JB Lynn

Hijinks, Hilarity and Heart

one woman's junk

On this writer’s desk, October 2, 2019

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This is how the desk, where I do the bulk of my creative work, looks today.

(Natural light only, which is why the picture is so dark.).

Today my focus is on the first draft of the second Psychic Consignment Shop Mystery. It’s about a third done and housed in the purple “in progress” notebook.

And there’s my trusty recorder for dictation!

And these are the tiny notebooks I use to track my current projects. Right now in addition to the Consignment Mystery, I’m working on the 21st and 22nd books in the CONFESSIONS OF A SLIGHTLY NEUROTIC HITWOMAN series.

 

I took this picture in the lull between my morning and afternoon pots of coffee. Hence, no coffee mug, lol.

Writing as a passion AND a job

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The other day I took a midmorning break and met a friend at a park (Red Bug Slough if you’ve read One Woman’s Junk) so that we could walk our dogs together.

Toward the end of our visit she asked, “What will you do for the rest of the day?”

And I answered, “I should finish the first draft of Hitwoman 22.” (for the record, I came close, but didn’t finish it until the following morning)

“How do you know?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked, totally confused.

“How do you know you’ll finish it? How do you know when it will end?”

“Because I’m scheduled to do the last few chapters,” I explained.

“You know how it will end?” Her disbelief was evident.

“I don’t start a book until I know how it ends,” I told her. “And I’m scheduled to finish it today.”

I then had to launch into a whole explanation about how writing is my passion, but it’s also my job and I treat MOST of my projects as such. (That said, I’ll freely admit that I’m usually working on one or two “passion” projects that I don’t really expect to ever sell. They’re my “fun” stuff. My reward for doing the work.)

So in case you’re wondering, as of today, I’m currently working on the story edits for the 21st  Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman book, the second Psychic Consignment Mystery and a couple of passion projects. Make sure you’re signed up for my newsletter to keep up-to-date on my new releases.

And check out this great pic my friend took at the park of my tree-climbing dog  🙂

 

 

So many names….so many projects

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There are three index cards on my desk right now. Each of them contains a list of names.

(No, these aren’t potential targets for Maggie to knock off.)

They’re character names for the THREE projects I’m working on right now. I don’t need reminders of the names for my main, or recurring characters, but for those who are minor or new, I need a cheat sheet. Or three.

 

Otherwise someone from the CONFESSIONS OF A SLIGHTLY NEUROTIC HITWOMAN world might wander into a PSYCHIC CONSIGNMENT MYSTERY.

What a mess that would be! Can you imagine the arguments God and Him could get into?!?!

 

Writing Anxiety

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I love my job…but…I hate starting to write.

Not because I hate writing, but because I am constantly trying to overcome my fear.

Most of the time I approach writing with a knot in my stomach, a distracted buzzing in my brain, and dread in my heart.

And yet, most days, I force myself to write. Most days I really enjoy it once I get into some kind of flow. Almost always, I end up feeling better for having done it.

My favorite Dorothy Parker quote is, “I hate writing, I love having written.”

It’s nice to know I’m not alone.

But you’d think, after all this time, the process would get easier. Instead it feels harder with the added pressure of trying to meet the expectations of readers.

Writing this post is a form of procrastination. It allows me to feel productive, when really I’m just avoiding writing new chapters. I guess that means I should go write now.

Or maybe I’ll take a nap…a nap might help.

Or maybe I’ll go for a walk…a walk could help.

Or maybe I’ll make some more coffee…coffee helps.

**I’m not JUST complaining today. I’m finishing up the copy edits for ONE WOMAN’S JUNK and later I’ll actually be adding words to Hitwoman 21…just no guarantees they’ll be “good” words.  😉

Magical Binder of Accomplishment

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I’ve printed out the manuscript for ONE WOMAN’S JUNK in preparation to make the (hopefully) last pass of story edits.

I’ve put the pages in my big, shiny binder (after somehow massacring the job I did of three-hole-punching) and have started scribbling on them.

((Hmmm, the photo makes it look like sand, which is fitting for a book that’s set in a beach town, but in person it’s more like gold glitter.)

