I’ve been on hiatus from social media in 2021 so far and I have to tell you, my stress levels have reduced drastically because of it. I don’t know what it is about social media which drives people to dwell in a dark cavern of fear and spout nonsense in their echo chambers, but I for one am glad to be taking a break. I might just continue to stay away from it all together. My stomach seems to agree with the absence.
Still chugging along on the work in progress. I’d made a lot of positive strides this week, then yesterday ruthlessly slashed 5,000 words because it wasn’t working. It’s a hard thing to do but sometimes it’s necessary. For this, the first two chapters simply weren’t gelling with the overall story vibe, so I’m rewriting the first chapter completely, getting rid of the second, and making the third the new second chapter. I also am working in character behaviors throughout the book as I go, because personal growth for the character is always important to me.
Most writers will use some sort of motivation that they are familiar with to drive their characters. I’m no different. The fun part about this is watching my main begin the same journey I started twenty years ago in conquering my own fears. There’s almost a “hey, I remember that… man, what was I thinking?” sort of mentality involved. At the same time, you have to learn not to beat yourself up over what you didn’t do. Beat up your characters instead. It’s far healthier.
DAUGHTERS OF THE PRIDE was released on Tuesday via audiobook. Todd McLaren did a tremendous job narrating it, as he always does. I wasn’t sure how he was going to manage a teenage girl but somehow he gets it done. HERE IS THE LINK to Audible if you have some credits to spend and want to give it a go.
It’s winter at Casa Córdova, which means lots and lots of writing. I’ve been averaging around 2500 words per day, and that doesn’t include all the World of Tanks I’ve been playing at night. I could push for more but I also am aware I sometimes will burn out when I do so. For the time being, I’ll stick with the lower word count. If I fall behind on my self-imposed deadline, I’ll go for 3k a day.
Jason Córdova 
Strive on. It’s the finest thing a writer can do.
(Just a thought, sometimes it might be worth ‘Copy & Pasting’ redundant Chapters to a folder, for future use, you never know what might be lurking there which could fit another project)
Oh, that’s the “Cut but not Forgotten” file for every book. 😀
Excellent. Nothing wasted.👍👍😀
As social media becomes more of a good thing to not do, blogs from friends become more of a good thing to get in the email. And it’s nice to hear (see) that you are chugging along.
It’s why I’m trying to focus more on here as well.
Happy to be here instead of the other places
Do what you need to do. And stay off social media if it helps. (I have to do that from time to time, too, or I’d never get anything done.)
Glad you saved the words. (I don’t remember to do this all the time, and I still mourn the loss of 14K words that would’ve introduced Loki as a character into one of my urban fantasy stories. I don’t know how to get back there now! Oops…)