Stuart Benbow

Oh, the unintended consequences of consolidating two scenes into one. The cascading ripples out through the next several chapters were a PITA to fix, but I think I’ve restored my protagonist’s timeline.

Why do I do this to myself? I’m supposed to be outlining the sequel, not breaking book 1.

Like I said, I’m a solo act due to being broke. I’m currently dev editing this book, but I’m line editing another, and reviewing beta feedback before final polish for a third. I’ve been taking various editing courses for a while to hone skills for each pass.

Yeah. I took a break to write another few first drafts so I could come back to it with fresh eyes. No budget for an editing team just yet, unfortunately.

Developmental at the moment. Tightening the pacing, plot and loose threads.

Time breakdown for 1/23, 10h20m total, with 5:33 spent editing, 3:52 on training, and 0:55 on research.

Today was a slog, but I learned a bunch, and finished the heavy editing pass of the second act of Frost and Firelight. One act to go, then some overall fine tuning. For now, sleep beckons. #authorsky #booksky #editing

Out with the castoff, broken chair, and back the back pain that came with it. Now that I’m writing, editing or learning how to do both better on a full time basis, it had to go. With x-mas money and a bit extra, my new chair arrived today. #spoiled #massage #heat #actuallumbarsupport #authorsky

How can I tell that I overslept? No idea. Lol.

Today’s developmental editing slog got me to just past the 1/3 mark for Frost and Firelight. Things are tightening up nicely. Time for a snack and some sleep.

A circle graph outlining tasks and times. Training and editing take the largest slices, followed by research, writing, admin, outlining, and proofreading. The total from Jan 1 to Jan 15 is 74:45, just in author-related tasks.

So far today, 1.5 hours if editing while the house slept, then an hour at the gym with my youngest before shoveling snow and playing taxi.
Currently warming up before getting back to knocking out more chapter revisions. With class this evening, it’s another full day.
Author time YTD:

Balancing learning, editing and writing with the admin side is a balancing act. Little by little, these books are getting closer to being ready. 7 chapters of editing and a 2 hour online workshop on marketing today, my brain’s fried.

Like by brain wasn’t crying uncle with all the online classes I’ve been taking lately, I’m attending @autocrit.bsky.social Series Summit over the next two days.

The goal, wrap my head around as much of the various facets of the industry as quickly as I can. Anyone else going to be attending?

My brain’s annoying sometimes. Whenever I finish one writing project, I have a few others in the works. Getting my thoughts to focus on just one as the primary task always seems to take me a couple of days, though.

Bleary eyed and satisfied. Another marathon editing session is under my belt. One final solid read through, and it’s off to my beta readers. #booksky #authorsky #PhoenixRising #PhoenixSaga #urbanfantasy #trauma #redemption #slowburn

Not to mention emails. My daily inbox purge is so annoying!

Phoenix Rising is getting closer to Beta reader-ready…
When a would-be star is coerced and driven to suicide, a music-driven guardian who can nudge fate must find a mortal champion to mount a public reckoning—before corrupt men bury another voice, or his family’s secret destroys them both.

The nice thing about insomnia, I get a lot of bonus writing or editing done while the house is silent. Dog snores and chaotic cat antics accompanied my laptop keys for several hours last night.

I hit my month’s word goal this morning, but I’ll keep writing? Because that’s what I do. I did take yesterday off from writing to go over reader feedback on another project, which was very helpful. #NaNoWriMo folks, how are you doing with your own writing goals? #authorsky #booksky #writersky

My biggest hurdle as a writer is getting so invested in my characters that I fall in love with their hobbies & lifestyles. This past spring, I was looking up small town sugar maple farms & classic cars. Now I’m browsing sailboat classified ads & certification courses, though I can’t afford either.

5 days left of #nanowrimo and I’m closing in on my personal goal of 70k words. 7k to go, putting book 2 near the 1/4 mark. How’s everyone else doing? #authorsky #booksky

Finishing the rewrite of book one, Phoenix Rising, then starting on book 2 yesterday, I’ve been proofreading book 1 for glaring overall issues when I can’t write. I find myself thinking, that author better hurry up with book 2, I want to know what happens next. Oh wait.

A series of charts overlaid to display both daily and monthly progress for the 50k NaNo word goal, and the 70k personal word goal. Status, 46,793 words, with a daily average of 2,753.

How’s your #NaNoWriMo going?

The #PhoenixRising rewrite’s complete and I’ll be rolling into book 2, #PhoenixTakingFlight to round out the NaNo challenge (also to avoid my wife being mad at leaving her waiting for the cliffhanger resolution).

Lots of changes between draft 1&2, all good.

Still plugging away. There’s another write-in event this evening, so I’ll probably hit the Nano 1/2 way marker in the next day or so. Main characters finally got together, bad guys are in the move, and the plot’s moving forward. Good times! #nanowrimo #booksky #authorsky #urbanfantasy

Four stacked arched bars indicate progress and pacing for Nano and personal goals, with overlapping line charts beneath. Pacing reflects being ahead of schedule for both 50k and 70k words this month, with most days exceeding the daily goals.

With #nanowrimo now dead, I’m still plugging away. Community’s good, but I didn’t need it to create. That said, the local library’s running a write-in event, and held a local author event recently, so that’s fun. Currently I’m continuing on the novel I began before November.

Progress:

So far so good. 16.5k words down since it kicked off last week. Attending a local write-in on Mondays is fun, too.

Right back at you. My local library’s running a weekly write-in, and I’m chugging away on my own. 16k words and climbing currently.

Good writing day today. More than 6k words in, and the story’s shaping up nicely.

When life’s chaos forces a break from editing and writing, it gives you time to step back and reflect on just how far you’ve come. Getting recharged for the next big push while I help my wife recover from surgery. The next quarter’s going to be a wild ride.

Clarity’s off to beta readers. Time to finish drafting Heartbreak Harbor this week, then get back to editing Frost and Firelight.

Staying busy is keeping me sane while we prep for my wife’s Cancer surgery on Friday.

While doom scrolling narrated Reddit stories, my wife said, there would be a lot less drama if people just talked to each other.

I agreed. My upcoming Melody Farm series could have ended in a very short prequel where the MC’s grandfather got custody of the grandson his daughter didn’t want.