Fearless February - 500 words/day or editing - all genres welcome

Brechin Frost · Feb 9, 2017

lizmonster said:
I'm at the ugliest part of the edits: timeline repair. Today I mostly read through and made notes. I've got two days left to go through another 18K, and rearrange/rewrite anything necessary to make the timeline work.

This paragraph sent a wave of anxiety through me at just the thought of it.

Shara · Feb 9, 2017

Third consecutive early-morning writing session this morning. 1,044 words written. 3000-words-a-week goal achieved!

Saoirse · Feb 9, 2017

Started rewriting the climax last night. Will hopefully finish tonight.

lizmonster · Feb 10, 2017

Well done, Shara! And good luck on the climax, Saoirse. Go, team! :e2cheer:

Well, I got through the 18K of inline edits, and I whacked at the timeline until it made more sense. Had to shorten up some things, and lengthen others. I think I can handwave any remaining discrepancies by pointing out that some people are using faster modes of travel than others.

Today: Rewrite one chapter, and maybe combine two others into one. (I like the two separate chapters, but in fairness, one of them is a bunch of character stuff that doesn't really advance the plot. The influence of my soap-opera upbringing, I think.

) And then send that sucker back for another round of whacking by my editor.

Brechin Frost said:
This paragraph sent a wave of anxiety through me at just the thought of it.

Truth be told, the single biggest difference (for me) after selling a book has been writing to other people's deadlines. It really has changed how I look at my own work.

lizmonster · Feb 10, 2017

I have sent back my revision. :e2faint:

On deck for tomorrow: Revising some sample chapters for the next book, for my agent's perusal.

On deck for tonight: possibly some wine.

Brechin Frost · Feb 10, 2017

lizmonster said:
Truth be told, the single biggest difference (for me) after selling a book has been writing to other people's deadlines. It really has changed how I look at my own work.

How did it change?

lizmonster · Feb 10, 2017

Brechin Frost said:
How did it change?

I've always been the sort of person who focuses best with a deadline. I can sometimes set my own deadlines (I usually do pretty well at NaNoWriMo), but there's nothing like external accountability.

It used to take me months before I could pick up something I'd written and have any objectivity about it. I don't have that luxury now. Having external deadlines has made me a lot more brutal. If I have a vague suspicion that maybe something isn't quite working, I don't dither - I rewrite it, or I nuke it entirely.

On the other side of it, I find myself leaving parts I quite like, even if I'm not entirely sure why I think they work. There is no way there's ever enough time to rewrite to the point I'm 100% convinced it's all perfect, so I learn where to draw my lines.

Also: I no longer wait for the muse. The muse doesn't ever show up when you need it. (I don't mean our muse, of course!) Sometimes you have to sit and write even when you're convinced it's garbage, because at least then you have garbage you can revise.

In some ways, writing is not as much fun as it used to be. In other ways, it's much more satisfying, because after all the madness I have something finished.

Saoirse · Feb 11, 2017

:nods: Liz is absolutely right. There isn't any time to waffle on anything. Even with a year to write and revise my current novel, I was always aware of the time ticking. And because of the messiness of my process, I needed to leave enough time at the end in case I needed to do heavy rewriting (which happened with my debut novel. I had 2 weeks to rewrite 60k. Fried my brain and my wrists for months afterward. I don't recommend it). I also plot a bit more, rather than pantsing completely, and it helps to have some control over the process. As it turned out, when I turned in the current novel to my editor for the first round of edits, she said it was so clean it didn't need any major work at all. I chose t rewrite the climax myself. But all the edits were light. So I consider that a win. It's probably the cleanest draft I've ever written.

I didn't do anything last night b/c I had a horrible day at work and all I wanted to do was relax and kill things in Guild Wars. So I did. Today I'm back at it, hoping this is the last rewrite.

muse · Feb 11, 2017

lizmonster said:
I've always been the sort of person who focuses best with a deadline. I can sometimes set my own deadlines (I usually do pretty well at NaNoWriMo), but there's nothing like external accountability.

It used to take me months before I could pick up something I'd written and have any objectivity about it. I don't have that luxury now. Having external deadlines has made me a lot more brutal. If I have a vague suspicion that maybe something isn't quite working, I don't dither - I rewrite it, or I nuke it entirely.

On the other side of it, I find myself leaving parts I quite like, even if I'm not entirely sure why I think they work. There is no way there's ever enough time to rewrite to the point I'm 100% convinced it's all perfect, so I learn where to draw my lines.

