So, this is the last writing diary/log for February.
Where am I? What have I learnt? What have I achieved?
With my writing, I've sent out a novelette called Regroup to my Beta reader, and I'm nearing the end of another novelette called Break Out. With Terror Tree and Mission One, these make up part one of my The World of Drei series. Once I finish Break Out I will start the next part of the story, called Mission Two.
I will need to commission another illustration for these short-stories come novelettes.
A reminder for those not into the definitions of story lengths: a short story is less than 7,500 words; a novelette is less than 17,500 words; and a novella is less than 40,000 words.
My plan is to eventually compile all the novelettes into a series of short novels. By short I mean running less than 60,000 words.
On the learning front, I've discovered how much time I waste or lose to other things when trying to write.
Some recent inefficiencies have been down to colds, which are outside of my control. Other things are down to me being human, as in susceptible to distractions from things that take my interest. For example, my hobbies like wargaming and archery, or my tendency to be an information magpie.
I admit I can't resist researching history snippets.
Also, editing detracts from producing new words. It takes time to edit, and worse still, it put me into what I call 'critical thinking' mode, which means my creative side gets side-tracked. And that makes writing new words harder.
Summary
I the first two months of 2018 I have brought my first novel to market, put up one novelette. I've also made some sales, more than my target number, but less than my dreamed goal, but that would've required Bad Dog becoming a break out novel.
So this week I spent five hours writing, producing 861 words, which is 170 words per hour. Only two days writing in the last week, due to time lost from other commitments, and having a cold.
Priorities
Strike Dog edits. It will cost me new words, but I have to bite this bullet. Deadline, end of March.
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