The Finish the Damn Book Challenge

Can a newbie join in?? This is just the kind of kick in the pants I need.

Title: Raptor Dreams

Word Count: Um...will have to get back to you on that?

Big Goal: To be finished by summer.

Small Goal: 500 words/week

Me too please!

Title: WILL OF NINE DRAGONS

Word Count: Sadly back down to 1,351 from 3.5K. Yes that's right, I'm going backwards. Must stop going backwards.

Big Goal: Finished first draft by the end of August

Small Goal: 500 words/day

my wip was finished by a virus. it started out as a pop up and then wiped out all of my documents when i tried to scan it. the computer squad in my school did the final scan--all of my documents are gone. i still have several copies of the wip but this was my working copy and no, i didn't have a chance to back it up. it all happened so fast. twenty pages of rewrite gone. oh. well. could have been eighty, i guess--ss

shakeysix said:

my wip was finished by a virus. it started out as a pop up and then wiped out all of my documents when i tried to scan it. the computer squad in my school did the final scan--all of my documents are gone. i still have several copies of the wip but this was my working copy and no, i didn't have a chance to back it up. it all happened so fast. twenty pages of rewrite gone. oh. well. could have been eighty, i guess--ss

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OOh sympathies.

Monkey said:

Awesome! It's great to have new people.

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Thanks Monkey!

shakeysix said:

my wip was finished by a virus. it started out as a pop up and then wiped out all of my documents when i tried to scan it. the computer squad in my school did the final scan--all of my documents are gone. i still have several copies of the wip but this was my working copy and no, i didn't have a chance to back it up. it all happened so fast. twenty pages of rewrite gone. oh. well. could have been eighty, i guess--ss

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Oh no! So sorry shakey.

ShakeySix, ooooh that really sucks. I've done that with 20 chapters and 75k words in. I have yet to rewrite it but I have learned to back up my back ups. I probably carry and own about a baker's dozen worth of zip drives.

@ Monkey, Thanks! Glad to be here!

Monkey said:

Thanks, Magali.

I plan on sticking around until this finished rough draft becomes a truly finished book.

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Yay!!! You have no idea how happy I am to read that!!

NivianBlanche said:

Can a newbie join in?? This is just the kind of kick in the pants I need.

Title: Raptor Dreams

Word Count: Um...will have to get back to you on that?

Big Goal: To be finished by summer.

Small Goal: 500 words/week

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That's great! A little goes a long way! As long as you work on your WIP every single day, even if it's a few words per day, you'll have a greater chance of finishing it. Finishing a novel feels so good!

Monkey said:

Welcome, Nivian!

Glad to have you!

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Word!

hBar2010 said:

Me too please!

Title: WILL OF NINE DRAGONS

Word Count: Sadly back down to 1,351 from 3.5K. Yes that's right, I'm going backwards. Must stop going backwards.

Big Goal: Finished first draft by the end of August

Small Goal: 500 words/day

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That's fantastic! Welcome to the Finish The Damn Book Challenge!! Don't worry about going backwards or having to rewrite something. As long as you work on it on a daily basis you will be all right.

Monkey said:

Awesome! It's great to have new people.

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Yes, it is! The AbsoluteWrite community keeps growing every day!!

shakeysix said:

my wip was finished by a virus. it started out as a pop up and then wiped out all of my documents when i tried to scan it. the computer squad in my school did the final scan--all of my documents are gone. i still have several copies of the wip but this was my working copy and no, i didn't have a chance to back it up. it all happened so fast. twenty pages of rewrite gone. oh. well. could have been eighty, i guess--ss

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That sucks. At least you didn't lose the whole thing. Sadly I went through that twice with a novel I wrote five years ago. Now it's going to be the third time writing the same novel, same characters, same plot, but very different at the same time because I surely don't remember what I wrote that far back word for word. The second time I wrote it I decided to delete it just this Sunday because I realized how messed up it was and I couldn't think of a way to fix it, so I decided to start all over, but I'm not going to work on that book until I finish my incomplete works, so it's going to be a while. First version of novel was written in 2005 and second was written between 2008 and 2009. When will the third one come around? Who knows?

timewaster said:

OOh sympathies.

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Yes, that sucks a sweaty sock.

Monkey said:

Ouch. Hate to hear that, Shakeysix.

But your writing's not finished until you say it is. You wrote it once; chances are, your rewrite will be even better.

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Exactly!! That's why for me, I only feel terrible about losing a novel for a little while. Then I realize that second, or in this case third time around it will be much better.

NivianBlanche said:

ShakeySix, ooooh that really sucks. I've done that with 20 chapters and 75k words in. I have yet to rewrite it but I have learned to back up my back ups. I probably carry and own about a baker's dozen worth of zip drives.

@ Monkey, Thanks! Glad to be here!

