Writer of young adult fiction, fantasy, and science fiction.
Author: byjehunter
I'm the author of the Black Depths and Artifacts of Avalum series. I'm also a reader and I love posting young adult book reviews and blogging about everything related to books. In the morning, I can be found drinking coffee and wishing it was still dark outside. In the afternoon, I'm stuck at my day job, and in the evening, I'm probably working on my latest creation.
Today was finally the day. I made my way over to the National Novel Writing Month website, NaNoWriMo.org and signed up for another year of novel writing insanity. I’ve been doing NaNo for a long time now, because I find it to be a great motivational tool for sitting down and getting my stories on paper. This week, I’m finally sitting down to start preparing for the month-long marathon which begins on November 1st. Some years I have more time to prepare than others, and this year I have about a week.
So the first thing I did after signing up on the website was find a notebook.
I primarily write on my laptop, but I still use a pretty notebook for things like character development, notes, maps, side stories, history, flowcharts, etc. All that stuff that doesn’t easily translate into MicroSoft Word of Pages. Plus, pretty notebooks are another form of motivation for me. After notebook selection, I brainstorm a novel title, hopefully one I won’t change, because I write it in big, colourful letters on the first page of my book.
And now I’m on my way.
Tomorrow I’ll be posting a bit about character brainstorming, so be sure to check in.
Well, I’ve finally finished my rewrites and edits on Twisted Currents, and am now waiting for editorial and cover art. Whew! *Take a big breath*
If you read the title of this post, then you already know I’m talking about how busy self-publishing is. The real work that goes on behind the scenes. If you’re a self-published author, you’ll know what I mean about being busier than ever before. Unless you’ve published and made millions (which is so, so rare), then you likely aren’t sitting on a beach in Mexico sipping drinks from coconuts. Instead, you’re probably huddled in a dark corner of your basement, hoping to squeeze in two more minutes of writing/editing/promo time.
Where I’m Not
If you’re a reader of this blog, then you’ve probably noticed the slow down in blog posts over the past couple of weeks, the lack of book reviews, and the lack of posting in general. And that’s mostly do to those pesky rewrites I’ve been working on. Rewriting is the most difficult part of the writing process for me. It’s that time when I sit down and think: Does this part really make sense? What is the symbology of that? How would this character say it? It’s a lot of work. And it’s even more work when self-publishing because there is no one to help you out. Though, you can remedy that by finding beta-readers or hiring an editor, for me, part of self-publishing is doing it on my own and writing something that is nearly 100% mine, and not 50% mine and 25% feedback from beta reads and 25% changes made by an editor I may or may not know. The editing I pay for is generally typo/grammatical only, which means the creative part of my novels are all mine. But it makes me so busy!
So what takes up all my time?
Writing the Draft – This takes me at least 40-60 hours of straight work for an 80K word novel. I’ve tried to do this all in one week before, but mentally it’s exhausting, so I usually spread that 40-60 hours out over a month or two.
And Then There’s Cat Distraction Time…
Rewriting the Draft (at least once) – I rewrite at a speed of 10 pages per hour (on a good day), for an 80K word book, that’s around another 40 hours. Again, this is spread out because yes, I do have a day job, and yes, I prefer to write at night, making it my “night job”.
Editing the Draft – This is slightly quicker, because at this point I’m only making small changes, but it still takes around 30 hours.
Getting Someone Else to Edit the Draft )and making those edits into a Final) – Most hired editors will get an 80K words novel back to you in 1-2 weeks. So there is the waiting time (where you can at least do other things), and then the review of those edits, which takes about another 5 hours.
Formatting – I hate formatting. This is probable the bane of my existence. This takes me anywhere from 1-10 hours (or maybe a million, I’m not sure, but it certain feels like FOREVER).
Blog – This is just a constant process. And fun (I love blogging)
Tweeting – I should really tweet more than I do (15 min per day)
Facebook – I should definitely Facebook more than I do (15 min per day)
Cover Art Design (hire out or do my own) – I currently hire out my cover designs, though I do the text myself. While my artist is working on the drawing, there is a feedback process to make sure the image is going in the direction I need. In total, cover art probably takes around 2-3 hours, and that’s because I don’t draw (if I did, I would love to do my own art but I imagine it would take me another 40 hours at least).
Book Launch Planning – If you’re going this, look at spending 5-6 hours over the course of a month to choose the sections you want to read, what kind of treats you want to serve, sending out e-vites, preparing other promotional material, and practicing your reading.
Readings/Arts Fairs/Public Events – This is similar to the launch, and a similar amount of time.
Writing a novel is a long, slow process. Writing a series is a slightly more fast-paced process that is just as much work. I have to admit, I’m glad to be concluding the Black Depths Series for the moment, because I need a breather. After a week of getting sampling edits back from potential editors so that I can find the right editor at the right price, I’m just about burnt out. But I’ve timed this perfectly, because now that the book is off to the chopping block, I have time to sit back, read, relax, and blog prior to starting NaNoWriMo in exactly one week.
