February 2025 Challenge - Build a Writing Habit!

Magnus

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Welcome! :)

This is a thread open to anyone who wants to build a long-term writing habit! That could include writing, editing, research, or anything else that supports your writing, like self-care or just putting bread on the table.

By sharing your efforts here you'll get some accountability to help boost your motivation, and you'll be part of a community of fellow habit-builders who encourage and support each other!

:snoopy:


Feel free to start the month out by stating your goals. When you report in, you can also take the opportunity to chat a little with the other participants, offering words of encouragement, ideas, or advice!

A few things I ask that you keep in mind:*
  • To avoid clutter, please only post once per day.
  • It's always nice to offer a few words of encouragement to others! :)
  • But don't feel bad if you don't have the time or energy to interact with everyone.
  • Please remember that no one is obliged to follow or even respond to any advice you offer.
  • Ultimately, it's up to each person how they wish to participate!

GOOD LUCK!

/Magnus

*I am not an admin or moderator on these forums, so all I can do is ask nicely. ;)



TIPS FOR BUILDING A (WRITING) HABIT

1. Set Achievable Goals

This is probably the most important part. Too often people set goals they have no chance of hitting, then get discouraged when they fail and give up. Be realistic. You need goals that you can reliably reach more often than not. Hitting a smaller goal will give you a confidence boost and set you up for success the next day, building momentum. A good goal is a little bit challenging but doesn't overwhelm you. If you find yourself failing your goal regularly, lower the bar.

A lofty long-term goal might be fine, but if you aren't currently getting much writing done, a goal to write 3000 words per day isn't something you can expect to achieve within weeks or even months. Start with something tiny, for example the goal to write a single sentence each morning after breakfast. The point is that each time you sit down to write at a specific time, you're strengthening the neural pathways for that action, making it easier to perform. And if you weren't getting any writing done before, then seven sentences per week is an improvement! Once you're hitting your current goal around 80% of the time, you can raise the bar a bit.

2. Experiment and Adapt

When things aren't working out, adapt them or try something new! You could change the way you reward (or punish?) yourself, or change the time of day you write, or alter your goals depending on the weekday, allow yourself skip days, and so on! Try to stick with new methods for at least a couple of weeks so you can properly evaluate if they work.

Not everything that works for others will work for you, and sometimes what works for you changes over time. Always be ready to mix things up! A good habit is one that works for you. Don't be afraid to experiment, even with things that seem 'out there' for you. I was thoroughly convinced I was a night person, but it turns out my most productive time of the day is in the early morning!

There is a plethora of books, blogs, and social media accounts offering advice out there. Here are some tips when sailing the treacherous Sea of (Writing) Advice:
  1. Far from all the advice out there is good. Learn to be sceptical. (Yes, even to this very guide!)
  2. Even if a piece of advice is good, it might not be good for you.
  3. If someone claims they have a simple solution to productivity (or success), assume it's bogus. You will have to work for your progress.
  4. The more confident someone is in their idea/product/method, the more you should doubt them (and the more likely it is they are trying to sell you something).
3. Be Patient and Persistent

It takes a long time to build a strong habit, and you can easily be blind to the progress you're making day-to-day. Keep at it. Sticking with the habit gets easier with time, but that being said; don't trust it to run on autopilot. It will always require effort. The difference is that with time, it will require less effort to get started and to keep going. If you stubbornly stick with it, your progress will be slow and steady. In my experience, it is the only type of progress that lasts. If you've been at it for a long time and you feel like you're treading water, look back a bit further in time. We tend to compare with the previous day or week. But aren't you doing a heck of a lot better than you were six months ago? (And if you aren't, look at point 4. Then go through 1-3 again!)

