Writing Buddies For the Win!

Wow, is this week’s topic timely: writing partners and accountability buddies. We’re not talking about collaborators, authors you write with on the same projects, but the writing buddy! 

I’d been struggling to get back into writing mode. You know, the zone where you go every day because you’ve trained your brain to know when writing time happens. 

I’ve had it before. Loved it. Used it. But I lost it. 

What made me use it was a mental block. Oh how I wish it’d been more along the lines of block party. But I had a mental block that I needed to deal with. So, I did. 

Healthy Mind = Healthy Body

I focused on my health along with working on my mind. Meditation and yoga are things that work incredibly well with me. And when I fall off, travel usually bungles up my routine, I definitely notice both in my mental acuity and physical aches and pains. 

Once I was feeling good and confident in my writing again…I’d lost my writing mode. Until a month ago when a writer friend reached out and asked if I would be interested in doing writing sprints together. I’ve heard of other people doing this, Jeffe mentioned it yesterday, but I’d never written with anyone before and wasn’t sure how it would work.

Writing Sprints: we meet on Facebook video, mute ourselves, and write for 15 minute increments. We check in, stretch if needed, and go right back to writing. We’ll do this for a few hours, or until Ullr the husky pup decides it’s walk-time and then we take a lunch break. We do 15 minutes because it’s a short enough time that our brain’s can easily maintain focus. We have done half hour sprints, which also work well. 

This works well for both of us because we had a tendency to edit as we wrote our first drafts. Let me tell you, this does not work! I’d been creeping along in my manuscript. A hundred words here. A couple hundred there. With way too many days in-between. I keep a word-count spreadsheet and the day I started doing writing sprints with my friend my daily count skyrocketed. Now I’m able to average 1500 words in 4 hours. 

Now, writing is like lifting weights. You can’t compare yourself to others. You do the best that you can do and work on improving your skills and abilities. You may look at my average word count and laugh or it may make your jaw drop. Either way, I share it because I used to average 100 words in 2 hours. Writing sprints for the win!

Having a writing buddy has clearly made all the difference for me. And for me, the goal of the writing sprint is to write. No looking back, no editing. Just getting the words down, first draft style. Because you know what they say—you can’t edit a blank page. And I think it’s partly accountability, and partly having someone there that understands what I’m going through and working towards. 

Hopefully you have someone in your life that supports your writing goals. But it’s highly likely that they aren’t a writer and therefore don’t understand it. Only another writer knows how mentally draining it is to write for hours. Only another writer can share the misery of rejections and/or bad reviews. Only another writer knows how sweet it is to receive a yes or a yellow banner or a 5 star review. Writing is a lonely occupation, but we don’t have to be alone to do it. 

Side note to writing-sprints first drafts - If I hit a spot that needs research, or a name I don’t have yet, or anything that I’ll need to come back to I enter [] and keep typing. You can use whatever code word or character you want, it’s a placeholder you can search for and fill in the blanks later. 

So, have you ever been part of a writing group? Do you have a writing buddy? If you haven’t ever given it a try, I urge you to. It might just be the key to unlocking huge word potential.

Managing My Word Count

Over the years, my habits for managing my word count have changed. What works one season doesn't always work another. But, even so, there are a few things I keep in mind to keep myself on track.

Micro Goal

Writing every day is a part of my routine and part of what brings me calm. I also like the idea of having an easy win. It gets me in a good mood. And, even if it's a high pain day or a day when everything has gone wrong, I can count on getting this little bit of success.

That micro goal is just 200 words. 

If I get 200 words done, it counts as a win. 

Those 200 words can be on anything I want as long as I am writing. Most of the time, it's the story that I am most excited to write (which is rarely the story I am actually writing). If I'm feeling especially stagnant, I'll write by hand in one of my beautiful notebooks. 

The other advantage of these 200 words is that they give me a way to warm up. Most of the time, I work on this first thing in the morning over a cup of tea or coffee. 

Project Targets

I am always working on multiple projects. One is usually in editing and another is in drafting, at a minimum. I set aside time for both, and for the drafting, I decide how many words I need by looking at the target word count for my project and the number of days I have left before I need the draft done for revisions and editing. 

