Wednesday, December 2, 2020

DECEMBER 2020 IWSG: Productive Writing Times

 


Many thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh for starting this encouraging blog hop!

The awesome co-hosts for the December 2 posting of the IWSG are Pat Garcia, Sylvia Ney, Liesbet @ Roaming About Cathrina Constantine, and Natalie Aguirre!

OPTIONAL QUESTION: Are there months or times of the year that you are more productive with your writing than other months, and why?

Yes. I participate in NaNoWriMo so that makes my November really productive, but I'm also productive in October as I gear up for November. In December, my writing becomes centered on personal and faith writing, but in January I begin to write more fiction. February is usually a quieter month, followed by an uptick in March-April-May. I usually have a slower June, but in July and early August I write hard. September is iffy.  In certain months, I am more contemplative and I spend a lot of time reflecting and planning. Other months, I just write. I used to try to fight it, but now I accept it. I write when and where I can.

And certain months have specific meaning to me.

ADVENT

Advent is the beginning of the Christian New Year in the older traditions of faith. While I attend a new non-denominational church, I grew up in a Lutheran Church and served in my 20s as the church council representative for the worship and music committee. On that committee, I learned the meaning behind the colors and times of the church seasons. While I don't think those are necessary to know for salvation, I find them to be tools for going deeper into my daily faith. December is a faith-writing month for me. I will still work on fiction projects, but most of my writing will be spiritually based. 


For all who helped, encouraged, and cheered my book launch last month, 

THANK YOU!!! 

If you missed out, it's still on sale (wink, wink), and I'm always happy to get more reviews (winking harder, possibly creating a small private windstorm - just kidding). 



Book Page    Apple    Amazon    Barnes and Noble    Bookbub    Kobo    Smashwords





Liftoff is a scifi novella centered around the adventures of Amaya, a teen girl who packs a bit of a punch. 

And why do I want to write strong heroines? While I don't think a woman has to know martial arts to be strong, the cause behind the following fundraiser is one of the reasons I want all of my characters to be strong enough to survive hardship and fight for freedom.

DRESSEMBER IS HERE!

What is Dressember? It's a fundraising campaign to end human trafficking. 
Why a dress? Wearing a dress all month is to raise awareness, and to take back the dress as a symbol of strength. If you aren't into dresses, you are welcome to wear ties or dress shirts.
If you want to join the campaign, you can go to my fundraising page HERE.
And here is the Dressember Website for more information.




IWSG NEWS

On the bright side, our community of writers is going strong and the admin team is preparing for upcoming events!

The #IWSGPit is coming on January 20th! See HERE for details.


Our Goodreads Book Club is changing things up! 
We will have quarterly book selections now, giving us more time to read. We will also have one fiction book selection and one writing craft book selection. Members can read both or choose between them. Finally, we won’t be offering 5 optional discussion questions anymore. Instead, we will be utilizing the polls that our members enjoy, so there will be one poll question for the fiction book and one for the non-fiction book on Discussion Day.






19 comments:

cleemckenzie said...

Thanks for doing your part in creating awareness of the human trafficking industry.

Have a great Christmas and see you in 2021!

Chrys Fey said...

Thanks for including the Book Club info!

"take back the dress as a symbol of strength" <--- I love that. Too bad I don't have dresses to wear all month. I only have four, and two of those are Halloween costumes. lol

M.J. Fifield said...

I'm most productive during NaNoWriMo (I think because I HATE to lose...), but I occasionally have a nice productive January because I'm all motivated by the promise of a new year.

Congratulations (again) on Liftoff!

Tyrean Martinson said...

C.Lee - it doesn't seem like enough, but I hope a small bit of awareness helps.
Merry Christmas!

Chrys - You're welcome! For Dressember, I went to a secondhand store the first time I participated and found some maxi-skirts that are super comfy. I wear them with sandals, and that's how I do Dressember. :)

MJ - November and January are pretty good months, aren't they? :)
Merry Christmas!

Chemist Ken said...

Your writing periods are much more organized than mine. I just write when I can, which means I'm kind of disorganized at times. Hope you enjoy the holidays.

Sarah Foster said...

I'm fascinated by how pretty much your whole writing year is laid out! I don't think I really have any patterns, I just write when the inspiration strikes. I do tend to feel motivated in January since it's a fresh start.

Natalie Aguirre said...

That's great that you know when you are most productive and the cycles of what you need to write at different time of the year.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I think that's great you spend December on spiritual writing.
Don't think I will be wearing a dress though.

Loni Townsend said...

You sound much more productive than I am. Grats on your release! I hope you have a great December and wonderful New Year!

Anonymous said...

I'm happy to donate to the cause, but I haven't been in a dress in over two years. :D

Congrats on your new book. I've highlighted Liftoff at my blog today!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

It's 32 degrees today - I don't think I can wear a dress.

I didn't know there were colors and seasons of the church.

Cathrina Constantine said...

I'm a Catholic Christian and Advent is an important time as well as lent. The colors represent a lot, even for the priests vestments and their daily masses. I love learning about differing faiths.

I hope you have a Blessed Christmas!

Fundy Blue said...

NaNo certainly helped me this month! Happy faith-writing this month, Tyrean! May it be a fulfilling experience for you. And have a Merry Christmas!

Liesbet said...

I hope you had a fantastic book release last month!! And, that NaNoWriMo was a productive endeavor in November. It sure looks like you have quite the writing schedule going throughout the year. Good for you! Happy holidays!!

Liza said...

Thanks for all the work you do for IWSG. Sounds like you have been busy all around. Best wishes for success with your book.

Diane Burton said...

Congrats on doing NaNo. I admire those who do this challenge. I also admire the way you've laid out your year of writing. Merry Christmas.

Olga Godim said...

While I don't own any dresses and wear pants or jeans year around, I agree with you about human trafficking being a horrible thing. I'll stand against it with you, in my pants.

Toi Thomas said...

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I wish I could do Nano, but I know myself too well. A short story for WEP every other month sometimes feels too stressful for me. Glad you get to focus on faith writing during the holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Tyrean - your year of writing is efficient isn't it ... and obviously apparently has settled into place. Well done in that respect I say! I do hope Lift Off is successfully lifting off in sales ... it always takes time - but you've done it and published. Congratulations. All the very best - and enjoy Griffin and Ryan at Church ... stay safe and have a peaceful December - Hilary