The Equinoctial September 500 words/day thread--all genres welcome

[Manderley]

Since no one has jumped in and started a new thread for the month yet, I'll start one.:welcome:

As I suspected, yesterday's words were shite. I'm supposed to be transcribing them now, but I've decided to scrap them all. Not that it was that much to scrap, to be honest. But it's a new month and new chances, so I'm starting over again on the same chapter.

My goal for the month is to actually make the 500 words a day this thread is all about, so I'm aiming for at least 15 000 words in September. (Last month I only managed a pathetic 3500 words or so.)

And now I REALLY need to log off and get out of here, cause my dog's just farted :e2moon:and it's making my eyes water.

[heyjude]

I'm rising to the Equinoctial challenge with 1368 words so far today.

And I'm out of here too, not because of the dog, but to look up equinoctial on dictionary.com.

May everyone have a very wordy September!

[Captain Howdy]

640 for Monday.

[DocBrown]

Alas, no numerical word goal for myself this month. I'll be finishing that second draft of the first part of my first novel, but then I have to build my teaching portfolio. I'll have to declare a moratorium on writing then or I'll write to avoid looking for a job! :D

Good luck to everyone this month!

[TheIT]

I spent yesterday and this afternoon over at the nature park and typed in over 4000 words (some newly written, some from the previous draft). Current word count of my revision = 27,000.

My September goal is to finish as much as I can of this revision so that I can switch to planning for NaNoWriMo. Last year I didn't have enough time to rest before November, so this year I want to be finished with this draft in plenty of time to clear my palate.

:Sun: and :poke:, everyone!

[Manderley]

I managed 850 words longhand today. Probably need to cut 300 words, but that still leaves me 500 for today. Feels like I'm slowly getting back on track. Good feeling.

[Captain Howdy]

Great job Miss M!

888 for me for Tuesday... a good start for a new chapter. Probably could squeeze out some more but figured I ought to quit while I was ahead...leave something to leap off with tomorrow.

[heyjude]

Manderley, that's wonderful! I'm glad you're back at it.

Doc, keep us posted. Don't be a stranger even though you have no number goals.

I got in 1591 today and one of my characters said something so perfect that it's now the name of the new WIP. Woo-hoo!

[AnnieColleen]

Shhhh! It's not supposed to be September yet!

[Captain Howdy]

...and one of my characters said something so perfect that it's now the name of the new WIP.

I got a chill of excitement just reading that. Don't you LOVE it when those moments happen!?!?!

[Manderley]

Transcribed yesterdays words and added some new, taking it up to 1 000.

[Manderley]

Did another 900 words longhand.

[BfloGal]

Wow -- you're on a roll now, Manderley.

I managed to eke out 948 words between yesterday and today. But I'm not sure if they make much sense, since they are coming out of my Nyquil addled brain.

And now I'm going back to bed...

[TheIT]

Let's hear it for rolls! Sourdough, rye, or pumpernickel?

:D

Wrote another page and transcribed about half a page.

[Manderley]

Transcribed today's words and added some more, bringing today's word count up to 1150.

[heyjude]

I'll take sourdough, please, with 1882 words so far today. I have to teach small children tonight so I'd better put away the WIP and think clean. :)

BfloGal, feel better soon! Poor thing!

[DocBrown]

Manderley: Wow! You're really smokin' up the joint burning through words at that pace! Bravo! :e2woo: :Clap: :e2woo:

heyjude: And none too bad yourself! Those are some pretty good numbers! I'll definitely be posting until that 50 pages of rewrites is up. After that, I'll be sure to stick around with the whip to cheer people on. I'll need something to do as I look through the job postings. ;)

Captain Howdy: Nice job! I sometimes do the same thing. I'll stop with a few paragraphs to go at the end of a scene so I'll be primed and ready to go the next day! :D

TheIT: Good luck with your goal this month! ;) I think I have already given up my NaNoWriMo ambitions for this year. I flirted with the idea of giving it a go, but I think too much will be coming to a head this year. Hopefully, next year, after I get a teaching job. I can coast that month, because we all know teaching isn't really work anyway. :crazy:

As for my own rewrites: I took the first off. My prize for doing so well last month. I could only manage about 350 words yesterday. I could tell I was still tired so I called it quits early. But this morning's session resulted in 1300 words with about 200 of that being recycled content.

I want to do another 500-1000 words this afternoon.