Now, because I am a planster (I plan but also change things as I go), I'm not always so good at knowing an accurate word count. This means that sometimes I have to adjust as I go along, and the needed word count goes up or down. 

At the end of each day, I see how many words I have drafted overall. I then break that down into the words that will be usable in the final draft versus those that wound up being more useful for understanding characters or might go into a future story (I don't always write chronologically). Then I look at my running total and compare it to where I need to be to figure out how much I need to write the following day. 

Sprinting for the Win

Perhaps one of the most helpful things in getting in the words is sprinting with friends. I absolutely love it, and it's so easy. You find a group, pick a time when at least one other person can show up, and you sprint for a time.

During this segment, your goal is to get the words down. No editing or critiquing. Just drafting.

At the end of your time, you all report in your word counts. Then, if you like, you go again. I have a couple friends I sprint with now almost every weekday. Sometimes for a couple hours at a time. It makes the drafting less lonely, and it also instills an added level of accountability. 

Ideal length of time varies. For me, 15 minutes is best. Anything longer than that, and I get antsy and need to stretch or move around.

Have Understanding for Delays and When Things Go Wrong

No matter what your goals are, make sure to give yourself some compassion in this journey. Don't chain yourself to those numbers, whatever they are. Yes, you may be in a time of tight deadlines in which you have to burn the candle at both ends and even in the middle. But that is not sustainable.

I know because I've been there and narrowly scraped through. And then it takes a long time to recover. 

So when making my plans for managing word counts, I now allow for things to go wrong. A friend loves to remind me that we never have to plan for things to go ideally. I'm still not certain how to factor delays in as well as I could because I am learning. But I try to only count on weekdays for writing (even though I do write on weekends) and lately I have been leaving at least two extra weeks for whatever needs to be done. 

The combination of micro and project goals allows me to meet the various deadlines, some of which are of my own creation and some of which are with other people. And they also help me to do it in a way that is sustainable and healthy while allowing me to reach my goals. 

What about you? How do you like to manage your word count and project goals?

 

Jessica M. Butler is a USA Today bestselling romantic fantasy author who never outgrew her love for telling stories and playing in imaginary worlds. She lives with her husband and law partner, James Fry, in rural Indiana where they are quite happy with their two cats and all of the wildlife and trees.

Word Count, Chapters, and Structure

 The very last thing I worry about when drafting is structure. I suppose I've learned that a story starts out with a character thinking that their goal is one thing only to have a twist or decision point at the 1/4 mark that uncovers the true goal. Because they pursue that goal and believe they're making progress, at about the half way point, everything is going to go to hell in a hand basket because the character runs up against the main challenge of the book and yet the character hasn't yet changed enough overcome that challenge. So they run face first into it. WHAM. Fail. Fall. And have to wander off to lick their wounds. And they have to make another decision. Either give up or double down. So on and so forth. 

The problem for me is that I have to throw all of that to the wind when I draft. This is because drafting is slow and difficult for me and I want nothing analytical to pull me out of whatever tenuous drafting space I can achieve. Numbers and divisions and did this decision point happen in the right spot are all worries for a much later date. So I start a draft. No chapters. Just words. Get to The End.

NOW I put on the analytical hat. Now I start looking at over all structure. I go through and arbitrarily assign chapters roughly every ten pages. I'm looking for a natural scene break or place to end on a hook. Some chapters are ten pages, some eight, some twelve. Until rewrites.

As I go through my own dev edits and work through punching up emotion and language and scenes, my arbitrary chapters begin to tell me what they need to look like. Some book keep the ten page chapter convention without issue - most of the SFRs do that (it's easier with only one or two POV characters.) The current WIP, however, has some super short chapters, and one or two long ones. The chapters follow POV shifts because there's an extended cast with several points of view. The book is supposed to be fast, but full of sensory detail and the turned out that the best way to put a reader into a scene was to invite them into each character's world.

Long way of saying that I don't maintain a word count list for scenes or for chapters or for turning points. Structure is a wire frame in my head, yes, but as the Pirates of the Caribbean would say that's, ". . .more guidelines than actual rules." Do I check out that my first decision point happens within the first 25k of a 100k novel? Absolutely. Usually, the earlier the better for me and for my reader. I can get right to the action. Spreadsheets can be great things. Word counts can be great things. But depending on who you are and what your process looks like, they can completely shut you down. The only way to find out is to try them and judge the results. If you are someone who wants to keep things vague and open and full of possibility, consider this your permission slip to learn what structure works for you, store that structure in your muscle memory, and then just draft. Impose logical structure in your editing phase.

