Last updated on August 7, 2023
Writing is one of those professions that yes, can be formulaic and make you money by following the rules, but it can also be a “the rules are there are no rules” profession.
Very few people write something and it has instant success out of the gate. More often than not, people write something, put it out there, and it gets no response at all.
I am in no way an expert on writing. I have had moderate success, and it is getting better each month!
So, I thought I would write a little about my process and take away from it what makes you successful. Each person’s journey is unique.
At the highest level I am an independent author. I don’t handle rejection well. I also want complete control over my cover, story, and when I publish. Traditional publishing does not allow any of that. They take a cut of your money and then while you are working for yourself, you are working for someone else as well. I am pretty decent in photoshop, and have the means to pay for editing for the most part. So I chose to do it all myself.
What I didn’t realize is the other part of the writing process, marketing. I naively thought I would put my stories out on popular apps, maybe post a few posts on Facebook about it, and boom! Millions!
If only that were true.
When I believed that I posted daily. Every day I would happily write an episode for two different stories and get it posted. I might post a “hey new episode” post, and I made okay money. When I moved to Vella, I lost that energy.
One, Vella is slow to bring their serial app to the 21stcentury. It also has no User Experience teams looking at the app and talking about how the experience is. Two, they hold episodes for up to 72 hours with a high risk of one getting blocked if you go above three episodes in a series at a time.
I also joined promotions, created a newsletter, have to keep my social media presence in your face, and learn more about what it means to be on trend, follow tropes, and whatever rules other authors feel the need to impose on the writing universe.
So now, my typical writing day looks like this:
- Wake up around 7-8 AM, get breakfast, tell myself I’m going to write for My Celtic Luna today.
- Sit down at my computer at 9 AM and open the book of Face. Side tangent: The next D&D game I run will have a powerful magic item called the Book of Face. It allows you to see the next ten seconds of your adventure. However, when you open it to look you must make a Will Save DC 10. On failure, you turn the page to see the next ten seconds. To close the book you must now make a Will Save DC 15. Failure means you turn the page and look at the next ten seconds. Another DC 15 Will Save. On third failure in a row, you are completely consumed by the Book of Face and it will perpetually look at the book until you are forcibly removed from the book. There are other rules and effects, but that’s not what this post is about.
- If I manage to make my Will Save for Facebook, I check email, and I crack open Scrivener and stare at the screen until about Noon.
- If I get inspired and on a roll, I forget lunch and keep typing. If I don’t. I’m all like…oh look I need to do dishes, organize my sock drawer, crochet a hat, talk to my MomLady, or anything other than writing.
- About Two PM I take my chances on the Book of Face again.
- Usually I fail my Will Save until after 5 PM. Well, now it’s Mr. F time. So, if he’s not inspired to listen to me writing (or has an idea) it’s his time and I’m closing my laptop to not be tempted.
- Some days I’m doing stuff all day long so I sit down to write in the evening.
Now, when I get inspired, I just write. It goes and goes. There are days I can crank out 10K in words no problem. There are days the most I can get out is an emoji reaction. It ebbs and flows. I have had to learn to forgive myself on the low days.
Right now I’m having story paralysis. I have so many stories I want to write that I can’t focus enough to write any of them. It’s frustrating and causes Mr. F to get grumpy with me. He’s a focus on the task at hand kind of guy. I’m the kind of person who has twelve tasks at once and will attempt to do them all at the same time.
This is all the boring stuff you didn’t ask for, I know, but it’s about the process!
My writing comes from stories that interest me. My favorite time period is about 1945-1980. The end of World War II, The Vietnam War, and all the crazy things that happened in our country. It makes for the best romance novel material. The Wolfe Legacy series (Mistress Giselle, A Devil’s Hope, The Naughty List) will touch on all of this time period. Starting with John Wolfe and his first wife, Helena. Moving into each of their seven children, and then his time with Madelyn and their five children, including their lovechild from World War II.
Then I have my epic low fantasy story singing to me. Slaves of Prophecy has guilds, political intrigue, Gods, and DRAGONS. No more details, or I will be writing it and not anything else.
Three Glass Coffins is slow coming. It’s suffering from my perfectionist brain. I want it to be as good as, if not better than, Fall of Avalon.
Then there’s the Space Opera calling my brain. Think Big Trouble in Little China meets Star Wars vibes. My all-time favorite role playing character was Dakota-Jane Malone. She was an X-Wing pilot from Chandrila and was with the Rebels from the beginning. She is one of the most epic war heroes I have ever had the pleasure of writing.
I don’t pigeonhole myself into a single story being written. I can’t. The result ends up being chapter after chapter of shit no one wants to read. Like, Hope-Marie taking a damn shower every two paragraphs kind of shit. Or I end up on tangents on side characters that I then have to weave back into the main storyline.
I have to write a story in linear format. I can’t write chapter 40 before chapters 1-39 have been written. Mostly due to my pantser heart. I let the characters grow and develop as I write them. Their stories tell themselves and if I had an end scene written that can’t happen.
My editing process is not perfect, but somewhat robust. I write it in Scrivener. Then it gets kicked to ProWritingAid (paid for) and I work through my overused words, and fix my -ing words and adverbs. Then I export to Word and run through that editor. After all the edits are made via editors, I have Word read it to me (has the best voice). This helps me catch weirdness for the most part. I call that Vella ready.
When it’s time for the eBook/Book edit, I pay a person to do copy editing, developmental editing, and proofreading. Tirzah Hawkins has bled her red pen all over Poltergeist Girl. She also edited Night Rangers. I love it. I may not agree with some of the stuff, but everything she sends me makes me think about what I wrote and work it out.
I clean up all the edits and changes, and I get a proof copy. Mr. F and I lightly read through the proof to make any final changes. I may change this up as it’s faster and cheaper to have the book printed, hole punched, and bindered by Office Depot for the proof copy.
So, there you have it. That’s the writing process in a nutshell!