New This Week: Getting Back on Track! #WIP | Renee Scattergood

Originally posted by Renee Scattergood:

I spent most of last week sick again, so this week I’m getting back on track. I thought I’d have to change my due dates for everything, but then I realized I didn’t fall as far behind as I thought. So, I’ll be able to finish up what I didn’t do last week and do this week’s writing as well.

In fact, today I wrote about 3.5k words. If I keep that up, maybe I’ll be able to reach the NaNoWriMo 50k goal in November.

I’m excited this week too because I’m starting work on a new middle-grade series. It’s based on my Shadow Stalker serial and involves Auren’s daughter and her friends. My daughter wanted me to write a series for kids her age, so this is it. She’ll be doing the cover art for the series as well, so it’s something we get to work on together.

My goals this week:

• Finish writing the first draft of Episode 24 of my Shadow Stalker serial, complete Step 16, and start Step 17 of my editing process
• Continue with Step 7 of my planning process for Emergence
• Finish and post my May 12 Short Stories Challenge story
• Finish Steps 7, 8, and 10 of the planning process for my new short story
• Write a flash fiction story
• Complete up to Step 5 for the middle-grade series
• Finish the first draft of Book 2 of AGD and start Step 7 of the planning process for Book 3
• Write up to Step 16 for my Blog Series

It’s going to be a busy week! I finished my writing for today, so wish me luck for the rest of the week.

#WIP Wednesday: Will I Make It? | Renee Scattergood

Originally posted by Renee Scattergood:

I’ve been really sick for nearly the last two weeks, so I’ve unfortunately fallen way behind. I would have to write a bit over 6k words a day for the next three days to win NaNoWriMo. I’m still not giving up though. It’s still doable as long as my health holds out.

On the plus side, I’ve almost got the first book in my A God’s Deception series completely written, and the other two books are completely outlined now. All I have to do is write them, and if I keep up the 2500 words a day goal, it should be done in no time at all.

I still have a ton of editing to do after that, which will likely take 2 to 3 months to complete, but if I can get it done, there’s a good chance that I’ll be able to release the first book in about 8 or 9 months from now. I haven’t decided how I’m going to work out the release yet for the next two books. I was considering doing book 2 six weeks after the first and then the third 3 months after that. We’ll see though.

Once I’m finished writing this series, I’ll finish up Shadow Stalker though, before editing the new series. I know a lot of people are waiting to read the end of that. I’m going to write all 4 of the last 4 episodes before releasing them though. I’m finding it much easier to write this way now.

#WIP Wednesday: #NaNoWriMo Progress | Renee Scattergood

Originally posted  Renee Scattergood:

I’m in week 3 of NaNoWriMo. It’s day 15, which means we’re halfway through. I should be at 25k words, but I’ve fallen a bit behind. Only by a little over 2k words though, so I will be able to catch up fairly easily. I might do some writing over the weekend to catch up.

The story is going well too. I’m really happy with it so far. After the first draft is done, I’m going to have to work out a lot of the world-building details, plus I’ve introduced a few other characters that weren’t originally planned for.

It’s going to be a pretty cool story when it’s done though. I can’t wait for you all to read it now! 

#WIP Wednesday: #NaNoWriMo Mania! | Renee Scattergood

Originally posted by Renee Scattergood:

I don’t have a lot to announce today. I’m knee-deep in NaNoWriMo now, and I’ve gotten nearly half of the first book of A God’s Deception written. Of course, it’s going to need a lot of re-writes and editing in the form it’s in right now, but it’s going really well. I love how the story is developing.

BeemGee is definitely an excellent tool for story planning, and I’ll be using it again in the future for my stories! 

Oh… I’m at 12,788 words of the 50k I need to write before the end of the month! Wish me luck!

#WIP Wednesday: Getting Ready for NaNoWriMo | Renee Scattergood

Originally posted by Renee Scattergood:

I’ve decided I’m definitely participating in NaNoWriMo next month, so the rest of this month will be spend preparing.

I’m going to start writing the A God’s Deceptionseries, so I’m planning the entire series first. So far I’ve got all of the main characters worked out, and I’m plotting events at the moment. They’re all out of order, so it’s going to be fun trying to put them in some kind of order, but once I do that, I’ll have a good idea of how many books the series will be.

They’re all out of order, so it’s going to be fun trying to put them in some kind of order, but once I do that, I’ll have a good idea of how many books the series will be. I’m estimating between 4 and 6 at the moment, but depending on how things go it could be more.

So it’s safe to say that Shadow Stalker and my other serial are on hold for the time being… at least until December. I need a break from it though to get my creative juices flowing again. Then maybe I can get over that hurdle and finish it.

While I’m writing for NaNoWriMo next month, I’ll be posting occasional snippets on Twitter and Facebook using #AGodsDeception, so save the hashtag and check it out beginning November 1st. I’ll post at least once a day as I’m writing. Also keep an eye out here for my Saturday Sneak Peeks where I’ll share some of what I’m writing.

It’s going to be a crazy, exciting month. I hope you’ll join me!

