How I Manage My Writing - Or How It Manages Me!

How I manage my writing day is by the seat of my pants! I have a WIP, as well as a monthly committment to write a newsletter, and weekly committments to write one flash fiction article, and one writer's blog (this blog). And I am a co-writer on another project that for now will remain under wraps. I also have a 9-5 that pays the bills. (The good thing about the 9-5 is that it is not 9-5 - I work for a phone line that allows me to log on and off at will.)

I have designated seperate days of the week for the flash fiction and this blog. Monday's are for this blog - I try to find topics that interest me, and that will interest other writers. Starting in March (next week) I will be following a pre-set schedule of topics, with each months topics being connected. Tuesday's are for my flash fiction (under 100 words). I find a graphic that I like, and work from that. I love trying to fit some semblance of a story into 100 words!

My WIP, and the project that I am co-author on, I work on during the weekends. Each of the four chapters that I am writing for the book that I am co-authoring has a pre-set topic, which simply needs to be fleshed out. My WIP already has an outline, and the beginnings of a bible, with work-ups for each of the major characters. One thing that I realized this past weekend is that my bible is going to have to reflect when major events happened, and where (there is a lot of reflection to the past).

My newsletter is a WIP on its own. It's purpose is to help me build a fan base for my mystery books, and to help connect me with other authors. I am fine tuning it on a monthly basis, offering snippets from my current WIP, a flash fiction piece that only appears in my newsletter, links to my existing work, and links to reference materials for writers. I occasionally showcase work that other writers have done. For my April newsletter, I will be featuring a book give-away, with a winner chosen from my subscriber's list.

Things that I am looking into doing are writing submissions for mystery short story contests, and writing pamplet sized books (around 20,000 words) on topics of interest in a wide variety of areas. 

For all of my writer friends - how does this compare with your writing days? Share how you handle your writing - we can all stand tolearn new tricks!

(c) February 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.

Writing A Mystery

I am so pleased that after this week I will be able to place my focus on my WIP - my lovely little mystery! I am stopping to think about how I want this process to go - I want to define the process, even though I know it will get fine tuned along the way. I took the first step already - I started the writing. Actually, I started the writing in 2010 for NANOWRIMO. I made several attempts to fine tune what I had written, which lead nowhere. I finally decided to keep (most) of the characters, change the setting, and tweak the plot line.

I am going to write my bible first - thoroughly detailing my characters, their backgrounds, the environment they move in, and how they are inter-connected in the web of their world. Then I am going to outline my plot, and allow the writing to flow!

One thing that I do know - I tend to edit to a small extent as I write. This is not something that holds me back, it is something that allows me to have a nice, clean manuscript in front of my face. Spelling errors checked, punctuation checked - life looking good!

Another important thing to decide before beginning to write is what voice do you want your book in? Who is going to be telling the story, and how are they going to tell it? First person? Third person? Do whatever you are comfortable with. Go back and reread your favorite authors. What voice do they write in? You are not trying to be a mini-me, you just want to sound real, and consistent.

My characters are already part of me - they are pushing my current project so they can get their chops out there! I know they will interact in a manner that is unique to them. I have often found that my writing takes on its own edge - it writes itself. I will have to reign in my characters, rather than trying to flesh them out! They will be the best of the best of all of the people that have moved through my life, or that I have observed along the way. My characters will "have" character, and they will "be" characters!

Some stories never get written because the writers who imagine them never move them from the imaginal world into the real world. Spend time working at your craft, people! Sit down and write! Every day!

Have fun with this! I know that I am going to!

June 2012 Bonnie Cehovet

Defining Characters

I am about to start the "redemption" of my 2010 NaNoWriMo mystery. I thought that I was going to be able to go back, make a few changes, and move things forward. Then I realised a couple of things - (1) this book has to be as tight as it can be, because I want it to be the first in a series of mysteries based on these characters, and (2) I had defined a major player - the partner of my main character - based solely on what I thought that I needed him to do in this book. He ended up in a very specialised vocation, which could/would be a hinderence in future stories - or he would have to be killed off and a new partner brought in. Back to the bible - this character is going to be recreated, as someone that works well with the main character, and could plausibly be her partner.

I already had to redefine the crime element, as, again, I had gone into too specialised an area, where nothing was going to sound authentic. Major rewrite time here, but better now than after the first person to read it says "Ummm I don't think that I can really connect with this story. It is well written though! Have to go ... talk to you later!"

I think that I am going to change where the characters live also. I am, yet again, writing about an area that I know nothing about. I can easily move the characters one state over, and still have the crime in the intended state and city. The city that I am moving them to has much more appeal ... and I lived there for seventeen years!

Dream the big dreams, follow those dreams, and act on them. But make them real, make them doable. Manifesting them will then be oh so much easier! ;-)

I really do think it is time for a nice glass of wine!

(c) August 2011 Bonnie Cehovet