Reassessment of my Skills

I slept from ten pm until 9:30 am. Proof my body needed some rest. Maybe I was fighting off a bug or something. Maybe I was just exhausted from the increase in writing times and all the things we had going on in regular life.

I received my last story back from my mentor. After reading it she identified an area of study for me to work on the next two weeks and gave me an assignment to work on and an exercise to do as well. The area I need to work on is called Information Flow.  Simply put, it is the information the reader needs at the exact moment they need it.

Apparently, I have been skimping on certain details that would round out the character and the setting. She also said I shortchanged my ending and should have expanded it out. Last assignment there was a scene she suggested I expand, like a cinematic experience, because it shortchanges the reader from an interesting and powerful moment.

I think I need to be more patient with the story and not be in such a rush. It also tells me that I am not cycling back through the story enough. As an example: While writing the story I just sent her, I wrote the reason why the main character was at the coffee shop to begin with. I wrote this line maybe three quarters of the way through the story. Up until that point I didn’t know why she was there.

What I should have done at that point was cycle back to the beginning and look for spots I could add in her thoughts, reactions and emotions through the lens of this new information.

I did not do that.

It’s devasting to get those emails where I failed. But also, it great to have someone with so much experience point out where you need to improve. I mentioned before my three phases of dealing with any criticism. One: I let myself feel it. Good or bad. Two: I accept the criticism for what it is. An attempt to make be a better writer. Three: I internalize the information and study it.

I went through the first two this morning and will enter phase three later today. I ordered the book my mentor suggested for the exercise to improve information flow. It involves typing in another established author’s work. Typing in their words helps you internalized what good writing is like and what it looks like on your own manuscript page. Its subconscious programing for your brain.

I’ve been looking at how other writers use dictation to get their stories written. Most of these writers are Youtubers so I need to take the information with a grain of salt. I have found some authors that are making their living as writers and have plenty of books out there. I tend to value their advice more than the others, but it is always interesting to see another person’s process.

The deadline for my return to work is looming over my head a bit these days as well. In a few weeks I’ll be back painting backgrounds for new animated show. I am one of the lucky ones in the animation industry these days. Things are likely the worst they have ever been, and many great artists have been unable to find work in their fields for two or more years. Nothing to do with their skills or personalities, there just isn’t as much work out there as there used to be.

But I realize, as lucky as I am to have work, it means my writing is going to get exponentially harder to get done. The first few weeks I will not likely be able to write at lunch, as we tend to all eat together as a team, which is normal, as we haven’t seen each other in months. I will attempt to write on the train to work, about a 35–45-minute ride each way. The only issue tends to be that Ontario commuter trains are notoriously not designed for the comfort of their passengers but maximized to fit as many people as possible. Kind of like a cut-rate airline seat. Except there isn’t an overhead storage bin or drop-down table to work on.

I have tried writing on the train in the past, but my success was limited. There were only a few days out of the year that I had the drive and energy in the mornings or at the end of the workday. The alternatives are getting up early before work and staying up late to get my word count down for the day. Not sure which way is going to work out for me, but history suggests I’ll be staying up late most days to keep things rolling.

The BYOK I ordered from Kickstarter has apparently shipped, although the shipping company has had the status set to “Label Created” and nothing else since I got the first notification. I’m looking forward to putting the device through its paces. It seems like I may be able to use this while travelling on the train. It’s a phone sized screen that is just basically for distraction free writing. Not sure how I am going to secure the device to my lap. It does come equipped with a mag safe like attachment on the back which will come in handy.

So why not just use your phone you ask?

Good question.

One is the battery life. No draining my phone battery. Second, the screen is easier on the eyes compared to a phone. It has a simplified writing program, avoiding any learning curve to use the device. It can be isolated from the web and cloud for security purposes if that is something important to you.

If you lose it, it is far cheaper to replace than a phone. It’s instant on as well. Has a backlighting for nighttime writing sessions. And you can use any keyboard you want with it.

I’m really interested in portable writing devices, and they seem to keep coming up with new fantastic devices. I’d love to get my hands on a FreeWrite Traveler to test out as well. They are four times the cost of the BYOK.

There is another device that is called the Zero Writer. It seems interesting as well. I’d likely only buy one if they came out with a reasonably sized folding clamshell style like the Traveler.

One day the perfect on the go writing device will appear on the market. It will have a good keyboard, an e-ink screen be small enough to fit in a pocket.

Okay off to write more scenes.