Lou Paduano | Urban Fantasy Novels | Sci-Fi Crime Series

Multi-Tasking Projects

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Part of the joy of writing can be the immersive nature of the beast. Digging into a story, poring your way through research and developing logic and rules for your world. It’s absolutely a blast to build, to create, and thrive in the fiction.

It can also turn into a chore.

There is that fear. Time slips away when working on what can turn out to be a multi-year project. For all your building, the rules might go from enjoyment to confinement. So how to break out of your doldrums? How do you step back so you can return to appreciate your creations instead of harping on their faults?

Multi-tasking projects

Take that angst, that aggression, and put it toward a new endeavor. Maybe it isn’t writing a book. It could be building a website or copyediting for a commercial site. Use that creative need and keep working, just on something else.

Taking your mind off your long-term project isn’t a crime. Sometimes – and this tends to be more true than not – the work is better for it. Figuring out a new puzzle helps you crack the one you’ve left on your word processor for a day, a week, a month. Not forever. Merely a small amount to gain perspective that immersion tends to obscure in the process.

How to make time for both…

This is the tricky part and everyone will tackle this differently. Some writers have the full day (LUCKY) and can break it up by morning and afternoon.

If you’re like me and can only dream of a full eight to ten hours per days writing your heart out, then you have to be a little more creative – and way more flexible.

Create milestones. Make them small, maybe even weekly goals. Once you reach a certain point on one project you move onto the other tasks. I set up a weekly checklist. Once my writing goal is met I now have time for blogging, e-mail clean up, and the dozen other jobs I tend to push off until the last second.

In terms of multiple book projects, I break down the process by draft.

Outline, Script, Readthrough, Draft, Self-Editing (x3) and then Done.

Once I complete one step in that process I turn to another project. For the DSA Season 2 I outlined all six books first then went back to script each one in turn. In between scripts I continued to self-edit Season 1, using what I learned of where the story is heading to dictate certain changes to the narrative.

When all six scripts were done, I put Season 2 away to focus on completing Season 1 edits.

Don’t overwhelm your schedule

Multi-tasking projects, especially different series of books, can prove to be quite challenging. Your voice in the narrative might be different and switching between the projects can prove difficult and frustrating.

Know your limits and let them guide your schedule instead of burying yourself. Once you get overwhelmed it is tough to find your way back so that the work becomes enjoyable again.

I had a third series I was hoping to take on this year. An awesome project I can’t wait to dive into, but it required too much time to get off the ground. Hours I couldn’t possibly find unless it pulled me away from the DSA and Greystone. It’s tentatively scheduled for next year on the writing schedule.

Understand what you can handle and how it will affect your story. Then map it all out so you can find your way.

Get to it.

February Promotions

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I’ve been slacking on the marketing side of late. My fault, for many reasons, not the least of which is a focus on building new content. But while I toil away on the DSA Season 1 edits and the makings of a new Greystone novel, how about some love for what has come before?

Signs of Portents is FREE this month!!

The first book in the Greystone series is FREE right now on all major platforms. Is it weird that I miss writing this book? It was such a process but the energy behind it, the thoughts that went into building the world were so much fun and thrilling at the time. Part of the upcoming novel comes from a specific moment in Signs as does most of the series. So many seeds planted and little nods to items on my very hefty checklist.

Plus, it’s a great mystery. If you haven’t already picked up a copy be sure to snag it while it’s free this month. And if you have a copy and read it, please be sure to leave a review. They are always appreciated and help out tremendously with promoting the series and soothing my fragile ego.

Download your FREE copy of Signs of Portents now.

How about more FREE books?

The SFF Book Bonanza Mega Promo is going on this week! There are over 70 titles included this month, all free for your reading pleasure. Top talent authors like Dean F. Wilson and Patty Jensen as wells as dozens more are showering you with presents this month so be sure to check them out!

Not enough for you? Tales from Portents and The Medusa Coin are on sale now!

That’s right. Not only is the first book in the Greystone series free but books 2 and 3 are only $0.99 each! This is a great time to dive into the Greystone world. I’d love to have you along for the journey and to hear your thoughts on the books.

