My Crazy Writing Life - Day 6: What I Really Want

Never am I at a loss for setting ridiculous, unobtainable goals:

I want to be the most prolific author in the world.

Heck, I want to be the most prolific author in literary history!

That was my goal, at least initially. As I put in the long hours, my love of writing began to wane. Something was wrong; I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

It’s taken awhile, due to my stubborn personality and incredibly hard head, to realize what’s truly important:

• Enjoy what you are doing.
• Be consistent.
• And have the freedom to write whatever you want.

If I have all of these things—personal satisfaction, productivity and freedom—does the rest really matter? As long as I can pay my bills, I’ll be fine.

Still, I would like to be more proficient at my craft.

In July 2012, I produced 21 children’s picture books in a single month. Although these books were simple in nature, the experience gave me the feeling of being a prolific writer. But there was very little writing involved. I found myself writing more for the available artwork than the actual story, and soon began questioning my purpose. Months later, when people started posting positive reviews of Aveline and Taming Your Pet Monster: An Operational Guide, I decided to revisit everything that I had produced previously. To my surprise, the quality was good, and several titles would find success just a few months later.

Though I had begun to tire of writing children’s books, I was satisfied with each and every one of them. The effort was good, even though many had been produced in a short period of time, often a single day.

In hindsight, I shouldn’t have slowed down or stopped at all. I should have trusted my instincts and not doubted myself just because I was having difficulty selling. By being fixated on sales, I produced significantly less than I could have.

This time around, I won’t make the same mistake. I’ll ignore sales numbers and focus on productivity. As long as I create the best books that I am capable of, the sales will come. It’s inevitable.

And although I’ve said that I’ll take a break from children’s books to focus on my more “serious” works, I’ve had a change of heart. These books are helping children, notably my autistic seven-year-old son. All I needed was a time out, and now that I’ve had it, I’m ready to tackle the new challenges before me.

Eventually, I would like to get back to producing an original children’s book each week in addition to my normal writing. Although this appears to be a no-brainer, it’s actually a lot more difficult than it sounds. Tons of effort goes into producing children’s books, and as I get closer to the finishing one, I find that I can do little else. Sleep eludes me, and the need to finish pushes me through fatigue and exhaustion. This time, I’ll pace myself better so that I don’t burn out.

I would also like to make a significant change to my children’s books. While my picture books are typically a few hundred words (due to limited attention spans), instead I will produce stories at least 3,000 words in length. This shift from flash fiction to short stories increases the age range slightly from children 2-5 to children 3-6. A subtle, but significant difference.

Aside from publishing children’s books on a consistent basis, I’d also like to finish all of the languishing projects on my plate. For each new story I finish, I’ll alternate and wrap up a partially completed one. These all need to get out the door eventually, so now is the time to get them done.

I also need to follow up my successful works, distribute my books to all of the proper channels, and fix any errors that I come across. I would also like to focus on my website and sell directly to the reader.

But first things first. Let’s get some consistency in the writing process, starting with this journal. I will use it to chart my progress and keep myself writing every day. Even if I fall short of my goals, I will maintain this journal nonetheless.

I also need to be careful not to over commit myself while juggling friends, family and a full time job. That’s why I’m going to stagger these goals initially, and tackle them once I’m ready.

Here is an early list of my goals for 2014:

1. Write consistently every day in your journal (minimum 1,000 words).
2. Write one new children’s book per week starting in February (minimum 3,000 words).
3. Finish all of your incomplete projects, alternating between old and new.
4. Distribute all of your books to as many legitimate vendors as possible (Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Omnilit, Teachers Pay Teachers, Lulu).
5. Enjoy what you do. (That’s a must!)
6. Strive to become a better writer by learning something new each day.
7. Fix all problems that you encounter.
8. Focus on productivity rather than sales or reviews.
9. Invest time in your author store and develop original content for it.
10. And most of all, have fun!

Although this isn’t a complete list by any means, it’s enough to get started. I also added an item or two that needs to be discussed in detail (more on that later). Of all of these, the most important is the last one.