4. Accept Failure and Learn From It

Okay, I lied a little. This is probably the most important part. Even with a small goal you'll inevitably fail some days. The dominant culture teaches us that failure is something terrible to be avoided at all costs. It is not. Failing a task does not make you a failure as a person. It makes you human. Don't dwell on it. It is a natural and inevitable part of improvement. Try to figure out why it happened and use this information to improve your odds of success in the future. Don't stack your goals, but start fresh the next day. Try to learn from your misstep, then forgive yourself and keep going. šŸ«‚
 

lorna_w

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I didn't mean to, but I'm writing something else. I had the idea, I had the time, and so I have almost 10K words the date I post this. No real word goal this time, and no outline (!) so I'll write what I write, when I write it, and be finished with a draft sometime in February.
 

Clovitide

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Feb goal... probably some revisions. I don't know of what story, yet.

I had a beta get back to me on one that on a pass looked super helpful. Mainly involved fluffing up scenes and clarifying descriptions and such, one is in mid-revision (20k mark atm), and one I should look through again. Mostly Dead has that full still out and the agent said she'd get through her submissions in mid to late February, so I might just hold off on its revision.

Also would love to get some more recent comps reading for all four of my WIPs. Mostly Dead's comps have aged out of the recommended range. I don't have any for Prototech (and why not, honestly? It's a favorite genre of mine!), my comedy sci-fi is also looking dreary, and my Hallmark story should have some sapphic rep in the comps, at least.
 

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Yaay me! After much rending of garments and gnashing of teeth, Rev.1, Ch. 9/20 is FINALLY up to some kind of standard. Plans for later today involve editorial cleanup, and then tomorrow--on to Ch. 10!

Aiming for one chapter a week, Sunday to Sunday. 9 took twice that long because I got so badly wrapped around an axle that I had to step away from the MS for a couple of days. And then, boom! This morning it practically finished itself.

Plus, life. That's how it goes, eh?
 

PDXYZ

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Feb goal... probably some revisions. I don't know of what story, yet.

I had a beta get back to me on one that on a pass looked super helpful. Mainly involved fluffing up scenes and clarifying descriptions and such, one is in mid-revision (20k mark atm), and one I should look through again. Mostly Dead has that full still out and the agent said she'd get through her submissions in mid to late February, so I might just hold off on its revision.

Also would love to get some more recent comps reading for all four of my WIPs. Mostly Dead's comps have aged out of the recommended range. I don't have any for Prototech (and why not, honestly? It's a favorite genre of mine!), my comedy sci-fi is also looking dreary, and my Hallmark story should have some sapphic rep in the comps, at least.

Kudos and awe to all of you who can keep track of multiple WIPs.
 
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Nether

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Ugh, how the hell is January almost over?

Anyway, apparently I zigged when I should've zagged. Per January's goals, I'd meant to start editing HHH, but instead began editing CM. So, if you sub out "HHH" for "CM", I kinda did okay.

And, speaking of swerves, I kinda started to do a quick-read of STMHB at the end of January. This is despite having multiple other things I should be doing. Anyway, it's going pretty quickly and I expect to finish it before January completely ends. And that might be it for right now, other than maybe listing some thoughts and working on the query & synopsis.

Among those things I should be doing is reading through the beta notes I received on Manse, which I'll likely start before February and ideally wrap up in early February. Although I should probably try to find a second beta (and ideally a teen), depending on how things go with the beta notes, I'll likely test the waters with a few agents... once I have my comps, of course. And I should finally be close on that.

HHH will again be on hold. The problem with being manuscript #6 is the fact another 25 came after it. Working on STMHB isn't too bad, though, since it's almost as old, dating back to November 2021. But CM leapfrogged it. I think CM was October 2023, before I wrote The Dryad during that NaNo.

Either way, I'm hoping to get both CM and STMHB ready for querying pretty quickly. If nothing develops from the beta project, I'll probably post CM's opening pages to SYW and then maybe look around for betas there. I'll probably also post the opening pages to STMHB at some point, but not sure whether I want to bother looking for betas for that. It's kinda upmarket and will either sink or swim.