We'll be the Ghost Busters of writing: Don't cross the creative/drafting and analytical/editing streams. It would be bad.

Writing for a Word Count

Oh the things you don’t think about when you’re reading, are those things you should think about when you’re writing. And one of those things is our topic of the week: do you rewrite to hit a certain word count for the manuscript and/or each chapter or scene?

Jeffe’s post had me laughing. Our birthdays are pretty close and though I’ve never heard of the Leo/Virgo cusp—it makes sense! I’m a little closer to the Virgo and have to plot my books. But while Jeffe and I both love spreadsheets, she writes for discovery. Leo/Virgo cusp!

Sometimes you just need to write. Get the words out of your head and onto ‘paper’. Then, once the dust settles, you can step back and check for what I like to call the package details. Writing a book is the first step, and formatting it and putting it together as a real book is the second step.

Along with plotting out each scene, I list a word count for each chapter. Mind you, each of those have to add up to the projected final pages, so a chapter a little short gives up pages to a longer one. I’m talking about 1-3 pages difference. Bigger differences in chapter lengths, 7 pages vs. 15, depend on what genre I’m writing. 

How did I come up with this? 

This goes back to genre expectations. A fantasy reader will pick up a book and expect (hope for) at least 300 pages. A commercial reader who consumes a few books a year will expect around 250 pages. To go with that final word count, the chapter lengths will also be different. That fantasy reader will expect longer chapters where they can really be immersed. The commercial reader will want short chapters with strong hooks that fit into quicker reading times. 

There you go. One more thing to keep in the back of your mind as you plug away at your WIP! 

Let me know if you have a different method of tracking word counts!

Accountability Goals: Words vs Chapters

 This Week's Topic: Managing Word Count

Do I write to hit a certain number?

Do I have a chapter/scene word allotment?

I have daily goals for word count in the drafting phase. Please note the absence of the phrase "net word count." Expecting consistently to add to the total tally sets me up for failure. Often, during the next day's re-read of the previous day's work, "What did I mean? That makes no sense!" and "That is some impressive plotless bunk, Krantz," cause my net word count to be negative. D'oh! Don't worry, rewrites don't equal a trip to the guilt guillotine for me. Certainly not in the drafting phase. I'd rather fix what's broken during drafting than during the editing phase. It saves LOTS of time in the long run.  

I have daily chapter goals in the editing phase. Some chapters don't need much revision while others have to be overhauled. I have a general sense of which arcs I can breeze through and which need a lot of work by the time I finish the first draft. My daily chapter goals reflect that. Note: this is in my editing phase, not the "professional editors have returned the marked-up mss" phase. 

When the professional editors return the marked-up mss to me, I attack that by type of revisions: the easy word tweaks vs character refinement vs plot thread redevelopment. My daily goals are based on the Level of Effort, not chapters or word count.

As for chapter/scene word allotments, they tie back to chapter word limits. I have limits because I can prattle with the best of them. /jk, sort of. Truly, it's to ensure I'm not info-dumping and killing the pace of the story. Also, reader expectations are different by subgenre. UF chapters tend to be shorter at ~2500wpc while HF chapters are ~5000wpc. Word count length on the chapters naturally influences any goals based on chapters. Theoretically, I can get through UF chapters faster because they're shorter than HF chapters. Theoretically...because a screwed-up UF chapter is going to take longer to fix than a clean HF chapter.

Now, you'll notice I didn't give numbers for each of the goals. It's not because I don't want to confess I'm a slow writer (long-time readers of this blog are well aware of that); rather, it's because the word/chapter count goals vary by book. Some stories are hard to write, while others are wham-bam-all-done-ma'am. Also, real-life obligations impact the goals. For example, I need to spend more time with my flesh-and-blood family and friends over the winter holiday season than with my fictional family and friends. I don't fight that, I plan for it. All my creative goals reflect that. 

