Mythomania May 500 words/day--all genres welcome!

[muse]

I was worried yesterday about hitting the first little bump (I'm still block-shy from the beginning of the year), but I lay on the sofa and stared at the ceiling for an hour or so, not really directing my thinking at the novel but trying to hit a meditative state of thinking "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm". It worked, and two ideas popped up, I jotted them down, and that's what I wrote this morning.

Hmmm, sofa, staring, ceiling. Check! (Can I add chocolate? Always helps me think.)

I've had a big breakthrough on my sequel. About 1200 words yesterday.

Congrats on the breakthrough Lucie.

Probably about 1000 for me today. I'm just guesstimating still because it was handwritten again. Not bad considering I didn't get a chance to even sit down until nine o'clock.

Whoo-hoo, Kaitie.

You're making me jealous!! I'm having a lovely, lovely time with the house-guests but I do miss writing...

You won't be jealous of me, mccardey. No words again today. Been a hectic day. The words are in my head, but haven't had a chance to get them down. I am determined to write tonight. (If I can drag myself away from AW.)

[lorna_w]

ooh, new page. WTG, flipping us over to page 13.

I got another...honestly, I'm losing precise count. Maybe 2000 more words for 3000 total today. I keep coming up with ideas that require a plant and I'm going back and adding those and editing a page or two in that location while I'm there, and for me first-pass editing means "adding" more than subtracting. Furthermore, I have individual docs for most chapters, so I'm starting to lose exact count of the running total. Could be over 25K, which would mean 1/3 of the way to my first "the end."

I did some lovely research today and looked at some great photos which spurred more writing. And I'm fried, done for, toasted, braindead, need food...zzzzz.

Write well, all. Or at least think well.

[Shakesbear]

Strange day! Did nothing very much and then the muse came and grabbed my fingres - 1757 words, not necessarily in the order they ought to be in and some that will be banished by the almighty delete button. Shame the muse did not grab my brain as well as the fingres. Why can't I type fingres correctly?

[heyjude]

257 today. I'll take it! And at this point I'm very intrigued as to what my MC thinks she's going to do. I'm in the dark, but she clearly has a plan. I can't wait to see how it works out (I'm guessing badly).

[DocBrown]

539 words prior to midnight.

I just had lunch and am now going to sit down for a second session.

HJ: I'm working on that short story. Yeah THAT one. The humorous one.

[Marya]

I like what Lorna said about adding rather than subtracting, but edited out about 1 500 words on Friday, just backstory/filler. Then did 700+ words yesterday and 88 words this morning, a new 'clue'.

But realised I haven't got very far in May even though I've written something almost every day.

Encouraging to see how well others are doing, a reminder that persistence pays off.

[heyjude]

Yay short story Doc!

Marya, just writing is doing well--you're leagues ahead of me this month. Don't beat yourself up!

[lorna_w]

Forward progress is forward progress. I think it's really useful to keep the impetus, even if it's only 125 words a day. Then the habit is in place and the story is in your mind for when your life frees up or the muse gets hot and bothered (or whatever it is they do when we're chugging along)

1500+ words, written through the mild headache.

I have four POV characters, and I'm not sure whether I should finish out the day with the one I'm on now or switch to a new one. Eventually, they'll get interfiled, but that final shape doesn't mean a thing about how I will draft it. I guess I'll just see what I feel like tomorrow and follow my whim.

Doc, I'm impressed that after a draft, you want to keep writing something else. I usually just stare at the wall for a week while my brain unswells.

[Ken Hoss]

I've been AWOL for a bit, but I'm back and writing again! Nice to see all the wordage being added. Keep it up!

Just fixed a plot problem that I have been wrestling with the past day or so. Added 507 new words, so far today, and that's after slashing over 200 of the old ones.



ETA: Wrapped up the day with a grand total of 1022 words. (Another plot twist in the works.)

[Namatu]

Welcome back, Ken!

That's all I have to say. Nobody ask me about my wordage. Hey, is that a giant chocolate cake over there? *runs away*

[lorna_w]

ooh, good misdirection, namatu! Or, "OMG, is that chocolate rain falling outside your window?" Probably would also work here.

[Namatu]

I'll save that one for later.

[Ken Hoss]

Originally Posted by Namatu

Welcome back, Ken!

That's all I have to say. Nobody ask me about my wordage. Hey, is that a giant chocolate cake over there? *runs away*

Thanks, Namatu, it's good to be back. I'm not falling for the old "giant chocolate cake" ploy, so forget it. Now, about your wordage. I better not hear that you're slacking off, I've probably done enough of that for the both of us. Get cracking on the WIP. (Pun intended.)