All of that stuff aside, February's big goal will probably be to draft LL1. It's not 100% outlined -- or even 75% outlined -- but I feel like I have enough to start. The idea should work pretty well. And I expect to comp Amari for it (although Amari is both getting too old (iirc, 2021), the parallels should work extremely well -- much better than FGI in most regards, save for the whole missing sibling and more overt fantasy elements), so I'd just need a second comp, and I might use Onyeka if I can't find anything else. (Onyeka is a bit of a toss-up. Although the number of GR ratings suggest Onyeka didn't have massive sales, it got a paperback release which I've seen prominently featured in my closest B&N... although the stack size looks about the same every time I visit (but it could've sold well originally or they just re-up the same amount)

I'm still somewhat excited to work on LL1 (partly for bad puns), although there's also trepedition over some story elements I haven't quite figured out and the fact I've started to build the idea up in my head. However, the snippets I already wrote should be a help.


February 2025 Goals

1) Finish the initial CM edits.

2) Read the Manse beta notes

3) Look into comps for CM

4) Write a query for CM

5) Draft LL1

6) Start querying a new project (most likely Manse)

7) Write a query for STMHB

8) Write a synopsis for STMHB

9) Look into comps for STMHB

J) Finish the STMHB quick-read. (Marked "J" since I should finish before February begins.")

January 2025 Goals

Finish out the DHSDH edits (I mean... idk? Technically, not everything is resolved, even excluding the continuity marks)

Quick-read HHH (Um, forgot I'd meant to do this. Instead, I worked on CM)

Maybe start mark-ups on HHH? (Um, forgot I'd meant to do this. Instead, I worked on CM)

Finish planning LL1? (Still probably at least half done. Planned out some stuff for LL2)

Maybe start drafting LL1 near the end of the month? (Unlikely right now, but will start next month.)

Look into whether I can call the MG novel LL&SSSC. (Probably fine, but need to be safe.) (...shockingly, I might be more than fine. Apparently, back in 2024, Marvel and DC lost the ability to trademark the word "superhero" so, if I wanted to go a step further, I could probably even use that. But this means I shouldn't have any issues with the title.)

Prep something for querying in Feb. (Either Manse or DHSDH.) (Getting closer to querying Manse. Wondering if CM is an option, too.)

December 2024 Goals


6) Write a synopsis for DHSDH (Kinda started, but I guess I didn't finish. No new updates.)

7) Maybe look into comps for DHSDH (No progress)

9) Come up with some novel ideas for 2025 (or pick some) (Technically, I have LL1, LL2, the possible YA portal fantasy, and maybe another MG project... meaning I might need 1-2 more.)


September 2024 Goals


3) Decide whether to predominantly query Manse as either a horror or urban fantasy. (Undecided. Even worse, 'paranormal' is an option)

5) Finalize the backstory history in Manse. (Didn't do. Technically think I know how I'll go, though.)

6) Finalize some character names in Manse. (Started, but didn't finish.)

7) Read what I can of whatever comps I select for Manse (that might be an issue) *** (Finally made a bit of progress here. Read VE Schwab's Gallant, which might work for one element. Looking into Megan Lally's That's Not My Name for another element.)
 
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js_anton

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I was just looking for the best place to ask about building a writing habit. Seems like this is as a good place to start as any!

I've been working on my first attempt at manuscript off-and-on for a bit now. I like what I've done and I know I have a lot more to put down on the page. But I sometimes feel stuck and unsure how to proceed or how to put the various bit together. The answer is probably that I need to stop pantsing it as much and develop an actual outline of the story. But aside from doing better outlining and plotting for that project, I'd like to develop a writing habit that isn't just something like "throw 500 words, any words at all, at this project".

Does anyone have any favorite resources or plans for a more structured writing habit? I do sort of hate those big books of writing prompts, but maybe I should start to use something more prescriptive like that to fill in the blanks when I still need to write for that day but I don't quite feel like putting more words into my WIP project.
 

lorna_w

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The answer is probably that I need to stop pantsing it as much and develop an actual outline of the story. But aside from doing better outlining and plotting for that project, I'd like to develop a writing habit that isn't just something like "throw 500 words, any words at all, at this project".

