Author Journey (August 2, 2021)

Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” So, if he didn’t know when to say something was done, how is anyone else supposed to? Funnily enough, I think that works for the audience too!

August 2, 2021

#AmWriting

One of the things that I think a lot of authors and artists struggle with is imposter syndrome. It’s that nagging voice in the back of your head that tells you that you’re not good enough and soon everyone else will realise it too. We’ve all experienced it. The thing is, that voice is no better a judge of your work than you are.

By that I mean that we can be our own worst critic, so rather than burying that piece of work, set it free. Let someone else decide and if you’re really worried use a pen name. We live in a time where it’s easier than ever to get your work out into the world. What’s the worst that can happen?

So, why the pep talk? Well, it’s something that I’ve been dealing with for quite some time and after six months of doing nothing with my current project, I finally got back to reading it through. This first pass is to get my head back into the story, fix some typos, and refine some foreshadowing for the final act, which I haven’t written yet.

As it was a first draft that I wrote during NaNoWriMo, I was expecting it to be littered with repetition, typos, and other wicked things. However, it wasn’t that bad. The flow was actually pretty good and the humour hit. It had been long enough that I didn’t remember it word for word and I really enjoyed it. Now, I know I just said we can be our own worst critics, so this praise comes as quite a surprise.

So, how much work have I done? I have gone through the first thirteen chapters which were about seventeen thousand words. Most of my chapters are between one thousand and two thousand words. Some do go over but not by much. I like the rhythm this way as it keeps you reading, especially if the next chapter isn’t that long.

From those thirteen chapters, only one needs some significant work to prepare things for the final act. Another needs some minor updates to continue that work, but otherwise, I’m quite happy with it. That leaves another thirty chapters to edit before I begin work on the final act. From my initial plan, I have another fifteen chapters to write. Things can change, but that’s my current goal.

To make things a little more interesting, I have a vacation planned for the end of August where we will be taking a road trip to visit family. I would love to have the complete first draft done in time for me to be able to load it onto my phone to use as my nighttime reading. It’s amazing how you can spot errors that you’ve missed a hundred times before by switching the format.

#Blogging

Recently, I cleared all of the shows off my currently watching list. It was quite the occasion as I usually have at least five on the go at any one time. The reason I’m mentioning this is that the main focus of my blogging this week was catching up on my season reviews. I had five that I needed to write and made myself write them before starting any new shows. Normally, I can’t wait and dive into the next show and end up coming back to the season review later.

So, I wrote up six full season reviews for several shows and scheduled them for the future. That means I can add some more shows and get back to work on the episode reviews. I’ve already added three and have another three ready to go too. There are a lot of shows that I want to revisit and some big ones that I’ve never seen before. With the way this schedule is going, I could end up adding another day in. Maybe…

Last week I was five weeks ahead on all of my reviews. Now, I am nine weeks ahead. This routine is definitely working for me and if it lets me cover more shows and have time for writing it’s been a big win. Ironically, I was thinking back to when I first started blogging about anime and I was posting two or three season reviews a week which writing fifteen thousand words. This is almost the same routine, but with episode reviews. I’m able to get into the details of what worked at this level and it’s not as taxing as trying to watch several seasons a week.

It’s funny how it all comes full circle. So, the one thing I would say from my experience here is to experiment with the schedule and formats. Don’t be afraid to change everything to make it work for you. Finding a system that gives you the freedom to do what you want is so important. I still miss seasonal anime, but it’s hard to argue with how much more effective it is going by my own schedule.

This has been a much better week and I’m confident that I can continue to push forward. My mini deadline is to write “The End” by August 16. It might be a push, but that’s probably what I need. Anyhow, thanks for reading and stay safe.

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