[DocBrown]

Originally Posted by lorna_w

Doc, I'm impressed that after a draft, you want to keep writing something else. I usually just stare at the wall for a week while my brain unswells.

I have done that, but with this draft I feel I did plenty of that already as it took me almost six months for a 65k word draft with minimal description and several small unnamed characters.

I'm also trying to develop continuous habits. It often takes too long to go from one project to the next for me. I'm hoping to turn that around.

[marianck]

560 words today on the novella, and finished the flashback. I'm not sure a 5-page flashback in a story of this length, but I'll worry about that later. (It's so hard to turn the editor off!)

400 words to go to hit my goal for the month!

[marianck]

I just realized that this isn't a novella I'm writing... It's a novel! I thought it was going to be a short little supernatural romp, but if I continue following the story as it's currently going, and properly flesh out the world, it's got to be at least a 50k project. Probably more than that.

Huh.

[Ken Hoss]

Way to go, marianck! Welcome to the forum!

It sounds like an interesting project, especially if you started with a novella and it's turning into a novel. Good luck on it.

[WordCount]

Venting time:

I'm FINALLY done with exams! And, THANK GOD!, I can really start writing again.

But the first day back was slow. 400 words for me today.

[Ken Hoss]

Originally Posted by WordCount

Venting time:

I'm FINALLY done with exams! And, THANK GOD!, I can really start writing again.

But the first day back was slow. 400 words for me today.

It's always good to vent. We all need to at one time or another. And 400 words are better than no words. Just keep plugging away.

[mccardey]

I'm hoping to get back to it for a couple of hours today - even just a read-through would be nice


ETA: I have 29 comments to address before I can move on the Part Two. Perhaps if I really knuckle down I can get them done today...?

[Marya]

A read-through should get you out of house-guest mode mccardey and tempt you to start again.

Wrote 2 300 words late yesterday, about 9 000 done all in all this month, but the story isn't satisfactory, one of those stories that may not pan out -- I keep wondering if it might not work as a novella but the plot line is very thin.

Some chocolate rain would be a help --

[heyjude]

Congratulations, WordCount!

::makes it rain chocolate on Marya:: Did it work?

722 for me yesterday. Regina the Scene Stealer showed up AGAIN. What's her deal? Does she ALWAYS have to be there? What's her agenda? I can't quite figure it out...

[Zelenka]

My friends flew back to Norway today so I'm hoping for a couple of days' writing, but have hit the same problem again. My book is just not working. My friend is a writer as well and we talked over some things, but her natural talent and the fact that she's not at the stage I am, where the negative critiques are so many and so confusing that it's hard to switch of the inner editor and remember why writing was fun in the first place, just made me a bit envious and feel even worse as a person and a writer, because I should be able to remember why it's fun. For the first time in my life that I can remember I am seriously wondering if I should just quit.

[heyjude]

Originally Posted by Zelenka

My friends flew back to Norway today so I'm hoping for a couple of days' writing, but have hit the same problem again. My book is just not working. My friend is a writer as well and we talked over some things, but her natural talent and the fact that she's not at the stage I am, where the negative critiques are so many and so confusing that it's hard to switch of the inner editor and remember why writing was fun in the first place, just made me a bit envious and feel even worse as a person and a writer, because I should be able to remember why it's fun. For the first time in my life that I can remember I am seriously wondering if I should just quit.

I so feel this pain.

It was easier when we were totally ignorant of the craft and rules and just wrote for the joy of writing.

The constant "Is this believable? Would the character truly act this way? Will the reader get what I'm saying? Should I spell it out more clearly? Am I beating them over the head?" is hard on me. I need to find a way to shut down those voices and just write.

[Zelenka]

Originally Posted by heyjude

I so feel this pain.

It was easier when we were totally ignorant of the craft and rules and just wrote for the joy of writing.

The constant "Is this believable? Would the character truly act this way? Will the reader get what I'm saying? Should I spell it out more clearly? Am I beating them over the head?" is hard on me. I need to find a way to shut down those voices and just write.

That's exactly it. I used to sit up all night engrossed in creating stories. Reading them now, the actual writing is technically awful, but the ideas, the characters, everything seemed so much more alive. Wish there was some way to get back to that. Her suggestion was to write something like fan fiction where there's no chance of publication but even that, I'd want it to be the best prose I was capable of, so the inner editor still kicks in. Maybe chocolate is the solution but that's another thread...