Does anyone have any favorite resources or plans for a more structured writing habit? I do sort of hate those big books of writing prompts, but maybe I should start to use something more prescriptive like that to fill in the blanks when I still need to write for that day but I don't quite feel like putting more words into my WIP project.

I use outlines and love them. But for some people, they make writing boring, and I'm afraid this is one of these things you'll have to try this, that, and the other, and find Your Thing through experimentation.

I write every day, same time, sprinting with other writers, all noise off, and I set myself a minimum word count. (going over is good too.) There are some discords that do that. One I was in was called NanoCoffeehouse, but I haven't been there in a while, and I don't know what you need to do to get an invite. Showing up with other people, even virtually, watching them knock off 800 words every 25 minutes can in fact get me off my butt and going. They may be my friends, but they are also my competition, and if I want my books to sell, I have to write them in order to get that result.

Post here every day, even if it's bad news. And realize, 500 words of "Throwing anything at" is far, far, far better than 0 words of brilliant stuff that never got written. The writing habit itself will make your imagination work better. Another option is, don't write in a linear fashion. If there is a scene you can imagine, but it's 3 chapters later than where you are, write it. If you are excited, it will keep you writing. And maybe when you revise, you'll realize it wasn't 3 chapters later, but a half of a chapter later, and all that other stuff you thought you needed to write was not needed.

How I learned to structure, at the micro level. Dwight Swain's theories. Scene-sequel and motivation-reaction unit. How I learned to plot, several resources that explained 3 act structure. Larry Brooks's Story Engineering and Save the Cat are two, but I've read loads of others.

Welcome, and good luck!
 
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Taribolokemi

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It's been forever (7 months I think) since I've been on here, hi guys!!

January was a really pproductive month for me! I got 47k~ words down, which I'm really proud of considering I was struggling to write even 100 words a day back in October. I wrote 28 our of 31 days, with my goal being 1000 a day. I met that goal all the days I wrote, whether I was writing or plotting.

I have written (and revamped) a lot of my Main Project, but I also started and completed a short script play and began re-plotting an abandoned project (from when I was like 13??) It's been an idea I've held onto even though the initial execution was pretty bad. I've been having a lot of fun using the Snowflake outlining methods and just writing pages and pages of plot.

February Goals
1) Finish plotting my Secondary Project
2) Figure out the order of scenes for Main Project
3) Get feedback for my short play script
4) Name my Main Project (this will be the hardest task)
5) Write every day (600 a day)

General Q1 Goals

1) Start writing Secondary Project (Mid-Late February)
2) Finish writing Main Project Draft #2 (Mid March)
3) Write a short scene for a performance
4) Post more to my writing accounts
 

lorna_w

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I'm just over 13000 as of today. Again, no word goal. Just writing on it when the mood moves me. Today was pretty busy. For one thing, I walked 7 miles, and that takes up a bit of time.
 

hapaweyrlady

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Keeping goals simple in February, much like I did in January. Especially since it's a short month and I have a trip planned and other activities I need to manage.

FEBRUARY GOALS ā™„ļø
1) Edit through Chapter 18 of LGC (currently on Ch. 11)
2) Research comp titles for LGC
3) Offer to Beta read a project (I'm a newbie in that dept and should get some practice in, hopefully not too late to find something in Beta Project 2025). If anyone here needs one, I like SFF & will read horror.
4) Write synopses for LGC (update short form, write out longer form)
 

Nether

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Day 1 was at least 15 marks reviewed (with 8 resolved), 517 words, and 1 agent queried (plus 1 rejection)

Kinda slacked off and lost most of my Saturday, and I'm not even sure where most of it went. I can account for maybe 3-4 hours, but not necessarily the rest. (This is for the main part of the day, not the morning (which technically is still night-ish))

Anyway, I continued the second mark-editing pass during the early session, just looking through the remaining 15 marks within the body of the text. A few involved placeholder names (two of which are still blank), one was an uncertainty around eye color (said "jade" and I looked and it was previously green, so I figured that's fine), and then a note to myself about needing to do something (where I'd kinda transferred that already... but left a mark there, as with a few other spots, to make sure I fixed it).

