Goals – Dayo Benson

On Writing Personal Uncategorized Christian, Christian Authors, christian books, christian fiction, christian fiction books, Christian Novel, Dayo Benson Books, Edgy Christian Fiction, Goals, Motivation, targets, The Lincolns, The Lincolns Series, writing

Dear Highly Valued Reader,

Since I wrapped up my Crystal series back in 2016, I’ve been promising a season 2. Alas, I got side-tracked by other ideas and other series.

But I knew it was time to start writing more Crystal books when snippets of banter between Alejandro and Max kept popping into my mind!!!

To make this happen, I decided to hibernate and focus on finishing the two series that I was midway through (Saints and Sinners & The Lincolns). I’ve been pretty quiet since I released Unholy Ground (Saints and Sinners 3) back in January. That’s because I’ve been doing just that: hibernating and writing NONSTOP.

Need proof? The books I’ve written so far this year are:

Irredeemable (Saints and Sinners 4)
Curveball (Saints and Sinners 5)
Justice (Saints and Sinners 6)
Untitled (The Lincolns 10) – Salem Lincoln (it isn’t really untitled but if I mention the title you’ll all guess what’s wrong with him 😃)
The Magician (The Lincolns 11) – Xy Lincoln
The Televangelist (The Lincolns 12) – Hades Lincoln
The Red Robe (The Lincolns 13) – Jared Lincoln
Prophecy (Crystal 10)
Untitled (Crystal 11)
Untitled (Crystal 12)

Currently writing: Untitled (Crystal 13)

Please note: all titles listed are tentative.

You may be wondering how I’ve managed to write that many books this year. Well, I’ve been writing like I’m on drugs. My husband has been sniffing my breath just to make sure I’m sober, ha ha. But guess what? I’m LOVING this level of productivity.

However, writing so fast is hard work. It means I have to plot books in intricate detail so that writing is mindless and I don’t have to stop to think. I have to have each scene outlined and I have to know exactly where the book is going. It also means that in my spare time I’m reading lots of other books as reading awesome literature keeps me fresh and sparks my own creativity. I’m also watching movies, reading books/listening to podcasts about story-structure and storytelling devices/techniques, and other things that only obsessed storytellers bother with.

It also means trying to edit and publish isn’t realistic 😭😭😭

I’ve been trying to edit ‘Untitled’ (Salem’s book) and I’m about 60% through the first edit (2 more rounds of editing to go) and it’s affecting my writing.

Image result for wonder woman I initially thought I’d be able to edit/publish while writing this fast but I always think I’m Wonder Woman. I’m not.

Besides being an author, I’m also supposed to be a wife and a mother to two kids that I should really spend time with. Also, praying and reading my bible are habits that I just have to keep up. I can’t negotiate on that. I’m waking up at 4am each morning as it is. (5.30am is the absolute latest I can allow) or I won’t get everything done that I need to.

Creativity takes time. But don’t feel sorry for me, guys. I’m enjoying this so much. It’s my calling and it energizes rather than drains me. My goal is to publish 100 books before age 40. I’m in my early thirties and decided in January, when I had my birthday, that I don’t have to let this drag out until I’m forty. I’m a motivational video/personal development junkie and I heard a quote that you should take your 10-year goal and see what you can do to achieve it in 6 months!!! I cannot hit book 100 in 6 months. But I could possibly hit it by this time next year. I’m currently writing my 57th book so 43 left. Woohoo!!! 💃💃💃

I gave myself this ‘100 books by 40’ goal because I currently have 180 books on my ‘to be written’ list. The thought of getting to the end of my life and not writing them all troubles me. But I’ve decided that if I can write 100 of them, that’ll be pretty cool.

Really Sorry…

Image result for pleading Soo…I’m asking for your forgiveness if you’re one of the people who has emailed me this year to ask when my next book will be out and I told you it’ll be out in the summer. It won’t. At the moment I’m thinking it’ll be next year. But who knows, I could burn out within a few months and decide to stop writing and start editing/publishing, or I might stay focused and make it to book 100 by this time next year (that’s the target).

