In September last year I set myself a slightly mad goal of writing three stories before the end of 2016. Did I manage it? Was I too ambitious? Or did I really write all the words in this time?
I didn't do Nanowrimo because I had edits and self publishing to do in November, but since part through September to the end of December I like to think I did about 2.5 Nanorwimos (if each is 50000 words).
I was lucky to have a few holidays booked in this time and I of course, brought my trusty Neo and wrote while in Tenerife, Ibiza and Levi, including on most of the flights too. That, I'm sure, was one of the reasons I did manage this mad goal.
The actual word counts weren't quite what I expected, but I did manage:
- wrote the m/f romance of 50000 words, it's with my lovely beta readers now and I'm terrified as it's my first m/f romance. Strictly speaking I wrote the last few thousand in early January 2017 in Levi and on the flight home, but it's my goal so I'm counting that in the 2016 words
- wrote the mm Christmas romance, which ended up at 38000 words and was published as A New Life for Christmas. Buy links: Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
- wrote and submitted the Ibiza story which ended up at 45000 words and I am just about to start revising it based on some feedback I received ready to resubmit it
Total word count: 133000
Would I do it again? Probably.
Would I always bring a writing device for flights and while on holiday? Absolutely. I wrote about 10000 words at the airport and on the flight home from Levi, Lapland. I put my earphones on, Enya all songs shuffle, and wrote in the airport departure lounge. Quite apart from being a great way to use dead time, it also completely distracted me from the anxiety I always feel about flying. It's so much more absorbing than simply writing. The only times I didn't write on the flights was when I was too tired to do so.
I'd be interested to hear if other authors write while travelling in any ways?
I'm pleased to announce that following the successful Write That Book workshop of 21 January in London, which received 9.4/10 average score from the 12 delegates, more testimonials here, Virginia Heath and I have opened our next workshop for bookings. Building Believable Characters and Conflicts is in London on 1 April and is strictly limited to 20 places.
Love and light,
Liam xx
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