Keep up the great work everyone! It seems a lot of us are starting the month off with a bang! :e2headban

[Captain Howdy]

1130 for Wednesday. My teenage werewolf is now in a strait jacket in a padded cell in an insane asylum and I haven't a clue what to do with him next.

:Shrug:

[TheIT]

1130 for Wednesday. My teenage werewolf is now in a strait jacket in a padded cell in an insane asylum and I haven't a clue what to do with him next.

:Shrug:

Scarily enough, Uncle Jim's "how to get the story moving again" suggestion might work for you. Insert the line: "Suddenly, a naked woman screamed" and keep writing.

:D

[TheIT]

Transcribed some more and finished a scene. Current word count is about 28,900.

[Manderley]

Zero again today. Brains fried from work.

[heyjude]

901 so far today. Hoping for a few more after the kids go to bed.

[TheIT]

Wrote about two pages at lunch and hoping to get more done tonight.

[Captain Howdy]

Scarily enough, Uncle Jim's "how to get the story moving again" suggestion might work for you. Insert the line: "Suddenly, a naked woman screamed" and keep writing.

:D

that was perfect!

540 words for Thursday

[TheIT]

that was perfect!

540 words for Thursday

My work here is done.

:e2file:

:D

[TheIT]

Just broke 31K on my revision and got past the argument scene which has been bugging me all week.

:hooray:

[heyjude]

Yay TheIT!

1031 for me today. Everyone have a great and wordy week-end!

[Manderley]

450 for me today. Finished a really sluggish section. Need to freshen it up in the rewrite, but I'll leave it for now. Need to move forward! :)

Nice progress, people!

[TheIT]

Isn't it great to finish the sluggish bits? Now that I'm done with this scene, I feel free to rush forward.

Wrote about half a page at lunch. Would have written more, but my pen ran out of ink. Darn. ;)

[DocBrown]

Great work Manderley and TheIT! :)

I never did manage that second session a couple of days ago, but I have progressed slowly with my rewrite punching out about 1500 words the last couple of days.

I've been doing a little light reading as well. It's nice to sit back and have someone tell me the story for a change. ;)

[Manderley]

Transcribed yesterday's words.

[heyjude]

Shhhh! It's not supposed to be September yet!

Just curious if you've admitted it's September yet. Yanno, it is the 6th. :)

1409 this morning, including a very emotionally wringing scene. Time to destress.

ETA: Move my word count up to 2213 today. I broke the 10K barrier a while back. Over 10K in less than a week... I'm dizzy. The rest of the day is devoted to college football.

[Manderley]

Nice word count, HeyJude!

I did 500 today, which means I'll need another 900 tomorrow to make the 3500 goal for the week. Luckily, I'm now entering quite an interesting scene, so it should be doable.

[TheIT]

:Sun: for Manderley & heyjude!

Got a little more typed in last night but I couldn't get into the scene, so I'll tackle it again today at the library. I'm hitting a section in the original draft that I'll be able to axe out, so that's feeling really good. Maybe I really will be able to pull in the word count for this revision.

Editing by chainsaw: :e2chain:

Shield yourself from flying words & paragraphs!

:D

[Captain Howdy]

0 for Friday
835 for Saturday

[TheIT]

2800 words transcribed between yesterday and today, and I've pulled in the draft by at least 800 words compared to the original. Here's hoping I can keep on this roll tomorrow.

And heyjude? Agreed, one doesn't need an excuse for chocolate.

:e2cloud9:

[DocBrown]

Another 700 words for me on Saturday.

This is truly turning into a rewrite as opposed to an edit. Of the 8500 words I have written for the second draft, I figure maybe 600 words of that is scattered recycled sentences. I guess that's to be expected. This is my first project in ten years.

I'm still not sure I'll reach my goal of finishing the rewrite of Part One by the 10th, but it'll be close. I can live with the 12th or 13th, I suppose. ;)

[Manderley]

Transcribed yesterday's word. I'm now gonna have a shower, and then get started on today's word count. Aiming for 1000 today.

[Manderley]

Wrote 450 words longhand and transcribed them. This should have been an easy scene to write, but I'm not feeling it. It's all a struggle and it sucks. Giving the new words a break for today and going back to fix some problems earlier in the text. At least it give me a sense of working on the story, even if it doesn't move the story forward.

Hope you've all had a better writing weekend than me!

Edit: Did a light edit of 10 pages.