If you’re thinking that writing that many books in twelve months is crazy. It is. But it’s not as crazy as you think if you consider the fact that I’m dictating the books (not typing. Typing forty-something books before now has pretty much ruined my wrists). I’m also a full-time author so this is my ‘day job’. Also, none of these books will be the finished article by any stretch of the imagination. Each one of them is a very messy first draft that I will need to later mold into something readable, and they will each have to go through three rounds of editing (It’ll probably take me like five years to actually publish them all). I’m literally just blitzing out my first drafts since the mood to do so has taken me.

Stay in Touch

Image result for stay in touch Anyhow, I need your prayers. Also, I invite you to email me whenever you want and keep me accountable, check on my progress, ask me what book I’m currently writing and how it’s going. I will happily tell you.

If you’ve been dying to know what’s wrong with Salem, let me know and I’ll tell you. It isn’t really a spoiler as the book focuses more on how he gets his freedom, rather than on his problem.

If you’re not on my mailing list, whyever not? Sign up here so that you’ll know the minute I publish a new book. I honestly can’t wait to share all these books I’m writing with you!!!

You’re always on my mind as I write.

In closing, here’s a quick encouragement from me: If you have a goal. Go for it. Even if it means single-minded focus for a season. Even if other people don’t get it and think you’re obsessed (#DedicatedNotObsessed). If you have lots of goals and don’t know which one to focus on first, I encourage you to pick out the goal that will make it easier for you to achieve all your other goals and go after it with so much savage tenacity that people think you’re on drugs 😂😂😂

Thanks for listening and for patiently accepting that I won’t be publishing any books this year (😀😀😀). You’re the best.

Dayo xx

On Writing Personal Dayo Benson, Goals, new year's resolutions

Happy 2015!

Dayo Benson

January 3, 2015

For some reason I’m really excited about 2015. I’m not quite sure why. I just like 2015 and feel like it’s going to be a great year 🙂

I’ve been thinking about my resolutions and what I want to achieve this year, and as usual I have so many things. I’m pretty private about my goals. I know some authors will write about all their goals on their blogs, but just the thought of doing that gives me chills. I will share a few of my goals though. Not just writing related ones.

Prayer

Last year, I didn’t do so well. Because I’ve been going to church for as long as I can remember, and I made my personal decision for God when I was nineteen, a day doesn’t pass when I don’t pray in some form. But I also set time aside to have more focused prayer. Last year I had a rough time in the first quarter of the year, even ending up in hospital in March, and after that I got stuck in a rut where my praying was more daily adhoc prayers rather than dedicated time. I felt horrible about this when I was taking stock a few weeks ago. I have to get back on track this year because prayer really is my sustenance. Occasionally I would set a day apart and tell my husband I’m praying, but still, it wasn’t good enough. I think daily dedicated time is best for me.

God is so faithful. He still inspires me even when I haven’t been faithful to Him or given Him priority in my life.

Writing

I’m the kind of person who likes to set aside large chunks of time to write. On a Monday and a Tuesday I can write for about eight hours each day. On a Saturday I can probably snatch four hours to myself to write while my husband and my eldest daughter go for the evangelism programme at church (I stay home with our youngest). This year, I’m going to try to write for two hours every day. The reason for this is, if something comes up on one of my heavy writing days I lose all that time and my word count for the week suffers. Also, it’s hard to stay in the ‘flow’ if I’m having a writing binge at the beginning of the week, then not writing again until Saturday. If I just write two hours a day, there’s no need for a binge, and I figure I can write almost a full book each month if I stick to two hours a day. (Although I love my eight hour writing sessions).

So, there are two of my goals. I have more spiritual and writing goals, as well as marriage/family goals and workout/diet goals. I’m not trying to lose weight (I just want to make that clear in case my mum or dad read this, ha ha. Mum thinks I’m too skinny). I’m just trying to be healthy because I eat too much junk i.e. sweets. I’m trying to stick to water and healthy snacks this year. I’m trying to be a good example on this for my kids too. I can’t really tell Rhema off for always eating sweets if she knows I keep a stash of mentos, chewits, haribos and lollipops 🙂

I also have a big birthday coming up this month so I’m evaluating my life and where I’m at. A few months ago I was dreading this birthday, but I’ve come to terms with it now and I’m looking forward to it. Partly because the husband and I have some cool plans. I’ll try to get Insurrection (Crystal 3) published this month. I’ll do a cover reveal soon.

What are your goals for 2015?

Dayo xx