Writing Check-In

Time for another writing check-in. How are we doing on our writing goals? I'm behind. I got into one of my lazy funks and now I'm struggling through the pit of lazy quicksand trying to pull myself out before I sink any further. Luckily I have just the thing to help motivate me to get back on track. Last week I attended LTUE (Life, the Universe, and Everything). This is a writing conference focused on writing scif-fi and fantasy however the principles discussed at the conference can be adapted to any genre. I took lots of notes and met lots of awesome people. Every year I go, I take notes, and then I promptly forget about them. But this year I'm going to try not to let that happen. This year I'm going to write down one thing I learned from each class or panel. I will write one sentence on each class down on the same page and that way I can hang that paper up or carry it around with me wherever I got to help me remember and look back on what I learned.

One thing that stuck out the most to me from LTUE was if you self-publish, you are effectively a small business. Small businesses have start up costs and so does self-publishing. We need a cover, an editor, a marketing budget. The other thing that really hit me is that in order to make money as a self-published author, you will want to publish more frequently. This will keep in you the minds of your readers more often and will help you continue to sell. The great thing about self-publishing is that you have control over when and how often you publish. In traditional publishing, once your book is under contract you have no control over when it comes out. These two facts have helped me become a little more confident about my choice to self-publish. 

Here is an excerpt from my WIP. Keep in mind this is a rough draft. 

In the car Brad turned on the radio and flicked through the stations until he found one that was playing music. He started singing along to the harsh sound but Lani struggled to understand even a few words. 

"How did you find a music station? They're illegal."

"What in our lives isn't?" He sighed.

If you need more help or inspiration feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] or comment below. I love to talk with other writers and I'm great at brainstorming. Keep working on those masterpieces I can't wait to read them.