This is my process…gold glitter binder, paper and purple ink.  Also hot pink Post-It notes  with random questions and the occassional index card meant to remind me of why I’m doing what I’m doing.

I’d planned on taking the lot to my favorite coffee shop to work on, but it’s been raining for hours, so I stayed home and worked at my desk, where my view could only be described as dreary.

image2-21
Also appropriate considering the book begins on a stormy night…..

What makes a good day?

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There’s a lot to like about living in Florida, but the brutal summer heat isn’t one of them.

The heat index was over 100 degrees multiple days this first official week of summer, so basically if you hear someone calling weakly, “I’m melting” there’s a good chance it’s me.

But it rained last night for hours and knocked the temperature down, which meant that this morning’s walk was comfortable and it’s still cool enough that I’m able to sit outside while I do some work.

Considering that spending time outside is a high priority for me, this makes today a good day.
It doesn’t take much to make a day a “good” day for me.

Yesterday was a good day too because I had a sense of accomplishment after spending a significant part of the day and most of the night (until bedtime) working on story edits for ONE WOMAN’S JUNK.  The edits aren’t anywhere near done, but I felt like I made significant progress and I’m no longer in the “I’ll never be able to fix this” mindset that I had been battling.
(It probably helped that I wore ridiculous pants….one can’t take oneself too seriously if you’re wearing something like this.)

I’ve earned a day off from the edits, so today my creative focus will just be on writing. I’m excited to dive back into the 21st Hitwoman book, which I’ve been working on pretty steadily (more progress!).

I’ll also spend some time on the screenplay which is my “pure fun” writing project.
So those are three things that make a day “good” for me: time spent outdoors, progress, and creative work.

What sort of things make a good day for YOU?

Managing my insanity

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I’m jealous of my writer friends who work on one project at a time.

I can’t do that. I have way too many ideas.

In order to manage my insanity, I’ve decided to only work on three writing projects per day.
Currently I’m:

  1. Working on story edits for One Woman’s Junk.
  2. Writing the first draft of Hitwoman 21.
  3. Writing a screenplay, which we can call Monsters. (This is my “fun” project and I’m trying to limit myself to only working on it for about 15 -20 minutes per day.)

There are at least three other projects I’d like to be dabbling with, but I’ve got deadlines I’m striving to meet on One Woman’s Junk and Hitwoman 21, so they’re my highest priority.
I’m also trying an experiment where I’m tracking, in this little notebook,  how much time I spend on each project  and WHEN I work on them

After only a few days this is providing some interesting data that may cause me to revamp my workday schedule. More on that at another time.

Waiting is a dream killer

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I was commiserating with a writer friend earlier about how difficult it is to wait for developmental story edits.

We were discussing how our minds play tricks on us as we wait.

For example, I’m ALWAYS convinced my editor is going to tell me that what I’ve come up with is absolutely awful and I should quit this writing game immediately.

Every. Single Time.

Because of this, right now I’m thinking the ONE WOMAN’S JUNK will not be the first in my Psychic Consignment Mysteries series. Instead, it will be the last book I ever wrote.

Which makes it harder to write the current book I’m working on — the next book in the CONFESSIONS OF A SLIGHTLY NEUROTIC HITWOMAN series.

It’s a nasty cycle.

But I’m plugging along on Hitwoman 21 and keeping my fingers crossed that One Woman’s Junk is SLIGHTLY better than I’m thinking.

Wish me sanity!

Deadline hangover

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I have “deadline hangover” which basically means I’m creatively spent and having trouble stringing complete sentences together.
But I’m thrilled to report that I’ve sent my new book, One Woman’s Junk to my developmental story editor!
I’ll be explaining more about why these items were important to my creative process as we get closer to the release date.
 
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With any luck, this first book in my Psychic Consignment Mystery series, featuring the Concordia sisters, will be released in August.
The rest of the series is already sketched out, but the next book I write will be Hitwoman 21.
But first I’m taking a couple of days off. I’m going to indulge in the reward of watching the adaptation of GOOD OMENS.  I love the book and I’ve only heard good things about the show.