I have talked a little about how I write in one of my earlier posts, but today I am going to go into some detail about my process when I sit down to write my fiction as well as how I “get ideas” throughout the week or the such.
I usually go to Panera Bread to write. I joke around that it is because of my ADHD that I need to go to a public place. All of the distractions help me to focus. I don’t really know if that is true or not, but I go with that anyway. At Panera Bread, I stay around 6 hours or so on Saturdays and a couple of hours after work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as Fridays.
During the week I tend to focus on my social media outlets and learning how to do “publishing” stuff like creating e-book formats, advertising, promotion, etc. I also work on my upcoming Patreon page and web pages to which I will be soon adding a “limited edition”, if you will, of my current book so I can sell it at a discount for my patreon subscribers. I will be adding a store to my author website so that I can sell my current book as well as my upcoming books at a discount. I have decided to publish myself, rather than pay someone else to do EVERYTHING I can do for free. I have discovered that it is pretty easy to do everything that I have previously paid others to do. This means I will probably start a publishing business so that I can try and get my books sold in the big bookstores - that is my goal for the near future.
Before I go on, I want to explain a bit about Patreon. Patreon is kind of like youtube in the fact that the creator can earn money for his or her product. It is also a lot different. So, my page is going to be a monthly subscription to which the patron (subscriber) gets access to my fiction creations. Think of it like a magazine subscription. My page will offer (as I have not finished creating it yet) a serial novel. What I like about Patreon is that it allows the subscriber to determine what he or she gets from my page. I have four “tiers” as they are called which are based on the level of subscription the patron decides to pledge. At first teir, the patron gets my novel which I will publish roughly ten(ish) pages a month. The next tier, the patron also gets any pictures or videos of “behind the scenes” about my life and writing. The third tier also gets a discounted e-book of mine. The fourth tier also gets (after a few months subscription) a free signed hard copy of one of my current published books (I currently only have one, but am working toward a couple more).
Now back to my writing process. On Saturdays, I post to my YouTube channel, write my blog, and work on my fiction. Currently, I am focusing primarily on my serial novel, so that I can have several months of writing done before I publish them. I try and stay the majority of Saturday, focusing on my writing. I may go home for a bit and come back, or I may stay there and eat at Panera.
So that is my normal writing process, but I also have a process for the random times that I get an idea for writing. I have mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I believe God gives me the ideas and I have to pursue them. If you want more on that, you can read “Communing With God”. So here are a few ways that I have discovered God gives me story ideas. It is not a constant thing, however, but seems to be random and continuously evolving. At first (this was a few years ago) God gave me ideas during concerts. This hasn’t happened in a while, but he most recently has been giving me ideas during the sermons at my church. Not only does he give me ideas, but he also gives me different kinds of stories. He has given me novels, short stories, stories based on song lyrics, what I call mini-shorts (basically flash fiction to an extent). He gives me stories from a single sentence someone says preaching or asks me to re-write a bible story through a fictional lens. He sometimes gives me a biblical principle such as “we are always so quick to see others changed, but not ourselves” to write. One thing is for sure; I always love when God gives me old ways and new ways of writing. With God, nothing is ever mundane or boring. My writing evolves and is always exciting. In fact, I have learned to carry a little tiny notebook to jot down the ideas God gives me.
So, I guess that is it for today. Thanks for reading. Soon I will be posting a blog about an upcoming life change that I believe God is directing me towards….but that might be a few months away.