Have fun with it, even if you never make millions of dollars off your craft. Nothing’s guaranteed, especially in this industry, so why not? Get personal fulfillment from your writing today. Money can’t be the only motivating factor, and if one truly genuinely enjoys their work, they’ll produce more content with fewer breaks.

Although I decided several years ago what I wanted to do with my life, I still need to remind myself to have fun every once in a while. Yes, it’s a business. I get that. And yes, it’s how I feed my family. But it’s more than that. My work affects people, causes positive change in the world, amuses some, helps others, and may ultimately lead to success. Don’t write aimlessly just to capitalize on a buck; otherwise, you may not want to do it anymore.

Last, I’d like to break 200 total products this year. Currently, I’m sitting at 117. It’s going to take quite a bit of effort to publish another 73 titles this year while working a full time job. And if this was my only job? Heck, I’d knock it out in three months. (Grr…)

I must step up to the plate and produce. There are no excuses. It’s now or never.

This is your path.

This is your calling.

This is what you will do every day until you die.

So get busy. There’s nothing that can stand in your way except yourself.

Day 1: 1,035 words
Day 2: 1,045 words
Day 3: 1,035 words
Day 4: 1,560 words
Day 5: 1,193 words
Day 6: 1,157 words
Total: 7,025 words

My Crazy Writing Life - Day 3: I'm An Author, Sort Of

The label of author should be used loosely when describing me and my “work,” and perhaps I’m more of a hobbyist than a full-blown professional. As of today, I’ve published 117 different works, but don’t let the number fool you. It’s padded with foreign translations and compilations that help boost overall sales. Aside from that, the bulk of what I’ve written are children’s picture books, and I do not have a novel to my credit, only a few short stories and novelettes.

Despite this odd assortment of titles, I have found success. Back in January 2012, I sold a few thousand e-books and saw my sales skyrocket. At one point, I was making more from writing than my full time job, which prompted me to roll the dice and take a chance on this new, emerging opportunity. My contract at work was also expiring, so this seemed to be the best choice at the time.

Obviously, things did not pan out as expected. May’s earnings of $4,000 promptly became $1,600 in June. In July, I fought back voraciously, publishing another 21 titles, and getting my earnings back to $2,500, but it was obvious that the old approach was no longer working, and I would not be able to sustain myself any longer with writing alone. August came and I published a few more titles, while also widening my distribution channels. Although I made slightly more ($2,600), I braced for further reduction in royalties. When November finally ended, I could no longer break $1,000, and none of the new venues (Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo) had caught on yet.

Now I’m back to square one.

Also keep in mind that I am early in my writing career. Although I started writing back in 2006 (and I have the unfinished manuscripts to prove it), I didn’t get around to publishing (i.e., finishing) anything until October 2011. That’s when the fun began. Twelve months later, I had published 70 unique titles, primarily children’s books. My dream of being a published author had been realized to some extent.

But the honeymoon is over, and now it’s time for me to get back to the art of writing. Although writing picture books has been fun and rewarding (and paid well for a brief period), it’s time for me to finish my more serious works, notably Enura (a vampire thriller) and The Key of Neverhence (a fantasy epic). That’s not to say that I’m going to ditch children’s books altogether, but I am going to put a larger emphasis on finishing my novels.

There’s also something else that you should know about me: I am absolutely obsessed with prolific authors and their processes. Frequently I refer to Ryoki Inoue (the Guinness World Record holder for most novels published at 1,100+), Georges Simenon (a pulp fiction writer with over 500 titles to his credit) and Corin Tellado (a Spanish romance novelist who spent most of her adult life writing, and churned out over 4,000 novellas). These are my heroes. They show what can be done if one puts their mind to it. If I can have one tenth of their productivity, I will be enormously successful, and that’s another reason that I’m keeping these journals. By reminding myself of what others have accomplished, I will aspire to do more than I would otherwise. Perhaps one day I’ll join them; I just need to get organized and stay disciplined.

