What's Up Wednesday

It's time for What's Up Wednesday, a weekly meme run by Erin L Funk and Jaime Morrow. Here's what I've been up to this past week!


What I'm reading

I started Red Rising. The style's really unique, and the story's totally gripping! I've had quite a lot of freelance work so reading for fun has taken a back seat, for now! (Apart from rereading Harry Potter, obviously.)

What I'm writing

Still working on Book 4/planning/outlining/writing/editing/poking bits of the other books in the series because I've pretty much given up trying to keep my brain focused on one book. :P I passed the 20K mark of Book 4, though, so progress is happening!

My writing goal this week: Write more of Book 4. Try not to emotionally destroy self in the process. 

What works for me

I'm still getting that question about writing productivity. Apparently, "I'm a cyborg" isn't a real answer. :P So...

1. I've written a lot of books. My first took ten years (!!!), my second took a year, my third took eight months. Now I'm on my 18th first draft, and while my method might not be perfect, I know enough about my own writing habits to be able to finish a draft in 2-3 months. My drafts aren't super-long, either (I used to write insanely short drafts of around 50K, whereas now they're more like 75-80K).
2. The part that takes longest is actually the planning/worldbuilding. It can take anywhere from a month to several years. But I tend to do it in my spare time when working on other projects. I got the idea for the Alliance series back in June, and worked on the planning for 2 months before I started drafting.
3. I fast-draft, then edit like hell. That book I drafted in 24 days? I've been editing it for 3 months, and it's now on Draft #8.I write/edit more than one book at once (in the same series). It actually takes me about 4-6 months to write, edit and polish each book, but they overlap. Now, I'm proofreading Book 1 in my series, I've just finished self-edits on Book 2, Book 3's first draft is now finished and I'm on to Book 4. As the series is pre-planned, it means I can move from one draft to the next without having to stop for long between books.
4. I'm a single-minded, obsessive workaholic (in case you couldn't tell :P). 

What else is new

I announced my self-publishing plans! Next year is going to be EPIC, and I'm super-excited! And nervous. Because, y'know, I'm a neurotic anxiety-suffering author with a morbid tendency to expect the worst. ;) But this is something I've wanted to do for a long time, and I can't wait to share the Alliance series with the world! *bounces*