Hot On My Heels

So my editor chatted me today, which is great but serves as a reminder to the fact that I am locked in the eternal race to push content out faster than they can edit it. Yet, hey. It's OK I have a safe buffer zone.

Anyways, their chat message was as follows.

Editor: Finished chapter 16, interesting twist. Just wanted to make sure I'm not missing something but I cannot seem to find 17 in the usual folder.

Me: (Insert moment of panic right here).............

Editor: Lee

Me:........

Wait a minute, where did my buffer go. I've been writing....oh wait...that's right...different project...

Me: Yep, not ready yet...was struggling with the continuity leave it with me.

Panic over, focus regained, lots of smashing at the keyboard got to rebuild that safe zone.

Inject the caffeine STAT....let's do this.

Insomnia (with a vengeance)

Well that's really annoying. Having just spent the last fifteen minutes blogging a full on rant about lack of sleep and what might be the cause of it. Only for the blog to not save properly and have to start again.

So here it is abridged, for nearly 27 years now I have only been getting a maximum of around 4 hours sleep (unbroken). Usually its 2-3 hours then awake for 15 then rinse repeat.

As of lately it has been getting worse, nothing seems to help.

Having tried all the usual remedies and to be honest most work for a time and in a fashion and then the insomnia comes back like a fecking anvil dropping on my head.

Answers and advice on a postcard or in the reply section below please.

Cons: Grumpy, living on empty all the time.  Probably stress related.
Pros: Get a lot of time to write, in the early hours when no one can distract me. #AmWriting, #FTW

5AM Writers Club - Dual Threads

When you're on a dead line and end up working on two different chapters, for two different projects at the same time. First for everything I suppose. Let's just hope we don't end up with some inadvertent cross pollination between the two.

Things I have been reading as of late:

• Armada by Ernest Cline

Tools that might help you:

• Asana - Simple PM tool
• One Note - A handy place to store and keep your notes organised

So interesting session this morning. Firstly the assignment for the weekly write was an interesting one. 

Simple task with an unusual outcome:

• Scenario: Airport bag exchange (joint decision)
• 1x Chapter on character back story (solo write)
• 1x Chapter on events in the airport (solo write)
• 1x Chapter to bring both side together (joint write)

So far so good, rules were short and sweet, 2k min per chapter, 4k max. Seven days to write chapter one and two in isolation and then after an overview this morning #5AMWritersClub a further week to write a third chapter to bring both sides together. 

It's good to be collaborating again. Let's see how it all looks when its finished next week.

Distractions a writers worst enemy

So it's been a while since I was fully back into the swing of writing. Lot's of questions and lots of people asking where Gen's Tale is or for that matter Raw Data. Yes, I know I could update the website and push the release dates back. Yes, I could remove them. Leaving the statements there serves as a reminder to the original time lines and how we should never feel rushed to release something that is just to ready.

How perfect is too perfect?

When does an edit turn into procrastination?

Usual promotion stuff here:

• On the web: www.leethomasrichards.co.uk
• Twitter: Syncriel


Amazon: Hal's Tale

Lots more out there on the web by me, if you can find it. Not too hard if you know where to look or how to 😏

So what have I been up to? why has the next instalment for Hal's Tale taken so long? What am I currently working on?

In order:

Work. Work. Work. Yep that thing that pays the bills keeps getting in the way and let's not forget it is important so that your families keep fit and healthy. So between work and family there really has not been a lot of time for anything else.

Authoring something new. Yes, we all say this and all writers must know how easy it is to hit a brick wall or a creative block on one story so you start a different one. This seems to be happening more and more as of late so instead of shying away from it I have just kept on writing. Better to be putting something down than nothing at all. With this in mind I am now up to around 30 almost complete, completely different pieces of work. That's a lot to have in the trunk or on the shelf doing nothing. With this in mind I have elected to actually spread out and throw the whole lot over to an editor, author. Someone who actually thrives on the editing process. Well good luck to them is all I say. There's a lot for them to get through but to be honest it is coming along nicely.

Collaboration works x2 (new style for me but working well). The writing team is coming together, something that I did not honestly think would work. Relinquishing control of something you create is very hard to do but finding the right editor to augment and benefit your particular way of writing is absolutely key.

So this is where the good news story comes in, I have team up with two different authors. Helping them to navigate those early days of 'what do I do now'. Not that I am an expert, by no means but it helps to have someone to talk to when you hit a wall or need a second opinion. Even if you end up going the original way. This in turn has spurred me on to write more and I have recently turned that insomnia back on itself and plonked myself in front of a monitor wherever possible.

So what does all this mean, not really sure right now but between the two collaborations and the editor I am hoping that 2018 brings a lot more publications to the  masses. Let's see what happens.

Website to be or not to be?

So its been a few years and its served me well but I am at that point of deciding if the website needs to be revamped or deleted.

http://www.leethomasrichards.co.uk

Shame to let it go but I am at that point of wondering if it is nothing more than a name place holder. With social media being driven towards more high impact tools, twitter, facebook, blogs, vlogs and a plethora of other quick fire ways of reaching your target audience. Are websites really that important any more.

Who really uses websites for promotion these days anyway? Open for discussion on that item.

With time being short. is it really necessary to update a website when that time could be put into writing. It's a difficult call as having a home in the web was always placed within a web url. Maybe its an old school mentality that drives me to keep it.

A new writing partner

So in an attempt to keep writing as much as possible I have started to write with another fellow author.

So far so good but unlike previous collaborations this one is taking a different turn. We have decided to write in isolation. Two chapters apart, one together. With feeds and hooks that must be adhered to within our solo works.

I am very interested to see how this works out or does not. Previous joint writes have involved a lot of planning, a lead and a follow but this feels more creative and less binding.

As always once completed or at a stage where we both believe it is working I will deploy the trusted editing services and let them deal with the pain, continuity and general fixing.

Too many ideas, not enough time to get them all out of my head. If only there was someway of downloading every fresh idea in one go without all this typing.

Early morning writing crew - 2018

Week two ensuring the first 30 minutes of each day is dedicated to writing. Got to be in it to win it as they say. For now though the only advice I can give to all the writers out there is this. 

• Never stop
• Word count does not matter
• Remember to read

If you get stuck in a rut or a dry spell, write anything. Good or bad it gets you moving again.
Never be afraid to start again, just because its on the page does not mean it cannot be changed or deleted.

CV Time

It just might be time to see what's out there beyond the walls of the company I have known and loved for such a long time.

To change direction, to explore if there is something bigger and better to get stuck into?

Thoughts on a postcard (if those things still exist).