Hello again as is usual! Matthew here with an update on what I have been writing!
As I start typing this, the sun has been out a ton today. It is nice having spring shine horizontally across my monitor. It doesn’t give any glare if I don’t keep the curtains open all the way. So that’s a plus. I just wish I had a window facing me. Having more lighting options in my room would be welcome, but that isn’t what I have right now.
And now to the writing reporting!
What I’ve been doing:
- The last third of Chapter VI. As of today that means it will be 3/3rds finished soon.
- Made more tweaks to my chapter outline in Google Sheets.
For once, I am in the page count I want to be. If you saw my last couple of updates, I was mentioning that Chapter VI would be shorter. This last part of it is an action scene. And it is tripping me up! It’s weird! I go to town writing action scenes. Details everywhere! Characters every which direction one reads, gunfire, explosions, charges, military humor, emotion, and my imaginary VFX. Of course, you can’t see the majority of this yet.
This one is short. I think that is the challenge. I normally draw them out, adding and adding and adding until it’s one massive sequence. This one is just different. Without saying why that is, it’s making me write, pause, re-think, edit, and write more. I’m even using a couple of pages from my skeleton draft. The rest of that part is rewritten. It’s better to do it that way.
That’s where I’m at in Just as Human Real First Draft. With having another short-term work assignment this week, and, Lord-willing, a longer one starting next week, I ought to be on to Chapter VII in several days. That one is going to be a far different chapter than the others. And it also means I have about five chapters to write before I finally connect everything to the big action scene happening in the end. And then after that?
The final chapter!
Hell. Yes.
I can go back to video game writing sometime after its done.
Moving on to another topic…
Marketing.
It is hard and it is exhausting.
I just do not see that these weekly updates are effective. I see my subscriber count before they get posted to Discord servers, Facebook, and once so far on Reddit. But, I haven’t had much success in the six-plus months I have written them. That’s not to say I will stop updating in some form. I do them to learn how to market myself. It’s that I am not yet seeing interested readers outside family and my social circles. So, on LegendFire – the online critique forum I am a member of – I asked what I can do differently. The head administrator – a published author I know – suggested newsletters. She’s never had success with marketing using social media. I don’t enjoy it, like her. Yes, it is a necessary and useful tool. Many others are savvy with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit. It is just not something I find fun. Newsletters are a way I can clump together life with writing updates. Make things more real. Perhaps more enjoyable. I still wish I had a bigger desk in my room to record these, send the MP4 files to an editor, then upload them to YouTube
You are probably thinking, “He needs to stick with something for a while.” Yes, I need to. When something does not look like it is working, and I don’t enjoy it, I take a step back. A monthly newsletter can be a great way to invite readers into my writing and parts of my life. You’d see me complete this book in larger parts instead of small, 3-500 plus sections every week. With that all spilled out of my brain, I might try that out. There’s also learning marketing from writers’ conferences online. Something works; it will be found.
That does it for this weeks Writing Update. Thank you for sticking with this longer one! I’ll just share this new prose and imagine what you think:
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Good thing it didn’t reset the message when his signal bar turned into an ‘x.’ He rode crowded in an elevator a handful of stories. The moment the doors slid all the way open, they resumed pushing her bed along with a clear breathing mask, which hadn’t fogged up much. But oxygen did form on the transparent inside. Words formed in his head which he couldn’t muster the energy to mouth. Please don’t let this be the end already. Please. There’s gotta be something to stop it. Oh God, take care of her. She’s breathing though. Good. Her eyes fluttered open. Okay, that’s a good sign.
Matthew Birdzell 