Get your copy of Tales from Portents now!

Dive into the quest for immortality with The Medusa Coin today!

Happy Reading!

Finding Motivation for the Long Haul

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Writing is a marathon not a sprint. Much as we would all like to think differently, the notion of building story takes a tremendous amount of time and energy. So how do you stay motivated for the long haul? What keeps you going during the long hours of drafting, plotting, editing, promoting, and everything in-between?

Finding your motivation

Writing, the act of creating something – anything, really, can put some wear and tear on your spirits over time. Especially when caught in the midst of a massive project with no end seemingly in sight. To keep pushing ahead, to make the task a joy instead of a chore, take a moment every day to look outside your world for that little nudge of motivation.

Here are a few ideas to stimulate your creativity and get you back to work:

Follow another author’s journey.

Take a step back and realize there are thousands of others going through what you are at this very second. Trouble with a plot point? They’ve been there. Need that perfect piece of dialogue or the whole scene falls apart? Yep, same here.

Read blogs. Follow newsletters. Listen to podcasts. The creative energy you can find just by taking a few minutes of your day and living outside your own head can be reinvigorating to such a degree I guarantee you’ll be sitting in front of the word processor well into the night with fresh ideas and a positive attitude.

Read a good book.

Something completely out of your wheelhouse. Write urban fantasy? Take a peek at a biography or a hard-boiled detective story. See what exists outside your perspective and how it stacks up with your own writing. What works? Why does it work? Learn new rules and then take them back to your own writing.

Come back to your project with a stronger sense of self by visiting other authors’ playgrounds.

Skip ahead and reward yourself early.

This is a fun one. Okay, they’re all fun but this one can really bring it home and keep those words flowing on the page.

What sort of rewards am I talking about here? Well, they can take many forms. Maybe something as simple as a dinner out with a loved one. Possibly that bottle of wine you’ve been saving for the end of the first draft.

For me, because writing a long term project can seem so nebulous over a course of many months or possibly years, is to reward yourself by making your book “real” to you.

  1. Hire a cover designer early. You know your story. Why not get that cover made sooner rather than later. I did this for the last couple Greystone novels and looked at it every day as motivation to finish the project. It was fantastic.
  2. Commission artwork relating to your story. Before I set to work on the DSA I open a logo design I had drawn up months ago. It’s a simple badge that I hope to use on every cover for the series but it reminds me that this project is real, that it can happen and will happen. All I have to do is put in the time.
  3. Share your story. Some might feel nervous about this one and I totally understand it. Your narrative is precious to you. To share it might ruin it. But it also might save it. Talking out the story with someone who respects your work and the craft behind it can help clarify your own confusion and even bring out new details to add into the draft. Getting other people excited about your work brings it back to you, driving you to finish that project.

Find your motivation and keep writing. Every story deserves to be told and I can’t wait to see what you have in you.

Thanks for reading.

Building Better Scenes

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It’s a fickle situation writer’s often find themselves in when it comes to the editing process. Here you are with your finished draft, thinking it’s totally aces and ready to publish.

Then you read it…

Oops.

When you leave your first draft, you’ve told the story as you envisioned it from the beginning. Before typing that first word, this is what was intended – in your mind – and, of course, it is absolutely without fault.

The funny thing is, that over the course of that draft you’ve learned a thing or two about what your story is REALLY about. You’ve lived with these characters, recognized their movements, felt their anguish and heartbreak as well as their joy and triumph. Those lessons, those feelings, can sometimes influence the self-editing process more than we ever imagined.

And it can be a good thing.

It opens doors to building better scenes.

What was wrong with my original scene?

Maybe nothing at all. The truth is, you may simply realize there is a BETTER way to develop a relationship or work through a heavy bit of exposition. This might come from a character perspective, or a change in their arc during the course of the draft.

On the other hand, there are some very real reasons to change a scene completely. For example, I recently finished reading The Resurrection of Jean Grey by Matthew Rosenberg. I enjoy Matthew Rosenberg’s work typically. He knows his characters and creates interesting situations that play to their strengths.