Join me tomorrow when I post my first blog about my 2016 NaNoWriMo preparations.
Well, we’re back into fine weather here, and I’ve had a great week of meeting my writing goals. What’s really helped this week is that I’m pushing to finish rewrites to get Black Depths #5 out the door by Halloween (cover art and editing dependant). Here’s a look at the numbers for the past week:
It looks fantastic, and as you can see, I’m well over my goal, so I’m thinking I might allow myself a mini-break once I finish this draft. Although, there is a short story I’m trying to finish up in order to enter it into the CBC Short Story Literary Awards Contest, and there is the fact that the point of this exercise is to write 1,000 WORDS A DAY FOR A WHOLE YEAR.
Yeah, that’s a lot tougher than it sounds. Speed wise, I can type out a thousand words in under half an hour. What’s tough is coming up with motivation. Take today for instance, I’m extremely tired because one of my little kittens did not let me sleep last night. All I want to do is nap but I pushed through anyway, and I’m even writing this blog post, though I was pretty sure I WASN’T going to do it. I think that means the writing has finally made it into my blood. It’s finally more habit and chore and hopefully from here things just get easier. I am looking forward to dropping back down to 1K a day though soon, once my currently project, Twisted Currents, is wrapped up. Self-publishing is never easy, but I’m pretty sure it’s most difficult as self-imposed deadlines approach.
Ah well, I’m sensing a celebration coming down the pipe… Probably in the form of cake, tea, and books…
I’ve been so busy getting ready for the next Black Depths Book release that I haven’t been posting. But I have good reason, and today I have something to share. Below is a preview of one corner of the Twisted Currents Cover, which my cover artist, Leah Keeler, is working away on. It’s going to be amazing, probably the best cover yet! Any guesses what the final will look like?
Let’s start with a pretty picture so we can cheer up about the weather:
That’s right, it’s still snowy here. Oh well, I’ve come to covet some Reading Socks, and I’m thinking they might be my quarterly reward if I remain ahead of my word count on my 365K words in a year goal. This week was pretty good, even with Thanksgiving in the mix. I didn’t write on two of the seven days, but on the other five I did over 1000 words on each. I’m currently 13,000 words ahead of my goal, and hope to remain that way at least until Christmas time. I’m still trying to write everyday, and write at least 1,000 words, but it’s a lot harder than it sounds. After a long day, the last thing I want to do is sit down and be creative. It feels like pulling spaghetti noodles through my brain sometimes. One at a time. It can be torture. I’m still hopping that with more practice it will be come more automatic, more habit forming, but I think time will yet tell. This week I’m shifting back to rewriting, so that can be a challenge to write something new (even if it is just part of the rewrites. In a couple weeks, I will be done with the Black Depths Universe, and moving on to my NaNoWriMo project, and I’m hoping the momentum of the event, along with the forums, will get me moving.
How’s your writing going? Are you doing NaNo this year?
This post is a Young Adult Book Review. I only review books I’ve chosen to read, and am not compensated in any way.
Switched by Amanda Hocking is one of those books I’ve had on my shelf forever. It was, in fact, my bathroom book for the past five or so months. Does anyone else do bathroom books? You know, the book you leave in the loo just in case you need to sit in there for a while? Well, I do. But I pulled it last week because I wanted to read the second half all at once because I couldn’t wait anymore.
I’m pretty sure by now that everyone has heard of Amanda Hocking—well, everyone in the self-publishing world anyway. She’s one of the biggest self-publishing success stories, and I, for one, would love to find that kind of success, though unfortunately, my books have been nowhere near as popular as her’s.
Switched (A Trylle Novel)(associate link), follows Wendy, a regular (so she thinks) human girl who finds out she’s a troll (albeit, magically gifted, rather good-looking troll). I think that the real charm of Switched was that it was a simple, charming telling of a rather common story (girl to princess who humbly doesn’t want to be princess). But at the same time, there were new twists, like the troll (or Trylle) aspect, and the whole changeling thing, which I’ve always found interesting. Overall, the writing was simple and there wasn’t a lot of word choice, which made for a pretty quick read and put the focus entirely on the story. I enjoyed it, and I’m intrigued enough that I’ll probably read the rest of the series.
(associate link), follows Wendy, a regular (so she thinks) human girl who finds out she’s a troll (albeit, magically gifted, rather good-looking troll). I think that the real charm of Switched was that it was a simple, charming telling of a rather common story (girl to princess who humbly doesn’t want to be princess). But at the same time, there were new twists, like the troll (or Trylle) aspect, and the whole changeling thing, which I’ve always found interesting. Overall, the writing was simple and there wasn’t a lot of word choice, which made for a pretty quick read and put the focus entirely on the story. I enjoyed it, and I’m intrigued enough that I’ll probably read the rest of the series.
J. E. H U N T E R 