Tag Archives: coffee

2000 Words a Day…Go!

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I got some writing done last week! It wasn’t 2000 words a day, but it was about 5500 for the short week. I worked on two different stories, which also made me feel good. I’m going to keep my goal down at 2000 words a day for this week. We have a lot going on, and I’m trying to get a balance of realism and optimism going.

I’ll check in each day this week to post what I managed and maybe a picture or two. Please join me! If you’re feeling rusty, maybe 500 words a day is good. Or if you have a looming deadline maybe 5000 words a day is good. Do what you think will work for you, but write every day!

Good Luck!

coffeepartners

May the coffee be with you :)

 

Coffee…a writer’s Prozac

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Hello! How did May go for everyone? May was rough for me. Great stuff happened on the home front: there were plays, recitals, graduations… a lot of reasons to be proud of my kids.

But as far as writing went…OMG.

I finished my romance serial, which meant tons of publishing. I had to publish the last episode, the compilation of episodes 5-9 because I did a compilation of episodes 1-4 and then the compilation of all the episodes together. And, because I’m a little crazy, I decided I wanted a companion book to go with the series that was a nail design book. The story takes place around a beauty salon. I had blogged several nail designs throughout the serial, and thought it would be fun. The marketing strategy was to give it away for free to draw more interest to the series.

Surprisingly, everything came together well. Julie got the editing done quickly (I honestly can’t praise her enough), and though it was very time consuming, the nail art came together too.

But I always crash at the end of a big project. I crashed hard after finishing episode 9 before I had completed the nail design book. Foolishly, I decided to stop drinking coffee for a while too because I had had so much to get all the publications out. That’s when I realized that coffee keeps writers optimistic.

Without coffee in me, my opinion about my own writing plummets. But when I take that first sip before I start typing, I am the best writer ever. So I thought it’d be fun to put together this little poster for you:

writersprozac

The depression might not have been so bad if I had had any sales. But sales were way down. Particularly Amazon has been abysmal this month. I’m actually even at All Romance between April and May on number of sales, and I made more money because I sold the higher cost books this month more than the cheap ones. Barnes and Noble and iTunes are the other places with sales, but not nearly as many as in April. Fortunately I made enough sales this month to keep me at a sale a day average for the year because April was so good.

I wish I knew what caused the swing. So far the nail book isn’t helping me at all, but Amazon won’t put it at free and it won’t be out at iTunes and Barnes and Noble until sometime this week. Fingers crossed people love it there and buy my other books.

But the serial is done! I should really celebrate because it was a big project coming in at over 125,000 words. However, I must get on to the next book. It’s already Tuesday, but I’d like to do a word count marathon. No gift card this week since it’s a short one. Think of it as a warm up for next week.

My goal is 2000 words a day this week. It feels out of reach because I have several activities planned this first week of summer, but I have a publication schedule that needs attention!

So, ready! Set! Write!

Word Count Marathon Day 4

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So I did pretty much everything but write. I’m working on visual continuity with the covers for my serial and made the cover for the compilation of Episodes 1-4. On a previous day, I edited all of the episdoes for continuity issues that happen writing something off the cuff. Today I uploaded the compilation of 1-4 with the updated text and cover to three of my vendors.

Tonight was a great family night with concerts and banquets. But after, I took my test for my introduction to digital marketing and passed with distinction. That means I got an 85%. Hooray! After taking that course, I need to take a deep breath and start applying things slowly. It’s a little overwhelming to see how much behind the blog stuff there is to do.

In the back of my mind I’ve been thinking about the voice for my Nail Art book. I need to scratch it and start over again. I’m hoping by tomorrow morning to have a better idea.

How did you guys do? I hope the words flew onto the page!

Here’s a pic for inspiration:

coffee on the beach

Spark Check

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IMG_2108

Only 1100 words so far, but I knew the start of the week would be low. Sunday is a big writing day for me, and that was spent on a birthday. And Monday was spent recovering. But yesterday was super productive with editing. Hopefully today will be another productive day.