Remember, goals should not be pathways to guilt. Reasonable expectations lead to reasonable goals.  Give yourself wiggle room. Overestimate the time it will take to hit milestones. If you finish early, you can reward yourself. The same thing applies if you hit your personal due date. If you don't hit your goals, then learn from the causes and apply the lessons to the next round of goal-setting. Don't beat yourself up. That will never help you.

My daily goals are my method of holding myself accountable for actually...working. Since I alone control my deadlines as a self-published author, I'm allowed this flexibility. If I fart around and don't accomplish what I've set out to do by the dates I've set out to have them done, then the one most hurt by that is me. I'm no dummy. I don't like to hurt. 

I'm too damn old for that kink. 

Space Constraints

 Yes, hello? This is Marcella, phoning in her blog post because she spent the entire day - and I do mean the ENTIRE day - in the ER with an ill parent. Who is going to be just fine, btw. But the day's allotment of brain cells have been consumed and all that's left is the siren song of sleep.

So here. Photo. Just to prove that I do occasionally take pictures of something other than cats. 

As for book length - listen. If you self pub, do you as far as word counts/book length go. Readers will let you know right quick if they feel you're messing with expectation. 

If you're aiming for a traditional house, check their guidelines for length requirements and stick to them. 

During my second ever RWA conference, I pitched a book to an editor. She asked the word count. I gave it. 120k words. She said, "I can't publish that!" Turns out, bookstore shelf space is designed with mass market paperbacks in mind. A 100k word book in mass market is about an inch thick. X number of those books can fit cover out on the shelf. Anything more than that and a book store is going to have to stock fewer of your books or give up shelf space. You can guess how that math is going to go. Granted. This conversation took place before self publishing was a thing. Yes. I am that old. Hush. 

Trad print houses still have to worry about things like printed book footprint. 

E-pubs and self-pubs can monkey around a little with length. Pixels have pretty tiny footprints. Feetprints? They're small.

Yeah. I'm going to bed.

Book Length = Word Count Genre Guide

That heady moment when you pick up a new book and leaf through the pages—maybe even stick your nose into them—checking out the back, cover and…the page count. 

I know I’m not the only bookworm that does that. And before, as an oblivious bookworm, I never gave much thought to how long a book was beyond noting if it was too short—especially if I was holding a fantasy. 

And there it is: your book's genre dictates its length. 

Why is that? Maybe it’s a little bit chicken or the egg, but readers have expectations of how long a book is depending on what type they’ve picked up and the publishing industry—including agents—have word count expectations depending on what genre is being handed to them. 

Wait…word count?! We were talking about book length—as in number of pages—right? 

Readers look at book length in number of pages, but that’s not a standardized metric. Font, letter size, page size, they all factor in, so publishing looks at a manuscript in word count. 

Word Count: estimated at 250 words per page

It’s fun math. You can pick up any book in your nightstand stack, peek at the last page, and multiply that by 250 (I’m reading a copy of GOOD OMENS which clocks in at 474…so that means it was a 118,500 word manuscript). I did an entire spreadsheet of books in varying genres when I was writing my first book to get the average for my genre. 

Though let me tell you, there are easier ways to find the industry standards. Jeffe did a great post on Sunday listing generalized lengths to differentiate short story, novelette, novella, and novel. As for the differences in genres, let me help you by sharing my genre guide!

YA (not SFF) 50,000 to 80,000 words

Cozy Mystery 70,000 to 85,000 words 

Horror/Mystery/Thriller/Suspense 70,000 to 90,000 words 

YA Sci-fi Fantasy 70,000 to 100,000 words 

Mainstream Romance 70,000 to 100,000 words 

Historical Fiction 100,000 to 120,000 words 

Sci-fi Fantasy 100,000 to 120,000 words

Yes, there are always exceptions. But there’s also always a reason for the rule. While discussing a fantasy book with my agent she mentioned that any word count over 120,000 bumps up into the next price level for binding (putting the physical book together). A good reason! 

As you’re writing, or NaNoing, keep in mind reader attention spans and publishing expectations—even if you’re planning the self-pub route. When in doubt, 80,000 to 90,000 words is a good range to shoot for!Even Writer's Digest recommends 80,000 to 89,999 as the golden zone. 

So...where does your book land?

Encouraging Creative Flow and Gradually Increasing Word Count

We revealed the cover of THE FATE OF THE TALA! So now everyone knows who the mystery protagonist is. (If you can't guess from the image, the description - and preorder link - are here.)

