writing – Page 9 – Aya DeAniege

Idle Hands

Posted on November 13, 2017 by Aya DeAniege

I’m going to go crazy, I just know it.

The update isn’t until Wednesday, but this is sort of the way to idle time away.

Yesterday and today are off days, as in I’m not supposed to be working, just relaxing and doing whatever the heck I want.

I played Sims while watching television and knitting a blanket. Then partway through the day I remembered an addendum I wanted to add to my year long marathon.

Write a book, read a book. This isn’t an enforceable rule because I may not always have time. And these books are not to be done by big publishers, or what is sitting on my shelf. Technically it is work, so I shouldn’t do the next one on my time off.

Anyhow, read a novella that was #2 or so in the same category as Contract Taken and I didn’t like it.

I’m not a pornography gal. I don’t want to jump to the part where penis enters vagina and I am not a fan of cock, pussy, fuck, or making childish noises during sex.

That’s how the author described them, not me.

But five hundred or so reviews, 4k on Goodreads, it must be popular. I’m still cursing about it, though. It’s not for me and I would not suggest it to friends.

Except Beth, I made her read it because misery loves company. She’s now cursing it and me.

Anyhow, I feel like I’m going to go mad and it’s only day two of my time off. The problem with today is that I work the day job today.

Day job puts me in work mode. Why? Well, this is our busiest time of year. Makes me want to throw my hands in the air and quit because people are narcissistic and self-absorbed.

I guess that just lights a fire under me. But I don’t think I could ever write a book that gets five hundred reviews on Amazon, let alone one that has so many good ones.

Lined his cock up with her entrance, what is he, an airplane?

Guh.

I went searching for another, but couldn’t bring myself to read another so soon. I want something to clean the feel of it off me.

Harlequin makes me choke on sappy and cliche, but that makes me choke on… well, on cock and not in a fun way. There has got to be a happy medium out there that’s not my own writing.

I mean, I know the books exist as I’ve read a couple but finding them is hard. And I know there’s readers for that but they’re the minority.

They’re the ones who remain seated during a strip show as the others stand and howl like banshees, grabbing and groping the dancers.

Do you know how awkward and disgusted you can feel when you’re one of those ones sitting? To be called a prude because you don’t want to grab a stranger by his ass or cock?

I guess the long and the short of it is: if I want erotica, I’ll have to write it for myself.

Or pray it falls into my lap.

Claimed Week One

Posted on November 7, 2017November 15, 2017 by Aya DeAniege

I swear, work knew I was going to update Wednesdays and changed my schedule to mess with me.

Also, because someone is doing it right now: who the hell puts their feet on a bus seat? What are you, an animal?

Of course not, because animals have more sense than that.

I even commented and the feet stayed. He just gave me this smug, lazy look. If the bus gets in an accident, I’m going to sue him for kicking me in the head.

Sleep deprivation makes me crazy… I know this, but I’m still upset with this guy. It’s happening more and more and they’re so rude about it, like I’m trying to encroach on their rights.

So, I haven’t really slept right since the beginning of October and it’s seriously messing with my head. Four noise complaints and nothing is happening so I’ve taken to blasting my music during the day. Partly to keep me awake and partly because I know the upstairs neighbour can hear it because it wakes him up and he starts whining about it.

Don’t mess with my sleep and I won’t mess with yours.

Or, you know, get a job.

Ugh, now I’m focused around that. Which is probably why my word count has dropped over the last two days. I’m so frustrated that I circle around one little event and can’t get the other words out.

So. Contract Claimed. Where am I at? Well, I don’t know the exact number but it’s about 47,000 words. About the halfway point too, possibly past that.

I’ve had some early morning shifts and empty buses. On those trips, I pulled out my tablet and wrote 3-4k words on the way to work.

For comparison sake, when writing a Coffee and Blood book, I can write between 3 and 5 thousand words in a day. The 5 is really pushing it now, so I tend to get between 1000 and 1500 per trip.

The issue with doing it this way is that my early shifts end next Monday, and I can’t use the tablet if I have my bag in my lap. Meaning that I can’t use the tablet if someone is sitting beside me.

