{"id":1290,"date":"2022-08-15T09:48:32","date_gmt":"2022-08-15T09:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/?p=1290"},"modified":"2022-08-15T10:03:11","modified_gmt":"2022-08-15T10:03:11","slug":"what-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/2022\/08\/15\/what-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What to do, what to do"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here\u2019s a confession. I have written no fiction for several months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, it\u2019s not writers\u2019 block, or me being lazy. Being a full-time author means, for the most part, making a living from other, writing-related pursuits. Contract work for other authors is one thing; running courses and workshops for other authors is another. But you can\u2019t just turn up for a course without doing some preparation. The prep for a course sometimes takes many times the work required to actually run the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not complaining. I\u2019m very fortunate to be able to sustain myself (with a little help from small, occupational pensions, and being a partner to another full-time author).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m here with [ Anita Belli<\/a> ] at Swanwick Writers\u2019 Summer School – our annual (busman\u2019s) holiday. We have a 2-hour course on self-publishing prepared and ready to go. In the second session, I\u2019ll be publishing a new non-fiction book on author websites, live, to Amazon. Which will be exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now, as I write this, I\u2019m sitting in a quiet lounge (music coming through my headphones is blocking out the chatter from next door), contemplating the near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quick recap: in late 2019 \/ early 2020, I published 4 thrillers under my Jack Warwick pseudonym. These were my passion projects – politics, climate change, corruption. They\u2019d been sitting around for a few years, waiting for me to, you know, actually finish them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since then (late 2020 \/ early 2021), I wrote and published a series of 3 cozy crime novels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Also, I\u2019ve written The Efficient Novelist (How I Write and Publish Four Novels a Year). I\u2019ve delivered a workshop on it (2021) at [ Swanwick ]. I\u2019ve also created and published an online course, which took way longer than I expected. A deep desire to \u2018get it right\u2019 over 40 modules takes time. Link: [ https:\/\/writersupportschool.teachable.com\/p\/the-efficient-novelist<\/a> ]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then, with the upcoming course here, I felt I needed to write and prepare a new non-fiction book (Author Websites) in order to show a live demonstration of self-publishing. That\u2019s all done, the Amazon location for it is prepared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what am I going to write?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally, the intention was to write another series of cozy crime stories, based (loosely) around the small village of Orford in Suffolk. I did research, I did plans. I have a full plan, and the initial 7,000 words of the opener. I have over 42,000 words of a first draft for the second novel (which was going to be the first, but now it isn\u2019t). I love the characters, I love the location, and I really want to write these books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have these other crime stories, you see. They\u2019re dark, police procedurals. I have a serial killer story (Twelve Days of Christmas), 65,000 words; I have a nasty funfair-themed story (Death Spiral) at 37,000 words; I have Shed No Tear, with a political connection and a nasty death, at 41,000 words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do, what to do\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you\u2019re interested in the Efficient Novelist program, there\u2019s a Twitter account, but it\u2019s fairly quiet at the moment. It might be worth a follow for future updates: @EfficientNovels<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you found this blog post interesting or useful or a brilliant way to procrastinate, please consider buying me a coffee at https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/authorgeraldhornsby<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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