Writing Goals

Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #25

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Well, I’m not going to post my word count table this week, because I’m feeling pretty horrible about it. Overall, I’m still 18,000 words behind my target. The good news is that I haven’t fallen any further behind this week. I’ve come to realize a few things about achieving a daily writing target:

  1. Writing multiple times in a day helps me reach my 1,000 words/day goal. I find in one “sitting” I can easily write 600 words. Which translates to needing a minimum of 2 writing sessions in a day (preferably morning and night).
  2. Focusing on how behind I am only makes me not feel like writing. It is much easier if I remind myself that I’ve already written well over 200,000 words since September 1, 2017! Go me!
  3. Trying to catch up (write 18,000 words) in one day or one weekend is an unachievable goal with how my life is currently set up (day job, kids, etc.). It works much better if I just tell myself to keep pushing for another couple minutes after I reach my 1,000 word goal. This often gets me to 1,100 or even 1,600 words in a sitting. Which means that I’m slowly catching up, bit by bit.

So, that’s what I’ve learned this week, and that’s what I’m focusing on. I’m still distracted by my Kindle Scout Campaign for Under Jupiter. I’ve got 4 Days left and I haven’t made it onto the Hot and Trending list for even a single house. Please help me out by nominating if you haven’t done so already. This is your shot at getting my book for free, and I will be eternally grateful. Just go here.

Under Jupiter by J.E. Hunter INSTAGRAM TEASER

Other good news is that I’ve finally broken through my writer’s block and found an idea that I love. I’m going to share some details as I work on it. It’s kept my word count high this week, and so far the story is lovely and so fun to write. I can’t wait to share more details with you.

Also, I’ve been doing a bit of gardening (and less going to the gym, but I figure all that squatting time counts for something, right?). Here’s some pictures of my flower boxes.

Have a great week!

JEH

Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #24

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If you’re caught up on my blog then you know that I spent this past weekend at a writing retreat. I had all sorts of dreams about pounding out 30,000 words in one weekend. But what actually happened was that I finished about 10% of that goal, and spent a lot of time workshopping, rewriting, and reading Jane Eyre instead. But the retreat location was perfect: quiet, remote, and with no real distractions (though they did still have wifi). Below are a couple of pictures from the location, including a gorgeous sunset (which was one of the few distractions, good thing it was short lived!)

Where I’ve been struggling with my writing goals is TIME. I haven’t been setting aside the approximate 30 minutes a day to get my 1,000 words done. I keep telling myself that I’ll have “a big weekend” and get back on target, and then it doesn’t happen. The thing about writing on the weekend is that there is always something better to do be doing, whether that’s hanging out with friends or family, going to the farmer’s market, jogging, or checking out a new movie or season on Netflix. Since September, I’ve noticed that I write more on the weekdays, the same days that I do my day job, and it’s because there is less distraction. While I spent 8 hours in my office, once that’s done I often come home, which leaves me with a lot of time to get my word count in. On the weekends I often go out, leaving me with too much distraction and too little focus. I guess I’ll have to spend the next few months improving this habit. Below is a look at my word counts since May 1st.

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I have to admit that this week I’ve also been distracted by my KindleScout campaign for Under Jupiter. If you haven’t had the time to nominate the book, that’s alright. But please head over and click the big blue button sometime before May 29th. You will get my eternal thanks, a shot at getting a free copy, and let’s be honest, each book I eventually sell goes a long way toward keeping this blog running!

Under Jupiter by J.E. Hunter INSTAGRAM TEASER

Now that I’ve finished Under Jupiter, my 365,000 word writing goal has turned to focus on two of the other projects that were on my initial list of five: Half-Moon Blood, which is something I’m writing for WattPad, and MF (which still goes by a code name), a stand-alone epic fantasy.

How’s your word count going?

JEH

Under Jupiter Now On Kindle Scout

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It’s there! It’s up and shining in the spotlight. Head on over here to check it out, or click on the link on the right, and read the prologue, the first chapter, and take a sneak peek into chapter two. Under Jupiter will be up on Kindle Scout until May 30th, so you can go back and view it again anytime, or share it with a friend. Don’t forgot to nominate the book for a change to get a free copy if the ebook if it’s chosen by Kindle Press!

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Kindle Scout View

Submitting to Kindle Scout

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I did it! I pressed submit! And now for a little rundown of what I thought about the whole Kindle Scout submission process.

