Rewrite- the author’s metaphorical four-letter word. It’s never an easy task to rewrite a work, regardless of who says it needs to be done. It’s a gut-wrenching exercise to revisit your words and decide almost everything needs to change.

My personal journey while writing (and rewriting) The Erden Archives is a meandering one. The serialized, short story version of the Archives is a rewrite. Originally, the story focuses on the journal of a young woman, given to her mother. However, the single perspective is too narrow to tell the story I wish to convey.  

For two months, I rewrote chapters without producing any new work. Not good. My novelization had bogged down to a halt. I changed formats hoping to write, complete, and move on.  

Changing to serialized short stories greatly improved my forward production. To date, I’ve completed five rough draft s...

As an author, I seek advice from successful authors.  I read and watch other authors’ interviews and parse out advice they offer. I take it all at face value. With my limited experience, who am I to say that something is ridiculous?

Also, I like defined goals.  Something quantitative I can measure as a step toward progress.  So, when I heard about writing word count goals, I found something that worked for me. I gravitated toward the mantra of 1,000 words a day.  Something about 750, the common throw-around, just wasn’t enough for my method.  Granted, 1,000 words a day, every day, just isn’t feasible when you build worlds the way I do (more on that in a future blog, PROMISE!)  However, on my writing days, I found 1,000 words a day just smooth as silk.

For about three months now, I’ve cranked out short stories in t...