[speirbhean]

Hi all! :hi:
Just back from an amazing 3 week trip Stateside and wading through volumes of email... :(
Great to see you all doing so well... I read some fab books on my holidays and am looking forward to getting stuck back into the MS - will start properly tomorrow - talk to y'all then :)
SB

[Captain Howdy]

486 straight out of bed this morning...thought I was gonna get back to it this evening but I went to see Tropic Thunder so now I am in a very un-Gothic mood.

[heyjude]

Horrible day for writing or anything but wrangling small children and babies. 301.

Speirbhean, welcome back! Good to see you again!

[AnnieColleen]

Just curious if you've admitted it's September yet. Yanno, it is the 6th. :)

:tongue

Ok, ok, I guess I have to. Since we're planning for my mom's birthday and all, and that's mid-September (aka next week :scared:). Haven't been reporting much since it's still more of the same -- planning/brainstorming, not writing -- and it's hard to quantify that. Guess I should still check in though.


:Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun::Sun:for all the words. Yay all!

[DocBrown]

I managed over 900 words today, finishing the rewrite to chapter two.

It was a tough week. The chapter ended with 5039 words and I would guess 4000+ was completely new.

Chapter three next week, then I can cool down and look for a job... :cry:

[speirbhean]

thanks all - good to be back on board! 900 words to day in post holiday momentum shocker...
What did ya think of Tropic Thunder Captain? I have to say I loved it... thought they could have dug the knife a little deeper in place... but yeah, loved it!

[Manderley]

No words for me today. Only slept 2 hours last night, so I'm in no state to create.

[BfloGal]

519 this morning -- after such a long break that I had to read the whole silly thing all over again before I could remember what had happened and who these people are.

I patted myself on the back after finding that my description of the scene of the crime was subtly suggestive of my theme -- even though I had no such intention when I wrote it, and I am now wondering if a dose of nyquil a day would actually make me a better writer.

[TheIT]

Wrote a little more yesterday morning, then didn't feel well during the afternoon so I read a book and took a nap. I just discovered Terry Pratchett, so I'll have something to read for a very long time. :D

BfloGal, I wouldn't stick with the Nyquil, but I've noticed sometimes that when I'm not feeling well, what I write is much more to the point. I think it's because I'm too tired to dance around a subject so I cut to the chase.

And DocBrown, I hear you about rewrite/revise. I'm in the same mode. Some scenes I transcribe almost verbatim from my first draft, others I have to rewrite completely except for the good turns of phrase.

To quote LOTR: "Not all those who wander are lost."

:Sun:

[heyjude]

Hey, BfloGal, glad you're back and feeling better!

Just over 500 today. Hoping for more later, but my kids keep multiplying. There are so darn many of them it's hard to write. But starting Wednesday I get that 2 hours three times a week to write my little heart out! Woo hoo!

Oh, and not to rush AnnieColleen into yet another month but I'm ready for October. I wanna see what whacky title you guys come up with for that, and I'm tired of thinking "How *do* you say 'equinoctial?'"

[AnnieColleen]

Oh, and not to rush AnnieColleen into yet another month but I'm ready for October. I wanna see what whacky title you guys come up with for that, and I'm tired of thinking "How *do* you say 'equinoctial?'"

So that's why I kept wanting to write 10/8 for the date all day today!

[speirbhean]

No increased word count this morning but got some more of my plot worked out and even a bit of the plan down on paper. So progress of sorts...

[BfloGal]

546 on this dreary morning.

[TheIT]

No words yesterday, but I printed out the latest scenes and have a plan of attack on the next scene. Current word count = 34,700.

[heyjude]

888 today. Yay for naps on rainy days and Gymkhana!

[Manderley]

Zero words yesterday. Would have liked to say it was because I did something important, but I only wasted my precious hours playing games on Facebook. :e2smack:

[speirbhean]

626 this morning. Very dull, most of em...

[DocBrown]

speirbhean: Not a name I recognize, but I am glad you're back on board! I've only recently come back myself the last couple of months. A pleasure to meet you! :)

Manderley: :whip: Never created a myspace or facebook page. They always struck me as time sinks. ;) Alas, I gave up most gaming en route to the PhD.

BfloGal: Glad you're back! Near perfection the last few days! Even if it doesn't feel like it. :D Keep it up!

heyjude: Same for you! Good work! :Thumbs:

TheIT: I am convinced you're a cyborg. Only a machine can have your consistency. :e2crown: Great work!

