Soon it will be 2014

This year I've accomplished more than I hoped to.  I've done a lot of art.  I have a total of 16 illustrations for The Dawnshield Legends on my website and about 3 I haven't uploaded yet.  Then there's the fact that I created a website in the first place and have so far maintained it, as well as a facebook page.  I've written a rough draft for a novel.  I have a cafepress page.  Surprisingly I've even made a few sales of my work.  This year has definitely been eventful.

I'm hoping that next year will be just as good, if not even better.  Here are some of my goals for 2014:

• To finish another novel rough draft
• To fully edit a novel
• To complete 12 works of art
• To have a page for both twitter and google+
• To have a zazzle page
• Maybe set up an etsy page

Sounds like a hectic year ahead doesn't it?  I hope you all have a great Christmas with your friends and family and successful new year for 2014! :)

My Writing Techniques - Novel Planning

For most of my novels I've done a lot of planning before I write.  I've found that planning helps the quality of writing and the speed of it.  I've heard that some people write without it, I'm definitely not one of them.  Recently I changed my technique with planning my novels and I thought I'd share it with you.

My old novel planning technique:

I used to write a few pages describing the novel and then I'd convert it to a list of scenes.  When I had a list of basic scenes I would write three sentences for each one.  Usually a chapter per scene.

My new novel planning technique:

I start off much the same with a few pages of writing notes of what the novel is going to be.  These days these few pages are more structured and I have a list of questions I ask myself before getting to the next step.  Then I create how many chapters I roughly expect to have and write the list of scenes.  Now this is where it's different.  Instead of just writing three sentences for each scene I write three to five paragraphs.  Then I print a chapter per page so it is more portable and I can write notes on it if I wish.

My new method is a lot more detailed and time consuming.  The time consuming part is the only downfall.  With this method I'm able to complete a decent rough draft in two months or less and it isn't rushed.  There just isn't any sitting around wondering what to write anymore because it's already thought of, so it pretty much eliminates writer's block.

Tools of the Writing Trade - The Diary or Daily Planner

A work diary or daily planner is something useful for time management for any writer.  It is possible to buy a cheap one, however I'm going to talk about one in particular that seems to have everything a writer needs.

It's the Daily Planner from The Organised Housewife: here

Some of the ways in which this planner is useful are:

Goal setting

Every writer needs to set goals.  Maybe this doesn't seem necessary when first starting out but goal setting is a necessary part of the writing business.  This particular planner lets you write down the goals for each month and it has a checklist so you can tick off each goal.  This is useful for if you want to complete a certain amount of words in a month or edit a certain amount of chapters in a month.

Keep track of appointments

For each month of this daily planner there is a month at a glance.  This is useful for keeping track of appointments that might be necessary for a writer.  For instance you could schedule your book launch party, a book signing, a visit to the accountant and other appointments.

To-do list and schedule

Busy writers have a daily to-do list.  For instance you might want to write down how many words you are going to write that day, update your facebook page, update twitter or write a blog entry.  There is also a schedule on the left for when you are going to do these things.  This planner has a to-do list and schedule for every day of the year.

Meal planning and water tracking

Knowing what and when you are going to eat can be useful when writing.  This planner has a page each month for planning dinners as well as a section each day for planning meals.  You can also track how much you've had to drink each day.