I Do a Lot

I ended up doing quite a bit of editing to the second half of Shadow of the Black Tower’s eleventh chapter on Sunday. I added, cut and smoothed out a number of things, and moved the transition into chapter twelve a few paragraphs back to a better moment.

Editing as I go is my standard. Particularly now that I usually only return to the draft weekly, I find reviewing and editing last-week’s work is an excellent way to get back into the story’s mindset before I start writing. This week, however, it was frustrating because I had limited time to write.

I’m certainly happy with it reading better. But the revisions ate into my time to write new material, and I increased the draft’s overall size by only about 900 words. I really wanted to make more progress than that this week, and it left me aggravated.

So I took a deep breath, and a step back.

It’s been a rough week. I was tired and behind on things from several late nights spent trying to get this very author’s blog out of its current underperforming slump. Although I feel that my posts are better than ever, with much more daily original content than before, my numbers this year and particularly the last six months are less than those of last year’s at the same time. I really don’t know what I’m doing wrong, or even if I am doing anything wrong and if this is reflection of WordPress blogging being on a general decline of readership. Any insight from my fellow WordPressers out there that have been around for a few years?

Anyways, that situation and my low progress on the WIP got me feeling despondent. So I had a long talk with my wife, who is always supportive and great at helping me get out of a funk.

She reminded me that I do an awful lot in addition to writing a novel:

• I write, edit, design pictures for, and share eight new microfictions every week. They get seen with thousands of views across my social media, and receive hundreds of individual, positive reactions weekly.
• I’m writing a serialized superhero novel in microfiction-sized chunks with four installments weekly, and it’s gaining a following on Twitter and Instagram. Who else is doing that?
• I host and maintain the #SciFanSat weekly writing prompt, and it has provided exposure and networking for hundreds, if not thousands, of science fiction and fantasy authors. Moreover, my weekly efforts as a part of the moderation team on the r/FantasyWriters subreddit helps keep that ship on-course for a vibrant community of over 60,000 writers.
• And on top of all of the above (which isn’t everything), I work a full-time 9 to 5 and put-up with all the other mundane crap most everybody else has to tolerate… and I still find time eat, sleep a little, pet the cat and keep my wife company.

I do a lot.

Sometimes it just takes a special person to point out how much you do, what you’ve accomplished, and the bigger goals your individual steps are moving you towards.

Have a great week everyone, and keep writing! :-)

~Jason H. Abbott.