Then for the late session -- where my choice to procrastinate basically ate up most of the session (and the time I should've been using before it) -- I finally started to draft LL1, which went.... well, badly. Maybe it works as an opening, maybe it doesn't, but the portion was ridiculously typo-ridden. And I had to stop to name a few characters.

The story still starts in the same place, the same thing happens to the MC, but I'm beginning with additional narration instead of the MC just discussing the idea of getting practice not drawing attention to herself. (And the voice doesn't quite convey her personality, although it has her energy.)

On top of everything else, I didn't even get much reading done. And this is despite being at a point in the research/comp where I'm interested in the events.

So, all in all, not a productive day. However, I'm done with CM for now and I've started LL1 (even if it's not going great) so there's that.

Currently down to 53 marks out of the remaining 65 for CM
Currently at 517 words for LL1
Queried 1 agent so far this month. -- +1
Currently 145/324 pages into a MG horror research/comp (The Ash House) -- note: had previously listed the wrong overall page count (due to a silly copy/paste)
 
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Clovitide

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Day 1

Two agents queried for Mostly Dead, which is funny because I am actively looking for agents for Humanity.

Last night, I must've been more tipsy than I thought after a glass of mead, because the two books I pulled off libby for comps are part of the same series (world might be better because I don't think you need to read one to read the other).

Anyway, I'll scrap one and read the book I think fits better (a human stowaway on an alien ship)... though actually now that I'm reading the description without mead in my system, it says she destined to be the only human on an alien ship UNTIL she stows away... so, I might be wrong in how great a fit the books will be. It's tough when the human isn't the main character, and most of the crew are aliens...

I do plan on heading to the bookstore today in hunt for comps for Mostly Dead and Humanity, the two WIPs I'm actively querying, so hopefully tomorrow I might have more comps to read this month

Numbers
Comps to read:
Starship Repo by Patrick S. Tomlinson
And Shakedowners by Justin Woolley

Agents queried:
Mostly Dead - 2
Humanity - 0
 
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Nether

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Day 2 was 1,866 words and I started reviewing the Manse beta notes (plus 1 rejection)

LL1 drafting is currently underway. The early session was mostly fine (although the writing was whatever), but I kinda ran into issues since I closed out Word accidentally and must've clicked "no" on the save instead of "cancel" to stop the closure. Anyway, that caused me to lose whatever I'd written a bit earlier and then cost me time searching for it since a version didn't appear in the recent auto-saves.

The kinda thing where I'd run into problems was the beta doc kinda had two screens open -- the normal doc then a blank one -- and I'd tried to close the blank since I only like having 3 Word windows open at a time. Although I glanced at a few of the notes, I didn't make much headway. The beta placed his overall thoughts at the bottom and encouraged me to start there, which is where I'll return when I get back to it. I think there are a reasonable number of notes, but unfortunately the notes feature is also doing something fluky where it doesn't format them like I normally do and I don't know how to change that. Not a big deal, though. Regardless, I'm hoping to get through everything in a few days, although I guess I'll need a bit longer since I have one more maybe-comp to read (that I can't start until I finish the book I'm reading now).

The rejection du jour was on a query sent 5 months ago. Since it was via QM, I figured I'd get a response eventually and eventually did come... eventually. Anyway, I needed to query the other two MG agents there (they allow simultaneous queries, but you need to disclose who else at the agency got it), which I guess I could've done all along instead of querying 1, CNR'ing it, then querying another.

Oh, the research/comp is starting to feel like Lord of the Flies meets Lost. So much mysterious stuff for the sake of mysterious stuff, and then the portion I read today had a wacky reveal.

