The Finish the Damn Book Challenge

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JFitchett92

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This thread is descending again.

Nearly finished editing my first chapter properly. It's been a nightmare but I think once I'm finished I'll be able to learn from it and breeze through the rest of the novel.

My son Tristen was born on the 8th January, so that's been keeping me busy :)
 

measure_in_love

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Fitchett, congrats on your editing process and your son! That's so exciting!!

Also, it looks like we had a lot of January birthdays!!! I just had mine too on Thursday! Happy Birthday to all!

Glad this thread is working its magic. I'm trying to treat every day like it's NaNoWriMo and try and push myself to get to a word count goal. I'm at about 22k right now and this is with several edits. It's finally coming together in my head though. So at least it's in the right direction. I'm hoping to hit 25k by tomorrow night. My end goal is 60k. I've never written that much on a project. Here's hoping!
 

LupineMoon

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I had an epiphany the other day and combined (yet again) two novel ideas. Problem is, I'm still stuck but we'll see how things go. I think I might be able to churn out a few pages at least.
 

SkyeScribble

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I think it's time for me to take this challenge.

I'm painfully close to finishing the first draft of this novel, 96/110k words. It's become extremely hard for me to focus on this one project. It's been going for nearly a year and I've excited about several other ideas. I need to consciously sit down and hammer out the last 14 thousand.
My goal is April 20th, putting me at an average of 700 words a day. With my school workload and difficulty of endings considered, this should be doable. Then, revision begins for the beginning I wrote eleven months ago. Joy!
I hope you're all doing well, and I'll check back in soon.
 

L.C. Blackwell

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I've been waiting forever to post this, so I'm not going to let a sinking thread stop me. :hooray:

Line edits done. Fact checks done. Manuscript has gone to critique partner. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

LStein

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Congratulations, L.C.! I also would like to post even though this thread seems to be dead.

I used this challenge to write a first draft back in 2011-2012. It was successful in that it was the first time I was able to string 65,000 words together into a story that I really liked.

I put it in the drawer, following Stephen King's (and others') advice to wait a few weeks to revise. I think I let it sit for about a month, maybe five weeks. Unfortunately, when I read it again, I was not bowled over by my own brilliance. Instead, I saw how much goddamn revision the manuscript would actually need and I felt disheartened rather than emboldened. I put it back in the drawer and that's where it sat until last month.

So, three years later, I have an idea for this novel (while working on another project, of course.) Said idea fixes a huge plot hole. It, in fact, gives my book a plot, rather than just a series of interesting events. I mull over the idea for a few months, only telling my therapist about it. Maybe her encouragement casts the deciding vote and I pull the book out of that drawer to read it over a second time. This time, while I still feel the same way about the book-that it's mostly a fucking mess-I have a better idea of how to tackle revisions.

I started mapping out the old and new story lines last weekend and finally wrote the first 10 pages of the second draft tonight.

So, even though this thread might be dead, I wanted it entered into this record that a book written with the help of inspiration and encouragement by writers here has been resurrected. In order to keep myself honest, I thought I'd go back to posting here. However, as I'd probably be talking to air, I'll leave it at that.

Second draft begun!
 

David Poellot

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Am I allowed to revive this thread? I defer to the mod's decision. I've been away from this forum for over five years!!! And, even more shocking, I haven't written in that long. Work took over my life and killed writing for me. I've broken free from that company, and now, I'm ready to write again. This thread was always great inspiration. I would like to try to revive it and see if it can help me renew my writing....career? I'm not sure yet, but let's see where this takes me and us.
 

Isilya

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What do ya know, I was thinking of doing something like this. Thank you for reviving this thread.