Oh, I wish I could get to that point in my writing. I guess there's something to be said for deadlines after all.

lizmonster said:
Also: I no longer wait for the muse. The muse doesn't ever show up when you need it. (I don't mean our muse, of course!) Sometimes you have to sit and write even when you're convinced it's garbage, because at least then you have garbage you can revise.

lizmonster said:
In some ways, writing is not as much fun as it used to be. In other ways, it's much more satisfying, because after all the madness I have something finished.

It sounds like you've found your niche, Liz.

Been a while since I've been on this thread. At the moment, I'm doing edits for my soon-to-be-published book Where There's Smoke (I still get a thrill saying that.)

I'm also editing my 2nd WIP and trying to get the basic story done on my 3rd.

My goal for Feb is finish fleshing out my 3rd WIP and, hopefully, getting another couple of passes on the 2nd - the opening chapters are really bugging me. :Headbang:

Brechin Frost · Feb 11, 2017

Liz - I work well with a deadline. So far, book writing has been to my own deadlines. But I have a lot of practice writing to other people's deadlines when it comes essays and theses writing, and technical writing.

I'm very obsessive about writing. And very reliant on routines to combat the effects of mental illness, and in that obsessiveness and routine keeping, I tend to be very methodical. When I finish a first draft, I start the next part of the process as soon as possible... Sometimes with a day or two spent writing a short story in between as a pallet cleanser.

There are stories that I wish I had spent longer working on, however... I wrote a short story called The Zest For Life and I'm constantly thinking about how if I went back to it, I could make it better. Then again, at some point there are new stories to write and to edit -- stories that are better due to the experience of writing the ones before them.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I've written 1944 words today.

lizmonster · Feb 11, 2017

Saoirse said:
And because of the messiness of my process, I needed to leave enough time at the end in case I needed to do heavy rewriting (which happened with my debut novel. I had 2 weeks to rewrite 60k. Fried my brain and my wrists for months afterward. I don't recommend it).

Yow, Saoirse, that's insane. And bravo to you for doing it. My own "Deadlines I Agreed To And Came To Regret" story is much less dramatic: I agreed to release 2 books eight months apart (I'm a slow writer). What's interesting is that I think the second book is actually better than the first, and I felt much more like I was just whacking at it randomly at the end.

muse said:
It sounds like you've found your niche, Liz.

Haha I hope so. Because I have no idea what else to do with myself.

Brechin Frost said:
There are stories that I wish I had spent longer working on, however... I wrote a short story called The Zest For Life and I'm constantly thinking about how if I went back to it, I could make it better. Then again, at some point there are new stories to write and to edit -- stories that are better due to the experience of writing the ones before them.

Sometimes it's worth resurrecting the old ones. I dredged up a short I wrote a couple of years back. I kind of like it. I've no idea if anyone would buy it, but I think sometimes about tossing it up on my web site. I don't think it's that bad, although it's a different genre than my novels.

Brechin Frost said:
Edit: I forgot to mention that I've written 1944 words today.

Excellent word count! :e2cheer:

muse said:
Been a while since I've been on this thread. At the moment, I'm doing edits for my soon-to-be-published book Where There's Smoke (I still get a thrill saying that.) I'm also editing my 2nd WIP and trying to get the basic story done on my 3rd.

My goal for Feb is finish fleshing out my 3rd WIP and, hopefully, getting another couple of passes on the 2nd - the opening chapters are really bugging me.

Go, muse! :hooray:

And congratulations on the soon-to-be publication! Opening chapters are often the worst for me. I don't always know where the story starts until I've already written a bunch of it.

Today I did nothing, and it was wonderful.

Saoirse · Feb 12, 2017

Welcome back muse!

Liz - Yeah, I will never do that again. It was horrible. Two books 8 months apart is pretty insane, too, at least it would be for me. But I know that in publishing, the more often you publish, the better for your visibility. I'm still working on that.

Sometimes you need a brain break. I did that on Friday. I regret nothing.

Made my last pass on the climax. Like it or not, it's staying unless my editor says otherwise. Next, I have a few lingering issues to fix -- small things -- which I hope to get to today. I also promised myself I'd work on something different so I may do that today as well. We'll see. We got company coming, which means I'll spend most of my time cleaning, but maybe I can squeeze something in.

muse · Feb 13, 2017

lizmonster said:
Go, muse! And congratulations on the soon-to-be publication! Opening chapters are often the worst for me. I don't always know where the story starts until I've already written a bunch of it.