Time for my confessions I suppose. Nothing yesterday, I gave up caffeine for the day to be able to trick my body into motivation today. I had about 1200 words before midnight and another 900 after. I'm putting it all on Tuesday's record though. 2116 for tonight in total. It sounds like a lot, but it was a two day plan after all. ;)

Hopefully, only a few more days of rewriting before I take my job hunt break.

Keep up the great work everyone! :Clap:

[triceretops]

Last two days were 1000 apiece. I sit right now at 600 or so for an early start on today's numbers. My WIP sits at 35k at the moment. It's a Tom Clancy-type thriller, the first such genre type I've ever attempted. It's tough not cramming paranormal or spec into the storyline. But good dicipline.

Tri

[TheIT]

Two and half pages last night, plus I started a new notebook.

Cyborg, DocBrown? Nah, just someone who sometimes has too much time on her hands. ;)

I want to get through this revision quickly so I can prepare for NaNo. I'm also finally hitting sections where I can transcribe from the original rather than needing to rewrite the whole thing.

:Sun: and :poke:, everyone!

[BfloGal]

668 today, plus some much needed organization, plus the sad realization that I have way too many characters running around.

Today I reevaluate their contributions to society, and tomorrow? The executions will begin -- and only the strong will survive. Mwahahaha.

[heyjude]

, I gave up caffeine for the day to be able to trick my body into motivation today.

How the heck does that work?! I give up caffeine for ten minutes and it's go get the migraine narcotics. Even my characters mainline high test coffee. How is this motivating?! Share!

901 for me today, including an amusing safe cracking scene.

Just found out that my kid might be kicked out of preschool, which would be the end of the nice word counts. Or possibly any word counts. Oh, yeah, bad for the kid too. :)

[DocBrown]

Hehe, good question! :tongue

Actually, it's as simple as recognizing that my body doesn't seem to get addicted to caffeine (mostly the symptoms are quite mild). I'll ingest it regularly and randomly. Sometimes, I'll decide to go without it for a few weeks. I don't get migraines (usually, it has happened a few times). Mostly, I just get run down for a few days. Sleep 9-10 hours and then need a 2 hour afternoon nap kind of thing.

If I want a day of extra motivation, I can skip the caffeine for a day or three. Recoup some sleep and then overdose on the day where I need the extra motivation. I then get really hyper and motivated and accomplish quite a bit. :D

I've just come to know how to manipulate my body and bend it to my will! Muwahhahaha! :hat:

Of course, all the extra stress I put myself through will kill me ten years too soon, so I better get writing! About 500 words so far tonight. I'm expecting a phone call so I don't know if I'll get back at it. We'll see.

[speirbhean]

Thanks Doc Brown, good to meet you too! 1500 words this morning way hey!!! New plan is to get up an hour before work and get em done early. It's working so far... fingers and everything crossed!!

[Manderley]

I hang my head in shame: Third day with zero word count and zero work on the WIP. It's been a week of bad combinations: lack of sleep, hooked on word games, dog with diarrhea, and a Cosmo article to finish. Hoping to get the article done today, so I ought to be back on track tomorrow.

[Captain Howdy]

me too Miss M - zero word count since Sunday. Kind of not happy with the route the WIP has taken the past few months (the downside of word counting) - also wrapping up my current on again off again temporary job - house sitting with a golden retriever/lab mix named Spencer - and starting a new temporary assignment job next week (this one will be a real 40 hour a week job through the end of November) - everyone keep up the good work - I'm keeping my EYE on you!

[DocBrown]

Tsk! Tsk! There's no shame in not getting the chance to write. There is only shame in quitting! :P

After midnight I only managed 200 and some words, but my day hasn't really started yet, so I am ahead of the curve. ;)

I'll do more after I wake up. Though I already know I'll be rudely awakened at some point. I'll be getting a UPS package and for some reason they deliver during the day when I'm sleeping. :Shrug:

My blog entry title for today: A Moment of Silence

The body consisted of: ...

[BfloGal]

945 this morning. Unfortunately a good portion of it is a monologue of the victim's back story. Uggghh. I have to think of an interesting way to break it all up. Maybe I'll add a cat.

My excess cast of characters has gotten a temporary reprieve from execution. One or more of the following still have to go:

I have two sidekicks. I thought surely that I could eliminate one, but when I tried, they suddenly announced that they were in love, and that they could add some great things to the story line. I'm giving them a chance to prove it.

