Wednesday 22 June 2016

(vol 3) CHAPTER 12 - "What's More Important?"


A writer friend commented recently on last weeks blog post and said that, while she loved reading my blog, she wished it would go back to weekly. To be honest, I wish it could to.

So what comes next was part of a tough decision.



WHAT?

This will be my last blog post for a while. The blog itself won't go anywhere; I will still be updating my reading list, other authors works, and sometimes posting the occasional short work. But as far as talking about the process of writing itself, about my own projects, and the about the craft in general, well that's going to hibernate.

Just for a while.



WHY?

I recently finished an awesome non-fiction book called 'Iterate and Optimize'. If you've followed the blog for a while then you'll know that the guys who wrote this book (Johnny B Truant, Sean Platt, and David Wright) are authors I aspire to. Their work ethic, their production, and (most importantly) their stories, are extremely impressive. If in ten years I could be just a quarter as prominent as them, I would be VERY happy.

While reading 'Iterate and Optimize' I started to think about what it really is that I'm trying to do. And more importantly how much I'm letting myself down, and how much I'm clearly failing.

You see, all the talk I do here about planning and what needs to be done to get a book out there sounds like crap when you realise I don't actually have any experience of an end product. I've spent two years working around my true goal by talking about it and writing other works. But I still don't have a book in my hands with just my name on it. Worse still, no one in the world does; because it's yet to exist.

I'm promoting and not writing. I'm giving advice based on limited experience. And I'm watching other writer friends around me move from where I am, to where I want to be.

So I'm stepping back. There won't be any more blog posts about how to publish until I'm published. There won't be any more posts about how to do a cover until (guess what) I've done a proper cover.



WHEN?

This is it; last post for a while. Like I said in WHAT, I will be updating other parts of the blog, I just won't be 'blogging' until it's to say "Hey world! Check out this book I wrote. Now let’s talk about how I got here."

I hope its sooner rather than later, I really do. But my writing time must be spent on putting fiction to paper, and not in just talking about the dream version of my life that keeps slipping further away.



WHERE?

I'm hoping I've obtained and learnt how to use my own website by the time I need to. While blogger is great, it's not mine. I hope that when I finally have something important to say (with experience backing it up) that it's on my own website where I feel I can do so much more. For those of you out there who already have your own websites, I'll be knocking on your doors for help somewhen in the future. Just giving you fair warning.

Info will no doubt arrive via this space and my twitter (@BrianSCreek).



HOW?

While I don't feel like I should be spouting writing advice without an end result to show it works, I've been busy reading others advise who are already there. From fellow writers I've run with in the last couple of years (Craig Anderson, Liz Hedgecock, Tamara Rogers, and Michael Blackbourn to name a few), to those I revere and hope to one day meet (Johnny B Truant, Sean Platt, David Wright, Garrett Robinson, and Joanna Penn), and all the way to the big man himself, Stephen King.

I have a plan, one that I won't be derailed from, one that WILL get me where I want to be, sooner rather than later. I just need to do it, and nothing else.

And don't worry Stella, the Chris and Mike vs The World books are a big part of that plan. :)



UNTIL NEXT TIME

So that's it for now. Like I said, I don't know when I'll be (proper) back; a miracle if it's less than a month, but I hope it's not too long into 2017 if I go past Christmas. The important thing isn't when I'll be back, it's that I will be back, and that I'll have something awesome to show for it.

Thank you for all the support from those that come back and read each time I've posted. I will throw some short pieces up from time to time (I still dabble over at Angry Hourglass and MicroscosmsFic).

Good luck to anyone out there trying to publish your first work (or second, or third). I'll get there soon.



Wednesday 8 June 2016

(vol 3) CHAPTER 11 – “Coming Up”

MEANWHILE . . .

So, projects are currently boiling away, with the second half of the year planned to be where all things writing start to escalate (I have a proper, grownup plan and everything). There’s also beta reading done, and more to do (sorry Michael; I haven’t forgotten).

Outside of that though, things have been quiet. It’s been a couple of months since I wrote a Flash Fiction story (the very form of writing that got me back into writing just over two years ago). I’ve been meaning to jump back in but either time doesn’t allow it, or the ideas just keep evading me. I still keep my eyes on the current contests though; it’s nice to see the old writing buddies continue to produce awesome work.

And talking of Flash Fiction . . .



#NFFD

Coming up in a little over two weeks (June 25th to be exact) is National Flash Fiction Day. Still a young event, NFFD is a promotional event day of the form of short (short) writing. As well as a couple of things taking place in Bristol this year, there’s also a collection of Flash due to be released on the same day. For more info check out:



Also, if I remember correctly, a fellow Flash Fiction author is releasing their second collection into the world on the same day. Check out Liz Hedgecock's BITESIZE, available to preorder on Amazon now.



OFF TO CAMP AGAIN

And finally it’s that time of year again when I drop words over at CampNaNo. That’s right, despite everything else going on, I plan on being busy writing a 25,000 word story. And what’s the plan I hear three people at the back mutter? Well, this time last year I had yet to write anything longer than Flash Fiction for Chris and Mike vs The World. Last year’s CampNaNo saw the birth of book one; vs The Rising Dead, while Novembers NaNoWriMo carried on with books 2 and 3. So, you can see where I’m going with this, right? No? Oh. Then let me tell you.

This July I will be working on book 4 in the series; Chris And Mike vs The Clockwork Killer. As I’ve mentioned before, the series has its shape now, its overriding plot. With all the early books backed up and worked on, the plan is to release them close together (not too close, but comfortable enough that readers are waiting ages for the next instalment.

For the last couple of NaNoWriMo’s I’ve talked through the process and plot as I write each project. But now, with the hope of releasing actual books with actual plots, it seems unwise to talk you people through book 4 while dropping major spoilers to books 1-3. I’ll take a different method me thinks.



SHORT BUT SWEET

Anyway, that’s’ all fore this week. Lots going on but not many things I’m ready to talk about at the moment.

Hope everyone is happily working through their own projects. Never forget that a story is made from words, and no matter how tough it gets, we only need to write a word at a time; the rest will take care of itself.