Thanks.

As for the opening chapters...I've written this 2nd WIP, but I'm still tripping up on the opening. I also think I have a major problem of too many POV's - or maybe shifting between the MC in 1st and the rest in 3rd. Methinks I need more feedback on it. See what other readers think.

lizmonster said:
Today I did nothing, and it was wonderful.

I had a day like that on Sunday - Bliss!

Saoirse said:
Welcome back muse!

Saoirse said:
Liz - Yeah, I will never do that again. It was horrible. Two books 8 months apart is pretty insane, too, at least it would be for me. But I know that in publishing, the more often you publish, the better for your visibility. I'm still working on that.

Sometimes you need a brain break. I did that on Friday. I regret nothing.

Made my last pass on the climax. Like it or not, it's staying unless my editor says otherwise. Next, I have a few lingering issues to fix -- small things -- which I hope to get to today. I also promised myself I'd work on something different so I may do that today as well. We'll see. We got company coming, which means I'll spend most of my time cleaning, but maybe I can squeeze something in.

Sounds like you've been really busy, Saoirse.

Finished my edits and sent them off to the publisher on Saturday. Managed to get 1,536 words done on new WIP, then celebrated by taking Sunday off. :greenie

Brechin Frost · Feb 13, 2017

Good work everyone!!

I just finished a chapter. Today's word count: 1129 for my novel. And since it's still fairly early and I'm feeling pretty good, I think I will work on my other project.

lizmonster · Feb 13, 2017

Edited a whole chapter today! Which...okay, that's not a lot, but it's something.

I've got two chapters I want to redo before I send this batch of sample stuff off to my agent. Hoping to get through one tomorrow, but maybe if I push I can do both and get the stuff out by Wednesday. And then I can write for myself for a while.

Saoirse · Feb 13, 2017

:cheers all progress:

I did end up writing 1,122 words on a different book and it felt pretty good. May try to do it again very soon.

onesecondglance · Feb 14, 2017

I finished reading a really good book

Shara · Feb 14, 2017

Another 1,044 words for me this morning. Which is clearly a magic number, since that's the same number of words I achieved in my last early morning writing session!

And the coffee shop I write in now has a notice on the door politely asking people to shut the door behind them when they enter or exit, so I no longer have to keep getting up from my seat because there's a draft...

Saoirse · Feb 14, 2017

OSG - Awesome! Which one was it?

Shara - Cool about the sign and the wordage.

Nothing again last night. I had a meeting (writing related) and I was exhausted afterward. Today I will be back at it for sure.

onesecondglance · Feb 14, 2017

Saoirse - a beta read for someone round here

(this is the forum equivalent of subtweeting, I think

)

Saoirse · Feb 15, 2017

OSG - Cool!

I worked on Ever Touched making ~~tweets~~ tweaks. Nothing to show on page or wordcount, but I got more done.

muse · Feb 15, 2017

A grand total of 103 words written today. I have, however, re-read and edited a couple of chapters of my WIP.

Slow going, but progress is progress.

lizmonster · Feb 15, 2017

Sooo today was a bit of a course correction. Not necessarily a bad one, but it does change my plans a bit. I'm switching WIPs (or is it WsIP?) for the prequel I synopsized in January. My new goal is to cough up two or three chapters by early next week.

I've also been told I may get edits to the edits I turned in last week sometime next week. (Wait...does that sentence even make sense?) I've been thinking a lot about that book structurally, and it may need more tweaking. I have a little time yet, but not a ton.

I also need to figure out how to properly thank my beta readers.

Shara · Feb 16, 2017

On a roll this morning. 1,424 achieved before the day job.

And another character is about to meet a gruesome demise.

Mwa ha ha....

Saoirse · Feb 16, 2017

Liz - Hugs. Sounds like you'll be pretty busy with the edits to the edits (yeah, it made sense!) and the prequel.

Shara - Nice wordage!

I finished the tweaks to Ever Touched last night. Now, on to the escape scene. I have no idea how it's going to work.

Fearless February - 500 words/day or editing - all genres welcome

Fix it in the Rewrite

Mi verkas

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

Mi verkas

standing on head, typing one-handed...

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

Mi verkas

standing on head, typing one-handed...

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

Mi verkas

pretending to be awake

Fix it in the Rewrite

Mi verkas

pretending to be awake

Mi verkas

standing on head, typing one-handed...

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

Fix it in the Rewrite

Mi verkas