I have two adversaries for my main character. I thought of morphing them into one, but they are resisting that -- one is part of the plot, and the other is comic relief. So I'm thinking the comic relief one could go, but she really has a unique way of making my MC miserable. So I'm going to hold on to her a little bit longer to see what she adds. But she's been warned.

I was thinking about eliminating at least one of the victim's three kids. The oldest has a personality and talks, the middle boy gets messy and hasn't said anything since the mother died, and the runny-nosed baby functions mainly to drool and elicit sympathy from the MC. Now, the baby was willing to give up her name for the cause, and go simply by the title "runny-nosed baby" -- which is admirable. I have a feeling it's the middle boy who is going to end up like Chuck Cunningham -- anybody remember him from Happy Days?

[heyjude]

945 this morning. Unfortunately a good portion of it is a monologue of the victim's back story. Uggghh. I have to think of an interesting way to break it all up. Maybe I'll add a cat.


Adding a cat is always good, in a book or in real life. And eliminating children? Ditto. :)

626 today. Desultory writing, which is bad b/c it's a big escape scene. Thought I'd quit while I was bringing everyone down. The kids are watching Curious George which is far more interesting to me right now. How sad.

[TheIT]

About two pages written last night. I'm replacing some of the buildup of characters which never did anything with speculation about the lurking menace in the woods.

[speirbhean]

It nearly killed me to drag myself out of bed this morning but it was worth it for 900 words. Yay! I doubt it if I'll get to touch the MS over the weekend though, so have a great couple of days everyone and hopefully I'll be back Monday.:LilLove:

[DocBrown]

Woo hoo! Good to read about more progress from the crew.

Me and my breakfast of Ramen noodles washed down with 2 liters of Mountain Dew can report a solid performance tonight with 1048 words before midnight and another 1454 after.

I'm still a little jittery from the caffeine. Looks like I just took another another 6 months out of my seventies. Even though I am still a bit wired, 7-8 hours is generally my limit. I'd like to go on, but I just don't have the drive at the moment.

Keep at it everyone! :Sun:

[BfloGal]

536 this morning to put an end to the fifth chapter. Total word count stands at 14,745.

Have a good weekend everybody! :)

[TheIT]

No words yesterday. I upgraded my printer so I spent yesterday evening installing my new toy. Automatic double-sided printing ... :e2cloud9:

[heyjude]

Doc, 2 liters of Mountain Dew and you're only a *little* jittery?!

An even 1200 words today, including one of my favorite sentences ever. Don't you love it when that happens?

Everyone have a wordy week-end!

[TheIT]

2-liters of Mountain Dew in one sitting and I'd be bouncing off the walls on my way to the ladies' room...

:D

[Manderley]

Another zero for me today, but at least that darn Cosmo article is done! Hope to get back to WIP tomorrow.

[DocBrown]

Hehe, I did say I was writing for 7-8 hours. The "one sitting" while drinking the soda was spread out over a 4 hour period, give or take, so the jitters were a consistent side effect throughout the evening, not one explosive blast like when I take the OTC pills. ;)

The pills are great too! But soda is my delivery system of choice most of the time. :D

Since I am almost done with the important part of my rewrites and will be taking a break in a few days. I'm going to lay off the caffeine. I've been hitting it awfully hard the last two weeks so it is time to take a break.

No more magic motivation. It's going to have to be all me. :(

[BfloGal]

326 this Saturday afternoon, which is really pretty good since I don't generally write anything during the weekends, and seldom ever in the afternoon.

I think I successfully broke up my monologue. But sorry, no cat. I just had one of my sidekicks run blushing from the house during the middle of it. They're playing hard-to-get, but they are so in love.

[heyjude]

Another zero for me today, but at least that darn Cosmo article is done! Hope to get back to WIP tomorrow.

Hey, this counts!

1663 for me today, plus another 750ish on a short story. The dog had surgery, so I'm sitting with him, keeping him company while he sleeps and drools on the couch.

[DocBrown]

Finished my rewrite of the first installment last night; 16,000 words. I'm still going to take a once through for polishing before I send it to a friend for critique.

Only made it 14-15 hours without caffeine before needing to go to bed early. Then I slept over 9 hours. :D

Guess I'm ready for that polishing now!

[heyjude]

443 today. Impeded by a new and fierce cold.