If you’ve never heard about Kindle Scout, you can read more about it here, and sign up to preview and vote for submitted books. For readers, Kindle Scout is a way to earn free books, because if a book you nominate is chosen by Scout for publishing with Kindle Press, then you get a free copy. For writers, it’s a chance to earn an advance for your book and get a little bit of extra marketing.

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So why did I decide to try Kindle Scout? Mostly because I’m always on the lookout for new things to try, and, well, that advance does sound nice. So far, everything has been simple and straight forward. I opened a Kindle Scout account, prepared my files (cover, manuscript, blurb, a short bio, and answers to some questions. The Kindle Scout Website says you can submit in fifteen minutes, but it took me longer than that to prepare the question answers and the bio, because I wanted them to be good.

The cover had to be submitted in jpg or png format, and the manuscript (yes, you have to submit the entire manuscript even though only the first 5,000 words or so will be used as an except), has to be .doc or .docx format.

I uploaded everything, pressed the button, and now Under Jupiter is under content review (which means Kindle Scout is checking that there isn’t any inappropriate content or trouble with the files). Next, I should receive a confirmation and a campaign launch date, which I will share as soon as I have it. I’m excited to share this preview of Under Jupiter with everyone, and I can’t wait to hear what people think.

So, what does this mean for the release of Under Jupiter? Well, in the case that the book is selected by Scout, the release date will be up to Amazon (usually within a month of selection, so likely July 2017), and in the case that it isn’t selected, I will have Under Jupiter released by the end of June 2017.

Either way, Under Jupiter is set to land soon!

JEH

Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #23

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Wow, it’s been almost a month since I’ve given and update on my writing goals! I started this massive goal in September, with a huge kick start thanks to the 3-Day Novel Writing Contest. But this past month has been so crazy with preparing Under Jupiter for submission to Kindle Scout that I’ve fallen pretty far behind in my goal. Here’s a look at my tracking sheet for the past couple of weeks:

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As you can see, I’m over 12,000 words behind! The good news is that I’m finishing up Under Jupiter over the next 3-4 days, and then I can get back to drafting for a while. I’m looking forward to some new projects. The last stages of rewriting and editing are all consuming for me. I don’t like to be taken away from the story, or distracted, since it pulls from my ability to concentrate on the continuity of the story. The closer I get to finishing, the more consumed I become.

But I still took time last weekend to go on a mini-road trip to the most creepy, crooked wood I’ve seen. We drove up to The Crooked Bush, Saskatchewan. Here are a couple pictures, which don’t do it justice by far.

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It’s great fodder for a future story. I’ll have to see if anything comes of it.

JEH

Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #22

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It was an awful week. I let my birthday distract me from my main goal and used it for all sorts of excuses. I didn’t write nearly as much as I should have, which means I’m around 7,000 words behind my goal. When there is such a big word count at stake, it is so easy to fall behind—and also fairly easy to catch up. All I have to do is write, just a little bit more than my 1,000 words per day, and I’ll be back on target in (hopefully) a month. I’ll be moving from focusing on Under Jupiter rewrites to drafting soon, which will also help with that goal.

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Getting Ready to Draft!

You can see from the chart below that I wasn’t very habitual this week. I had a lot of extra curricular events because of my birthday. Including a paint night where I made this picture. It’s pretty nice, don’t you think? I’m going to put it in my office. It will be good inspiration for a fantasy novel I hope to return to writing soon.

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I’m hoping I can spend a lot of time this weekend attempting to catch up on words. But first I want to catch up on this blog. I have a couple reviews planned for this week, and also the Under Jupiter cover reveal, so be sure to check back!

JEH

Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #22

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It’s been almost two weeks since I updated. During that time I’ve been working fairly diligently on two of my main projects, Under Jupiter and MF. And tonight I passed 200,000 words!!!!!

PARTY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Obviously this nice round number feels pretty big. I started this goal in September of 2016, and a lot of time has passes since then, and obviously I’ve written a lot of words. But sometimes I wonder just where all of those words have gone, because I feel like I have so many unfinished projects that I must still be an undergrad. Seriously. It feels like it is taking forever to finish things. I think part of that is the fact that I’m often working on more than one book at a time. Like right now I’m doing rewrites of Under Jupiter and doing a first draft of MF. Also, I have about an hour a day (if I’m lucky) to get all my words and rewriting in. And that’s if I’m not so tired that I just pass out the moment the house is quiet. I do wish that I would have been tracking daily the project I was working on, that would really help me understand where all the words have gone.

But I made it! Deep breath. To Two Hundred Thousand Words. Which means I can totally do this. I can totally do this. And come September. I will have finished things. And they will be wonderful.

JEH