#WIP Wednesday: BeemGee Has Saved Me | Renee Scattergood

Originally posted by Renee Scattergood:

BeemGee is a new browser-based app that helps authors plan their stories. I decided to give it a try when I got an email about a competition where you get a 30-day premium trial and you are given 10 tasks over the 30 days to work towards a finished outline for a novel.

It was the best thing I could have done.

I’ve been feeling discouraged because I’m stuck on Episode 21 of my Shadow Stalker serial at the moment. The ending has changed a bit, so I’m having to tie a few things together before I can move on and because of my brain fog, I just can’t seem to do it.

Having a more structured way of planning the stories with my brain the way it is at the moment is helping me focus. So I’m getting tons of planning done on A God’s Deception. The best part is it really fits my style of planning where the story is planned around the characters. So it’s working well for me, so hopefully by the end of this month, I’ll have a finished outline. I might even participate in NaNoWriMo this year since I’ll have the outline ready.

I’m going to use the same method to plan the first (and subsequent) seasons of my new serial as well.

Due to feedback from my newsletter subscribers, I’m going to write each series entirely before publishing the individual novels. I’m still trying to determine the best amount of time in between each novel, so I’ve put together a survey for my subscribers. If you want to have a say, subscribe today!

#WIP Wednesday: Lot's Going On! | Renee Scattergood

Originally posted by Renee Scattergood:

It’s been a while since my last WIP Wednesday. I have to admit that I haven’t been doing a lot of writing, but I do have a ton going on. A lot of it in my family life, but even more in my writing life.

First, I’m still working on Episode 21 of my Shadow Stalker serial. I’m currently writing Chapter 4, so I’m getting there. I’ve decided with the last few episodes of this serial, I’ll just release them as I write them rather than having set release dates. With my health issues as they are, it just puts less stress on me, and since deciding this I’ve actually been getting more writing done. Yay!

With my future serial, I’m going to write an entire season first (22 episodes which are shorter than the Shadow Stalker episodes), then set a release schedule for each episode, the mini bundles (which will be 4 or 5 episodes each), and the season bundle (which will be all 22 episodes).

The reason I’m doing it this way is so readers don’t have to wait so long in between each episode. I’ll be releasing the individual episodes every two weeks. The price will be set at 25 cents per episode. For people who prefer to buy from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or the other online retailers, I’m putting together the mini bundles since I can’t set the price lower than 99 cents. Those will be released every couple of months or so (depending on how many episodes there are in each).

As far as my novels, I’m still working on A God’s Deception. Rather than just planning out the first book, I’ve decided to plan out the entire series first. I’m also considering writing the entire series before releasing the individual books. There are many advantages to this. One that I really like is that I can make changes to earlier books as I’m writing. One I know most of my readers will like is that I can release the books closer together so there won’t be a long wait between books.

I’m doing a survey now on my newsletter asking my readers their opinion on whether they want me to release the books as I write them, or if they’d prefer waiting until the entire series is written. If you’d like to get a word in on it, sign up here before the end of the month and let me know which you’d prefer.

Also, at the request of my daughter, I’m starting a new middle-grade series based on the daughter of one of my Shadow Stalker characters. I don’t want to say who because I don’t want to give out spoilers for those who haven’t read Shadow Stalker yet. My daughter is a budding artist and will be doing the artwork for this series as well. It’s really exciting for both of us to have a project to work on together.

That’s about it for now. Have a great week and happy reading!

#WIP Wednesday - It's Great to be Back to Work! | Renee Scattergood

Originally posted by Renee Scattergood:

I’ve had a really great week so far. It feels great to be working again, and it’s not taking as long to catch up as I thought it would.

So far this week, I finished writing and editing Episode 20 of my Shadow Stalker serial. I just have to do a few things and it will be reading for release next Wednesday. I’ve also started working on Episode 21 and it should be written and edited by the end of next week.

Episode 22 is due for release in 3 weeks from now, so I’m planning to release them one a week. Then I’ll be all caught up with those.

As a special treat for my readers’ patience and understanding while I was sick, I’m offering Episode 20 free for the first 24 hours to my newsletter subscribers. So if you’d like to get that one free (along with Part 2 (Episodes 7 – 12)), sign up here.

That’s it for now.  Happy reading!

WIP Wednesday: #AmWriting Like Crazy! | ReneeWrites

Originally posted on Renee Writes:

This has been a crazy year so far. I'm really glad I went back to my old style of writing where I work on more than one project at a time. It really works for me.

I've got three projects going on at any one time now. I've committed myself to writing one short story a month. If it's not for a specific publication, I'll release it on its own. Then when I have enough of them, I'll release them as an anthology for those who prefer bigger books as opposed to smaller ones.

The first one is going to be released the 15th of March. I'm in the process of editing it now, so it should be done in plenty of time. I can't wait for that. I'll post a sneak peek of that story this coming Saturday, so keep an eye out for that.

