What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?

A while back, what was on my mind was that I wasn't getting enough actual writing done. Now, I've worked out a schedule to write every day, even if it's just a little. I'm slowly but steadily getting my first draft down.

And the first draft is unmitigated trash. It's awful. The dialog is unnatural, the prose is flat, and the scenes are boring. I'm trying to tell myself it's okay, it's the first draft, and I'll fix it in revision. But... seriously messing with my self confidence, here.

That I'm nearly finished this rewrite (improved plot but took out a lot of words). However, I took a peek at the first 2 pages tonight and they're awful, hope it's not all that bad. Straight into next rewrite I think...

pernickety said:

That I'm nearly finished this rewrite (improved plot but took out a lot of words). However, I took a peek at the first 2 pages tonight and they're awful, hope it's not all that bad. Straight into next rewrite I think...

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On the bright side, it means throughout your rewriting process, you improved.

bearilou said:

Probably wise. Let your well refill. Indulge in favorite movies, books, shows. Take walks, clean the bathroom, UFYH*NSFW language, let your mind wander with no pressure to go anywhere at all.

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Thanks and I agree. Still trying to work on letting my wander and work. It's not working but I'm going to keep trying. Haha.

I have to get my "money" writing done first--priority to pay bills. But by the time that's done the day is shot and I'm too pooped to pop a pixel on my requested sequel. Damn it's hard and tiring. But I'm managing to knock out several pages a day on the fiction. It's kind of my reward for TCB on the other stuff.

It's just about impossible to write when related b.s. is being stressful. And I'm not even talking about response times or rejections.

I need to finish this round of edits on book one so I can start edits on book two. I also need to decide if I am going to have betas look over book one or wait since it will be temporarily shelved. I can't wait to finish edits on book two though, so I can write my first draft of book three.

Have I mentioned I am apprehensive about finding betas?

Well since it's going to be shelved, however temporarily, why not send it out to your betas so they can look at it while you're working on the next project? That way you'll have the feedback when you're ready to come back to it.

I finally finished the second draft of the older story I grumbled about in my last post. It has a proper beginning now, along with a new character, lengthening the story by about a third. Next draft will probably be streamlining and possibly adding a bit to the ending, depending on what my beta says. I'm concerned that it may be too abrupt as is, especially with the new additions. After that and a short rest, one final check and this one's going out the door.

Haven't done much on my in-progress story, mainly due to contracting the damn plague that's been going around. The illness itself isn't too severe thanks to my flu shot and some meds but I've been getting headaches that make concentrating difficult.

Currently looking at or trying new ideas for story planning. Hopefully, this one works.

Hoping this weekend writing structure works out despite how busy everything is this weekend. The quicker I find a writing structure for the term the better writing and school work will go.

heza said:

A while back, what was on my mind was that I wasn't getting enough actual writing done. Now, I've worked out a schedule to write every day, even if it's just a little. I'm slowly but steadily getting my first draft down.

And the first draft is unmitigated trash. It's awful. The dialog is unnatural, the prose is flat, and the scenes are boring. I'm trying to tell myself it's okay, it's the first draft, and I'll fix it in revision. But... seriously messing with my self confidence, here.

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Hang in there! Push your first draft out and then go back to polish it up nice and good.

Hillary

Had a great writing day yesterday! Spend a solid 3 hours writing in a cafe and everything that came out was golden.

Hillary

The rewrite of chapter 2 (now chapter one) is done. I want to start on editing chapter 3, but it is so long I need to print it out to work on it, but the printer is out of black ink, I have no money for an ink cartridge and the boyfriend acts like he's doesn't care about my dilemma and hasn't offered to go buy one (his printer anyway) so I don't know what to do now. Frustrated.

I'm almost done with draft #3 and am apprehensive about looking for betas because zomgs, what if people find out I suck.

Rewrite on chapter four and five complete. I'll proof it and send it off to publisher and ask, "Now, is this more inline with what we're looking for?" It was a hassle, but it was needed since plot was going somewhere else without any reason or motivation.

New Shiny Idea is floating around in my brainspace trying to make itself heard. Must. Resist.

crunchyblanket said:

New Shiny Idea is floating around in my brainspace trying to make itself heard. Must. Resist.

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I think this is happening to me right now, and I equally must resist, at least I can plan it out more.

So I managed to print the whole of chapter 3 (49 pages worth) using the color ink cartridge on the printer, and after it printed the last page the printer yelled at me telling me it was low on ink. Oh well, at least I managed to get printed what I wanted to. Then I read chapter 3. *cringe* Most of it is pretty bad and I'll need to rewrite the whole thing pretty much. The last few pages weren't so bad and are salvageable. That must have been when I started to find my voice.

Broke the 30k barrier. Woot, but my character had a major unexpected encounter with a minor character and learned a few things I didn't know. This may affect The Plan.

Trying to write a scene where one of my main characters sees her closest friend for the last time & make it both emotional without having characters break down, yet still fit a bit more exposition in that needs to be expressed.

Trying to get to 50 posts so I have the ability to get some critiqued, but before I do that I should see about critiquing some work myself except I'm not so sure I'll be of any help after seeing the quality of critiques from others. I'm going to turn into the people from high school CW whose critique was, "I liked it.", and that's all they say.

I don't think I'll start writing today. I think I really want to work on the idea some more. Plus I kind of have other stuff to do as well.

Shenanigans! said:

Trying to get to 50 posts so I have the ability to get some critiqued, but before I do that I should see about critiquing some work myself except I'm not so sure I'll be of any help after seeing the quality of critiques from others. I'm going to turn into the people from high school CW whose critique was, "I liked it.", and that's all they say.

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You'll do just fine. Besides, helping to pinpoint potential flaws in someone else's work will only help you with yours. Give it a go.

Worried about the sequel.

crunchyblanket said:

New Shiny Idea is floating around in my brainspace trying to make itself heard. Must. Resist.

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I've been letting myself slip a little bit, dipping into other ideas here and there, but I totally cracked today. I've been stymied too long on the WIP I've had for a year and I figured it was better to work on something than nothing. That's how I'm justifying it.

Shenanigans! said:

Trying to get to 50 posts so I have the ability to get some critiqued, but before I do that I should see about critiquing some work myself except I'm not so sure I'll be of any help after seeing the quality of critiques from others. I'm going to turn into the people from high school CW whose critique was, "I liked it.", and that's all they say.

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It's okay. Give it a shot anyway. A critique is not gospel truth; it's an opinion, and your opinion is as valid as any reader's. Just poke around, read other crits to get a feel for things, take a breath...jump in.