I made good progress on the novel yesterday, and had my best morning of writing so far: 1462 words on the novel, completing the first draft of Chapter One, and 1055 words on the blog (sorry about that!) for a total of 2517 words. Not bad.
So of course, this morning I slept in an extra 45 minutes.
That's alright, though, since I'm taking the day off from the day job. That means I can have a more relaxed morning and still get my writing time in. Yesterday, all told, I wrote for a little more than two and a half hours, blog included. That's a nice place to be, and I'd like to get it to three hours by the end of the year. I've been told that writing for longer and longer is a lot like exercising your body at the gym, or running, for that matter. You do wat you can each day and push a little more, day by day, until you are able to do what you want to do.
I want to work on structuring the blog a bit in the New Year. Right now, I'm just building the habit, writing off the top of my head, and letting it happen. I'd like it to be an every day thing, 365 days a year, an I'm trying hard to get in that habit now. Come January 1, I'd like to have a bit more structure to the whole thing, continuing daily updates but also having specific days of the week to write about certain topics.
For obvious reasons, the blog will remain focused on writing. I'm probably going to duplicate the blog on Wordpress so that I can start reaching a larger audience, and will purchase a domain name at some point. I'm also going to be building a Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter page for my writer alter ego, which is to say it won't be a personal page, but a page dedicated to my writing career and persona. Not that "writing" me and "real" me are different people, but more that there are some things about my private life that I'd prefer to keep that way. Plus, I don't want to bombard my real life friends and family who couldn't otherwise give a flying fuck if I wrote "The Bible" with constant writerly updates.
I'm also going to set up some structured goals for my writing in 2021. I'm a believer in "fake it til you make it," and in acting like a professional if you want to be a professional. I think any professional endeavor benefits from structure, planning, and most important, deadlines.
One of the reasons I finally got started writing the novel was that I set my completed first draft deadline for December 31st. That date has power because I gave it some. Whenever I think, ugh, I don't want to get up and write, (or, more accurately, ugh, I don't want to sit down and write right now. I'd rather finish this Scalzi novel,) the deadline in my head has yelled at me loudly and with creative swear words.
Basically, he says, "If you want to be a writer, get up and do the work. If you want to be a loser and regret everything for the rest of your life, stay in bed, play some video games, and be a drunk like your dead father."
I'm sparing you the swearing, but yeah, that guy in my head is kind of a dick. He's also right.
Meanwhile, loyal reader, should you have gotten this far, I ask for your suggestions. What sort of weekly or monthly feature would you like to see in the blog. I have the following ideas:
-Book review - I'm definitely not a critic, but I'll tell you what I just read and why I liked it.
-Movie review - See above. Also, this could be Netflix, Amazon, a show, or a classic flick
-Free fiction. - I write a story and post it on the blog
-Free poetry - See above, but a poem
-Adventure report - I try something new and write a non-fiction article about the experience
-Interviews - other aspiring or established writers, celebrities, interesting folks, athletes, etc
-Op-ed - I express my opinion about real life issue, serious or not so serious.
-Guest blog - I invite others to write the occasional blog.
Food review - I cook something from a recipe I find and share. Possible Vlog.
Restaurant Review - self-explanatory
That's my initial list. What else would you like to see or read? No ideas are bad ideas, unless it's porn, 'cause that's not happening. Comment, please!
Seriously, I know only a couple of people are reading this right now, but the occasional comment goes a long way and is much appreciated. If you don't want to, that's okay, too. I understand. And I probably need to do a better job of engaging you so you feel like you absolutely must say something.
Meanwhile, I sincerely thank you, my handful of readers. It means a great deal.
See you tomorrow.
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