Title: Branch and Bone
Current word count: 55,796
Current state: Worldbuilding Overhaul & Rewrite

Mini goal: 1 bullet point before playing on the internet (each time)
Weekly Goal: Complete 1 worldbuilding section
Goal: Finish worldbuilding overhaul by March 31st
 

David Poellot

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You're welcome, Isilya. I'm glad others may seek this out and keep it going. For me, no goals to post yet. Hopefully, I will in the next day or two. I just wandered across this forum today and saw my old stomping grounds. I can say that my sig is no longer accurate. I would like to revive The Park also, but the novel that's been bouncing around in my head for the past few years is a fantasy, dystopian novel. I downloaded Scrivener a couple days ago and pulled up all my old files. It was funny. I thought I had written more in that one than I did. I guess it was mostly world building and such that I had done. I'm eager to get started again, so I'm hoping things like Scrivener and this forum will light the fire and keep it burning. I really do miss writing.
 

David Poellot

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Ok, here we go...

Title: Halen (it will change)
Dystopian / Fantasy
Currently, 8,000 words (which will all be rewritten)
Daily goal: 1,000 words...5 out of 7 days a week, so a goal of 5,000 per week
End goal: 100,000 words
That means, I'll be done in 20 weeks, right? I should be so lucky. :)
 
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David Poellot

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Welcome to the Challenge, Dave! Cool first name. :)

As for me, just finished writing for the night. 600 words, short of 1,000 goal, but hey, a word written is a word written.

Good luck with everyone else's progress!
 

Raindrop

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Eh, I actually remember this thread. Wb, David! Anyway:

Title: Sculptures
LGBTQ+ Steampunk Fantasy
Status: 1st draft done. It's a mess, but it's my mess!
Word count: 124,000
Current Goal: finish detailed scene outlines by the end of the month.
 

David Poellot

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Thanks for the welcome, Raindrop, and welcome back to the thread for you! I'm glad to see you here.

Today, I typed and cleaned some stuff up. I netted a gain of 700 words. It feels good to get back into the groove again, although I tried everything I could tonight to avoid sitting down at the computer. :D
 

Laurasaurus

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Excellent thread! Thanks for reviving it, might be just what I need.


Working title: Gentlemen and Beasts
Contemporary
Current word count: 55,940
Daily goal: 1,000 words a day
Goal: finish first draft of 80,000 by the end of March
 

Zoe R

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Working Title (will definitely change): The Choice
Dystopian/YA
Current Word Count: 26,982
Daily Goal: 800 words 5x week
Goal: Finish 70,000 word draft by the end of April
 

David Poellot

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Welcome to the thread, Laura and Zoe! Is that my buddy, Harley, in your avatar, Laura?

Best day of the return so far. I added 1,100 words today. I could probably keep going, but I have to manage sleep and make sure I don't fall asleep at my day job.
 

LStein

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David, thanks for reviving this thread! I, too, found it very helpful back in the day.

I'm still working on the same book, but I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel.
First draft finished in 2012
Second draft finished January 2, 2018

It may be taking forever but I'm determined to finish.

Title: Annabel Risley
Upmarket literary fiction/thriller
Status: 2nd draft done. Working on third draft!
Word count: 72,000
Current Goal: Write every goddamn day until the 3rd draft is done!
Overall Goal: Finish 3rd draft by April 15. Finish 4th and final draft by summer. Begin querying in summer/fall.
 

Isilya

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Managed to finish up one worldbuilding section and got half way through another. :)
 

David Poellot

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LStein! I remember you from back in the day. So, we went the same path, right? We're still where we were six years ago? Not really. You've been writing the whole time, and I completely ignored it for a long time. It was always in my head, but work would not let me spend time with it. I'm glad to be away from that company for more reasons than just getting back to writing.

Isilya - great progress! Keep it up!

I finished writing for the night a little while ago. I netted a gain of 700 words. It would have been more, but I saw where I had written a similar scene five years ago, so I had to remove that from the WIP.
 

Zoe R

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Welcome to the thread, Laura and Zoe! Is that my buddy, Harley, in your avatar, Laura?

Best day of the return so far. I added 1,100 words today. I could probably keep going, but I have to manage sleep and make sure I don't fall asleep at my day job.

Thanks David!
 
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