writing goals – Alexa Preece

Busy, busy, busy…

The writing bug bit again and I’m busier than ever.

Currently working on plotting/planning four different stories to see which one grabs my full attention… They all seem to be vying for dominance at the moment so it’ll be interesting to see which is the victor.

I abandoned the story I was toying with because it wasn’t flowing right – it’s now reinvented itself into one of the above ideas so we’ll see if it works second time around.

I’ve also made a decision about the YA fantasy trilogy I’ve had written for the best part of a decade gathering dust on my laptop: I’m going to self-publish it!

As it’s different to everything I’m working on now, and was written so long ago, I’m doing a vigorous edit and rewrite/polish and then will release it a story at a time this year under a pen-name (GR Taylor for anyone interested.) I’ll list it on the website as and when it’s available, too.

And that’s where life has taken me since I last posted in mid-March! It’s a lot to do and there’s limited time to do it – in non-writing news, I’m starting a degree through my day job in June so not quite sure how everything’s going to fall into place but we’ll see what happens.

Happy writing!

Photographs, Uncategorized

Happy 2018!

Just a little note to wish everyone reading this a very Happy New Year!

I hope 2018 is a good, happy, healthy year for you and yours, and you achieve whatever you set out to over the next twelve months.

I don’t have any specific writing goals this year, other than to edit and rework the stories I’ve already written and hopefully take a step closer to getting them published. I’ve got other stories brewing in my mind but none of them appear to be ready to flow just yet.

For non-writing related resolutions, this year I resolve to be more in the moment. Life can be fleeting, and I’d like to make the most of the time I have and appreciate the little things more. One such thing is the beauty of a simple sunrise; it happens every day but when you’d stop to watch it, it really can be breathtaking. These photographs are my first step in doing so, taken this morning as the sun rose on the first day of 2018.

Here’s to making good memories this year, and hoping they help us through the rockier times that life throws at us.

Happy New Year, lovelies xx

General Writing, Writing: NaNoWriMo

And it’s done!

LWL book 4 is finished!

It was oddly easy to write 50000+ words over the course of NaNoWroMo but the last 24000 seemed to be a bit of a struggle. Nevertheless, they’re written, it’s done, and now it can sit on my laptop for a little while until I’m ready to come back and edit it.

Phew.

I’d hoped I’d finish this series by the end of the year but I didn’t actually think I was going to do it. And since I’ve got no one who understands what a personal achievement it is in my real life away from my computer, I thought I’d write a little post to commemorate the occasion.

I’m happy. I’m a bit proud of myself, to be honest. It’s been a tough year, there’ve been weeks where I’ve just not had the energy or the motivation to write, but somehow, over the course of the last 361 days, I’ve written just under 180,000 words. It’s just shy of the goal I set myself of aiming for 500 words a day so… Yeah. I’m pleased.

I hope all of my fellow writers reading this have had a good year for writing, and that everyone who stumbles across this has had a good year in general.

Here’s looking to 2018, and whatever new adventures it might bring.

Books, General Writing, Recommendations

August already?

I don’t know how that happened, to be honest, and I don’t know how my plan to keep writing on this blog on a regular basis fell so far by the wayside!

Hello, to anyone out there!

We’re officially over halfway through the year now so it’s time to have a little look back on all the writing and reading goals I’d set myself at the beginning of the year.

Reading wise, I’m on target to hit the 30 books I set myself on my Goodreads challenge – I’m two books ahead, in fact, which is a bit of a surprise. (Nearly three, as I’m midway through reading Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones – it’s very good, especially if you grew up with Labyrinth as your go-to film of choice for those rainy weekends as a kid like me!)

I recently finished reading Big Sexy Love by Kirsty Greenwood, which I utterly adored and would recommend to anyone and everyone. You can read my review of it on GoodReads here if you so wish to do so. It’s my favourite book of the year so far, and I think will still have a place in my all time top ten by the end of it, too. Other books I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed are the last two books (for now) in Ilona Andrew’s Hidden Legacy series, which

Other books I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed are the last two books (for now) in Ilona Andrew’s Hidden Legacy series, which is right up there in terms of favourite urban fantasy universes.

Writing wise, I’m around 1/3 of the way through book three of my contemporary romance/romantic comedy series. I say romance, but really the relationships that really matter in each of the stories is that of the female characters. It’s a series about friendship, and how having good friends can get you through life’s little obstacles that come at you unexpectedly where love/work/families are concerned. I’m enjoying it, more so now I’ve tweaked a few things so writing it is more of a dream than a struggle. (That said, I’m still looking forward to writing book four most of all – the characters in that one are already vying for attention in my head!)

And the above brings me to the question I really want to ask other writers out there. I’ve got two of the four books done and dusted but for some reason, I’m really reluctant to start sending them off to publishers until the whole series is done. The story doesn’t feel finished yet even though each book can be read quite happily as a standalone, I think because in my mind I know there’s more to come.

Writers, how do you know when you’re ready to send your book baby into the world of agents and publishers? And is it still the goal to get a publishing deal the traditional way or is indie publishing the way forward?

Feel free to get in touch and let me know your thoughts – I’d love to speak to you! x

General Writing

Reading vs Writing

“The biggest mistake people make in life is not trying to make a living at doing what they most enjoy.” —Malcolm Forbes

I’m trying, believe me.

The writing goes on. So does, I admit, the reading.

Average word count per day as it stands: 559(.28)
Words written YTD: 11, 745.

Reading, though, is proving a distraction. I had a conversation with a writer friend about the pros and cons of reading versus writing:

She’s of the mindset that reading is something that writers shouldn’t do too often for fear of it influencing their work/taking away from the time they actually spend writing.

I agree that reading can detract from your writing time so you’ve got to be careful – maybe use it as a treat – but I don’t think it influences your work as a writer, or at least in a negative way.

Reading can be a useful tool for a writer. Not only can you see examples of the various writing styles that are out there but if you find a genre you love reading, maybe it’s worth trying to write in that genre, even if it’s not one you’ve considered before. (I read everything hence I try writing everything. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.)

Point of view, too, is also something writers can learn through the medium of reading. I used to say I’d never enjoy reading first person so would never try writing it; recently, I’ve found myself reading more first person than third person and I’m really enjoying it – I’m even considering trying my hand at writing from a first person perspective (once the LWL series is done and dusted, because if there’s something else I’ve learned recently, it’s that I can’t have more than one story project on the go without my brain getting all befuddled.)

Thoughts from any fellow writers out there?

Do you find reading a help or a hindrance when it comes to writing?

Let me know!