[TheIT]

Hit 38K on the rewrite today.

Hope you get over your cold soon, heyjude. Here's some virtual tea:

:Coffee:

[speirbhean]

I'm on a train this morning, heading to a different city to work for the day and managed 1,200 words on the lap top. The word count is coming along nicely but I need more tension and, well, gore!!!

[triceretops]

About 550 so far today, well, no it's passed midnight. Word count is 35,500 on the new thriller.

Tri

[BfloGal]

543 this morning -- and it's a beautiful morning.

The sun is peeking through the clouds, and I was able to throw a couple of nice big rocks at my protagonist in the tree -- one of which also led to the formation of a new red herring out of a previously existing background character.

Hope you're feeling better, HeyJude -- If you try my patented Nyquil writing method, tell me if it works for you too. (Just teasing.)

[heyjude]

Thanks for the well wishes and tea and idea for Nyquil. :)

1762 today while the kids were in preschool. I'll have to wait until I'm thinking clearly to see if they're any good.

[TheIT]

If you're taking Nyquil, be sure to use the measuring cup. My friend used to just take a swig from the bottle until she realized she was getting two or three times the recommended dose, which explained why instead of putting her to sleep it was keeping her up all night.

Forward progress is good. Judgment comes later. While I was transcribing one of my scenes yesterday, I had the nagging feeling the scene was superfluous, but I'll make the judgment call later once I have the whole story in place.

[TheIT]

Wrote a page and a half at lunch. Still feels like I'm wandering, but at least I'm still moving forward.

[BfloGal]

667 this morning, unfortunately not in my WIP, which I had to place on the back burner for a few days while I prepare a devotional for a ladies' tea.

Hmmmm....unless I just add it in as a stand alone chapter in my WIP under the guise of a devotion prepared by my preacher's wife protagonist -- kind of like when other cozies add a chapter that's just a recipe or some such thing. Just teasing... I think. You know -- it might actually work. I have to think about this.

[speirbhean]

*hangs head in shame*
Lads - never break a winning formula!! I took an extra hour in bed today thinking I had an easy day in work and would 'fit in' my 500 words at some stage... well work exploded, I ended up putting in a 15 hour day and not a phrase of fiction has left my fingertips :cry:
To be honest tomorrow won't be much better, my day has to start at 8am and will finish around midnight again, so will there be room for the old WIP?.. we shall see. But I've learnt my lesson about procrastination!!!!! ;)

[TheIT]

I'll procrastinate tomorrow.

:D

speirbhean, I hear you about work blowing up sometimes. Good luck on finding some time!

[heyjude]

So sorry speirbhean. Maybe all this work drama will lend extra tension to your WIP when you get around to it. Hey, it's optimism!

669 for me today. Kind of slow, but necessary setup.

[DocBrown]

Head up speirbhean! :P

I'll use a cliche that I absolutely hate because it's stupid: "It's always darkest before the dawn."

I mean really. Who comes up with such nonsense?

Anyway, the point is you'll bounce back! ;)

Keep up with the good work everybody!

I'm just writing emails to get my references on board. Next, I have to write my teaching philosophy statement and look up the proper methods of writing a cover letter for the jobs I am looking for...

*Yawn* I should be writing... :cry:

[BfloGal]

1,129 today, but the higher word count also includes a small chunk of my MC's back story, which I had written previously, but now finally found a home.

[heyjude]

1443 today. Unfortunately my little one is one step closer to getting kicked out of preschool. I'm making hay while the sun shines!

[TheIT]

Another two pages last night, and I'm almost up to another argument between my MCs. Another scene, and I can finally get them to the fair.

[Manderley]

Not a word for nearly two weeks. Dealing with some things at home which makes me sad, which is not good for my creativity nor my writing mood.

[BfloGal]

No new words for me today, but I ended up trading critiques with another writer, and got some good positive feedback and some good constructive criticism.

Manderley - I hope things get brighter for you.

[TheIT]

No new words last night. My brother was visiting so we went out for dinner instead.

[heyjude]

Aw, Manderley, I'm so sorry. Best wishes and blessings to you. May it get better quickly!

TheIT, dinner with a visiting brother definitely gets you off the hook, but only for so long. :)

2000 even for me today so far. Amazing what I can fit in around the edges when I'm driven. :)

[heyjude]

A paltry 269 today. I feel like I'm talking to myself. Anyone else still writing? Revising? Viewing this thread?

