Writer Self-Care

One of the things about being a writer that feels so lonely is that figuring out how to regain your focus when you’ve lost it requires a different path for everyone. I couldn’t ask anyone for help because I didn’t know what exactly was blocking my writing or even felt comfortable revealing what was going on career-wise since I’m not close to other writers. So it takes a while to get back to a good headspace even though I do write to pay bills.

This isn’t a self-pity post, it’s just being reminded about some inconveniences when it comes to working as a writer. There’s also a realization of how suddenly this industry can go bonkers like during the Christmas Eve RWA debacle. The holidays were supposed to be planned downtime, but instead, I get slammed in the face with every ugly facet of the genre I write in with my former publisher front and center in the mess.

The end of 2019 to the start of 2020 has been a lot. For the sake of having food and bills paid, I have to get my mind straight. I’m mostly there through binge reading, binge watching Netflix, lots of cookies, and typing out a few sentences whenever I could just to feel like something got accomplished. Also, not blaming myself. This was a lot of stress to take on at once, and being self-employed doesn’t come with the greatest support system.

Yes, I chose this job, but that doesn’t mean not getting payed on time, seeing discrimination of people like me, and uncertainty of how stable the writing industry will be in the next few years are things I should expect or take with a smile. All of this is upsetting, and many other writers are feeling the same way too. So if you’re struggling, please take care of yourself and don’t blame yourself either. If your writing schedule isn’t where it should be or you’re feeling doubts, that’s okay. You’re not alone. Find whatever happiness is available to you and use that to get through hard times.

Sorry for the blathering, but I just needed to put this out there. Now, I’m going to take my needed vitamins, drink some water, and then go on the hunt for a sheet cake that doesn’t cost a fortune.

January 25, 2020 0

Merry Christmas!

I still won’t have another release until around New Year’s because I ended up planning more holiday cooking than expected. Making extravagant meals for my family is my Christmas present to them since I rarely have the spoons to do this.

So this morning, I’m making cinnamon rolls from scratch and getting a little writing done in between breaks. This is also a present to myself because I haven’t baked anything like this in years. It’s nice to know that even if it’s impossible for me to do this even once every few months, this one day of ignoring my body’s signals of pain are worth the deliciousness.

Oh, since I missed my personal deadline, here’s Veiled Dancer for $0.99 from today until exactly midnight on New Year’s. I wish it could have been throughout the whole next holiday, but Amazon was like The Ring and only lets the sale last 7 days.

December 25, 2019 0

NaNoWriMo 2019 Update

I slipped behind very quickly because of imploding publisher stress and indecision about my future writing schedule. It’s taken a lot of contemplation, but I think everything is settled in my head.

My new NaNo goals are to reach 50k in words and outline my stories throughout the first quarter of 2020. The second goal is a bit harder because I kinda hate thorough outlines. Unfortunately, it’s something I really have to improve at for cleaner writing in order to have more productive work sessions. This is very important to me as a so-so full-time writer.

That’s all for today. May everyone have a good NaNoWriMo this year!

November 18, 2019 0

Fall Cleaning

There’s a lot of cleaning going on. Of both my work area and my writing habits. The former has been easy to organize and assess what needs to go. The latter not so much until I began tackling the last third of Keep Calm and Don’t Eat People. In the past, skipping scenes so I could continue on with the rest of the book used to be a great option for me. Now it’s a hindrance that makes me want to buy a hat just to put it on and then yank it off to chew on angrily.

Skipping scenes worked for me when I was unsure if the books I wrote in the past would be finished. Now I know that current or future stories will get an ending, but a skipped scene adds to the anxiety of possible wasted writing. I have a chronic pain condition so I can’t just LOL at missing scenes that when added, may no longer connect with the story and creates the demand for long rewrites. I must guard my spoons wisely. Otherwise, the burnout cometh.

So that’s my goal during NaNoWriMo. Write more efficiently instead of wasting so many words.

November 5, 2019 0

Complete My Work

That’s it. That’s my mission statement. It’s a fairly important one for me because my body is kinda fickle about how it wants to behave. For now, I’m the healthiest I’ve been in years, so I don’t want to squander this time. I want to finish as many stories as possible and find out what I’m really capable of.

There are two smaller goals I want to accomplish: have enough money for dental work and move to Seattle. A major factor with my health is environment, and the southern US which has been getting record numbers of 90+ days isn’t too great for me. Living in a rural area while being lgbt is soooo stifling too.

From the links on the side bar, you’ve probably figured out that I write gay fiction. Mostly Romance and Fantasy with random stories thrown onto online sites. The stories with solid happily ever afters are what’s on Amazon, but more of the *cough* questionable content will end up on Wattpad, AO3, and Tumblr. The messed up stories will come with a lot of content warnings, so I won’t just spring them on people. It’ll take a while to get to them anyway, so that’s more of a future thing.

The books that are currently out are:

Veiled Dancer – A Gay Romance featuring a marriage competition over a hot king.

War God’s Servant – Horny God of War gets turned on by a soldier just trying not to die on the battlefield.

What’s coming soon:

Blood and Motive – Epic Fantasy with elemental powers, hot knights, and a horny dragon.

Keep Calm and Don’t Eat People – A very polite werewolf who tries his best not to eat people ends up in a quiet town that is teeming with other monsters.

October 12, 2019 0

Gotta Love the 90’s

Whenever I hit a writing or editing snag, down the anime hole I go. Today’s viewing is Initial D First Stage. This car racing show came out before The Fast and The Furious and actually got a shout-out in Tokyo Drift(HATED this sequel). The art style is rough on the eyes, but the car races are still a nice little thrill to have in the background when your characters won’t cooperate. There’s also some good shipping material between the MC, Takumi Fujiwara, and his rival, Ryosuke Takahashi, who sends flowers as his challenge. You should keep in mind that the female characters aren’t handled the greatest, but Takumi’s friends even this out by being total dorks who ruin their own attempts at finding love.

The two cuties you can’t help but ship together

October 9, 2019 0