Not this time around.

In no less than three – count ’em THREE – separate occasions during the narrative, he decides to fall back for a mission briefing scene. In the same location. With the same people. Each time, they are somewhere else and decide this conversation needs to happen. So they head to the briefing room and hash it out. It slows the plot to a grinding halt. Actually, it’s worse than that – it is such a reversal that it sucks the life out of the book completely.

Now I get it. There are deadline constraints. There are reasons why these scenes felt right to him. It shows Kitty Pryde’s leadership. There’s focus on the interplay between the teams. Or maybe it just looks cool showing every X-Man possible in a single shot.

But this example needed new locales, new situations, in order to offer the exposition required to advance the plot. It really, really did.

Your story might need the same.

I know mine do from time to time. There are certain situations that just feel right and natural. It’s a comfort zone and I fall into the trap every once in awhile. Too many office scenes. Too many warehouse or alley scenes. There are a million, billion places to sit and have a conversation. Why make it the same place every single time?

Everyone should look twice at their scenes for improvement.

From the first-time novelist to the seasoned vet, each of us can stand to take a closer look at our scene breakdown. Is there a way to punch up this scene? To make it more exciting or visually interesting to the reader? Does it hit the right character beat or is the environment causing a different vibe entirely?

Play with the dynamic. Switch things around.

Don’t use the downtown high-rise. Make it a museum. Look for different angles that explore character and theme.

Have fun with it. Because if you’re having a good time in the scene so will your reader.

Writing Update – January 22, 2019

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The weather took a turn this weekend. Snow, snow and more snow. Well, it is January so I can’t complain too much about it. Plus, the bonus is that there is no reason not to sit at my desk and crank out some pages.

Writing Update

I came into the new year with a pretty ambitious plan. Lots of new projects on the docket for 2019, writing-wise. Publishing-wise? Well, I’m still trying to figure that one out.

As of this writing I am scripting DSA Season 2 Book 6. I never set out to script the second season. As I neared the end of drafting the first I knew it was important to outline, to sort of feel my way into the second season so that I could refine and focus certain details in the first.

But the stories refused to let me go. It took three weeks to dialogue everything out. All six books. Now I’m almost finished taking that dialogue and meshing it with the outlines to create a nice spine for what each book should be when I sit down to draft.

So, about 500 pages of material for January. I’ll take it.

Season 2 is shaping up to be even better than the first, in my opinion. The seasonal arc, the subplots, are much tighter this time around. I think part of my hesitance in closing out my edits of the first season is that sense of beginnings. There are details that occur before the first sentence and I’m not sure if they have a place in that opening book or if it will convolute the overall narrative.

I know, I keep talking about a project you haven’t seen yet and keep asking questions about it. This is what I’ve been dealing with for months and what I’m hoping to finish by the end of March. That’s my personal deadline and I aim to keep it.

Publishing-wise

I mentioned some hesitation on this front earlier. Publishing is a long-term game and right now, the way the dollars and cents breakdown I’m not quite where I need to be to make the DSA fiscally viable.

What does this mean?

Well, I’ve tinkered with the idea of a Kickstarter campaign. Crowdfunding is pretty huge right now and if it can help get these books in your hands sooner why not try it out?

I’ve also considered a Patreon page to help fund this endeavor. Another crowdfunding effort, but this would be on a monthly basis and you would receive my final draft of each book directly from me for your contribution. Not the eventual published version, which would be professionally edited but pretty darn close. This way you could get a new DSA book EVERY MONTH for the next 30 months once I launch.

That sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?

Seriously, I am asking your opinion on this. And I’d love to hear your thoughts at lou@loupaduano.com. I’m loving the hell out of this project and want you to be able to enjoy it as soon as possible.

I better get back to it. Thanks for reading!

Winter 2019 Reading List

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I’ve made a vow this year to minimize my purchasing of new books until I’ve finished reading everything I already own. (HA. We’ll see how long that lasts…) It’s true, though. I’d love to buy and buy and buy but I want to make a concentrated effort to clean house, while also produce as much new material as humanely possible.

