.
But the outline doesn’t work for everything, or everyone. Do what’s right for you.
As I said before, my mother calls it “an adventure in eating.” There’s another saying: third time’s the charm. That’s valid in this case. Due to my son being sick on the day of the Scout event we were making this for, I skipped making it altogether the “first time.” The second time was the awful accident with the glass baking dish. But I was determined we would make and eat this dish.
The third time came at the end of February – there’s been so much going on that writing about it has gotten shoved down the list. I got a new pan, more like the one all the recipes tell you to use, and I set out to make it one last time. I still had all of the ingredients, and I was determined to use them successfully, serve this dish, and be able to actually eat what I made.
Due to the time it takes to prepare, this won’t be a regular rotation meal by any means. The number of ingredients, the number of steps, and the sheer time it takes is not something a home chef with a busy schedule otherwise can easily take on each week.
The accomplishment in my book though is that I did it. Having made the dish once before, I changed things up a bit. I made the topping sauce first, then the meat sauce. I cooked the pasta while I made the topping sauce, meaning I used my larger skillet for the sauce that was overflowing out of one of my smaller pans the first time. The timing was better for everything, but most importantly, I made sure all the stove top burners were off, just to be safe.
Everything worked out! From beginning to end, things went much more smoothly than before. Plus, I had a husband and son who were asking for seconds and thirds! Bonus: it tastes just as good as a leftover as it does fresh from the over. As with any dish, I learned a couple more tricks, and with feedback from my guys, know what I’ll do next time to make it even better.
When will next time be? That’s still up for debate.
Have you ever made a dish that didn’t turn out and decided to try again? How did it turn out the next time? Is it part of your regular menu? Tell me about it on Facebook!
This month’s Kindle Vella blog post was meant to announce this month’s story. Sadly, instead, this month’s post is about leaving the platform. If you haven’t read the last installments of The Next Keeper, I’ll be leaving it as well as The Normal Day, and The Elevator up until the end of the month. After that, all my work on Kindle Vella will be unpublished.
I’ve enjoyed posting these short episodes and stories for you all to enjoy, but Amazon is making it an inhospitable place for writers. If you’ve enjoyed any other content on Kindle Vella, watch for announcements from your favorite stories and authors. When one side benefits, another often has to lose. Amazon has decided to make the first TEN episodes free to read rather than the previous three. For writers who post very short stories, which may top out at or below that ten episode mark, we are giving away our stories for free. Each unlock will now only be ten tokens, when in the past it depended on the episode length. Watch for writers who once provided thrilling and detailed content to start cutting things drastically in response to these changes. I’m not upset they’re trying to serve their readers better, but it is sad that it has to be at the expense of their writers.
I will be looking for another platform to continue to share these stories with you. Watch the blog for announcements related to where we can connect again!
It seems like it was just Christmas and New Year’s Day, yet somehow, my high school junior has had another break from school. His school takes advantage of their overloaded calendar to add some extra days off here and there. But when faced with this extra time, what do you do?
Previously, it has been a week to hang out at home and sort of ‘do nothing,’ but with college on his horizon soon, we decided to do a college visit. We visited one of the biggest and oldest universities in the state, and learned just about everything you need to know about your potential life on campus. He wasn’t completely sold, but I could see the door in his mind opening to it. He’s had his heart set on a certain school for a while, but now he’s clearly evaluating other options.
Winter break also meant a break from the busy-ness of a school week. It gave me the chance to catch up on some writing business and explore other avenues I haven’t previously put much thought in to. It was a great time to reset and refocus, even though it seems so close to the beginning of the year.
But yesterday, it was back to life as normal. My son was back at school, and I have another week of planned writing ahead of me. In fact, I’ve been so engrossed in my planning today that I nearly forgot about this blog post!
At the end of last year I took part in a “fresh start” seminar for my writing. We talked about making goals, planning, and setting yourself up for writing success in the new year. I’ve been working through some of the principles and have gotten way ahead of where I estimated I would be at this time.
– I’ve been keeping up on this blog weekly.
– I’ve been writing, editing, and posting episodes to my Kindle Vella stories on a regular basis (another coming for The Next Keeper later this week!)
– Keeping a monthly calendar of everything, from the way I spend budget my writing time to making sure chores get done and appointments are kept.
– Making changes to get my writing “out there” even more
– A lot more
Today’s post is about ‘making changes to get my writing ‘out there’ even more.’ I’ve created a Substack, where you can get the scoop on my upcoming novel. Meet and learn about the characters, the world, and all the fun behind-the-scenes you wish you knew about your other favorite books and authors.
