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Brian J. W. Lee is a writer. When he's not writing, he's plotting to plunge the world in a deep chasm of terror, darkness and screams. Sorry, did I get carried away?

Wednesday 25 April 2018

Writing Report S3 #5: Rewinding / News

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted much, but these days have been hectic. My tutoring business has boomed once more, and I'm getting used to the fact that there'll never be a day when I get to just stay at home and laze/sit/play games/watch Netflix/write. Anyway, it's not a big deal, as I'm still far from working myself to death like those 'modern heroes' in China.

There's a lot of progress made, though there were a couple of days when I was just burnt out:

On 21 April 2018 (Saturday), I wrote something like 300 words.

Then on the 22nd and 23rd April, I basically stopped. Too tired from work, I suppose.

On 24 April 2018 (Tuesday), I wrote 600 words.

On 25 April 2018 (Wednesday, yesterday), I wrote 650 words.

So far, I am able to bring the hero and his friend forward into the muck, finally combating the electronic zombies that has been plaguing them. They're still trying to get out of the expressway of death, but they're close... Hope nothing happens to them, heh :-)

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In other news, I have finally something to release after something like half a year of dead silence. However, it's a tricky one as it can't be committed to Kindle Unlimited yet, so I'm unsure of how to proceed. I've thought of doing a pre-order for it, with some lucky folks receiving an ARC copy in exchange of an honest review, but then again, this is one of those when I'm not even expecting a 20% recoup of the initial capital - it will just be a way for me to continue on the road to actual profits.

I see red all the time and I'm tired of it. Red gets scary, I know.

Anyway, this is what I will be releasing very soon, probably within next month (May):


Yep, it's that interquel of The Keeper of Pulau Purba I talked about ages ago, and after a stint in an anthology, with good results, it's now going to strike out on its own, having attended the university equivalent of books.

Can't wait to see the reviews, because I think it's at least a little better than my debut novel.

Wednesday 18 April 2018

Writing Report S3 #4: Rest & Write

The last 5 days have been kind of a hit-and-miss. On Saturday and Sunday, I wrote nothing, because I sort of have to take a break due to a certain personal issue, which is largely resolved by now. I couldn't write even if I wanted to. It's funny how it doesn't a natural disaster to suck the energy out of you. It stings whenever I had to skip on the writing - I'm hoping that I can regain the energy to be able to write despite whatever happens.

Anyway, if it is any consolation, Monday (16 April 2018) and Tuesday (17 April 2018) was productive as usual. 600 words per day. That's the rate I'm hoping to maintain for a few weeks before I up the pace again. I like putting myself back into the grinder, and 'normalcy' as people know it just wouldn't cut it. My fingers have to bleed if I am supposed to make any real progress.

And speaking of rates... Yesterday (18 April 2018) was terrible. I fell asleep after 150 words. I'm planning to make up for it today, by writing 1050 words. I hope I can - the reason why my writing had slowed down over the months was that I couldn't.

Anyway, my protagonist and his soldier buddy are now engaging in their first real challenge - working together and trying to get past an even bigger blockage on the Tampines expressway... Filled with the titular antagonists of the book.

At least it's going to be an extra exciting 1050 words this time around.

Friday 13 April 2018

Writing Report Season 3 #3: Consistency

Well, it looks to me like I've been able to maintain a writing rate of above 500 words. Yesterday, on the 12th of April, I was able to write 600 words again.

The story continues, and my protagonist learns more about the... Phoneheaded situation surrounding him from the perspective of his soldier acquaintance.

I'm hoping to be able to push myself to 700 words a day, but I'm going to do it progressively. It's just like running a marathon. Consistency is key, and if you want to increase your speed, you gotta take your time on it, edge into your new velocity.

Anyway, just as a heads up, I would have forego writing today (just when I talked about consistency!), because I slept only 2 hours last night... Due to a rather embarassing thing I would rather not talk about.

Wednesday 11 April 2018

Writing Report Season 3 #2: Progress

Hi guys, it's your resident monster maker again. This writing report is going to be for yesterday and the day before.

I think I've made some good progress on the speed of my writing. On 10 April (the day before), I wrote about 600 words. Yesterday, I wrote something like 750. I think 750 is a good rate to maintain for now, but I'm hoping to eventually hit 1,000 again.

Anyway, my auditor protagonist has finally found himself a car, a Mercedes-Benz no less - hey, if you're gonna brave the dangers of a recently post-apocalyptic world, you might as well do it in style and luxury, right?

Other than that, he's learnt some truths from his soldier acquaintance.

It's all good fun, can't wait to continue again. I'm not sure how long the novel would be though. I think it could end by 90,000 words? That would mean I'm almost half-way there. It's conceived as a different take on the zombie horror genre, so it's not exactly the most 'profound' thing I can write, and thus doesn't need so many words to cover, so...

Anyway, I'll catch you guys again! Gotta get back to writing. Wouldn't want to lose progress again, right?

Sunday 8 April 2018

Writing Report Season 3 #1: Dry Season

Hi guys,

As you may well know, I haven't been posting much on my blog. Basically, I've been suffering a dry season of writing. It's a lot of things walloping me at once, that I'm not sure how I'm supposed to rationalise.

So I won't. I'm just going to make it very simple for myself. I'm going to do what I always did to defeat a dry season. By punching it head on.

That's how season 3 of my writing report series started. I've decided that accountability helps, just like how it did before, and from today onwards, you guys will get a daily report on how much I've written, and what I'm writing. For today's installment, I'm going to start with yesterday...

In today, I've written about maybe 750 words. 500 of them were supposed to be done the day before yesterday. Yeah, it's that bad, which means the real progress I've made was just 250 words.

I'm in the middle of the 'Phonehead' novel I told you guys about. In an unexpected twist to even me, my protagonist met a new character who saved his life. A soldier, who seems to be keeping something from him as they abandoned their car to a vehicle pile-up on an expressway and walked on in search of another.

I'm hoping to be able to at least write 750 words today, but my eventual target is to reclaim what I lost - the 1,000 words a day daily goal.

I'll keep you guys posted.