Helllloooo.....

[TheIT]

Still here. Got some more transcribed today, but I'm not sure of the word count. Hopefully I can get my characters to the fair tomorrow.

[RJK]

I'm still checking in every day. I'm still editing/revising my WIP (3 more chapters to go).

I agree, not much activity in the whole Mystery/Suspense section. I'll give some thought to this and start a new thread with a question a little later, OK?

[heyjude]

Oh good, I'm not alone!

Hey, RJK, I was wondering if you got an answer back on your full? I got a reject, but with another agent referral, and it was so nice it was hard to be upset.

843 today.

[BfloGal]

I'm still here too!

Over the last two days I accumulated 1780 words in my devotional. Good thing -- the tea was this afternoon. I waited way too long to get that started.

And now, back to my WIP.

[Captain Howdy]

Lurking, here, not writing - sorry, I've temporarily dropped out of word counting while I do some mental re-structuring of both my life and my WIP!

[heyjude]

1285 today. Hope the restructuring goes well, Captain!

Bflo, I had a speech last Sunday to give at church. You'll never guess when I finally thought about it. Yep, Sunday morning. :) It's nice to have it done, isn't it? :)

[TheIT]

Got about 2700 words transcribed over the weekend and finally got to the morning of the fair. :hooray:

Also, I finally came up with an idea for another SF/F challenge piece and wrote about two pages for that, too. Feels good to be working on something new.

[speirbhean]

Hi guys :hi:Work completely stole my soul last week, but I squez out 300 words this morning to try and get myself back into the game. Onwards and upwards!! Hope ye're all doing well... going to have a quick flick back over the threads I missed now!

[BfloGal]

136 new words, and sadly that's going to be it for me today. I was, however, able to bring myself to axe a scene and a half that really wasn't doing much for me, and get rid of three excess characters. The surgery was successful -- the patient's prognosis is unknown.

[heyjude]

1190, including a wonderfully light scene. Nice to have a few of those in with all the heavy stuff.

[TheIT]

Stayed up until 2AM finishing the rough draft of my challenge piece.

:e2thud:

[Manderley]

Still no words for me, but at least I'm meeting my writing group today. Hoping that will motivate me again. I'm also planning to go up to the cabin for a few days next week. Hopefully I'll be writing up there. So far this month I've only managed a pathetic 3000 words.

But it's good to see the rest of you doing fine! :)

[DocBrown]

TheIt, piling on more work? And you said you weren't a cyborg. :P

I've been pretty lazy the past week in terms of the job search prep. Sadly, I spent an entire day watching all three seasons of Meerkat Manor. It's about as close to reality TV as I can stomach, which eliminates about 50% of what's on TV these days.

I think I needed to take a break after all that writing in July and August. I am feeling more motivated today to start working on that teaching portfolio.

Keep up the production people! Or take a break like me. :D

[RJK]

I'm still waiting to hear from the agent on the full request. It's been 19 days so far. I printed WIP #2 over the weekend and started with the red pen editing round. It's amazing what you can catch on the printed page that you miss on the screen.

[BfloGal]

No new words for me today. (Will someone please slap me?) But I did get some of my own chapters back with some interesting critiques. Some things to think about...

[speirbhean]

Hello all! No word count today but I changed an 'I' chapter to a 'she said' chapter - an earlier draft i'd forgotton about. And hey - where did AW go earlier?? I couldn't sign in for ages... I missed you guys!!

[TheIT]

BfloGal? :poke:

No words last night, but tonight I'm planning to transcribe my challenge piece. BTW, Happy Day-After-Equinox, everyone!

:D

[heyjude]

BfloGal, I refuse to slap anyone (even if they richly deserve it which you don't) but that's me poking you on the other side of TheIT.

639 today. I had another thousand in me but no time. Ah well. I'm going on vacation (well, vacation for me, work for hubby) Thursday for a long weekend with nothing to do but write and read. DocBrown, I'll be in your neck of the woods!

[speirbhean]

My laptop died!!! RIP laptop. Techy guys in work say it has to be replaced and that'll take at least a week :cry:Thankfully we managed to salvage the WIP... :hooray:Not that they knew what they were salvaging)but this morning I was reduced to working on our ancient house computer which as my hubby reminded me has about a quarter of the capacity of his iPod!! So following a slow warm up a bit of rewriting ensued, nothing to write to ye about!