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is a challenge to write a drabble related to our most recent book or series. (A drabble is a scene in exactly 100 words. No more, no less.)

As usual for me with writing challenges, I'm going to pass on this one. I have good reasons for it, which I'm talking about on today's podcast. I'm doing daily podcasts at First Cup of Coffee during NaNoWriMo encouraging writers to embrace creative flow, i.e.: Pants that NaNoWriMo story!

On yesterday's podcast, First Cup of Coffee - November 2, 2019, I talked about building up daily wordcount gradually. So I've resurrected a previous post that gives a suggested strategy for hitting that 50K in November NaNoWriMo goal.

Here's the essence of it:

I take my own advice. The sort I had the opportunity to hand out a couple of weeks ago when Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo, visited our local chapter meeting, something I mentioned in last week’s post, too. One gal asked if Chris had advice on how to get going on writing those 1,667 words/day to make the 50K words/month that’s the NaNoWriMo goal. He said he didn’t so I offered mine. I told her that the temptation is to do the math exactly that way – to divide 50K by the 30 days of November and focus on achieving 1,667 words for each of those days. The problem with that approach is that writing that many words on the first day is akin to learning to run a marathon by going out and running ten miles right off the bat.

Yeah, you can probably do it, but you’ll feel the pain later.

In fact, you might be able to do it for a couple/three/four days – and then the crash occurs. Like my recovery time recently, it’s a natural sequel to going flat out.

Better, I told her, to treat it like that marathon training. Build up a little more every day. Stop before you’re tired, because that energy will translate to the next day. Consider setting up a schedule for NaNoWriMo like this:

1 100
2 200
3 300
4 400
5 500
6 750
7 1000
8 1250
9 1500
10 1750
11 2000
12 2000
13 2000
14 2000
15 2000
16 2100
17 2100
18 2100
19 2100
20 2100
21 2100
22 2200
23 2200
24 2200
25 2200
26 2200
27 2200
28 2200
29 2200
30 2200

By the end of November 30, you’d have 50,150 words. Best of all, by the time you’ve got yourself doing 2,200 words a day, it will feel very easy and natural. Because you’d be in shape for it.

Another great aspect of this method is that if you're feeling like you're "already behind" - with this schedule you're not!

Why I'm Against Butt-in-Chair, Hands-on-Keyboard

I caught Isabel mid-yawn on this one. What I get for disturbing the cozy winter's nap with my photo-taking. She - like all cats - is the poster child for this week's topic, which is balancing writing with physical and emotional health.

There's a catchphrase that writers like to pass around, about maintaining productivity: BICHOK, or Butt-in-Chair, Hands-on-Keyboard. I get that it's a metaphor, meaning that you get writing done by actually writing, but it's one I quibble with because I'm so against the sitting-down part.

Four FIVE! years ago (I just checked, wow) almost exactly, I invested in a treadmill desk. I'm now on my second treadmill - hydraulic desk is still going strong! - and I consider it the best investment I ever made. It takes a *long* time to really ramp up and get in shape for extended walking like this. Even if you think you're in great walking shape, this kind of conditioning takes a while to build as the steadiness and extended times are very different. In 2017, I walked 2,537 miles. A whole lot of that was while writing. I think this the best thing a writer can do for their health, full stop. The only downside is that now I really hate sitting and feel like I can't write as well sitting down.

As for emotional health, I'm blessed with happy chemistry, so I don't struggle with depression or anxiety as some do. I am always working on tweaking my process and work days to maximize productivity, however.

In 2016, I tried to do too much. It was my first year writing full time, and a few things happened. I started writing five days a week instead of six, which compressed that effort into the five days. This isn't a problem except that I really amped up my daily wordcount goals. I had some high wordcount months - in December 2015, I had my highest month ever at 75,000 words - but then I'd have crash periods that followed. The upshot is that my overall wordcount fell off considerably in 2016

In 2017, I worked to remedy this by lowering my daily wordcount goals, but going for greater consistency. As you can see, 2017 words came up again nicely. For 2018, I'm trying to improve on that, and I'm trying something new: incorporating rest periods after finishing drafting a book. 

