#IWSG JULY - HOW MANY MINUTES/HOURS/DAYS DO YOU WRITE?

How are you doing? I'm glad you found your way here on IWSG day because I want to pick your brains. I'm not answering the optional question today - I'm going my own way.

After trying for the past 10 years, I'm finally closing down my English tutoring business at the end of the senior school year. I made sure I only tutored Year 12 students this year - they'll be off to University, so I won't get tearful phone calls from mums and dads when I fling them into the big wide world without their guide by their side.

Now, my insecurity is - what do I do now I have the opportunity to write full time? Well, I have a big extended family, so there are never-ending demands on my time, but there's nothing new about that. Some clever clogs manage to write books with a baby over their shoulder, tapping on their smart phones. Wow. But I'm definitely going to have extra hours in the week to write and I fear I will fritter them away.

I'm endlessly fascinated by those threads in many FB writing groups I follow. Last week there was one on 20booksto50k whose focus is unashamedly The Business of Being a Self-Published Author. That's the crux of my problem - I don't treat writing as a business, except in my head. So on 20 books, there were the usual and stoic - "I set aside xx number of hours per day and stick to it, no exceptions" to the "I never set goals because it stresses me and I end up writing less." Hmm. Reminds me of someone.

It doesn't take much to fascinate me when writers talk about writing because I always think everyone is smarter than I am. Then I remind myself I have self-published 6 books over a couple years which sounds pretty awesome, until I 'fess I've been working on some of them since 2010, LOL. To call me a slow writer is an understatement. You know, there's places to travel, holidays to take, house to clean, meals to cook, books to read, WEP to oversee and write for, research ... you know. And I just can't stop self-editing!!

But I was truly fascinated by one clever writer who said, and I paraphrase, "I spend a month outlining/planning my next book, I spend a month (yes, only a month!!!) writing it, then leave it for a month, then I spend a month editing - self-editing, then send it to my editor and start the whole process again on my next book." Holy guacamole! Now if I try to emulate this clever author I'd fall flat on my face, seeing I've never finished a book in under 5 years!

**So how about you? Are you secure in your writing career, set a business plan and follow it, or are you more like me who doesn't set weekly goals so I'm not disappointed when I can't reach them? I'd love to hear how clever you sets goals.

And this is the purpose of the IWSG - To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

So thanks in advance for your assistance and guidance ...

Be sure to visit the Insecure Writer’s Support Group Website!!!

And the following kind people have taken time out of their busy writing lives to help Alex this month.

 PJ Colando,  Kim Lajevardi,  Gwen Gardner,  Pat Garcia,  and  Natalie Aguirre!

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Would you tweet for me?

Do you set #writinggoals, #IWSG, @DeniseCCovey #amwriting #writingcareer, #writersoftwitter, #writingcommunity, https://dencovey.blogspot.com/2023/07/iwsg-july-how-many-minuteshoursdays-do.html

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

And I can't leave without inviting you to write for WEP in August. 

How about this? Sure to be a favorite~yummy~

What could be sweeter than to write about chocolate?

Post - August 16th to the 18th 2023

Thanks so much -

Denise

#IWSG post - What steps have you taken or plan to take to put a schedule in place for your writing and publishing?

Happy New Year and welcome to the first IWSG posting for 2018! Here we encourage each other monthly on our writing journey.

The brainchild of Alex J Cavanaugh, his awesome co-hosts for the January 3 posting of the IWSG are Tyrean Martinson, Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Megan Morgan, Jennifer Lane, and Rachna Chhabria! Please visit if you can.

Today I'm going to answer the set question:

January 3 question - What steps have you taken or plan to take to put a schedule in place for your writing and publishing?

I apologize in advance if this is a bit garbled. I had a very small window to get this done...

My writing schedule is pretty awesome at the best of times, and woeful at the worst of times.  Soon the Christmas holidays will be over -- for me the end of this week -- so I can begin my routine of heading to my office (called Den's Den) early in the morning when I'm at the beach and going early to the State Library on teaching days when I'm in Brisbane. Usually this gets me up to 4 - 6 hours a day at the laptop.

But it's not just about the writing, is it? I also have to factor in sending my work to beta readers, editing, paying an editor, rewriting, attending meetings with my critters and sending them chapters routinely to be discussed together. I'm never going to be one of those writers who write a book a month. How do you do that if you edit/rewrite? Please do tell. 

And then there's the reciprocal critiques I do for other writers. 

This year I need to factor into my schedule more book reviews of blogger books.

I'm planning to de-list my vampire novel on Amazon and republish in its new-beaut version through Draft2Digital who now have Amazon on their list of distributors, too!! My critters have been too busy over Christmas to re-read, but I have it with one beta reader who has already made suggestions, good ones.

• So, my Paris romance (75,000+ words) is still with Avon and Tule. Waiting to hear.
• It seems to be generally accepted that you need to self-publish more than one novel or it's not worthwhile, so I'm also working on getting the next vampire novel in the series finished and at least Chapter One on the third before I publish. We'll see.
• I've decided to go with a pen name for my vamp trilogy. I checked out the top-selling vampire novels on Amazon and the authors have very apt names. I started a thread in the facebook group I mention below and got 250 useful comments on the ways and means of pen names. So that means an author page on facebook, and a newsletter I guess, (jury's out on this one), all to garner interest before I self-publish.

I've been haunting the 20Booksto50K Facebook group which is a boon to see what successful authors are doing re self-publishing and marketing. A great place to lurk and learn. Can't sing their praises highly enough.

So, I won't hold you up. You can see I have a plan for 2018. You need to head to more posts for the IWSG. Go HERE for the list...

And over at WEP we have announced the winners for those who wrote for us in December. Please visit and congratulate them if you can. Also check out the awesome challenges for 2018! 

Now I'm looking forward to hearing all about your writing goals for 2018!

And please, if you have a newsletter, would you answer the following:

• who did you choose to go with? 
• how did you grow your reader base?
• how often do you send out your newsletter?
• er, do you actually recommend a newsletter? I know heavyweights like Anne R Allen say it's old hat, but that's not what I'm hearing elsewhere.

Thanks a mille!!