So this months WriYe blog topic is – What’s on your writing bucket list? Which one is the most achievable?

I think that’s an interesting question so first let’s define ‘bucket list’. A quick google kicks back:

“a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime.”

Now I think there are two keywords there ‘have’ or ‘accomplish’ – this isn’t pie in the sky dreaming. It’s not thinking “man I would super love to write the screenplay for the movie and have it gross a billion dollars” (to be honest I don’t think I would actually like that, but it was the most over the top thing I could think of as an example). It’s still talking about ‘hope’ but it’s more of a realistic dream, akin to a ‘to do list’.

So what is my ‘realistic’ dream?

Well obviously making a viable career as a storyteller. I’m not taking big bucks, just enough to pay my bills. That’s all I really want. Is this achievable? – That’s the rub because there’s two conflicting parts to it. 1) I control because it’s about producing a product, 2) I don’t control because it’s whether anyone likes or buys it. I can do my best to produce a quality product, I can do everything within my power marketing-wise etc. and it could just not work out. There is no guaranteed ‘win’ button when it comes to a creative career.

How about achievable then?

Basically this is everything to do with hard work and personal persistence, and nothing to do with anything external. I never wrote a list but I am trying to imagine what writers might put on it, and things like “write a novel” or “write a million words” or “write a story that cracks triple digits” or “write a novel in a month” etc. those all seem like challenges or milestones – and I have already done them.

I think the big challenge I have left is basically “write a complete series”. I have a lot of first drafts littering the place. I have written various drafts of book two’s (I even wrote some of a book three once). I have a lot of plans and notes and outlines etc. but I have never written a complete series. This is definitely my big goal moving forward.

What else?

• I think I might have written a holiday fanfic story but I want to write an actual novella/novel. I have some notes on it but I’ve just never fleshed it out and written it.
• Last year I started writing a serial and I would like to finish and develop that further, right now it doesn’t feel like I can tick ‘serial’ off the list because there’s still a lot of work to be done.
• I kinda want to write an ‘archaeological adventure’ story because I absolutely love the genre (think Nathan Drake of Uncharted or National Treasure type thing) but I have to be honest the ‘research’ requirement terrifies me. I can just imagine me getting something wrong, or using a bit too much artistic licence and getting roasted. Still I do love the genre and it’s nothing like anything I have done before, so it deserves a spot on the list.

There’s probably a LOT more stuff. Honestly I don’t imagine I will ever stop writing so hopefully I’ll have years to write dozens of stories. Anyway I’m going to leave it there for now, before I get too carried away with imagining all those potential fictional universes (remember I need to finish my current series first).

October’s Blog topic for WriYe is – Your favorite writing playlist. Who’s on it?

Now I haven’t done the blog topic every month but I quite liked this one because I always have music playing. I have stopped playing music when playing video games, and instead just listening to the integrated sound track. Partly for immersion/appreciation and partly because I listened to one playlist (as it was the playlist of th moment) so much when I was doing dailies in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms (Pandaria) that I can’t hear those songs now without instantly flashing back. Which brings me to my first point!

I don’t exactly have a writing playlist

For the most part when writing I listen to the music I’m in the mood for, aka the ‘music of the moment’. The albums, artists etc. that is my focus right then. Now there are limitations to this, for instance even when I was really into the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds musical soundtrack, I never wrote to it because that would have been weird – it already had a strong association. Also sometimes the vibes are wrong. I can love the music but it’s just not what I need for how the book is feeling. Sometimes the music has to match my mood – do I need something high energy, something easy on the ears, an old favourite etc. – or do I need it to match the mood of the characters/scene?

BUT I do have some “writing associated” music

There is a Shinedown song “How did you love” which I will forever associate with my big novel series that I’m currently writing. I think the line “cause castles crumble, kingdoms fall and turn into sand” hit first but honestly the vibes of the whole thing match really well.

Another song which had a line that made my head snap round is “Fly on the Wall” by Thousand Foot Krutch = “the other night / I had a dream / it was a world full of kings and queens / but it was cold / dark as the night / we were the fire on the moonlit skies / we were divided / we were the same / and we were free but we all wore chains”. In fact for a long time the first book was called ‘Divided’ and the series ‘Divided Destiny’. That’s not so now but it still again fits very well.

Finally there was an attempt at a ‘writing music’ playlist to try and condition my mind. If that music was playing = it was time to get to work. I picked Apocalpytica because instrumental is supposed to be better for that kind of thing. The result? Well I certainly associate it with the novel I was writing at the time (a crime/time travel thing) but otherwise that experiment didn’t last.

Anyway I love music. My headphones are among my most valued possessions (I’d never survive the grocery store without them). I definitely like to have it playing when writing but just not often anything in particular.

August’s WriYe blog topic is well-timed because I’m really struggling right now.

I have never liked questioning motivation when I’m not doing things. I get upset and say “it’s not that I don’t want to because I really do!!!” as to me motivation means desire and actually that’s not exactly right.

Motivation isn’t bribery either. That’s another thing. It’s saying “I have to do X and if I do it, then I can have a little treat”. It’s not punishment – “I have to do X and if I don’t do it, then Y bad thing happens”. These are external pressures that can aid motivation but it’s not motivation itself.

Once upon a time I think I would have talked about “pulling the rabbit out of the hat” here. Because I used to push it sometimes, and then that external ‘motivation’ pressure meant I then got the task done – until I didn’t. Until that pressure wasn’t enough, and I failed. The thing did not get done and I had to face the consequences (punishment). This is why I don’t think bribery/punishment is much of a factor for motivation. It can be like the ‘cherry on top’ but the task was likely to happen anyway. It’s like the 5%, maybe occasionally it tips the scale and makes a difference but isn’t a big thing.

So what am I saying?

I’m not doing all of the blog topics, only the ones in which I feel I have something to say. The topic this month though is close to my heart – “Define your biggest distraction and how you deal with it.”

My focus is actually not as terrible as it used to be. Really that’s what distraction is to me – lack of focus. I can’t say a specific person, situation or circumstance is a distraction because it doesn’t matter what it is. I either focus – or I don’t. If I’m not focusing then my attention could be caught by watching paint dry (as an extreme example). It’s never what calls me as the ‘distraction’ because if it wasn’t that, it would be something else. The fault lies with me.

The question this month is simple:

What author do you admire the most? Why?

And the answer is thus quite simple. Only because it’s me I’m going to take a little segue first and explain my thinking behind any kind of admiration.

I joke sometimes about certain people being “who I want to be when I grow up”. Now obviously I’m 33 and so I should be grown up but it’s more about the dream they represent I guess – an ideal in some way. I don’t know if I’m unusual in this approach because I feel (possibly mistakenly) that most people would equate author = writing, and talk about the books that have touched their soul, the wordsmiths who transcended the written word to weave something magical.

Now don’t get me wrong that’s good too but when I think of the authors I admire the most, it’s less about their actual words (though I like those too!!) and more about what they have achieved in their career. Essentially, they are where I would like to be.

So I skipped February’s blog topic because I didn’t think I had anything really to contribute (it was about writing ‘hacks’). However, this month the topic is “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – The R’s of Revision” and if there’s anything I have opinions about in writing, it’s revision.

I have had a pet peeve for years of people saying revision when they mean editing. I have tried to get less grumpy about it because we are all entitled to use whatever words we want. One persons editing might well be another persons revision – I shouldn’t judge. Yet it’s one of those things that annoys me anyway.

So what is revision?