Writing through the storm (literally and figuratively)

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

I still have power, woo! :) How did your week go?

[@Avionne_Parris]

Awesome week! Working on a collection of short stories that I only work on Mondays on. Completed 7 of the 10 first drafts so far. Its about a weird magic shop that sells items to teens hoping to improve their life with magic only to go horribly wrong. I'm pitching it as "Black Mirror but whimsical". I'm also converting my YA anime fantasy into serial fiction (episodes) since I always envisioned an anime style format for this series and realised I want to create a fandom and gain readership through rapid release. Whew, its been quite a productive week!

[@j.s.elliot7121]

Thankfully we kept power, too! Was a little concerned after last year. Glad that you stayed safe. 🙂

[@reginaduke7451]

Oh my. The best laid plans etc. 😱😱😱

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

YUP >.>

[@BarrettLaurie]

I hope you all still have power and the storm doesn't wreak havoc on Texas. Glad to hear that your love of food is in tact. Potato Leek Soup sounds delicious. I have some food questions planned for our interview because this foodie is curious. Way to go on the words. You're crushing it. I'm sorry that you're giving up your Wednesdays for your book, but hey, you manage a wild schedule. It really helps my soul to see you be flexible and make adjustments to your schedule without beating yourself up for it. Makes me think I need implement that for myself. Running a small business means sacrifices from time to time and its always good to keep that front of mind. I will be right here to cheer you on through April when you lean in full force to your book. You've got this and you'll have a gaggle of AuthorTubers rooting for you. Please tell me you left the whole block of cheese in the soup because I approve of that message! Lol!

[@emmaociee]

As a fellow texan, I can concur that having power in winter weather far exceeds not having power in winter weather😅 Glad y'all faired well in it all

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Thanks, Emma!! Hope you're doing ok too! It seems to all be melting now, phew :)

[@JoeyPaulOnline]

I love snow when it's elsewhere, just makes wheeling so hard! Hope the power stays on, and doing okay this week, have a kitten on my shoulder and a chapter to write!

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

That sounds like an incredibly cozy weekend!! :) And I agree - the snow is great if you can just stay home and look at it. Otherwise, ugh.

[@devincoker1499]

We got rain half the day Wednesday, my daughter had a tennis game. It was hot that morning but two hours into it we were covered in blankets. We has ice all day Thursday and today we still have ice everywhere but it snowed for about 30 minutes or so. We live about an hour or so South of Dallas. Yall get it worse than we do. Thankfully we still have our electricity too, but we have some wood for our fireplace ready just in case, and my stories and book beside my chair for occupiers. Stay safe and warm.

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

So glad your power stayed on, Devin! Last Feb was a nightmare - this one has been easy enough. Hope you have a great weekend! :)

[@rebeccadey]

So glad you didn't lose power and got the pretty snow day. Here in my part of Maryland, we get a full-fledged winter about every 6 or 7 years, and this year is the year (2015 was the last, and 2009 was before that), so we're right there with you. Your schedule is bonkers, and your work ethic is awe-inspiring. Seriously. We stan. ❤ As for my week, I got that breakthrough I knew was coming and a little extra "goodness" (aka trouble for my cast) as well lol. It's a great bit of knowledge for the climax, though, so I am excited and have been diving back in!

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Thank you so much, Rebecca!! :) I hope you're making it through the snow okay?? It's already starting to melt here. Texas being Texas, it'll probably be 80 degrees by Monday. YAY for that breakthrough!!!! That's so awesome - I love those moments that get you all excited about the story again!!

[@Avionne_Parris]

Glad you're setting some time to work on the Divine Miss M's novel; April is a good month for her! Showers make great mystery atmosphere. Plus its Camp Nano = Accountability :-) I applaud you for being flexible enough to shift your Wednesdays from working on your book to securing your bag and getting the clients' work done in record time. In a way, your mystery WIP was a placeholder project that could be finagled whenever you need more time to work on client stuff. Kind of like planning your projects at 70% bandwidth versus 100% cause you might get sick and, let's face it, life happens. Smart. Have a great weekend, Michelle! Hey Rosa :-) Stay safe and stay warm. I'm hoping you have power throughout.

