IWSG; Making More Productive Fiction Writing Time; Book Progress

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) blog hop! In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions. I missed posting on Monday, which is the day for my weekly blog post. I apologize for that; it was a busy and tiring weekend so I just wasn't up to blog writing. So, I'm doubling up on today's post with the IWSG topics and make-up for Monday’s missed post. For the IWSG, I have the optional question of the month, and a little bit of an accomplishment with my fiction writing I'd like to share. For the Monday make-up portion of the post, I have progress on my upcoming book of short fiction to share and some news about an upcoming change to my blog. So, keep reading!

IWSG 

Question of the Month

So, starting with IWSG stuff, here's the question of the month: Is there a story or book you've written you want to/wish you could go back and change? Normally after I’ve written and revised a full story, I don't want to go back to change anything. I just want to go on to writing the next story. However, there is one story that I've fully written and revised that I am planning to go back to and change. It's a story for my upcoming collection of short fiction, "Bad Apps". It's mostly the ending that I'm going to make changes to. Anytime I look back on the current ending it seems to suck bug me more and more, particularly with the protagonist reacting too damn vulnerably. So, I'm going back to rewrite that part. 

Making My Fiction Writing Sessions More Productive

Since the beginning of the new year, I made a slight change to my weekday morning routine that's given me at least an extra five minutes to my fiction writing time. Because of my day job, I only have a half-hour to give to my fiction writing each weekday; everything else has to be done on the weekends which are also limited since Saturday I have my weekly blog post to work on on top of the household chores, and Sunday I reserve for a day of rest. 

Before the new year began, I would allow myself to dose off over my phone at the table in the mornings which cut my morning writing time too short. It caused too much of my writing time to get held off to the evening and by then, after coming home from work on the two hour public transit commute, I would too easily fall asleep over the pen and paper or the computer. I would do a writing session of 15 min. in the morning and, if I was lucky, 15 minutes in the evening. 

This year I made a slight change in my sleep and morning schedules to get the majority of fiction writing done in the mornings. I started going to bed 10 minutes earlier each weekday evening and would get up in the mornings 10 to 15 minutes earlier. At the table, after I’d eat, I'd read on my phone through things more quickly like my calendar and the weather and then force myself to get on with the other morning duties such as changing my clothes and brushing my teeth. So, I cut out dosing off at the table. 

This resulted in a much better, more energized start to the day where I could get my 20 minutes of my daily minimum 25 minutes of fiction writing done. Then all I would have to take care of in the evening was the remaining 5 minutes and so any unproductivity from day job exhaustion would only affect that and not the majority of the day’s fiction work. I’ve been getting more work done that way. 

'Bad Apps' Progress

For “Bad Apps”, I finished the grammar edits in one story, in which I'll proofread it out loud to make sure there aren't any awkward sentences or too much repetition. You can hear awkwardness in writing when you read it aloud that you won't catch when reading it silently. 

About a week ago, I finished reading over another story for character problems and jotting down notes where revisions were needed. Since then, I've been typing in those revisions, reading through the whole draft as I go along to watch out for any paragraph or sentence structural problems. I'm also looking out for word usage and description as I type. 

Upcoming Changes to Blog’s Appearance

It's been at least two years since I last changed the appearance of my blog. So, now, while the year is still young, it's time for another change in looks. I recently selected a new, more scenic, background and am looking for some images to add to it. I'm hoping to have all those up in the next couple of weeks. 

So, have you ever gone back to change something in a story you had already written? What are your writing accomplishments for the past month? Today’s IWSG is brought to you by these super co-hosts:  Joylene Nowell Butler, Louise Barbour, and Tyrean Martinson! IWSG was founded by awesome author Alex Cavanaugh, writer of the Cassa Series of novels! 

Until next time . . .