What it doesn’t take into account are library books or recommendations from friends. Those are always fair game so feel free to disrupt this silly plan of mine as often as you like.

And if you’ve read or feel like reading along with any of the following books, let me know! Drop me a line at lou@loupaduano.com to share the reading experience. I’d love to hear from you.

Winter Reading List

A Cold Day in Hell by Lissa Marie Redmond

Lauren’s job as a cold case homicide detective is her life. And life just got complicated.

Lauren Riley is an accomplished detective who has always been on the opposite side of the courtroom from slick defense attorney Frank Violanti. But now he’s begging to hire her as a private investigator to help clear his client of murder. At first Lauren refuses, wanting nothing to do with the media circus surrounding the case—until she meets the eighteen-year-old suspect.

To keep an innocent teen from life in prison, Lauren must unravel the conflicting evidence and changing stories to get at the buried facts. But the more she digs, the more she discovers that nothing is what it first appears to be. As Lauren puts her career and life in danger, doubt lurks on every corner . . . and so does her stalker.

The sequel is coming out next month so I want to jump right into this one to see where it leads. Very excited about this book.

The Fall (Mutant Rain Book 2) by L.A. Frederick

New Hampton lies in ruins.

Amidst the death and destruction, a few survivors cling to life avoiding the many pitfalls residing in the decaying city. The mutants hiding in the Bunker, led by New Hampton’s most famous vigilante Reinhardt, must devise a new plan to outlast the rampaging hordes, and more importantly Doctor Zhirkov and the infamous Watchroom gangs. 

The murderous Doctor Zhirkov sets about the next phase of his long devised plans to improve humanity, as we discover the crazed, obsessed and bloody history of the man. In a new world, plagued by infected masses hellbent of devouring all in their path, choosing whom to trust is the difference between life and death.

The Fall is the second book in The Mutant Rain series, a dark, dystopian, mystery, horror and science fiction story.

I am very curious to see what happens next with the characters introduced in L.A. Frederick’s first novel, The Rain. Lots of intrigue and a superhero element that is right up my alley.

The Escape Artist by Brad Meltzer

WHO IS NOLA BROWN?
Nola is a mystery
Nola is trouble.
And Nola is supposed to be dead.
Her body was found on a plane that mysteriously fell from the sky as it left a secret military base in the Alaskan wilderness. Her commanding officer verifies she’s dead. The US government confirms it. But Jim “Zig” Zigarowski has just found out the truth: Nola is still alive. And on the run.
Zig works at Dover Air Force Base, helping put to rest the bodies of those who die on top-secret missions. Nola was a childhood friend of Zig’s daughter and someone who once saved his daughter’s life. So when Zig realizes Nola is still alive, he’s determined to find her. Yet as Zig digs into Nola’s past, he learns that trouble follows Nola everywhere she goes.
Nola is the U.S. Army’s artist-in-residence-a painter and trained soldier who rushes into battle, making art from war’s aftermath and sharing observations about today’s wars that would otherwise go overlooked. On her last mission, Nola saw something nobody was supposed to see, earning her an enemy unlike any other, one who will do whatever it takes to keep Nola quiet.
Together, Nola and Zig will either reveal a sleight of hand being played at the highest levels of power or die trying to uncover the US Army’s most mysterious secret-a centuries-old conspiracy that traces back through history to the greatest escape artist of all: Harry Houdini.
Brad Meltzer is one of those authors I will read no matter what they write. He’s just released a new non-fiction book – way out of my wheelhouse – and it is on my to read pile. His stories are fun and always contain some unique look at American history. Can’t wait to dive in.

A short list this time around…

Can’t be avoided, unfortunately. I’m putting every ounce of energy, every spare hour I can muster into churning out some incredible stories for you to devour later this year. When the dust settles, and hopefully it will in a few months, it’s going to be so nice to sit back and enjoy some more books.

Let me know what you’ve been reading! I’d love to hear what’s been exciting you in the world of fiction.

Take care and thanks for reading.

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