Or has their dirty feet on the seat.

I’ve been making some pretty good headway with Contract Claimed given the fact that I have had one day off the day job in the last seven. That day I wrote about 19k words.

I watch something on the television and have taken to putting Sims on my computer with a vagrant who just drifts about. That way I can’t wander the internet because the tablet is slow in doing that and having Word loaded. Keeps me a little more focused.

I’ve also been playing music in the mornings as I have coffee, rather than sit in silence. I have to, though, otherwise I have to listen to the apartment above me having sex for thirty seconds and then fighting for an hour.

The music does help me focus, though, so there’s that.

However.

I’m having trouble distinguishing words. I keep mixing up the theres, my vocabulary has dropped and there’s a lot of wincing when reading Contract Claimed over word choice and repetition. The scary part is that I know it’s wrong, but I can’t remember enough words to know how to change it.

Sleep is really important.

Which is why I filed three noise complaints in the last week and started beating on my ceiling. Got called a fucking cunt. Because I want to sleep.

It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this godawful, because I removed all those people from my life. Now it’s turning me into a ragefilled, petty person.

Six more months and I can move. My next ‘roommates,’ however temporary they may be, are just about the quietest people I have ever met. I will sleep for a week straight.

In the meantime, all I can (apparently) do is hope my upstairs neighbour overdoses or forgets to pay his rent again, so he gets evicted.

Or breaks up with his girlfriend.

Something, anything. I just want to be able to sleep and then think again.

I am projected to finish Contract Claimed in the next seven days, of which I have three days off. But due to the neighbours it is definitely a rough draft and will need a major overhaul before being published.

Which is fine, because it’s not being re-published until after the second trilogy is completed.

That leads me to December’s (likely) book.

December is the busiest month of the year for my day job. I’m worried about setting myself up for failure by working on His Wings as I will be mentally and emotionally exhausted (not to mention the trouble sleeping). I’ve been bouncing around the idea of completing Contract Sealed instead. It’s almost done. I might be able to finish it in a week, allowing me to do a good job at the day job while maintaining my goal.

Basically the jist of this all is: I’m ahead on my word count and well on the way to finishing book 1/12.

One Year Plan… and Rules

Posted on November 1, 2017November 15, 2017 by Aya DeAniege

Okay, so my plan over the next twelve months is to complete twelve books. That way, come next November, I will have finished twelve novels and have between three and nine that I can then begin to edit and publish, hopefully just as quickly as I wrote them.

This, I realized needs rules:

-The books just need to be completed. If one is almost written (like Contract Sealed) or partially done (like Prototype and Bound in Blood) they are not excluded from the count. In fact, completing books should be encouraged!

-Which leads to the second rule. One book a month. That’s it. If I finish Contract Sealed two days into December, I don’t get to write again until January. I can plan the books, scribble a bit, but I’m not allowed to actually start. This has proven in the past to be quite helpful in my production.

-For sanity purpose over the next five months, there is one exception to the one book a month rule: Harvester trilogy. That’s done on my phone during commutes and is sometimes the only way I stay sane. If the trilogy is complete, I’m back to one a month.

-Books still need to be published. Not one a month, but at least a couple next year. The one book a month is supposed to help balance this off.

-By the last day of the month, I will make a post announcing which book I will be working on. Then (in a perfect world) will update every Wednesday on where I currently am in the book.

-Should I run behind, the one book a month bit goes out the window. Because then I have to get two, three, four, done. I may cry mercy, just whip me a couple times to get me back on track.

-These are completed rough drafts. A rough draft doesn’t have to have the completed word count. Fragments went from something like 70k up to 85k words during the first edit. Seed is about 77k and has jumped almost 2k words in the first couple of chapters. But the rough draft does have to be complete. Adding a chapter is one thing, not finishing the last four is not allowed.

-After the completion of a book, if it is done early, I will take two days off in a row. Preferably from both jobs… these are to do with as I please but will likely be playing video games, drinking, and sleeping. You know, normal celebratory stuff. After that it’s back to editing written books.

