Master Your Genre mostly done – Writing Wk 27-30 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

This month has been spent writing my first non-fiction writing guidebook, and it’s been a great experience filled with contemplation and new learning. I’ve also had Saint Justice on Prime Reading and in a Kindle 99c deal. Thirdly, I joined a group of fellow writers and had a great back and forth with some real good ideas. Fourthly, I made a little headway on Wren book 7. Sixthly, I rejoined ALLi to try and take advantage of their agent hookup. Let’s get into it. Master Your Genre Here’s what I wrote a month ago, last time I wrote a post: …

Wren 6 launch, non-fiction project – Writing Wk25/6 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

These past 2 weeks Wren 6 launched, and I turned my attention to finally writing my non-fiction book on how I got the Wren books selling. Wren 6 launch The launch of Enemy of the People has been the best I’ve yet had, with nearly 500 pre-orders lining up over the last 6 months. I didn’t do anything else special to promote it, just keep on pushing the whole series at a usual daily ad spend. On that note, Amazon has book 1 in Prime Reading for 3 months and as a Kindle Monthly Deal at 99c in the US, …

1000 reviews, Prime & Wren 6 first lock – Writing Wk24 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

The big news today, as of 30 minutes ago, is I put the first lock on Wren book 6, Enemy of the People. This week I hit 1000 reviews on a single book on Amazon for the first time in my author career. I also have Saint Justice in Prime Reading in both the UK and US stores at the same time, which could offer unprecedented visibility! First lock I just finished the ironing draft of Wren 6, converted it to epub, pdf and mobi, and fired it off to my beta readers. That’s 40 people with only a week’s …

Wren 6 edits – Writing Wk22/23 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

Well well well, I spent the week (week 22) immediately after finishing writing Wren 6 Enemy of the People feeling super pleased with myself. Just totally fulfilled without needing to do much by way of work. Honestly, it was pretty great. Wren 6 edits Not that I go through life always thinking about things I should be doing or the contribution I should be making. Those are useful drives to have, of course. If I felt like I did last week all the time, I’d get literally nothing done. So while I surfed that sense of accomplishment gladly, in week …

Wren 6 FINISHED! – Writing Wk21 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

As of thirty minutes ago, Wren book 6, Enemy of the People, is finished!! Hurrah! It is closing out at 85,000 words. It’s still a month until launch, so I’ll use that time to edit it, proofread it, polish it up. I think it’s pretty much polished already, so that shouldn’t be too hard. I already have the cover, and it is epic. I’ll share that shortly. What else is there to say? Nothing much. I’m feeling super pleased. It is often the case through the middle of a novel that I am uncertain if I will be able to …

Wren 6 @ 71k – Writing Wk20 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

I’d hoped I might close out the whole of Wren book 6, Enemy of the People, this week, but in the last couple of days progress slowed a little as I chewed the great wodge of words I’d produced in the last week. I also spent some time fooling around with ads. Wren 6 progress Right now we’re at 71,000 words. Everything but the finale. This time last week I was at 57,000, so that’s 14,000 words this week. 2,000 a day, not bad. Is it all great? It may get trimmed on the edit, but I think it’s all …

Wren 6 progress – Writing Wk19 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

It’s a big writing week this week, in line with my offensive to get book 6 done by the end of May. Last week (which was actually Sunday, because I did it late) I was at around 40,000 words. Today I reached 57,000, and I might do a few more today. Writing I’d hoped to hit 60,000 and close out chapters 30-40. I’ve hit chapter 38 and just need a few scenes to hit 40. Today or this weekend. Next week will be the final push. Would be amazing to close it out at 80,000 words within a week. A …

Wren 6 goes a bit Dan Brown – Writing Wk17/18 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

It’s been 2 weeks since my last update, and they’ve been crazy weeks. We got our first Covid jabs, AstraZeneca, and they knocked us a little sick. In the midst of that, we were first deeply contemplating big home renovations, then chased that by making moves to sell our house and move, and chased that by realizing we were actually super happy where we were, with the house as it is, and putting the FOMO days of Covid firmly in the past. I will be so glad to have coffee shops and restaurants as a home away from home again! …

Wren 1-5 in print – Writing Wk15/16 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing 2 Comments

The last 2 weeks have seen my ads settling into a 50% return zone, with click costs rising. I wrote a handful of new words on book 6 and mostly focused on getting books 1-5 updated and into print. Wren 1-5 in print I don’t usually bother with print. For my zombie books I made book 1 in print then never bothered with books 2-9. It’s a big hassle and I rarely sell any print copies, so it didn’t seem necessary. Recently with the thrillers though, people kept asking me about paperbacks. Part of this is a corollary of my …

Wren 6 26k & $1k day – Writing Wk14 2021

Mike GristWeekly Writing Update, Writing Leave a Comment

Wren 26,000 words This last week I’d hoped to get 30,000 words on Wren 6, after several weeks of aiming for that same goal, and I finally came close with 26,000 words. It’s incredible how much more slowly I write now. I put these down to 2 main things: I’ve taken on so much feedback on my writing, that I am always second-guessing the creative process. This sounds like it would be bad, like you shouldn’t let anything get in the way of flow – but I find that in my case this is a little like adult control of …