September Challenge – Write (More) Every Day!

D.L. Shepherd - Whatever gets you writing!
Magnus - When I'm freelancing is when my manuscript suffers the most. It's hard to write my book when I could be writing for guaranteed pay. Good luck finding gigs. Also, yay for mindfulness!
Layla - Yay for submitting the job letter. Good luck!
Collie - solid day
Keithy - Deleting can be a great way to improve writing, at least for me, ha ha.
KatyDid - I hope you finish your current projects and sell them to Penguin! In the meantime, there's something to be said for doing something you don't like, maybe it can give you a story idea.

Day 18: Edited Chapter 1 (again)
Day 19: Edited Chapter 2-4 but hoping to edit more as the day progresses.
I printed out the pleonasm sticky and am rereading it before each editing session. This is for real the last edit before I press the send button.

Day 18 - 347
Day 19 - 784

I skipped ahead a ways in the outline. I feel like I'm getting stuck in the quagmire of establishing all the things, and possibly that's true since I doubled my wordcount again. Of course there's only so many times I can pull that off because there are only so many skip-aheads one can do... and I will have to go back and write the stuff I skipped eventually anyway. But I guess there's no point in getting caught up in that right now, right?

Good luck all! Happy writing, whatever it might be.

Day 19
2,500 words. turns out having the kidlet at a school camping trip frees up a lot more time than you'd think.

ambmae...I must have missed the "pleonasm sticky" somewhere. Please elaborate! Oh, and nice work editing!

Magnus...glad you are feeling back on track. That's wonderful news!

Esmae...great that skipping ahead is helping you progress in the story. Worry about the filling in the blanks later.

Collie...I was just coming on here with the great news that I actually wrote 2,000 words tonight, and not only did you beat me to the punch, you got another 500 words over me. Ha ha! That's awesome. Keep it up and way to take advantage of that camping trip!

I managed ~400 words today and a bit of shuffling chapters around. Chapter 17 is done apart from a couple of very minor issues. Next is Chapter 24.

What's this pleonasm sticky thing?

katy - prioritizing is good.
Collie - congrats on that editing.
(Layla googles pleonasm - she was sure she once knew that…)
Magnus - nice work with the 300 words - sounds like it was fun to write. & yes, getting the other stuff out of the way really makes a difference…
Embae, Collie - great work!
Whoa DL, 2000 words. wow!
Congrats on the 400 words Keithy

Day 19: 424 words in 3 WIPs.
I changed my routine (usu write after breks) because I had to make a housemate call early, and I decided to just tackle a job letter after that. I worked on a WIP and then had errands and then a person came to see the place. So I got to two other WIPs after that.

Which reminds me - soon(ish) it will be to cold to start my day writing on the porch, so something I'll have to do is clear some space in my rooms to write. But today was a good 'test' of writing outside my routine.

Despite my decision to use my energy editing instead of writing, I managed to get 681 words written in my WIP in some downtime between classes and grading! I've also spent some time expanding my notes for my upcoming NaNo project, which I am excited to dive into come November. Once I get home, I can continue working through my edits, which I think I'll finish before my deadline if I keep this up. I had a really nice day in classes today (surprising given one of the classes I teach twice a week) and it's really helped my energy and motivation to do the extra stuff. I'll take it!

Sending good vibes to everyone as we hit the last 10 days in September!

Day 20 - Today the page almost won. I got about 100 words, though I might have to work to rescue them since my iPad isn't talking to Dropbox properly. After two 2 hour naps last night instead of actual sleep I don't have the mental energy to wring out much more than that... but even if I have to transcribe all 100 of them, they did get written.


Collie - lucky you! and good on you for putting that time to good use.

D.L. - good for you too! 2000 words in a single sitting is a great accomplishment this month.

Keithy - From 17 to 24? Interesting jumps!

Layla - the porch is a great place to sit and write. I too did a bit of that this afternoon (see above) and I think I can probably get away with it for another month or so before it's too cold to be practical.

Heykatydid - funny how that works, huh? the lure of the other project is always a strong one.

Magnus - 300 words today still beat me! As for the boring parts...

I'm sure we've all heard the adage about how if the writer is bored writing something, the reader will be bored reading it, but I think it's important to evaluate why you find a particular bit of writing boring. There are a lot of scenes that can get written where nothing happens, and those for sure I'm sure we can all skip over. But then there are scenes that seem boring because they lack the intensity of other scenes: I'm not sure what your WIP is about, but if you're looking forward to writing an epic battle scene between the main character and their arch nemesis, then a quiet scene between the MC and his best friend is by comparison ... well, maybe boring is the wrong word, but maybe it's not as much fun to think about or to write. Then there are the parts that might seem boring to you as the writer because you need them to convey important information to the reader, and you as the writer already know all that information intimately so sorting through and choosing what to put on paper is just review after review of what you the writer already know. You can't skip over that stuff because it's information the reader needs... but there are different ways to present it. But then that breaks down into a whole conversation about scenecraft...

If only I could count forum posts in my daily word count!

Day 20
A little over 1k. Goal met. Laptop closed. Now to make dinner!

Layla...always good to have an indoor place for rainy days too. Hope you carve out that perfect nook for yourself.

heykatydid...Wow. You're really burning that candle. Keep it up!

Magnus...I bet you'll make your goal. You still have an entire third of a month to go, and you've been making progress as of late!

Esmae...sorry you are having technological problems. That always puts a downer on things. I like your idea about the "boring" parts of a manuscript. Makes a lot of sense.

Collie...nice job! Hope you're having something good for dinner as a reward!

I hope to get something done tonight, but I know it won't be another session like yesterday. I'm exhausted, and I still have to cook dinner too.