And publish one of my novels…

In terms of goals, I have a lot of them. My novelette The Christmas Spirit has been in development for over a year, and needs an ending. I need to get it off my plate as soon as possible so it doesn’t miss Christmas 2014. Braedyn Bunny and The Missing Eggs was supposed to be an Easter project, but after writing 2,000 words, I took a break, and never returned to it. See a pattern here?

My Little Pet Dragon Ness, Secret Agent Disco Dancer and Aveline and the Great Pumpkin Bash (all sequels) have been started but aren’t close to completion. The Key of Neverhence is a 77,000-word manuscript that needs a major rewrite, but I’ve only done about ten percent of it. Enura is 75% complete, and is probably the closest thing that I have to a completed novel, but I got sick of it, and stopped development altogether.

If there’s a theme to my backlog, it’s that I need to finish what I start. I began all of these projects for a reason. In my mind’s eye, I saw each as a success. Now is not the time to doubt, get lazy, or start new projects instead of finishing existing ones. I must clear the slate so that I can make room for another batch of half-finished projects. Isn’t that always the case?

Beyond that, there’s a million other projects that I’d like to work on. The Key of Neverhence is only the first in a series of series, some 30+ books in all. I have another line of children’s books that adds at least a dozen more titles, as well as faery literature, science fiction action adventure, horror stories, tons more fantasy novels, etc. If I want to finish any of them, I must condition myself to be more productive and less judgmental. Otherwise, these ideas are going to hang around forever and drive me crazy.

And I’m halfway there already…

Reminders for the Feeble-minded

• Finish what you start.
• Don’t give up on incomplete works.
• Don’t create new projects to avoid old projects.
• There’s a reason why you started each and every project. Identify what you saw working in your head and expand upon it.
• Don’t be too hard on yourself. Just because you’re not thrilled about something you’ve written doesn’t mean it’s bad. Show it to someone else and get their input. You may find that with a few tweaks everything snaps into place or that there’s nothing wrong with it in the first place. As Dean Wesley Smith says, “Authors are their own worst critics.”
• And if all else fails, open Microsoft Word and just write. It will become clearer what to do with it later.

Day 1: 1,035 words
Day 2: 1,045 words
Day 3: 1,035 words
Total: 3,115 words

Sweet Sacrifice: Words of Encouragement for Struggling Writers - One Sentence at a Time

The following is a chapter of a work in progress titled Sweet Sacrifice: Words of Encouragement for Struggling Writers. Every so often I’ll publish a new chapter on this blog until the entire book is complete. If you have any comments, please leave them below and I’ll do my best to answer them promptly. Enjoy!

One Sentence At A Time

The sentence—it’s the most basic unit of writing, but many of us struggle to put down a few, let alone a single word each day. If you can compose a sentence, even to the tune of one per day, you will eventually finish an entire book. It’s a mathematical certainty, even if an author doesn’t have an inkling about plot, characterization, mood, setting, thematic elements or even the genre that they’re writing in. Books are realized by those brave, few souls who are willing to commit one sentence after the other until they reach the end. It’s really that simple.

A sentence can be big or small, and doesn’t have to conform to a predetermined length. It can be composed of a single word or ramble on into infinity—whatever works! Vary them accordingly.

All it takes to start moving is a few, simple words. By focusing on the sentence at hand, you can make an immediate impact on your work. Perhaps you don’t know what you’re writing yet. In the strange phenomenon that is writing, after one writes for a while, the greater point that they’re trying to convey suddenly appears in their head. They don’t need to know where they’re going, only that they are moving forward—at least, that’s how it works for me. Words are not necessarily wasted. If you hadn’t been writing, you wouldn’t have found what you were looking for.

Or perhaps you’re one of those master plotters who have everything worked out beforehand. One day, you may come to a point where you find it hard to juggle all the details to make the words come out just right.

Relax. Take a step back. And simplify.

And if you find yourself rereading the same sentence over and over again, and your productivity has been reduced to a feeble crawl, perhaps you’re trying to do too much. Put your work aside and concentrate on the next few words. Try not to worry about it; just get it out. Then the next. Keep going till that mental block you hurdled is far behind in your rearview mirror.

