Hi. Back and at it. What’s been happening, you ask?
I keep preaching to other writers about how and when to write. About letting your instincts, your muses and your characters guide you along. I’ve talked about not writing and taking breaks yourself.
I don’t always take my own advice.
I’ve hit that point in my publishing where I like where I’m at but I’m not at that point where I am seeing great returns for my efforts. I’ve been keeping at the writing because from January to May/June is my prime time to write. It’s when I seem to get my most creative.
And I have been. Project Threshold – 2 is almost finished. I’ve trusted my story writing abilities and they’re in full gear.
However, I’m still feeling the pressure of this marketing and advertising thing. I’ve made efforts here and even made a bit of headway, but nothing great that I’ve seen things shifting. Or at least not in noticeable ways. I won’t say I’m not disappointed but I know this is an ongoing journey. It’s not won in a day or even a week. It requires steady effort over lots of time.
The problem is there are only so many hours in a day. I can only do so much and I haven’t given myself much in the way of rest and respite. Every day I’m managing some portion of this–writing or marketing or looking for new ways to get the word out.
So what’s an author to do?
That’s the question many of you face too. All of us at some point. Balancing life against your passions, fitting in everything that “needs” doing plus what you want and think you want to do.
Eh, all hope is not lost 😉
I decided I’m going to make one day a week where I do no writing, nothing related to marketing or advertising, no editing, no social media and only spend it on the rest of my world: family, health, entertainment and maybe the odd non-writing related project.
Yes, it seems a good thing. While, yes I may “lose” a day a week, it’s my hope I’ll renew my vigor and get more passionate about all the aspects of this writing game. We’ll see. I’ll keep you up on how it goes.
In the mean time, look toward September. Project Threshold – 2 will come out. Berger, Jessie, Katie, Talise, Bodi, Kali, Riker, McCoy, Kurt, Cass will be back in full fervor. They’ll be fighting new fights, making new enemies but also finding some new friends. Maybe even an old friend . . . there’s going to be some new twists and the story will head down a path we should see coming because of things already set in motion.
You’ll see.
I did hire an artist to work on my Bestiary: https://projectthreshold.com/bestiary/
I’ve long been a fan of Elena’s work. I first met her on Twitter and she just has that style of art that I really like. I commissioned her to give me her take on the critters from “Not the Usual Night Crowd.” You can find out more about her here: https://fantasy-art-z.com/index.html Check her out–she does some great things!
I’ll be adding more to the Project Threshold site. If you join the newsletter, I’ll be dropping more hints about this fall and a few extras just for subscribers.
Otherwise, I’ll be back here to keep you updated. And I’m going to take breaks 🙂
Craig