I've found that I have a down cycle after I've finished the draft of a book. Even if I try to write something else, I don't make much progress on it and I get annoyed with myself. It finally occurred to me to try honoring that rest period - which I seem to take whether I plan on it or not - and program in the down time.

So, this week I turned in book two of The Lost Princess Chronicles, EXILE OF DASNARIA. (These titles may change - more on THAT later.) Because the holidays and the flu got me all off schedule, I worked Sunday, too, finishing late on Monday.

Tuesday, I took the day entirely off, cleaning the house and doing the laundry, de-Christmasing - all the stuff that I'd let pile up. Good purging. Wednesday, I caught up on business stuff, including stuff about the aforementioned title changes. I also dorked around and watched a lot of YouTube videos I don't normally allow myself to squander time on. Thursday I got another book into shape - which I'm 99% sure I'm calling SHOOTING STAR - and sent that to my freelance editor. That just took some tweaking, no real creative investment.

On Friday, I took my car to be washed and waxed - a time investment I rarely indulge in (and my car unfortunately shows it) - and then spent time showing out of town guests around Santa Fe. 

This is me up on Canyon Road with SFF editor Ellen Datlow and fantasy writer Nnedi Okorafor. Ellen is in town for this event at George R.R. Martin's Cocteau Theater. If you're in the neighborhood, you should come! And Nnedi is here to meet with George on her new project that HBO optioned from her book WHO FEARS DEATH and GRRM is executive producing. We had a great time lunching and shopping, which then extended into cocktails and dinner with GRRM and bunch of other folks working in SFF publishing and production.

So, it was a really lovely week. Monday I'll work on page proofs of PRINCESS OF DASNARIA (again, name change pending), which is another non-creative task. Then I'll spend a few days on a new project before launching next week into drafting a new novel. It's feeling like a good thing to do. I'm feeling remarkably relaxed and replete with time.

Also, my house is clean.

Going for Word Count but Stalling? Three Tips to Get that Flow!

We're up in wintery Buffalo, Wyoming, for my mother-in-law's funeral. This is the pretty view out my (nicely warm) hotel room.

A lot of you out there are embarking on your second week of NaNoWriMo, I know. By now you might be running low on steam. Often the first few days are relatively easy. But, by this point, you might be hitting the "sophomore slump" - when the newness has worn off, but you still have the bulk of the effort ahead of you.

So, if you find you're stalling out, here are three tips to get that flow going again. Check back all this week for more tips from our group of seven professional authors!

1. Write Anyway

Seriously! I know this can feel like not helpful advice, but it's really the best there is. There's a reason that the NaNoWriMo folks say you can do whatever it takes to get that word count, such as having your characters sing all of Don McLean's American Pie. That's because writing feeds writing. The more you do, the better it flows. The analogy of running water through rusty pipes is a good one. At first the water just trickles and there's lots of back-pressure. But then the gunk gradually gives way, the pipes clear, and the water flows better and, eventually, with pristine gusto!

If you're totally stuck, then sure - have them sing a song. But I advise making up the song, even if it sucks or is nonsense. It's better to write something than nothing, but it's even better to write crap than copy someone else. Remember those rusty pipes! It's okay for the water to look mucky at first.

2. Don't Look at What You've Already Written

Resist the urge to self-edit before you're done. Nothing stalls the writing process more than going back and spending precious word-count time on revision. Especially if you're new to writing, there's just really no point in revising until you have a FULL, COMPLETED MANUSCRIPT. Yes, you will need to revise someday, but you *really* need to finish first. Besides - consider that rusty pipes analogy. If you're revising while you're still getting those pipes clear, all you're doing is trying to purify crappy water. Let it run clean and flowing first, then you can polish it.

Don't worry about revising until you're done writing. Just write. Go forward. Always forward.

3. Just Write

Do your best to write without thinking about it. Imagine you're running water through the pipes. Don't consider word choice or sentence structure or where the story is going or what that character's name should be. I have a trick that I use as I'm drafting. Every time I hit something like that - a character or place I need to name, or a word I can't quite think of - I put in [something], and keep going. When I'm done, usually after I've finished the book, I go back and search for "[" and fill those in. I might do it before, if a good name occurs to me. Or, sometimes when I have my word count for the day, I'll do some research and fill those in. But resist the urge to do that instead of getting word count. Don't try to rationalize that it counts as writing. It doesn't count.

