Writing, writing groups, and being a pantser.

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Brian B Baker

There is a frustration with writing. I don’t know where it comes from, but it’s there often enough to give me pause.

Not understanding where the story is heading. Not being able to control the story. As a pantser, these two things plague me daily.

Now, don’t tell me, “Use an outline. It helps.”

Not for me it doesn’t. When I write, it’s about jumping off the bridge and finding wings on the way down.

I’ve tried outlines and beat sheets. They hinder my writing. I don’t know why, but they do.

I’ve written eight books, seven of them written by discovery/pantsing. The one book I wrote with a beat sheet feels stilted. I tried to enjoy writing it, but I slogged through it to the ending.

Now that we’re done with that part, I’ll talk about today and this week.

This week I started something new, ending the story from last week. This feels different from the other horror stories I’ve written. It feels closer to me.

Getting personal in a story is something I know I’ve needed to work on. With this one, that’s why I’m doing. It’s closer and because of that, it won’t be the 86k in a month I wrote a couple of months ago. I’m working through this one more slowly. It feels like its needed.

I will start submitting my horror stories around for critiquing as I’ve found that my writing group doesn’t understand it. They don’t read horror, which is causing a problem.

Anyway, I hope you’re having a marvelous day. I will be posting pictures from my bartending event Saturday on Instagram.

It should be a nice wedding at one of my favorite venues.

Narration, critiques, and improving.

Posted on February 7, 2019 by Brian B Baker

The past year I worked on narration and breaking up dialogue with narration.

I have an awful habit having long streams of dialogue with the occasional bit of narration thrown in.

My wife and my writing group have called me out on this.

Fixing this in the he last few short stories and the last novel I finished have been my goals.

Knowing what’s wrong with your writing. Having a support team to tell you what’s wrong is part of the journey of writing. Sometimes their words hurt. Sometimes you’ll want to scream, but almost always, what they tell you will improve your prose.

Fifteen years ago, when I wrote my first novel, I didn’t take criticism well. After time, I realized it’s meant to help me improve.

I wish I’d had a writing group when I started. I only had my wife. She was extra cautious when critiquing because at that point, I wasn’t a very nice person.

Today, I’m better than I was. I wish I’d have learned earlier that honest critiques can be brutal. Especially if you’re not ready for honesty.

I hope your writing is going well.

A Long Week Ends and New Writing Begins.

Posted on January 31, 2019 by Brian B Baker

There are days, weeks, and sometimes months that try us. We must get through those days and on to better ones.

This past week, was one of these.

Celebrities come to this little corner during Sundance Film Festival.

Those of us in the service industry cater to them and take care of them.

Its difficult working long hours but we do it.

Over the past week I worked crazy hours, woke up tired, but I persevered.

The only thing that fell apart was my writing. My family held it together because it was Sundance.

I’m getting my writing back on track and working on a new project, something darker. The past week was a lot of fun, I served some great actors and actresses, but I’m ready for normality. Whatever that means.

I’ve worked hard to get stories ready for publication. I still plan on publishing this year, but not sure which novel it will be.

I’ll begin the read-through this weekend of the novel I finished in December. I’m looking forward to this.

Every day is a

challenge, especially when I’m tired. Depression sneaks in when I least expect it and it tried this past week.

Today, I’m a day closer to publication and working on a story idea that came to me a while ago. Now that I’m working on it, I love it and it scares me. If I’m not scared, the reader isn’t either.

Happy writing.

Finding my way to publishing this year.

Posted on January 22, 2019 by Brian B Baker

There are times when life warrants taking a break.

With the completion of an eight book I’m pulling the trigger this year on publishing.

This decision stalked me for the last couple of years. I knew I needed to do it but I also didn’t understand publishing very well.

I listened to various podcasts through the last couple of months to improve my knowledge. Now it comes to finding a copyeditor.

The financial means are there, but its by a skin of our teeth situation.I want to publish something others will enjoy. I also don’t want to put my family at a financial disadvantage.

When it comes to creating covers, I’m searching for affordable. Like I said, I don’t want to put my family at financial disadvantage to publish.

These are what haunt me at night.

How I get through the hard days.

Posted on January 10, 2019 by Brian B Baker

This past week I’ve struggled to write.

It may be a hangover from the previous book and the thoughts of writing in a new world or it could be a disruption in my schedule.

I think it’s all of the above and it’s thrown me for a loop.

While I’ve worked; squeezing only a few hundred words until yesterday, the words have been stilted. There’s been no flow.

As I said already, I wrote 86,000 words in a month. This may have given me a writing hangover.

There is another thing. I stopped reading a book because it was in the same genre as the book I finished and since I stopped, so has my writing, mostly.

The schedule issue is another thing.

Every day after I take my kids to school and get breakfast, which is usually from 8:30 until 11:00. I do four writing sprints of twenty-five minutes, with a five-minute break in-between.

This is one of the ways I wrote so many words last month.

I was also more focused last month on writing, but in being focused, I did screw up a few times. I didn’t get my critiques done for my writing group.

This is something I’m really upset with myself over.

The other thing is by not getting any solid writing done, doubt and depression have nudged their ways in.

I’ve written numerous times about depression. Check out my page about Transcendental Meditation or my post on TM.org to read more about it.

I won’t let myself get stuck in the spiral again. I went back to the book I’d been reading and I wrote more than I have since last week.

Every day as a writer, especially an unpublished writer, is an adventure, but I wouldn’t quit for anything.

On to the next…

Brian B Baker, Writer

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