But I should probably not have as much caffiene today as I did yesterday. I think I went a little overboard celebrating National Coffee Day, which I didn’t even know was coming. I should’ve remembered from last year, but I didn’t.

I hope you’re week had a good start, and I’ll see you Friday!

A Room of your Own

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Virginia Woolf once wrote, “…a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction…”. I have loads of arguments why her statement still holds true for women today, but I’m not going to focus on that. What I want to focus on is “the room of her own” part. I’m going to make it more general:

A writer needs a room of her own.

In this case, her can just as easily be his.

As I mentioned on Friday, I’m currently reading Write. Publish. Repeat. When I read how many books they completed and published in one year, I wanted to cry. I told my husband about their amazing year. I bemoaned how meager my year had been by comparison. And then he said, “But you’re not doing this as a forty hour work week job like they are.”

His statement made me consider. I should be able to make it a forty hour a week job, or at least thirty. My children are all in school giving me six hours a day to write. But that’s never what happens. I sit down in my living room. Wait, I should’ve loaded up some laundry. Oh, I’m teaching music in an hour. Do I have a lesson plan? Do I have all my materials? Done teaching. Time to write. Shit. I have soppy clothes in the washing machine that need to be hung on the line. New load put in. Lunch eaten. Let’s write. Why am I so sleep? I’ll doze for just a minute. The kids will be home in an hour. And wa-la, I have 1000 words done. What happened?

So then I have to go out and write that night for three hours at a coffee house and I get 3000 words done. I should’ve just written all day at the coffee house.

Yes, I realize I lack self-discipline, over-commit etc. But the point is every writer needs a place they can go to ignore the rest of the world and churn out the words. My place is a coffee house. I like the atmosphere, the smell of coffee and the taste of espresso. If jazz music is playing, I’m golden. Everything about a coffee house gets me in the writing zone. Some people go to the library. Honestly the shelves of books distract me. Look at all those fairy tales I can read and research! Maybe you have a study in your house that you can seclude yourself away from your family in.

There’s a lot of talk about how you have to be consistent and write everyday, but almost equally important is where you write. You need a setting that will say to you, “I’m writing now and doing nothing else.”

Where is your favorite spot to write? Please share!

Solstice Spiced Coffee

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Welcome to the Winter Solstice Blog Hop hosted by the Pagan Writers Press! Everyone in the Hop is giving something away, so please be sure to check out the other blogs!

Here at Enchanted Spark, we are all about inspiring others. When invited to join the blog hop, I first thought I’d do a flash fiction story taking place on the solstice, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to post a recipe to give readers energy and inspire them through the rest of winter. I’m proud to say this recipe only took me one try to get right. Usually I slave over these things. I’m writing the magical attribute next to the ingredients.

Solstice Spiced Coffee
(for energy, love and prosperity through the winter)

2 rounded teaspoons instant coffee
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (prosperity)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (prosperity)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (divided) (love)
2 teaspoons maple syrup (divided)
boiling water

In a small bowl mix together coffee, nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar. Divide evenly into two coffee mugs. Pour six ounces of boiling water into each mug and stir. Add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon maple syrup to each mug and stir. Enjoy with a friend!

The book I’m promoting has nothing to do with winter solstice, although if you stretch the theme to include anything about the sun, then mine is perfect 😉 A Sunset Finish is about a violin, a ghost, and a romance:

Stephanie Minagawa travels to Albuquerque as a last resort for her music career, only to have her violin split apart in the arid air. When she takes it to a repair shop on the pueblo, she enters a world of spirits and yearning. Her body is taken over by the ghost of the craftsman’s dead wife, and she must decide between the quiet death she’s longed for, or claiming a new life of music and love.

The first three people who give me the title of their favorite winter food in the comment section will receive a free e-copy of A Sunset Finish in whatever format you need.

Happy Solstice!

Please visit the other blogs in the Pagan Writers Press Blog Hop!