[TheIT]

Ouch! In honor of speirbhean's deceased laptop, let's everyone make sure to backup our files tonight, all right?

Transcribed about half of my challenge piece last night.

[DocBrown]

heyjude: No kidding! How long you and your husband going to be in Vegas? Throw me a PM if you two want to have lunch or dinner or something. I've always had a theory about everybody being interesting for about 60 minutes. Any longer than that and you're risking boredom! :D

Just bear in mind that I've been self unemployed for seven months and it can't be anything fancy. ;)

[heyjude]

PM sent, Doc!

For the first time in Sept, no words today. Too busy packing and sending partials (woo-hoo!). Oh, yeah, and being a mother. :)

[speirbhean]

900 words today. Back on line but computer access still sporadic - heading out with Himself to buy a new PC for the house at the weekend. In the meantime I'm learning my own lesson and emailing teh WIP to myself at the end of every session!

[TheIT]

Nothing yesterday, and probably nothing today. I've been writing a document for work and that's consuming my brain cells. I'm hoping to get back on track this weekend. Or collapse. Whichever.

[AnnieColleen]

Still lurking/outlining/worldbuilding. Oh, and driving my brother crazy -- "Hey, you're taking physics; how would this work? Oh, well, how about this? No, that won't work with the story. What about this?"

I s'pose I should start posting outline wordcount, since it's a pretty involved one. Or just keep disappearing. I like disappearing. ;) :gone:

[speirbhean]

700 dull flabby words this morning *yawn*

[heyjude]

I'm back! My little vacation produced lots of words--roughly 6600 over the last three or four days.

[DocBrown]

Awe inspiring production heyjude! :)

Still continuing my break into the beginning of October. Tomorrow's my birthday, so I'm going back to NY for a week to visit friends. I will be working with my friend, the shoe salesman alpha reader, on improvements for the first part. I guess that makes it a business trip. ;)

My flight leaves in 6 hours; time to pack! :D

[TheIT]

No words for me over the weekend. I managed to write a 14 page document for work in about two days last week, so that used up my language quota for the weekend. Instead of words, I pulled out my clay and made a couple of necklaces. It's been months since I made anything, so it feels good to be working with my hands again.

[heyjude]

Happy birthday Doc! Have a good trip!

About 800 yesterday but I was very unhappy with the way the scene turned out so I may rip out the whole thing and do it again.

The IT, that many pages for work would kill any creative thought for me!

Where's BfloGal and Good Word and the others? What are you guys doing? And come on Annie, I wanna hear outline word count! I'm fascinated by those of you that can outline... Must be nice to have some kind of plan. :)

[RJK]

Yesterday, I received a rejection from a query I emailed 93 days ago. I had written this agent off a while ago. Now it's official.

[TheIT]

Merry Birthday, DocBrown!

:Cake:

Sorry to hear about the rejection, RJK. Better luck on the next one.

No words again last night. I'm still recovering from the push last week. Tonight's my writers' group meeting, so I'm planning to type in the rest of my SF/F challenge piece and hopefully kickstart my brain.

[TheIT]

Posted my September SF/F Challenge piece (and yes, it was still September in my time zone when I posted it :tongue ). All comments welcome:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117423

[BfloGal]

Ack -- after two major projects this month, and getting sick for a week, I've accumulated a paltry 5,910 words for the month to bring me to a total of 16,105. (Well, there were more, but I deleted about 1500 -- don't know where I was going with that)

Oh well, it's a new month, with no mistakes in it. Time to go make some.

[heyjude]

421 yesterday, but probably far more than that as I ripped out a whole bunch before writing more.

966 today. It's raining, no sunshine to distract me. :)

[DocBrown]

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! :)

Hope everybody keeps working hard. Though September did seem to be a light month around here. I hope to get back to writing a bit in the next couple of weeks.

[speirbhean]

It's October!!! But I'm not brave enough to start a new thread :) so maybe this will be the final post here. After a fabulous start I completely tailed off this month but I know why... writing first thing in the morning is the ONLY thing that works for me. It doesn't matter how light I think my day is going to be 'something' always comes up if I don't get the 500 words underway at day break. So that will be my goal for October. Even though the mornings are getting dark and cold... Sigh. Right. Off to do my final September entry into the WIP...

[Manderley]

I finished September with 3000 new words added to my WIP. Which is just ... pathetic!