The rules may end up changing a little bit. This is, after all, the first time I’m doing this kind of a marathon. All told I’m hoping for a word count that’s about 924k words, so about one book shy of a million.

The past year I’ve written… okay, I’ve tried to count it four times and I keep coming up with a different number. A trilogy, a D.o.t.A, Seed, His Grace, Contract Signed… Seven books, I think? Yeah… I feel like I’m forgetting one.

Going from seven books when I had no specific goal in mind, to a planned twelve is not going to be as crazy as it sounds. For me, it’s about finding the right rhythm and keeping that goal in mind, to keep focused. When I’m not focused I get all over the place, and then four things end up getting half-done.

Twelve Books in Twelve Months

Posted on October 22, 2017November 15, 2017 by Aya DeAniege

It’s been a year since my first book was published. That’s right, Contract Taken has been available for an entire year! And I’ve only wanted to gank it down and burn it four times.

As the anniversary was coming up, I found myself looking back over the previous year at what I’ve gotten done.

Seven and a half books published (a half because the eighth is up, but not live yet) and written seven books.

Earlier today, I had somehow counted eight books. The first Contracted trilogy was written before Contract Taken had published. I have two books written and not yet published, another almost written, a fourth half-written, another three chapters into it and then NaNoWriMo is coming up.

I have all these books and no plan to actually get it done. I write a book, then immediately launch into the editing and publishing of the book.

Today at my day job, it dawned on me.

Goals are very important, without a goal you won’t achieve much. Or, you’ll have a goal, but no way to make that goal because you need little goals to get to the big goal.

I think I’m trying to quote my grade three teacher.

I’m tired and quite drained.

So, the basic gist of it is that I’ve been looking over the past year and then looking at the next year and wondering what to do with myself. I plan to keep writing and publishing, but how I could I build on what I’ve got now?

About an hour after it occurred to me that I should have a goal, like honestly sit down and decide something about the next year before I just decide to do whatever and only get a book or two written.

I am going to try to write twelve books in the next twelve months, starting with Contract Claimed during NaNoWriMo.

Seed, which is almost done, is not going to be completed in this number. I’m actually hoping to have the remaining chapters written before November 1st. Hopefully…

This doesn’t mean that I’ll be publishing a book every month. It only means that I’ll be writing a book a month. I may stick to the two month publishing routine that I’ve been doing, but then at least the books are written and ready to go. I’ve been able to relax with Fragments and I’m not quite so stressed about everything that’s going on with the book already written.

So… twelve books in twelve months. What are the books? Well, they’re up in the air basically, but my tentative plan is as follows:

Contract Claimed – November

His Wings – December

Crop – December/January

His Halo – January

Harvest – January/February

And that’s where things get weird. Crop and Harvest are being written on my phone, and could very well be the last books written on my phone, as next April I’m moving. The move will change a great deal, and I will no longer have a commute, which means I might no longer employ the use of my phone in writing.

I also come to a stand still on my plans. Those books have kind of been planned out. The plot for Crop and Harvest is complete and simply awaiting my completion of books that come before them. So is His Wings. They all go along together and are part of series and such that are already up and active.

After those are written, the rest are planned in no particular order:

Contract Sealed

Contract Delivered

Prototype

Sugar and Spice

The Visitors

Of course, this is a tentative schedule and there are months still to go. I could get to January and just drop everything for some kind of other hybrid. I’m really great at creating worlds, but not always completing them. Which is kind of the point of this exercise.

Besides, you know, writing a bunch of books that will get edited and published eventually…

Waiting for a Flight

Posted on September 16, 2017 by Aya DeAniege

This week seemed to go by so slowly, but in a good way. It was nice and I was relaxed.

Though I did sleep between ten and twelve hours every night and was still tired, I think it has more to do with not sleeping in my own bed than anything else.

Then, on Wednesday, I looked into my work schedule for the next week and the stress hit me like a ton of bricks. I’m not going to talk about the what, but only going to say that the stress wasn’t because I remembered or realized that I have to go back to work at the end.

I didn’t find a magical job, so I’m not moving for eight more months. It’s fine, gives me time to save up and such and such.

