October 2021's Writer Support Thread

What’s the title?

Actually, that is a bit inaccurate; King had only written a few pages of Carrie. He trashed it because he felt he couldn’t write women correctly (I believe the scene that had him feeling that way was when they were throwing tampons at Carrie as she has her first period). His wife pulled the pages out of the trash and told him it was promising, encouraging him to continue on with it. And we all know how that turned out. Still, the details aside, the basic message is the same: don’t give up on yourself. You’re more talented than you know.

Good luck to all you NaNo folks; I did a semi-one in 2019, writing 25k words for Parenting, but I’m not sure that’s feasible now. I sleep somewhat better than I used to, and the children require a lot more time. I’ll try to be satisfied with either my usual 10,000 or maybe being a bit of an overachiever and shooting for 15,000.

On the plus side, I did better with my 10k goal this month than in ones previous. I hit 9,500 on Sunday for October, so barring a catastrophe I should run over the line with ease the next day I get up early or can’t sleep.

Unrelated to IF, I published my first children’s book on Amazon, illustrated by @Hero87 . It’s not exactly selling like hotcakes, as is somewhat expected of a self-published book, but it’s nice to have it out there. Link’s here if anyone’s ever interested in seeing it, and it’s available in paperback or eBook form (or can be read on a Kindle for free if you have one): https://us.amazon.com/dp/B09JJ9FBC5

It was a tumultuous prospect getting it published (Amazon’s stuff isn’t exactly intuitive), but I’m glad it is, and hopeful it can earn enough to justify doing it again.

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This is fun! Congrats. :partying_face: :snake: :desert_island:

Not my thing, but I’d be interested in how that all maths out if you’re feeling in a budget-transparency mode. Like, how many do you have to sell? How long did it take you? What did the art run you? No worries if I’m prying, and you don’t want to say. I’ll probably pick up one for my niece for the holidays. Cheers!

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Congrats @hustlertwo :two_hearts:

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Will probably use NaNoWriMo as a loose excuse to add 50k words to Invite Only, but we’ll see. I gotta finish my research and edit a short film before Halloween. A bit swamped with the work in front of me and so few days to complete it. Oughtta be doing that instead of messing around on this forum, now that I think of it.

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Thanks @CC_Hill !

I don’t mind being transparent about it, I always have been with my IF performance numbers and such. I gave Faerie Warrior $50 up front as an advance after we had talked a bit, and then $150 more of an advance after the art was done. After it earns $200 we will then split all other profit 50/50. I also spent $65 out of my own pocket to get the files formatted after both Faerie and I failed to get it to pass Amazon’s error tests and such without it. Found someone on Upwork who does this sort of thing. Paid another $50 for some author’s copies to give to friends and family or maybe try to sell around here (or give to the library or something). As of right now, it has sold 15 paperback copies and 1 eBook (and read a couple times on Kindle) putting royalty earnings at about $60. So, obviously a little ways to go. Not sure what else to do on it since we kinda tapped our various social platforms, so we will see if it can stand on its own or not.

I don’t care much if it makes money. I just have to not lose too much of it. If it hits break-even excluding the money spent on author copies, I think we will do another one. So only $140 or so to go!

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I want to do NaNo, but school and college entrance prep will be getting busy by then, so I’m not sure if it’s possible for me :sweat_smile:

I think I’m just going to do a smaller version of NaNo, trying to do 20-25k words instead of the 50k, if possible. If not, I’ll just try to write more than I usually do.

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I’ve never tried writing IF during NaNo before, but I like the idea of using it to push myself to release the next major update on a WIP. Most likely won’t hit the full wordcount but I’ll see how I go

I’m a notorious procrastinator, and I’ve found that blocking out a set time dedicated to writing really does wonders. Even if I don’t hit my word count, I’m still making way more progress and am able to enjoy the rest of my day guilt-free knowing I’ve put in the time.

Btw just wondering, do we have a discord server for cog writers?

Anyway, all the best on all your projects!

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@hustlertwo I took a peek at the book and it seems really interesting and fun :blush:.

Is there an age recommendation? Like 5 and up? Maybe I missed that. I would like to buy it for my niece who is 10.

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Thanks! And I would say probably if they are reading it, 7 or 8 and up. If you’re reading it to them, you could go a bit lower. My 8 and 5 year olds enjoyed it, though who knows if 5 is just aping 8 thinking things are funny. That does happen sometimes.

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Thanks :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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yeah i’ll probably do nano, with a goal to release a demo at the end of the month. should there be a separate thread or just talk about it in November’s support thread?

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Why not both?

Traditionally, once Nano officially begins, one of those participating will open a topic specific thread. I do not think such a thread should stop us talking about support issues in November’s thread, after all, writer support is a big element of Nano that could be applied in your everyday writing as well!

@Eric_Moser just brought the topic up early in this last week, because a few of us (me included in this) are using these last October days to get an early start on November’s goals.

The end-of-October rush is on for many of us.

:slight_smile:

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sounds good! i’ll keep an eye out for the topic

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I did one unexpected, scary and exciting writing-related thing in October, and I have one more little personal project that I’d like to complete before the month ends. Then, in November, I’m laser-focusing on creating my work plan for Turncoat Chronicle.

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Hi everyone,

I am closing out my goals a little earlier than I normally do, and starting next month’s thread.

Happy Halloween :jack_o_lantern:

For October I had the following goals:

  1. Project One goal: Process feedback and determine (finally) if it is ready to share in a WiP thread.
  2. Project Two Goal: Make an outline and plot map for the next chapter/scene.
  3. Provide in-depth feedback.

I actually accomplished my goals for this month, even though the plot map and outline for the above 2nd project showed me I must do more research, more learning, and I will need to redo both the outline and plot map.

I’ll talk more in-depth about my upcoming WiP thread in November’s support thread, but I’ll mention here that I am both excited and scared to show my demo to the community.

Thank you everyone for contributing to this thread.

:two_hearts:

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Pleasantly, I managed to achieve all of these things, and a little more besides. Feels good, and though I’m rounding the corner into November at maybe a slightly less-leisurely pace than I otherwise would, I think it’s going to go pretty well. See you all next thread!

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October wasn’t as productive as I wanted it to be. I did not make my primary goal but did code in a dating system so that’s something!

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So, this month I worked on chapter 6!!! I’m pretty happy with the progress that I made too.

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