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Your WIP was novel-length already when you lost it! Ouch! Well, the second time you write it, it will be better. Don't lose hope.

had a friend from india once who explained the god shiva to me. i could not understand why a god called the destroyer was doing business as a good deity. my friend bruno explained that taking everything away and starting fresh is a good thing, not a bad thing. years ago i lost the first 88 pages of my first novel during a lightning storm. when i started the thing again, it all came together so well that i had to thank shiva. i'm not thanking shiva yet on this one, but it might come to that--s6

still i'd like to get my hands around the pencil necked geek who cooked up this virus. i'd show him shiva!!!!!!!

shakeysix said:

still i'd like to get my hands around the pencil necked geek who cooked up this virus. i'd show him shiva!!!!!!!

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@ that one!! You really made my day!!


I hope everything works out very well for you. I see you've been through that heartache more than once! Nothing hurts more than losing your work! Actually I just remembered another novel I lost back in 2000. It wasn't finished but it had about 45 chapters written. I can't remember how many words it had. I am rewriting it when I finish my incomplete books and it's going to be completely different from the first one.

Where has this thread BEEN?! I have had writer's block for the past several days. And I'm a chronic multitasker, and am on the computer mostly from my day job, which means...writing at lunch.

TITLE: The Index, Book 4: Revival
Current count: 89,000 and change
Must be - ...95,000 or till the gaping hole where the battle scene is closes.
Doable: I can push at 400, 500 words at lunch; a half-hour is enough time to push it through. At home? I'll put to 700.

Let the fun begin!

Back for another update on my WIP.


The word count has gone up from 39,500 words (approx) to exactly 43,953 words. That's approximately 4,374 words. That's not much compared to what I usually do on a good day, but it's not so bad. I still have a few handwritten scenes to type and then in the end I am going to go back and count the words that were added to the manuscript by typing my handwritten scenes.


This is so much fun!! Good luck, everyone!!

This is your friendly neighborhood file-safety-team reminding everyone to back-up your files. Now. Go do it.

I honestly hurt whenever I hear a story like that, Shakey. I'll have nightmares tonight. Ugh! But I love your optimism.

As for my writing, well. I thought I was finished. I'm not sure anymore. I am thinking it might be time to just stop writing, and begin rewriting. Any votes?

Is it okay if I'm a late joiner? I'm a bit of a procrastinator BUT love deadlines and accountability!

Title: The Clockwork Cricket
Projected Word Count: 25,000-40,000?
Word Count: 4,399
BIG Goal: First draft (however rough) finished by early August
Small Goal: 5000 words/week OR 1000 words/day

I can already tell (unless some sort of Festivus Day Miracle occurs) that I'm not going to make the 5,000 this week... UGH. But definitely next week!

OK. At work; just did my morning gamut of setting up the office. Had to kill a paragraph because it made NO sense whatsoever, but I did push out a bit on a scene. 451 words before 10:30am, and a total wordcount of 89,060.

It's not even getting to the "heat of the battle" scenes, and I may jump around some more. I seriously suck at battle scenes.

I have returned!!! HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who has recently finished! And best wishes for the new joiners!!

My WIP "Greyling" is being looked over by beta readers, and yesterday and today I have been working on roughly outlining my brand new WIP. I'm so excited to be writing something new! And I'm re-joining the challenge because it's so awesome!

Title: Rainshadow
Genre: Fantasy
Projected Word Count: 100K
Minimum Daily Word Count: 1000 words
Date of Completion: Somewhere around September

I've upped my minimum daily word count because I'm out of school now and therefore have quite a bit more time on my hands. Also I'm a fast writer once I get into it, so 1000 words shouldn't be too troublesome.

Wish me luck!!!!

Monkey said:

Semmie--Have you resolved your primary conflict in a big ol' blaze of climax glory? If so, then yes, STOP. Work on edits

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Good litmus.

Thank you.

Off to write just a wee bit more.

Monkey said:

Magali--Great job, as usual.

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Thanks!!

Witch_turtle said:

I have returned!!! HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who has recently finished! And best wishes for the new joiners!!

My WIP "Greyling" is being looked over by beta readers, and yesterday and today I have been working on roughly outlining my brand new WIP. I'm so excited to be writing something new! And I'm re-joining the challenge because it's so awesome!

Title: Rainshadow
Genre: Fantasy
Projected Word Count: 100K
Minimum Daily Word Count: 1000 words
Date of Completion: Somewhere around September

I've upped my minimum daily word count because I'm out of school now and therefore have quite a bit more time on my hands. Also I'm a fast writer once I get into it, so 1000 words shouldn't be too troublesome.

Wish me luck!!!!

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It's so good to see you back! I wish you the best of luck!! Go, go, go!!

Monkey said:

I FINISHED!!! YAAAAAAY!!!

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...okay I'm somewhat of a lurker! I miss everyone since I finished my last WIP. I'm letting it "cook" while I do edits on earlier work.

BUT CONGRATULATIONS Monkey!!!!!