Weekly Writerly Witterings ~ On Proper Purple Prose & Time Management

witter (ˈwɪtə)
vb – (often foll by: on) to chatter or babble pointlessly or at unnecessary length
n – pointless chat; chatter

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

If your week has been anything like mine, you’ve scarcely had a moment to breathe between movement and moment. Some weeks are like that. Some days life slaps you upside the face and reminds you reality doesn’t function like the dreamy world in your head.

I’ve been reading Laini Taylor’s gorgeous Strange the Dreamer this past week in between moments. Because no matter how busy you become, as a writer, it’s imperative to always keep reading. Taylor’s newest fantastical novel is like dark chocolate for me, something you can devour to satisfy your sweet tooth. Her prose is in my opinion, the best in her genre and something to aspire to. I’ve heard people compare her work to striding the line of “purple prose”, but managing to keep it just shy. I could go on and on about how pretty and inventive these words are. She’s a bit of a modern L.M. Montgomery (Author of Anne of Green Gables + Emily of New Moon). It’s rare in this modern “minimalist” age to get away with writing the way Taylor does. People don’t seem to have the patience for it anymore. So it’s a breath of fresh air to read Taylor’s work. In case you can’t tell, I highly recommend it 🙂

Back to the life-slapping-you-in-the-face. I had all these huge writerly grand plans for 2017, starting out in January. And, much like any NYResolution, time has just blazed by like a freight train it feels and I’ve been trying to hang onto the rails. But it hit me earlier this week my writing time hasn’t been up to par. Much as it’s important to read every day, authors must write a little every day, even if its a hundred words. I’m a big believer in that. I even made my own writer rules:

For the most part I have written a little every day, but I am nowhere near the word count I should be for all my many projects. So I shifted onto a different track and my new plan for the rest of this year is simply this:

1. Recover & Revise New Silver Hollow 2017 edition for the Fall

2. Publish Tamn in Fall

3. Release new extended edition of Scarred Beauty this Fall

And that’s it! See, before this I had at least three other projects I was working on. And if I were like some full time authors who don’t have extra jobs, or toddlers to chase after during the day, I could probably put out more. Also, I have the utmost respect for those authors who are full-time parents as well. Cause raising your kids, plus making sure your house isn’t a pig-sty is a full-time job in and of itself. You ladies and gentlemen are just amazing.

So, keeping this in mind, three re-releases/releases for 2017 is fantastic compared to 2014, when I only published one short story. I should always count my many blessings, that I’m even able to do this much with everything else.

Hopefully this weekend I’ll be able to plan out my week better and focus on tackling each project one day at a time. Or, as my dad likes to say, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

Goals for this week

1. Write my blog posts ahead of time.
2. Finish revising/rewriting two chapters of #NewSilverHollow
3. Work on new #Tamn chapter
4. Complete new extended chapters for #ScarredBeauty Extended Edition

Sorry I failed to provide a #TuesdayTeaser this week. Definitely one of those things I need to schedule ahead for this weekend. 🙂 Meanwhile, my Epic Fantasy Craving Beauty is currently FREE at Kobo!

Have a magical day!

 

Helpful Links

“5 Ways to Write a Perfect 1st Draft” -K.M. Weiland

“The Art of Slow Writing” -Merce Cardus

“How Much Description is too Much?” -Writers in the Storm