On the writing front I have three read edits ahead of me on three books. One is for the proof of Death Mask which could very well be the last book Createspace carries for me.

On Not Meeting a Word Count

Posted on August 21, 2017 by Aya DeAniege

75,629 / 90,000 words written.

That was not my goal, so what to do now?

Well, here’s what actually happened:

I wrote a majority of my words over three days, which was about 22,000 per day. One day I wrote 600 words, another only about 3,000.

Friday night (technically Saturday as it was 2am) I finished the rough draft at about 67,000 words. A rough draft is rough because you then make changes.

It was halfway through my second day of heavy writing that I realized I hadn’t been doing descriptions. Not of the characters or rooms, or really any emotional attachment to anything. It was mainly dialogue and barebones.

So, I went back to the beginning and started adding it all in. I’ve only reached chapter nine in this endeavour, not even halfway through the book.

Reaching that 90,000 word count for this book is possible, I just have to backfill the stuff I skipped over because I knew it would slow me down. If I had done it, I would only be about 40,000 words and not know the end or the thread of plot through the book. I would have lost it.

Now that I’ve got it, I’m almost good to go. Yay.

Long nights and regular mornings can wear you out. If you want to try this yourself, you will need to figure out what writing method works best for you, and practice meeting the word count.

This was a stretch for me, I knew that. I did it to fill a staycation where I couldn’t afford to do anything or go anywhere. It was my break from reality, one that I planned so that when I woke up this morning for my day job, I didn’t feel dejected because I did nothing but play video games and drink.

Don’t get me wrong, those things still happened…

Halfway through the week, I realized that I had no plan in place to edit it. But I think I can place it in the edit spot for Seed as I’m not certain that will be done on time.

I should be working on that now, but two hours of sleep and a long day ahead of me. I need my wits, because I need my day job and there’s not much room for error today.

During my week off, yes, I was pretty well holed up with no contact with ‘real’ people. All I had, for the most part, was a writer chat that kept me company. They knew what I was planning, and called me crazy, but then cheered me on and participated in sprints when I was struggling to meet my word goal for the day.

Once I made that goal, I was pretty well set. I’d end up staying up another four to six hours and adding between six and ten thousand more words to the book.

I don’t think I could have managed it without that chat.

Anywho. Heading back to the day job today. Not enough sleep because of a combination of my sleep schedule for the past week and being a little manic of plans for marketing and such.

The one plus side of the late night is that I might have and line on the next D.o.t.A. book. Apparently Morgan is content without telling his story, so I’m not about to push him.

New Alphas, new city, with only one of the old crew making a brief appearance. It promises to be fun.

Writing Marathon

Posted on August 12, 2017 by Aya DeAniege

Writing sprint just doesn’t cut it for what I plan to do…

Okay, so I have some time off work next week and can’t afford to go anywhere, can’t afford to do much either. At least, not until I get paid.

I’ve been planning on writing Fragments for the past nine months. D.o.t.A. needs its next installment, and it needs it before I turn fifty.

I’m not near fifty, it’s a joke.

Anyhow, I had planned on writing Fragments over that six day period, so August 15th to 20th with a couple ‘free’ days afterward between it and a base edit to catch up if necessary. You know, if I don’t make it.

Yesterday on my lunch break, I tried to do marketing but my computer had some kind of a weird malfunction and wouldn’t connect to the internet, then spent the half hour restarting. Note: this is my new computer, not a work computer of any sort.

So, one, it should have worked, and two, I am not using company time or resources for my writing. Just, you know, you’d be surprised who gets in a tizzy over the mere implication of that.

Anywho.

While the computer was doing its thing, I had a paper I had started that morning with sites I had already applied to. Fifteen and counting, none of them are likely to market me but it’s that slim chance I put in the effort for.

I flipped the paper over and started doing some math, because I was in work mode and wanted to do something with my time besides stare at a wall, or at my phone.

I broke down Seed, it may be possible to finish it by Sept 7th. I will try my best. His Grace is already done. Two projects laid out for both writing and editing.