I also didn't mention it before (this pertains to Jan 31), but Hoopla's selection is a bit less robust than I thought. Plus, it's terrible as a discovery tool. The search feature is terrible, for starters.

Currently at 2,383 words for LL1
Queried 1 agent so far this month. -- NO CHANGE
Currently 247/324 pages into a MG horror research/comp (The Ash House)
 
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Clovitide

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Day 2
Did not read as much as I wanted... I don't know what it is, but when I start a book that feels pretty comp-able, i get tired of it quickly. But, hoping to finish this one sometime this week.

One agent queried (that I queried a long time ago, 2017, on a book I should not have queried him, but he got back to me in two days with a polite rejection that time. Let's see how long it takes this time around).

Did find another book that looks like it'll be a good comp for Mostly Dead.


Numbers
Comps to read
Humanity:
Starship Repo by Patrick S. Tomlinson - 3% of 328 pages
And Shakedowners by Justin Woolley

Mostly Dead:
A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer by Maxie Dara

Agents queried:
Mostly Dead - 2
Humanity - 1
 

Taribolokemi

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Just got home from a long day. I don't know how much I'll be able to write before I absolutely collapse, but it's 18:42 and I am trying :sleep:

(As of 19:15 I have 1134 words down. Goal met!)
 
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Taribolokemi

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I'm too busy melting down over politics in the US to write today. And too busy trying to find ways to get my money out of the country. Fun times? Not really.
As a Canadian.... it has been a very nightmarish week for you guys wow
 
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Nether

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Day 3 was 1,725 words, and 2 agents queried (plus 1 rejection), as well as looking over the Manse notes some more

The start of LL1 continues at a snail's pace. I'm also realizing I have more planning gaps at the beginning than I thought.

I'd wanted two characters to not get along at first and, over the weekend, I had an idea for a character's interest and decided to extend that so the pair have a point of contrast. Overall, though, things aren't going as smoothly as predicted, but as I've gone to touch up the opening pages at times (obviously prematurely), I'm liking them a bit more.

On a larger level, I'm about 4k words in, which means I have another 46k remaining (not counting the pre-written scenes, which I might use in whole or part). Maybe I'll need to tweak my planning a bit more, firming things up.

As for the day's agenting news, I had one rejection then simultaneously emailed two others at a different agency (they have a simultaneous sub option, but you have to disclose who received it). One of those agent's guidelines just asks for the query + synopsis.

I finished reading The Ash House, which probably won't be useful as a comp and might not be productive on the research side, either. But it was enjoyably different.

Not-so-enjoyable is the possibly useful comp I started, Megan Lally's YA thriller That's Not My Name. The story (which comes down to the circumstances and type of plot, not anything on the author's part) already feels deeply uncomfortable, and I imagine things will get more unpleasant as the book continues. So, tone-wise, it won't work as a comp, although the whole amnesia element may still be compable (and, like Gallant, the book seemingly sold extremely well),

But, as a general caveat to all that, one of the beta notes for Manse was a suggestion to remove the whole amnesia angle (which is only relevant for about the first third). Kinda not sure how I feel about that, since it might imply a greater menace. The other beta note that's on my mind is just the difficulty to categorize Manse, and the suggestions of things that could be done to push it in one direction or another. However, I need to read through all the beta notes before I make any decisions.

Hopefully, I'll finish reading both the beta notes and That's Not My Name by the end of the week, at which point I'll see what can be done to query it to at least a few agents as a test.

Currently at 4,108 words for LL1
Queried 1 agent so far this month. -- NO CHANGE
Currently 324/324 pages into a MG horror research/comp (The Ash House) -- FINISHED
Currently approximately 21/297 pages into a YA thriller research/comp (That's Not My Name)

I'm too busy melting down over politics in the US to write today. And too busy trying to find ways to get my money out of the country. Fun times? Not really.

Eh, I've thought about leaving the US for decades now, but the problem is nowhere else looks all that appealing, either. And the more I learn about some of the countries I was interested in, the more I'm leaning against them. That and I'd have a lot of stuff to move.
 

