G is for Good-bye Summer

It's back to school for Debra.

The temperatures are still in the 80s...sometimes even nudging the 90s. The flowers are still blooming. The trees still have their lush foliage. And the cicadas are still buzzing. But for me, summer is over.

This week I headed back to school. I've been organizing and planning and rearranging and updating to get ready for a new set of third graders. They'll show up next week. The excitement of a new group of kids is always something I look forward to, but there are definitely things I'll miss about summer. Driving around during the day in my convertible running errands. Reading book after book out on the front porch. Weekly trips out to see my mom and dad. Staying up a little bit late. Sleeping in...ah...sleeping in...getting up early is definitely the bane of my existence.

Usually at this point I'm also lamenting the loss of my writing time. In the past, I would spend my summers tapping away at my keyboard. (The best investment I ever made was in a lap top so I could 'travel' around my house - both indoors and out - while I wrote.) I would make great progress, often finishing up, polishing, and submitting a book.

Alas, this was not the case this summer. I've noticed a gradual decline in my writing productivity over the last few summers, but this year I hit an all-time low. Aside from a few rounds of additions/revisions/edits on my New Year's Eve story, I wrote less than 200 words on new projects this summer. In some ways, this is a staggering, awful number. I knew I didn't accomplish much in the way of writing this summer, but to actually look at a number like that could be a bit depressing.

But for whatever reason...I'm okay with it. Over the past few years my writing habits have changed and evolved. I don't get most of my writing done in the summer. Summer is my brain break. Not just from school, but from 'life' as well. I scrapbook. I read. I shop. I visit with family. I explore. In essence, I don't do much of anything that has to do with 'real' life. Oh, I keep up with the mandatory stuff: paying bills, cooking, etc. But for me, summer is all about relaxing. I used to teach summer school. And I took classes and earned my Master's Degree. After completing that three year cycle, I treated myself to a summer off. Now, ten years later, I'm still taking summers off. Teaching is not the 'go-in-at-nine-and-you're-home-by-three' job most people perceive it to be. It's hard work. And it's stressful. And it's tiring. Of course it's also rewarding and fun and exciting and challenging and each day is a new day that you don't know what will bring. Knowing I'm shaping the future is an awesomely powerful privilege...and a huge responsibility.

So I take the summers off. And if people have a problem with that and think I have a cushy job...well, that's THEIR problem.

With a routine settling into place with fall approaching, I have a good feeling that my writing will get back on track too. Even if I haven't been writing at the computer, I have been thinking about ideas. I revisited a project I'd put away last year when I got 'side-tracked' by the Holidays at The Corral series. Right now that's probably what I'll be working on come fall as I get back into a routine that also includes writing. I also have ideas for two new series I'd like to pursue.

It hasn't been a totally unproductive year. All told in 2016 I'll release four books (novellas). That's not too shabby. And even though there may be a bit of a lull in my publishing output since nothing I have in the works is anywhere near ready to go, I'm okay with resting on my backlist for a little bit. I have a crazy idea for promoting my NYE story come December, so we'll see what happens with that. :)

For now, I'm going to wave good-bye to summer and welcome the upcomng autumn with open arms.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

F is for Fingers Crossed

Debra awaits word from her editor about a contract.

Once again, I'm in the fingers crossed period of a project. (Don't get me wrong, this is a fabulous place to be!) I submitted a query and synopsis to my editor last week, and she did a read-through early this week. I got an e-mail from her today saying she loved the story and was putting in a request for a contract and would keep me posted. Yay!

This has been an extremely fast-moving project for me. I was able to write the story quickly and a fortuitous snow day last week allowed me to get it submitted earlier than I thought I would. I also learned that as a repeat author with TWRP, when I send a query, I can also send the full mss. My editor called it a perk of being a regular. It's a fantastic perk if you ask me. Now, instead of going through two phases of crossing fingers...one, hoping for a request for a full based on a query, and then two, more hoping for the offer of a contract...I'll only need to do it once.

While waiting to hear from my editor, I did make an attempt to start a new project, but I have to confess I didn't get very far. Basketball season is in its last few weeks, and I have two or three night-time commitments from now until the end of February. Not to mention my Community Ed yoga class starts up again this week.

However, once basketball season is over, I have my fingers crossed that I can jump right back into the writing routine I established while working on my latest submission. My dream plan would be to have two writing times each day: one for working on edits if a contract is offered on my Corral spin-off, and another time for working on a new project. This might be a bit too ambitious, but we'll see. It might have to be an every-other-day type routine. Of course to get any of this work done, I'll need to uncross my fingers so I can type!

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

C is for Complete!

Debra finished the first draft of her WIP.

Yep, that's right. So far my 'attempt' (See my A post for more background information!) to finish a Christmas novella and get it submitted before the March 13 deadline is going well. Extremely well.

Yesterday I finished the first draft. It took me 18 days and turned out to be 13,512 words and 69 pages. I was faithful and wrote everyday. I won't say my writing was consistent (my daily word counts varied greatly), but I got the job done. As I went, I did a running total of my words and how many I added each day. The highest number I did in a day was 2,268, which happened to be a cold/snow day off from school I wasn't expecting. My lowest day was 398 words.

Not only was keeping a daily count of page numbers and progress new for me, I wrote this story in completely different way than my previous ones. For one, other than a few sentences at the very end which I did out of order, I started at page one and kept on, writing the story in chronological order. Most of the time, if I get an idea for a scene, even if it's not at a point in the story I'm at, I write it so I don't forget. This time was a lot more linear.

Another different thing was I didn't go back and do a lot of editing each day. Here and there I did some minor tweaking, but most of the time I used my allotted writing time to keep on moving forward with the story. I also left a few yellow highlighted spots, where I know I need to go back and fix or look for a different word or phrase.

Plus, this time around, I had a definite writing routine and time of day scheduled to write. (For the most part. Days off and weekends were a bit different.) Each night after my shower, I'd sit down at the computer and write. I didn't use that time for anything else: e-mail, blogs, Facebook. It was designated writing time, and I used it as such. Last Saturday I was a bit 'stuck' at one point in the story, so I hopped in the shower. Call it 'muscle memory' or a version of Pavlov's Theory, but it worked. The ideas started flowing, and I was able to finish the scene.

Now, of course, I'll be using my designated writing time for editing and revising. I am curious to read the story from beginning to end, because a lot of the scenes I haven't gone back and looked at since I wrote them. My next step will be to print out the mss and do a read-through.

All in all, I'm excited about my progress, my new routine, and my new procedures. Will they carry over to my next project? Only time will tell. But so far they are working like a charm on this one.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com