Of course, there's Shadow Stalker, and I've been doing some writing for that as well. Episode 19 is due to be released the 5th of April. I really think people will love Part 4. There are going to be a lot of surprises. ;)

And finally I'm still in the planning stages with my first book in the A God's Deception series, but I'm almost ready to start outlining the book. I expect I should be finished writing by the end of April and then I can start the editing. Of course, this one I'll be submitting to Crimson Edge and hopefully publishing with them, so I can't give a projected release date at this point. But I'm going to hope for the end of the year on that one.

It feels great to be writing more regularly again and actually getting stuff done. And I think I enjoy having something to publish more often too. Between the short stories and Shadow Stalker episodes, I should have something new each month. Sometimes even twice a month. So it's really exciting.

Oh, and I should also mention, with the short stories, I'll be experimenting with other genres. They'll all pretty much be in the horror/thriller/paranormal/dark fantasy category because that's what I tend to write, but if you have a suggestion or a challenge for me to write in a completely different genre (just for the fun of it) leave a comment below or contact me! I'd love to hear from you.

Until next time... happy reading!

Get 3 Free Books!

* indicates required

Email Address *

Email Format

• html
• text

WIP Wednesday: More Changes | Renee Writes

Originally posted on Renee Writes:

Don't you just love the new year?

I do... it's when I make a lot of changes and everything feels so fresh and new. It's very stimulating and motivating. One of the biggest changes I've made is to my writing schedule. I get too bored if I'm only working on one project at a time, and it actually causes me to get less done. So, I've decided I need to go back to working on multiple projects like I used to.

Starting this week, I'm focusing on writing one serial chapter a day (well, on my writing days), and I'm working on my novel planning for the A God's Deception series.

I'm also going to try and stagger it so I'm in different stages with each project I'm working on. I don't want to be editing two things at once. That will just get crazy (especially since editing is so monotonous).

I've also decided that since the popularity of my serial is up, I'm going to start publishing individual episodes of Shadow Stalker on Amazon, Smashwords and other retail outlets again. Yay!!!

Here is the release schedule for those:

• 5 April - Epsiode 19
• 3 May - Episode 20
• 7 June - Episode 21
• 5 July - Episode 22
• 2 August - Episode 23
• 6 September - Episode 24

And, of course, for those who prefer to wait for the bundle, that will be released on the 22nd of November this year.

I'm also aiming to write a release a short story each month. We'll see how that goes. I just miss writing short stories. They're so much fun to write, and I want my readers to have something new from me more often. I'm hoping to have the first one released by the end of March, but I haven't worked out a schedule for those yet. I'll let you know!

In the meantime, don't forget you can now get Shadow Stalker Parts 1 & 2 free if you haven't read those yet.

Get 3 Free Books!

* indicates required

Email Address *

Email Format

• html
• text

Renee's Works in Progress

Now that I'm working on Part 4 of my Shadow Stalker serial and I'll be releasing episodes of those soon, it's time to get caught up on your reading!

Part 1 is free and you can download it here. Also, as a subscriber, you should have gotten Part 2 free as well. If you haven't, you can download it through BookFunnel.

Then you can get Part 3 here!

Read the Full Newsletter

Get 3 Free Books!

* indicates required

Email Address *

Email Format

• html
• text

Renee's Works in Progress

The last two month have been completely hectic. I did manage to finish Episode 17 and 18 just in time for the release this month, so that's a good thing. I've also started work on Part 4 (Episodes 19 - 24), which will complete the Shadow Stalker serial.

I'm going to finish Part 4 before I begin work on A God's Deception, my novel series. It will be easier to have that completely written so I can focus on my novels until it's time to start the new serial.

I've also been putting time into writing my paranormal thriller, but I'm not really pushing that one just yet. I'm writing when the mood strikes!

Read the Full Newsletter

Get 3 Free Books!

* indicates required

Email Address *

Email Format

• html
• text

WIP Wednesday: Getting Ready to Move | Renee Writes

Originally posted on Renee Writes:

We've had an unexpected move come up, so for the last week I've been mainly working on packing and cleaning. The house next to us went up for rent, and it's a much nicer house than the one we're in at the moment, so we've decided to take it. Moving in next door certainly has it's advantages. We are paying for an extra week in this house so we can declutter and organize as we gradually move things over to the new house. The move is this coming Friday and I can't wait!

In the meantime, I've finished Shadow Stalker Episode 18. I just need to do my edits, which I'm hoping to finish before the move. If not, we'll have an entire week without internet so aside from setting up our new house, I'll be focusing on just writing work for the whole week, which will be a good thing with NaNoWriMo coming up.

I need to finish up the planning and outline for Shadow Stalker Part 4 before the end of the month, because that's what I'll be writing in November for NaNoWriMo. I'm excited about that too. I didn't participate in NaNo last year because I had other things going on, but I love the challenge.

Oh, any authors who want to buddy up with me for NaNoWriMo, here's my profile! I'd love to keep in contact so we can cheer each other on.

Wish me good luck with the move, and I'll see you when I get back!

Get 3 Free Books!

* indicates required

Email Address *

Email Format

• html
• text