I was too busy with housework today so could only do about 225 words. But chapter 24 has been bent to fit the plot line a little better. Next is chapter 31, where a devastating secret is revealed. I might well be changing who reveals it.

Collie/DL - wow, I wish I could do that much in a day!

katy - 681 words - ftw
Magnus, congrats on the 300
Esmae - *almost* won. Congrats on the 100
Collie. Nice!
Hi DL! hope you either get some satisfying word in, or have an enjoyable otherwise
Keithy 225 is great!

Day 20: 342 words in five WIPs

I started the day with a job letter again because it was too rainy to write on the porch. I subbed to the job, then went to my friends to get help fixing my bike & I taught him some computer stuff in exchange. Came back and did my writing inside, though I got of to a shaky start.

I can't believe we're down to 10 days. And for our last day of summer here - rain rain rain… I guess it's par for the course…

Esmae & Magnus - I'm glad I'm not the only person who sometimes struggles through the "boring" scenes that I know I have to write to get to the scenes that I want to write. I've tried to do some skipping around when I get a scene idea in my head - sometimes I'll tack on an extra page after my WIP progress and write it down, but then when I come back later and finally get to it, I find that I end up gutting a lot of it because I've added or changed things going into it on the way. It's not really ever "wasted", as I do keep parts I like and that work, but I remove more than I keep, I think. So maybe this means I'm a really linear writer who should write things in order so that everything builds properly? lol

Layla - FIVE WIPs??? How do you keep them all straight?! I'm so impressed! And congrats on the words!

Keithy - I'm so intrigued by your ongoing changes, as all the little hints really build intrigue around this mysterious story.

D.L. - I hope you could get something done! Exhaustion is the worst, and there's often no way around it.

Collie - Congrats!! You've been putting some big numbers down!! Fingers crossed that you can keep it up!

As for me, I finished my edits 3 days early! I got them sent back to my editor, and I'm feeling ~great~! I even managed another 650 words in the WIP today, which took me to the next chapter break, and has wrapped up another bit of the plot. This means there's not a huge amount left, perhaps only 20k or so depending on how this plays itself out, and I'm super stoked to be at the end.

Sending encouragement to the wonderful list~

Keithy...glad you fixed up one of your chapters and are plotting some changes to another.

Layla...hope that rain clears up for you soon, especially if you prefer to work outside.

heykatydid...congrats on finishing the edits early. Good luck!

I got sucked into social media last night, didn't get any writing done at all, and today I'm at work all day, but maybe I can carve out some time tonight.

It sounds like everyone is making amazing progress! Something about the weather makes me feel more motivated. I love the fall!

So, the pleonasm sticky: go to general writing interest, click on basic writing questions, click on Allen Guthrie's infamous writing tips, there you will find an excellent rubric for editing titled: Hunting down the pleonasms.
I'm finding it very useful.

Yesterday I edited until chapter 7, realized that chapter 8 is a monster and broke it up, then I had edited until chapter 8!

Forgive typos please, this is from my phone.

Day 21 - 923 words. (Unfortunately) they were character POV exercises and don't count toward the manuscript itself but since one of the things I've been consciously trying to work harder at is nailing down the main character's POV I'll count them. One version of the scene was from her perspective. The other version of the scene was from my antagonist's, using the same situation and the same goal, which made for an interesting, even fun, little diversion.


September's almost over, guys. Keep it up!

day 21 - another thousand, including the first introduction of the antagonist

katy - congrats on the 3 days early. Working on multiple WIPs helps me make a higher word count. Sometimes I can only add one sentence to a story… (The two I added are revisions of stories that failed the SYW 'I'd keep reading' test)

Hope you get some writing in DL, or get some good rest
nice going with the editing, ambmae
150 words is great, Magnus
Whoa, Esmae, 923!
Collie - one thousand! wow!

Day 21: 453 words in five WIPs. I beat my previous high by one word! winning!


Started the day writing and subbing a job letter I worked on two WIPs, then out for errands & then another job letter. Worked on the other three WIPs, & a housemate phone interview in the evening.

8 days yall!

I got nothing today. The video card keeps crashing on this laptop (it's very old) and after work I started sorting through all the old photos so I can back them up before it dies. I keep coming across photos of my last Labrador, Toby, in his older days, and he just looks so sad in them.

I don't know why I never noticed it before.

He had a lot of health and anxiety issues near the end. I used to second guess putting him down too soon (it was a real tough call with him because he was up and down), and now I'm second guessing keeping the poor old guy around too long. We let him go about a year and a half ago.

My oldest gal, Leah, passed after him. She was actually my heart-dog, but she passed on her own at 17 after a good long life with me. I'm sad when I see her photos too, but I have no regrets with Leah like I have with him...

Anyway, I'm just down now, and definitely not writing tonight. Shutting the computer off and hoping for a better day tomorrow. I honestly didn't read through today's posts from everyone, hope everyone else had a better (and more productive) day!!

(((hugs))), DL

Got just about nothing done today :-( apart from a very basic sequence of events.

Perhaps tomorrow.

D.L. - Hugs all around. I know your dogs loved you, and knew that you loved them. You gave them wonderful lives filled with warmth! Don't ever doubt that. <3
Keithy - Best of luck for tomorrow!
Layla - That's great! You're on a fantastic roll with so many works to jump between, and another day of putting down words. Kudos!

I opened up my WIP determined to put down 500 words, and for the first 400, it was grueling. (I kept checking the word count every sentence or so, ha!) But then my brain clicked on and I got 1078 words and well into a good scene before I had to go back to teaching, so I'm happy with the progress today.