Only writing counts as writing.

Just write.

Writing on the Go

Word counts while traveling depend entirely upon your ability to arrange for vast wastelands of time and boredom. Sort of like being a kid in the backseat of a car driving from one end of the continent to the other before cars had anything fancier than wheels, engines, and seatbelts. The external scenery, historical markers, triumphs, and tragedies rolling past the car window lull you into boredom. And that boredom encourages you to explore your internal landscape. Yes. I grew up on road trips. Expeditions, maybe. All those hours and all of that country passing - it wrote itself into stories. I doubt I'd be a writer were it not for my family trekking from one Air Force base to the next via a rust bucket of a car pulling a travel trailer. To this day, when I block, I get in the car and start driving. Story problems unravel to the tune of tires on pavement.

Airplanes are also prime word count time for me, because what could be more worthy of psychic escape than being held captive in a tin can at 30,000 feet? If writing means butt in chair, airplanes have your number. Might as well do something to take your mind off being smushed between the fuselage and whoever has the middle seat, right? The only issue with planes is that getting to use a laptop isn't guaranteed. If someone in front of you want to recline, you risk your screen. I make sure I have old school tools. What pen and paper lack in flash, they make up with flexibility. I also find them easier on my head. Flying inevitably gives me a migraine and looking at a backlit computer screen is excruciating. Pen and paper are less likely to make me wish I'd died.

If you want word count while traveling, pick your traveling companions well. Most writers have a list of 'safe' people, as well as a list of people they love, but who will never allow them to write. It helps to be really clear and honest with yourself. If your beloved, chatty mother is traveling with you, your choices are to get up an hour before she does to write, or you acknowledge it's not happening this trip. Conferences are the same - because those involve some intense commitments, you either take a break on writing or you commit to a time to write that won't end up subsumed by conference crazy. 

The whole point of travel is to remove you from the ordinary. It's the reason I advocate so strongly for solo writing retreats. It's invaluable for a writer to walk away from responsibility for a few days - delegate the care and feeding of the family so the writer can be responsible for and to nothing but herself and the page for a few days. Modern life is full of noise to the point that most of us start having trouble hearing the voices of our stories. Solo travel clears that racket away. Besides. When you're by yourself there's no one to tell you to stop writing that nonsense and get some sleep. There's no one to tell you not to have another glass of wine while you sit scribbling or typing madly away.

Traveling in any capacity flips a switch on my imagination. I get kicked into Beginner Mind, I think. In that space, I see everything as new. Including my stories. Stories and characters I've never seen before rise up in the middle of the night to wake me and demand I write them down when I'm traveling, especially if I'm traveling alone and don't have to worry about waking anyone else when I flip on the bedside lamp at 2am. So yes. Traveling means writing.

BTW. The results after last week's maudlin post. A feeding tube and a cat who's feeling much better.

Beware the Seat Snorer (or How Travel Sabotages Word Count Goals)

How do I maintain word-count when traveling?

I...don't.

Anything less than two weeks away from the writing cave is a grand excuse to Febreeze the creative closet. That TBR pile isn't going to shrink itself.

Any trip longer than two weeks and I try to write during the afternoons/heat of the day since I'm a bit vampiric. I tend to focus on the many aspects of being an author that don't involve crafting the actual story. Those aspects tend to be more forgiving of interruptions. Also, I don't try to write during any actual movement parts of travel. Why?

I am the seat snorer.

This Pavlovian puppy was trained to sleep during all modes of transportation. Plane? Sleep. Car? Sleep. Train? Sound asleep. Ship? No sleep. Find your sea legs first, then the buffet. ~oink~

Travel, definitely not a time when I get work done.

Getting that Word Count While Traveling - How Do You Do It?

I'm delighted to announce that THE SHIFT OF THE TIDE is up for preorder!! A few others will be coming soon, but - as with many things - Amazon is fast and efficient, making us both love and loathe them. Smashwords wants me to promise to upload the final doc ten days before release and I ... just can't. Ten days is forever in my world, regrettable as that may be. But, hey! The book is coming along really well, and I'm tentatively thrilled with it.