Next week is Fragments. I fully intend to try to write this entire book in a week. So, ninety thousand words all told.

Broken down, I gave myself Monday as well. I’m working Monday but that’s never stopped me from writing. Aside from ritualistic things once I get off work, I’m good to go by about 5pm. Normally that time is 8, so even better.

Each day I need to write approximately 12,837 words, I belive it was. That’s about 8hrs of work (taking into account that I can write 3k words in two hours on my commutes) a day. Still leaving theoretical time to do other things.

Which is good, because I’ve got a vet appointment one day, and a social outing planned another day.

I’ve written a book in a week before. Locked up in my little apartment, playing Sims and writing. No TV, this was before Netflix and my internet sucked. Not that I had any websites to visit back then.

I know in theory this can work. But theory doesn’t always work. With my luck, the landlord will spray for pests and somehow light the apartment on fire and then a flaming raccoon will leap from the roof onto my head.

Oh, yeah, there are raccoons living in my ceiling. They’re bringing bedbugs in with them and I’ve filed yet another complaint about the raccoons, adding in their infested ways.

So, my possible worse situation isn’t entirely impossible.

I have no idea what my plot is, it’s supposed to be a lot smuttier than Masked Intentions, but it’s too late to choose another, as I have absolutely no plans for anything but Seed.

Wish me luck.

On Running Behind

Posted on July 20, 2017 by Aya DeAniege

I’m a lazy, lazy bum. Or, at least, I feel like a lazy, lazy bum.

The advice all writers are given, especially going into indie publishing is, “Just keep writing.” That’s not just to mean that you write forever and a day, but that you write, publish a book, then write some more.

I haven’t really been doing that. I feel like during the summer, I’m not myself. At least, not my productive self. All I want to do is head out into the sun, or clean my apartment. Thanks to two cats fighting over territory, it seems there’s always hair and kibble everywhere.

I need to start another mass edit of Death Mask, which was supposed to launch August 9th. There’s still a chance that it will launch on time. It’s a very slight chance, but still a chance.

I have almost a week in August off and I plan to write Fragments. This is the much waited for second book for the Daughters of the Alphas series. I thought that Masked Intentions received mixed reviews at best, but I keep getting questions on when the next book will be coming out, so…

When people ask for something, give it to them, especially if it was already on your to-do list. Just jump that sucker up some. Unless you were having issues for another reason.

I’ve fixed everything up so that I can edit at work. I’m so flipping pleased with myself. New tablet. Old one… uh… yeah, I could use it for writing if I was super patient. But I couldn’t use it to edit or access pretty well anything except Facebook… ish. That’s the problem with that kind of tablet. Without the ability to install new tech, the thing became obsolete. And I think its company realized its mistake because the new ones can be upgraded.

In the meantime, the old one will sit to the side and gather dust but it’s still useful if necessary. I can breathe again, I can do my things again. I can touch a button and see all the things. Darn it, when I come on the new tablet, it’s like viewing the sites from a laptop instead of getting a mobile version that makes me pick up and shake the tablet in frustration.

I feel like I’m ready to get back to work. Like, maybe, I was a little burnt out from so many words so quickly, so much work while working the full-time job. Now the only problem is all those nifty ideas that I’ve had over the past year, that I haven’t gotten around to? They’re all arguing over which gets to go first.

Have you ever seen the Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns gets told that he has pretty well every illness possible? I feel like that almost. Except instead of diseases, it’s ideas and I’m the doctor and Mr. Burns is my muses humming and skipping away instead of listening to me and just fixing the problem.

I swear, if they toss me one more idea… I’ll… I’ll…

I have no idea what I can do to them that they wouldn’t enjoy. They were the ones giggling at the back of my mind as Mr. Wrightworth beat on someone ruthlessly.

On Finding a Name

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Aya DeAniege

Ugh, so I might have messed up the setup of the site and made posts instead of pages. It should be a simple fix of switching them over with some copy and pasting but it’s the time that it’ll take and how stupid I feel right now.

I’m still debating what to call the site. Smart thing is some combination of my name, but ayadeaniege.com just sounds narcissistic to me. I’m trying to come up with something that I won’t want to strangle myself over.

