Creating Creative Content

What do I say?

So I write a book a month. I rarely have trouble trying to figure out what to write with those. I’m telling stories, and I love it. People sometimes try to give me story ideas, but I’ll usually tell them to write the ideas themselves. I don’t need story ideas—I need time to write the ones I already have!

(Though, truth to tell, I’m well over a year ahead of our publishing schedule with what I’ve written!)

I also write this blog. That I’ll often need to work on. What should I write about this week? What happened? What can I talk about with my stories, with my writing, with any of it?

And now my wife and I have started a Tiktok channel (dawnsbrookpress). Thankfully my wife has been mostly in charge of content… but she also wants me on there talking about books and writing and stuff. And it’s not so easy! It’s a totally different format, and… it’s more content to create!

So what do I do?

No. I’m really asking. What do I do?

I’ve been a lurker on Tiktok for a while now, so I at least have an idea of the kind of content that works on that platform. But I don’t have the time to create everything that’s supposed to happen on Tiktok. For instance, apparently you’re supposed to post twice a day at least if you want traction? I have no idea what to talk about!

On the other hand, Booktok is a big thing. My wife and I have been doing some more investigation into marketing. If we want to succeed as a small press, we need to market our books. There’s no question about it. We’ve dipped our toes into it. We’ve mostly held off until we complete our first series; it seems that completed series are easier to market. The last book releases April 15, 2023, which really isn’t that far away.

But Booktok is monetarily free for us to put stuff up. All it takes… is time. And creativity. And effort.

Whew.

So any ideas on what kind of things to put up on our channel? If you’re on Tiktok, check us out. What do you think so far? (And yes, we already follow a number of indie authors and small presses! We’re learning!)

And in the meantime… I should go record some more clips!

Every Month is NaNoWriMo

It’s not special anymore.

Poo.

November is National Novel Writing Month. Writers of various stripes attempt to write an entire novel in thirty measly days. It’s kind of a big deal. I have teacher friends who focus the entire month in their classrooms on getting their students writing. There are accountability groups online. Everyone was Kung Fu Fighting!

And also writing novels.

The first time I attempted NaNoWriMo was about a decade ago. It was… oh man. It was such a slog. Trying to get out enough words every day? No one can live at that speed! I was insanely exhausted at the end of the month. I made it, but I also didn’t write for a while after that. I OD’ed!

…and now I’ve written a novel every month for… calculating… seventeen months, if I’m counting correctly. That seems like more than it should be, but that’s what I count. I’ve never been wrong before, so clearly this must be correct.

No one tell my wife I said I’ve never been wrong before. She’d hit me.

Anyway.

Writing is a muscle. The more you write, the more you’re able to write. The last book I drafted, I averaged 2200 words an hour. And this is awesome. It means I can get a lot done in not a lot of time.

But…

But it means November is just another month now. Well, it’s still special. We still celebrate Thanksgiving with family. We still overeat and play games. But when it comes to writing… it’s just another month.

It’s one of the weird things about writing more. Finishing another novel? It’s a monthly occurrence. Once upon a time, finishing a rough draft was cause for major celebration! Now it’s still celebration, but it’s more like celebrating Friday. You finished it! Yay! You do this often, though.

And you know what? I wouldn’t trade it. It means that I’m growing as an author.

Think about it. Do you celebrate every time you take a step? Once upon a time, there was valid celebration as you walked. If you’ve ever lost that ability due to injury or illness, and you were able to walk again, the first step is another cause for celebration! But eventually, walking is just something you do. It’s the same way with driving. The first time I drove, I was a nervous wreck. Now, at least most of the time, it’s just something I do.

Writing is just something I do, whether or not it’s NaNoWriMo. And that’s not a bad thing.

I should probably get started on December’s book, though…

Fire and Frostburn

TODAY book 3 of Madelyn of the Sky is available! Check out Fire and Frostburn!

What could be worse than a dragon?

Madelyn has always greeted her adventures with sword, stone, and smile. This time is different, though.

She doesn’t need to fight Prince Aralane. She needs to impress him. His kingdom borders her floating Island in the sky, and she needs an ally.

Which means his visit to the Island is a terrible time for a dragon to attack.

And it’s an even worse time for something more dangerous than a dragon to threaten them.

It’ll take everything Madelyn has to face this danger and protect the visiting prince!

Unenchanting

You’ve heard it if you haven’t said it yourself: Disney has gone downhill! It’s terrible! Look what they did to Star Wars! Their Marvel movies have become lazy! All the reboots are horrendous!

Is it true, though?

Last week my family watched Disenchanted, the sequel to Enchanted on Disney+. When I first saw Enchanted, I wanted to hate it. I ended up loving it. “How Does She Know that You Love Her” remained in my head for weeks after seeing it. The cast and story charmed their way into my heart. I thought, hey, why not try Disenchanted, then?

I give the movie a B+, personally. It’s not as good as the original movie, but it was still entertaining. Some of the music, particularly “Badder,” has lain eggs in my brain. The relationships between the characters, particularly Edward and Nancy, were solid. It was decent… but not great. Well, why not?

The other day my wife and I pondered the question. This is something we do. What makes a story good? What missed the mark? It helps as we produce stories of our own to see how other stories succeed or fail. And I think, personally, the misses in Disenchanted are fairly indicative of what I think has been going on with Disney lately in general.

Continue reading “Unenchanting”