Productivity, Playlists, & Reader Questions

Time for more reader questions and a few notes!

Q: Since you are now indie, do you plan on any other new books outside of the known series that are currently being released? Will you be writing anymore non fiction books?

A: If you’re asking if I plan on writing other new series besides the Fury Unbound and the Bewitching Bedlam series, definitely! I already have plans for a new series next year, and there are many more ideas running around in my head. I’m hoping to see Bewitching Bedlam through a long run, though (in addition to other new work), because I love, love, LOVE Maddy and her world.

Q: Do you have any tattoos of your characters?

A: No, I don’t get tattoos of characters or “real” people. Nor do I get names tattooed on me. Personal preference. I DO have the likeness of what I call the Dark Fae Queen on me, but that’s more spiritual than anything else.

Q: What character has been a surprise to you while writing all your books? Has one just jumped out and said ‘write my story now!’?

A: Well, in a way, ALL my characters are like that. I don’t sit down and create them before I write the story. So yes—lots of them have. 😉

Q: You have playlists in the back of your books. Do you use a program like Spotify or pandora?

A: No, I compile all my playlists from music I own, picking the songs that fit the mood of the book/story best.

This last question brings me to a side note:

Productivity, Writing, & Playlists

While I did create a playlist for Maudlin’s Mayhem, and for Fury Calling, I’ve been using them more for inspiration and not for actually writing to the music. You see, I’ve wanted to up the amount I write for awhile. There are so many books I want to write, and I’m releasing at a faster pace, so I need to. I’m naturally prolific, so this really isn’t much of an issue for me, but I wanted to make sure that I don’t skimp on quality.

So, for Maudlin’s Mayhem, and while I’m now writing Fury Calling, I’ve been trying a technique that I learned last year. It works like a wonder, but it means that I don’t listen to music while I’m writing. Or to anything. I’m using what’s called the Pomodoro technique. It’s basically a way to manage your time so that you get more done in a shorter amount of time. “Work smarter, not harder.”

There are a number of studies now pointing to facts that multitasking actually decreases productivity and I have come to realize this is true for me. I love music and it inspires me. I’m an audiophile and I get caught up in the music to the point of where I’ll lose track of the story. So with the Pomodoro technique, I focus solely on the writing and I write in sprints. This way, I generally get my 5000 words a day done in 3-4 hours or so, and then can focus on admin, email, social media, blogging, revising, etc..

The basic premise is: I set a timer for 25 minutes. I turn on my Anti-Social (a software program that blocks social media on my computer for the time that I set it to—generally I block it for 2-3 hours at a time), and then I write for 25 minutes with no interruptions, then set the timer for 5-6 minutes for a break. Then another sprint of writing, and so forth. It works like magick for me. I’ve been able to speed up my writing with no loss of quality. I also find the sooner I get to work in the morning, the more I get done. I’m training myself not to check my email or social media till later in the day—though that’s still in process. There’s more to the technique than that, but in a nutshell, this is the part that I’m focusing on right now.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you why in some books you may no longer see a playlist, but more of a ‘music that inspires me’ list.