Clovitide

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Day 3

Stopped reading Repo, not because the book is bad, but because I was in the mood for something else. Started reading Station Eternity, which I might be able to use as a comp, other than the whole murder mystery thing. It has some creative alien choices that make me want to tweak some of my own aliens to be more uncanny.

No new update on agents. I was about to submit Mostly Dead to a freshly opened one, just to realize I have a full out with someone else at that agency. My original idea was to query Humanity, but this agent looked like a better choice for Mostly Dead at the last minute.

One rejection on Mostly Dead that came this fine morning, which I had high hopes for, too. Oh well. Onto the next.

Numbers
Comps to read
Humanity:
Starship Repo by Patrick S. Tomlinson - 5% of 328 pages
Shakedowners by Justin Woolley
Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty - 154/453

Mostly Dead:
A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer by Maxie Dara

Agents queried:
Mostly Dead - 1
Humanity - 1
 
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marskanu

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I made a list of shows to watch and comics to read for writing inspiration. After a slight block because of fun mood swings, the first show and comic (plus the shows I'm watching that are still on-air and one I'm rewatching) has stirred up my creative mind and given me a few random scenes for my story. Not really sure where they'll go in the timeline, but I have a general idea.

My goal is to complete the first draft of my second volume in two months. Then, I'll return to the first volume for another look over.
 

Taribolokemi

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Did 2 Sprints today (858 words during my 34 minute sprint and 678 on my 18 minute sprint) solely because I'm writing a scene I'm pretty excited about

Currently at 77k and I would really love to reach 80k by the weekend, though it might not happen.
At the rate I'm going I'll be done Draft 2 in 2 weeks, since there's only a couple chapters left. Then there's revising some new/changed ideas and editing to get done, and then I will brave some alpha readers! I'm excited.
 

Nether

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Day 4 was 1,298 words (and 2 rejections)

Pretty lousy writing day, but I kinda got back late and was dealing with tiredness iirc during both sessions.

Additionally, I'm not sure I like the backstory for the story's larger setting. Although there's a certain amount of latitude with MG, I don't know that the primary usage necessarily makes sense -- at least, vs letting the location sit fallow. Even if I justify the location secretly being owned by the same group, it still feels like a potential security risk. And, honestly, I'm not necessarily sure there should be a fallow period (ie, the boarding school could be year round).

As for the research/comp, it continues to just feel uncomfortable (again, it comes down to the type of story). The somewhat interesting part is that it seems to be a dual first-person-POV (which I haven't seen a lot of over the years, but technically the POVs kinda match what you'd find in a romance because the amnesiac kidnap victim is the other POV's gf (who is currently blamed for her disappearance and is trying to find her -- all of which is kinda spelled out in the blurb, so not spoilers) and, instead of opting for alternating chapters, so far it's had back-to-back chapters in the same POV. That's something I've tended to avoid when writing, although maybe I shouldn't, particularly since it could help to shorten some of my multi-POV novels (The Dryad, for instance... although technically each of those chapters serves a purpose, except maybe for one of the smaller characters who could mostly appear in other people's POVs then only have 2 POV chapters for himself instead of a few)

EDIT: Forgot to mention the two rejections. The first probably isn't worth mentioning -- just a boiler from a solo agent who's had deals with major publishers, but her clients' work doesn't have exceptionally high sales (so she's probably solid even though she might not have repped bestsellers). The second is more interesting because the note (most likely a specialized boiler) says it's too similar to another project she's repping and that the decision is neither a reflection on the concept nor writing quality. Which, I mean, is more positive than a lot of other rejections I get... although I'm just wondering what could be so similar to FGI. Although I guess it could relate to just one major element the books might share.

Currently at 4,108 words for LL1
Queried 1 agent so far this month. -- NO CHANGE
Currently approximately 45/297 pages into a YA thriller research/comp (That's Not My Name)
 
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