~knocks on wood~

~tosses salt over shoulder~

~pets black cat and gives it extra treats~

Want to see a little snippet? Okay! (It's a teensy bit spoilery of THE EDGE OF THE BLADE, if you haven't read that yet. Fair Warning. Just skip down to the next *** to avoid.)


***

We reached the ship, a rope ladder thrown down for us. Marskal treaded water with apparent ease, helping me grab ahold and steadying it as I climbed. Hands reached down from above, helping me over the rail. Then Jepp had me in a fierce hug, her compact, vital body hard against me. She was laughing and cursing, rocking me from side to side, then pulled back and kissed me hard on the mouth.

A man’s big hand tugged her back. “None of that now.” Kral, fully outfitted in his shining black Dasnarian armor, though with the faceplate up, winked at me. “I have to watch her every second.”

Jepp made a face at him. “You liked the idea well enough when we invited—”

“Shut up, Jepp,” Kral cut her off pleasantly and she grinned at him, then snapped to attention, giving Marskal the Hawks’ salute.

Lieutenant!”

A dripping Marskal shook his head at her with a wry smile. “You don’t report to me any longer, remember?”

Jepp dropped her fist with an abashed grin. “Old habits, don’t you know.” She looked between us. “So that’s how you knew the signal. I recognized your sparkly blue magic globe thingy, but couldn’t figure out the rest.” She eyed Marskal. “You’re going to have to kill her now, you know.”

He returned her sally with a very serious nod. “So I’ve already informed her.”

“Just make me a Hawk already then,” I told them.

Jepp got a speculative expression and Marskal looked me up and down as if guessing my weight. “We don’t have any Tala. A shapeshifter and sorceress could come in handy.”

“She’s a terrible soldier, though,” Jepp pointed out. “Never follows orders. Might as well conscript a cat.”

“True.” Marskal rubbed his chin. “Plus she’d never make it through the initiation.”

“Guess it’s death then,” Jepp agreed cheerfully, making to draw her big bladed knife. She’d tied a scarf to the end of it, crimson ends fluttering in the breeze that matched the rest of her silk and leather outfit. With her short hair, dark skin and the exotic clothing, she looked even more a pirate now than when we found her fleeing the Dasnarians on the stolen Hákyrling.

“Not on the deck,” Kral cautioned. “You’ll stain the wood.”

***

Our topic this week at the SFF Seven is Writing On The Road: How to stay on task while traveling.

And, boy howdy, is this a hard one.

I have to tell you all: when I was traveling for the day job all the time (by "all the time," I mean 1-2 weeks out of every month), it was super hard for me to maintain any kind of writing schedule or productivity. I would have solid goals and determination, planning to get up early and write before we left the hotel, to write in the evenings when we were done for the day, to write on the airplane. Most of those things never happened. Jet lag and time zone differences would nix the getting up early. Having that much-desired cocktail with clients would sabotage the evening writing plans. Plain old being tired and having my brain eaten by the day job took care of the rest.

After a while, I pretty much didn't even try. I figured day job travel meant no word count and I took it out of the equation, figuring I'd write when I was actually at home. Which pretty much worked.

But, my productivity and quality of work absolutely increased tenfold when I stopped having to travel for that project.

Those of you who travel regularly for the day job and still manage to write? I have mad respect for you.

These days, my main challenge is being at conferences. Most of the time, I figure on writing on the plane on the way to the conference. I'm in the groove still, and - if the flights - are long enough, I can often get a regular day's worth of writing in.

(Yes, your seat mate will totally read over your shoulder. I figure they get what they get.)

Once at the conference, on the first day, maybe the second, I can get in *some* words. I get up, exercise, find a latte and something to eat, then bring it back to my room. At that point, any words are good words, just to keep my fingers on the reins.

After that - and, depending on the con, sometimes for the whole time - I get nothing written and I try to be okay with that. I look on it as well refilling. Same with vacations.

We talked about that last week, taking some breaks and time between works. If I can manage it - and I'm getting better at this - I try to figure in conferences and vacations as breaks between projects. Rather than feeling frustrated or anxious about not getting my word count in, I figure those days into my schedule as non-work days. Anything I do get is gravy.

But, I realize this is a luxury on my part, something I can do because I no longer have the day job. Before I wrote full time, I absolutely could not have afforded that time.

So those of you who do write on the road - how do you do it???