In the meantime, I’m hoping my brain holds out and I can do a writing sprint this weekend. After two days of struggle, I finished chapter fifteen of Death Mask, which will likely end up being chapter seventeen, after I go back and refresh the first couple of chapters and fix up the first little arc.

I’m hoping this weekend to complete His Grace and begin the editing of that. Beth needs some help with a side project that I promised I’d work on for her. It could take ten days to four months.

Urgh, why, Beth? Why must you taunt me with your books and blackmail me with your cooking?

I have a full plate, basically. Lots to do.

Today I checked up on the Storyteller Competition and discovered that they are preparing the short list. I haven’t been disqualified yet, so I can’t just stop checking on it. Or I could… I mean, I’m not going to win.

I’m always told to be more confident, but the people talking are really never happy with me when the next thing to come out of my mouth is, “I’m confident I’m not going to win.”

It’s not that I absolutely could not win a competition, but the short list is comprised of things chosen by Amazon’s algorithm. Which doesn’t quite like me but likes Contract Taken for one day, then the next likes At Death’s Door on fewer sales? I just… I don’t know how to read that thing and it’s partly responsible for creating the short list.

Oh, and I might be about to go through another one of my episodes, so if none of that made any sense to you, it’s okay. It’s the partly broken brain I have in its death throes. It’ll be back next week and my hypergraphia will be back on full blast.

Pre-Launch Jitters

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Aya DeAniege

It happens every time, and typically I plan out so that I work the day before launch so that I’m at least distracted.

Know what I did today? Cleaned my entire apartment. My kitchen floor hasn’t been this clean since December.

… right before I lost water for three weeks.

And my bathroom? You could eat off the tub!

I rewarded myself with Chinese food, I know I shouldn’t, I should save my money, but every once in a while, you know, you just have to. Circumstances that are completely your own doing.

I get pre-launch jitters. Worried about what I’m going to wake to tomorrow morning, wandering around in circles, unable to focus on anything.

I’ve been wandering in and out of Amazon all day, like things are just going to magically appear.

So, I went through and did the math. When I get worried, I start doing math. Yup, I can add, subtract, divide and multiply, dun that make me special?

I’ve… I’ve had people get uppity with me like I think I’m special because I can run basic percentages in my head. Not special, just worked in retail too long.

Anywho. Last year I did some math for, uh, retirement sake. I needed to sell 150 books a day to be able to retire with my current lifestyle. My plan has changed a little bit. The new lifestyle would take a great deal less. I think. Maybe.

Life just likes bending me over tables in a very un-fun way though…

The new math says that I only need to sell 77 books a day. Not because my math has changed, but because I based in on averages of books and their cost. I think my initial numbers were based on Kindle Unlimited books.

Why does that number excite me? Because it means I’m closer. I trust my math, because… well, I did the math. Closer is good. Closer is something to get excited about. I’ve halved my number and increased books in less than a year.

You have to celebrate the wins, even if they’re small. I can’t celebrate the launch of another book because of nerves, so I found something else to pat myself on the back about.

I’ve gotten closer. I’m on the right track. I just have to keep writing stories that you all want to read, which seems to be what I want to read, so that at least helps me decide which ones to go about writing.

Cheating Death launches in three hours for my timezone. Amazon will start registering the pre-orders in a couple more hours. Readers could review as early as tomorrow morning, depending on how quickly they read.

Please like my book.

I think that is the prayer of every author. But us indie authors, we have a different prayer, don’t we?

Please say nice things about my book.

Did you know people are more likely to say something or comment if they’re unhappy? Yeah, that’s something I learned in all my years in retail. You could bend over backwards for someone and they won’t say a thing, they’ll come back in and see you, but they will never tell your company that you did a good job.

Or, in the rare cases they do, they’ll call you by the wrong name.

It’s an odd thing, but true. There are those who will say nice things and broadcast to the world about how they love this thing, but a majority of the population would only make comment if they have a complaint, or don’t like something.

Which is probably why indie authors have taken up the mantra of:

Please say nice things about my book.