My plan last week was to research marketing strategies and techniques in preparation of launching Evolution’s Hand Book 2: Dying Breath on December 1. How’d that go? I had also planned to plow forward with writing Evolution’s Book 4: Blind Exodus. Did that hit any snags? Before we talk about that, let’s look at the numbers (and issue a correction!).
Progress Report 2022 Week 47 By the Numbers
Any week over 10,000 words is a win!
Last week, the “Book 4 now has” count was 43,610. It should have read 52,063. I updated the “words for the week” count last week, but not the total. Sorry about that!
I ran into two Real Life Family Events this week, which accounted for me writing only 1,027 words on Sunday, November 20. As usual, it was more than worth it to be there for my family. I can make up the word count later!
Progress Last Week
I tweaked my Amazon blurb for Evolution’s Hand Book 1: Executive Action over the last couple of weeks. I also adjusted its price. Last week, something astonishing happened. I’ve been keeping the bids on my Amazon Ad’s keywords low to preserve profitability. But that means I got very few impressions, which leads to even fewer clicks. For the first time last week, an Amazon Ad resulted in a sale! Between that and the BookBud Partners ad I ran after changing the blurb, I’m enthusiastic about the launch for Dying Breath!
Other than that, I had planned to finish Henry Duncan’s Midpoint and Pinch 2 (the jaws of defeat!) for Melchizedek “Dek” Conrad and Ira Malhotra. I also wanted to start Pinch 2 for James Butler. What happened was a little complicated.
Pinch 2 turned out to be more intricate than I’d anticipated! For the four characters in question, Pinch 2 is everything from “Lunar Base” to “Community Support.”
I finished Henry Duncan’s Midpoint. But it turns out four characters share Pinch 2 — which I hope will give it considerable dramatic punch. Most of my chapters run about 2,000 words. In this case, the individual chapters were smaller, but they were interleaved. Some characters will have 2 or 3 chapters in this section. It wasn’t what I expected, but I think it’s effective.
I ended up finishing Pinch 2 for not only Dek Conrad and Ira Malhotra, but James Butler and Matsushita Sachi as well. I’d like to claim that my writing skill and keen eye for plot produced this. Maybe it played a role, but to be honest, from my perspective, the characters drove it forward. They’re clear in my mind now. Even James Butler, who’s a new point of view (POV) character, felt solid in my mind.
That’s a long way of saying I overachieved a bit in this regard!
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2022 Week 47
- Finalize the paperback of Dying Breath at Amazon in preparation for a December 1 launch
- Finalize the ebook of Dying Breath at Draft2Digital for a December 1 launch (the ebook should be ready at Amazon now — it’s available for pre-order if I didn’t screw something up)
- Finish Owen Payne’s Pinch 2
- Finish Henry Duncan’s Pinch 2
- Start Dek Conrad’s Plot Turn 2
What Do You Think?
Have you ever felt like your characters dictated your plot cadence? For you, was that a positive or negative experience? I’d love to hear your perspective in the comments!