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Ohhh I totally forgot about Camp Nano!! YES! Great point. And yes, the power has stayed on - hooray! I hope you're doing well, Sio! Have a great weekend :)

[@kanashiiookami6537]

The week has been going great for transcribing. I checked my progress last night, it's really not a lot that I do per day, 2.5 pages seems to be the average, so 10 pages transcribed in my "4 day work week" each week. So it's slow going, but it's a pace that doesn't put too much pressure on me to put out each day. If I made myself transcribe 10 pages per day, I'd get overwhelmed and stop everything. So this is good because it's easy. And even though it'll take a while at least this way I know I can get it all done. As for the rewrites, I actually had to do a rewrite of the rewrite (basically take 2) because the voice I had for the MC wasn't working and the main set up to the story was dragging on. In the zero draft it was 3 or so pages of backstory/setup/introduction to the world building that needs to be done for this thing to make any sense. But when writing it out as a first draft, it's taken a couple chapters, which isn't ideal because this setup happens when the MC is a child and the real story begins in their teen years, so I don't want people to feel like they're slogging through the world building and all that to get to it. Goodness sake, *I* felt like it was a slog. (But I know telling it to the reader would be even more boring) So I started take 2 on rewrites, but hit the same wall. Realising this may have to be written with some flashback element I'd been trying to avoid. (I never know if I'm writing those well in a non-confusing way) So today is rewrite take 3 because I think I need to jump straight into the MC as they are now and do my best to weave in that other info during this. Plus I still need to find their voice, because I can't quite figure them out. Anyway I'm glad the storm didn't negatively affect you out there. We had a blizzard (Or blizzard like conditions) recently which was a nailbiter, because where I am frequent power outages at just a *hint* of bad weather are common things. Shockingly though, we didn't get one, despite how bad the cold and wind and snow has been. (Just a taste of temps here, a few nights back windchills were about -51 celsius while main temps were -36 or so. So draughty houses are not fun!😂) Anyway, I hope your writing is going well, and I'm sorry you have to push aside your wednesday schedule, but I understand client work comes first so I wish you all the best on that. And that hopefully the time away from your own story will actually help you out. 🤞 I hope your weekend revising will go well, that you don't have to worry about anymore storms (especially any like last year), and that you'll all be safe and warm. ❤

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

It's so cool how self-aware you are about the state of your drafts! It seems like most writers either think their drafts are pristine or total trash 😂But it sounds like you have a really solid idea of what exactly you need to fix! So so glad you didn't lose power!! Good lord, those temps - NO THANKS. Hope you have a safe and warm weekend as well, K!

[@susanreimer9317]

Flexibility is key. Especially when you balance so many projects! I notice you speak about scenes as well as chapters. Made me think about trying to make an outline (gasp!) ☺️

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Oooh let me know if you decide to go for it! I love pulling writers over to the dark side 😈

[@susanreimer9317]

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 😜 I’m juggling a new release this week, figuring out how to produce audio books of all my novels, fixing an illustration repetition issue in my children’s book and writing the next ya companion to my series. I’m wondering if thinking in scenes might help that companion book along! Or maybe just some wine? 😉

[@susanreimer9317]

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Hi again! I wanted to let you know I decided to outline…sorta. When I was a younger mom overwhelmed by the idea of a to-do list, I created the done list. I would stop at the end of the day and write down everything I had accomplished that day and I was always pleasantly surprised. So I am trying to summarize everyday the chapters written with a few key moments in each. Seems to be working, at least for this draft!

[@akossiwak]

I need that WTF mug. 😆❤️

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Isn't it great? :D I got it at my indie bookstore!

[@splufford]

I would like to ask you how you get back into your story again if you haven't looked at it for a week? I find other things take me away from my writing and when I go back to it, I really struggle to pick up the threads of where I was. Then the self doubt kicks in and I hate everything I have written. So what usually happens is I start a new project and end up with a hundred half finished stories on the go and none finished! Any advice gratefully received. Thanks 🙂

[@gwynnathawinna]

The soup cheese got me right where it hurts. Sorry to hear your plans are falling through, but I'm glad you're making it a priority going forward in the spring. Humans plan and god laughs, right?

[@MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Cheese tragedy 😂Yup, that's pretty much how it goes! It's all good, I'll get through it!