If you think too much about what you’re going to do before you do it, you can easily defeat yourself. Perhaps you want to write 10,000 words today, or (gasp) even more. Worrying about it won’t get words onto paper. The more you ponder the mountain that you must climb, the less inclined you will be to scale it.

Baby steps first, my ambitious friend. Just a little at a time is all you need to worry about. One sentence at a time.

Is it finally sinking in? Once you’re in motion, stay in motion. With a little practice, it will become apparent how much your brain can handle at one time. Perhaps you cannot hold an entire sentence in your head at once. I find myself putting down the first half of a sentence and figuring out the rest as I go along. This is normal, and you will be able to handle more as you get more comfortable.

Or perhaps you have another dilemma—perhaps your brain can hold multiple sentences before getting them out. I bow to your genius, master author.

Hopefully you’re a fast typist, for with that talent I’d imagine that there is a tendency to revise your thoughts before getting them down. If you can do this at high speeds, so much the better for you. But if you encounter frequent conflicts and are experiencing waning productivity, take it down a notch. This is a writing process after all, not an editing process.

Give yourself some space to actually compose. Don’t over-think the process. Let it all out.

This reminds me of something my instructor said at a beginner art class years back. First, we were shown children’s drawings of trees and houses and flowers lining the walkway. I’m sure you’ve seen these before and probably scribbled down quite a few in your time. While crude, an undeniable energy radiated from each of the drawings. Trees weren’t merely trees but prickly, multi-armed giants with green mounds of cotton candy for hair. The smiles were big and colors plentiful—masterpieces in their own messy right.

Then we were shown the adult drawings of the same house and field and they were mere shells of the former works. Lines were tight and measured, detailing the edges of what was meant to be described. The flair of life was missing, replaced by hesitation and fear of getting a single line wrong.

This comparison also pertains to writing. Do you want to be that writer who merely sketches around the edges? Or do you mind getting a little messy from time to time and digging to the core of what you’re after? Instead of trying to write perfectly from the outset, hit your mark. You can always clean it up later, and striking the right cord is better than dancing around it.

If you’re comfortable with the way you write, there isn’t any reason to fix it. There are thousands of ways to write a book, and one isn’t necessarily more correct than another. It all depends on you.

But if your current process causes you grief from time to time, consider dialing it back to something more manageable. For this exercise, be supremely focused on the sentence coming out of you. Block out all distractions and any pressure that you’ve placed upon yourself. Do more with less. As long as it helps get you moving, that’s all that matters. Choose to be productive, one sentence at a time.

This is your time. Enjoy it. Unload the burden and allow yourself to embody the title that you hold dear, for today you are a writer!

Literary Dynamite Excerpt

The following is an excerpt from Literary Dynamite, A Humorous Short Story from S.E. Gordon

Available now at Amazon
and Barnes & Noble

Megan Ita stared at the keyboard, wondering if her story had disappeared into the cracks between the keys. It was a feeling that she knew all too well: the muscles in her dry throat tightening and making it difficult to breathe, the wheels of her imagination slowing to a crawl. "Must break through!" She banged her head on the keyboard. "It's just one sentence. I can handle one stupid sentence, can’t I?" she sniffled, and then cried.

"What's wrong with me? Haven't I done this a thousand times?" Megan polished off a warm can of Red Bull and wiped the tears from her eyes, hoping to lift the imaginary burden. She shrugged it off, sat up straight in her ragged chair, and cut out the offending line. After reading the narrative again, she slipped it back in and grumbled. "I will defeat you!" she vowed.

After exhausting her arsenal of profanities, Megan took a break, certain she could outfox the wily sentence. She turned on the oven, and baked herself a batch of chocolate chip cookies, a ritual that surfaced every time she pondered a difficult bit of text. "Not thinking about you right now," she tried to convince herself, but indeed she could not. The pitiful prose hung over her like a cloud, blinding her from the rest of the manuscript. All she needed was to get her hero out of a tent. "This is ridiculous." She stripped off her bifocals, and rubbed her throbbing head.

And it happened far too often.

Click here to purchase Literary Dynamite >>