Weekly Writing Intentions: Saturday, Sept 23, 2023
Daily Diary, Day 1118
I keep being surprised by the roller coaster of writing, and this week was no exception. But overall, I am feeling good about last week and optimistic about next.
First, a big thank you again for the 8 of you who became Patrons to my daily newsletter last week by doing a paid subscription. As I mentioned when I introduced this option, these subscriptions give me the financial support so I can use marketing strategies that don’t take much time, so I can spend more time writing fiction and doing the kind of posts for this newsletter--like the one this week on UC Berkeley and 19th century co-education that so many of you seem to enjoy.
For example, my sales on Kobo for some reason tanked this month, which means I needed to pay some attention to this retailer. As a result, with the motivation those of you who did a paid subscription, I started applying for Kobo’s “free first in series”promotions, something I hadn’t done in some time. Applying takes about 5 minutes, doesn’t cost a whole lot, and while it can take a few tries to get accepted, it is an easy way to market and increase the chances that new readers will discover my series.
For those of you interested, at the bottom of this post I will repeat the section where I explain the options available if you decide to go for the patron (paid) option.
Anyway, on to my review of the past week.
Exercise, I made excellent progress. I averaged 110 minutes a day because I got in 20 minutes of doing the chair pilates every day but one, and walked every day at least once. I am definitely feeling stronger—walking a bit faster, doing things like moderate squats, which I haven’t done in a year. So, of course my intention for next week is to keep up the good work.
Writing, well, more of a mixed review. For the five days I actually made progress, I averaged 479 words a day (very near my 500 words-a-day goal). But then I had 2 days in a row where I ended up cutting a total of 526 words, which of course would lower my average for the week considerably. But word count isn’t the only way a writer can count progress, and I actually feel very good about those lost words, because they tightened up the beginning of the novel considerably.
I will probably do at least one more day of cutting, before I get on to new writing. So, my intention for next week is just to keep making progress (whether that is in word count or not), but I hope by the end of the week I am meeting my 500 a day goal again.
As for this daily newsletter, I am really enjoying giving myself permission to spend the time to bring you more content beyond letting you know about my daily activity. My new schedule for the next few months is to keep to these Weekly Writing Intentions posts on Saturday, but shift my recommendations posts to Friday. This way I can start putting up posts Tuesdays and Thursdays about the Paradisi Chronicles (the shared world my science fiction is set in) as well as publishing the updated version of the book I co-authored with my daughter in this shared world. Whenever possible, I will also slip in a Historical Tidbits from research I did for my mystery series.
Therefore, this coming week, you will get another Historical Tidbits tomorrow, then chapters 1 and 2 from The Stars are Red Tonight on Tuesday and Thursday, then Friday I will do my recommendations post. So, hope you enjoy this coming weeks offerings.
Reminder of what deciding to become a paid subscriber gets you (absolutely nothing but my thanks!: When you click on the subscribe – or upgrade to paid button, you will see 3 options.
None (staying a free subscriber) lists what to expect: Daily posts, Historical Tidbits, Author's Corner, Recommendations, Occasional publications of my fiction.
Monthly subscription of $5, you will get: “Everything free subscribers get plus my heart-felt gratitude for helping me free up time to write more.”
Annual option of $50, you will get: “Everything free subscribers get plus my heart-felt gratitude for helping me free up time to write more.” But it will cost you %17 less.