June 2022 Challenge - Build a Writing Habit!

[RaggedEdge]

Yesterday: I kept to my no-writing expectation, but it was a good day otherwise.

Today: Write 700 words. Getting a late start to the day after talking with my kids for a few hours. But I woke up with some lines for my picture book idea and wrote them down, so in that way I had an early start!

 

[Nether]

Day 15 was 2,554 words.

Somewhat under my target, but I might've started each session a bit late, plus I was tired. My overall direction was a little "eh" yesterday. However, the one kinda-breakthrough I had was -- while setting up for the brother and/or two of the guys to prank the MC -- I realized it might work better having the MC do the same thing in an attempt to prank the others.

So basically I've gone from:
-The original plan of having a character dare the MC to test the legend (which was going to happen during the school year, but I'm still setting all of these during summer so that changed... and the motivation might've changed a little, too)
-To having two of the guys (maybe with the brother) pranking the MC -- not thinking she'd actually try it -- which sets off the legend
-To having the MC doing it herself

And while I'd wanted to build into it a bit more, I guess I'm ready to have her get trapped... which means the remainder basically takes place in the "wonderful" wooden world. Basically have mixed feelings about it, since I'm not sure how much I can carry the story at that point even with having other characters in the house.

Otherwise, I marked up another 12 pages of RRWARB.

 

[Cindyt]

Day 15
Word Count 179

A DEADLY SPILL OF SCARLET
(Draft 3)​

I fleshed out Billy's latest memory. He did not hit the Wolf Dog that suddenly appeared in his path on Nectar Bridge Road. He moves on, turns on Pink House Road, swipes his residence card at the guard hut machine, and bumps onto Flamingo Island. As he comes abreast the haunted picnic turnaround, the wolf dog appears out of nowhere and runs off. The wolf dog is used to set the tone, I guess. Lol. It feels right. He rolls on to Flam Mar and parks in his spot in the garage. (I could have had him back into the side road as he did when he used to sneak up to Jenny Allen’s bedroom, but I don’t want DEADco to find his car there because that would ruin my pace.)

A segue. Jenny Allen is Carolina’s younger sister. Billy broke up with her three months before the story opens.

I left Billy moving in the trees toward Casa Bella.

 

[morgand]

Day 15 was GREAT. I wrote almost 2,500 words for my April Camp Nano story. I came up with some fixes for one of the subplots that was lacking, and I wrote a scene that I think does a really great job at showcasing some of the complexity in my two of my main characters' relationship.

I also worked on my brand new urban fantasy idea, of course. Right now, my main character is still in disbelief that the strange happenings in her town are related to the supernatural, so it's feeling like much more of a "chick lit" novel than an urban fantasy... I'm not sure if I like that or not, but it is what it is for now.

 

[RaggedEdge]

Yesterday: wrote 1713 words, mostly in my WIP but also broke ground in the picture book idea. Made a little bit of progress in reading one of the novels I'm studying. It's delightful, but it might lack the higher stakes I tend to favor, which got me thinking about the stakes in my own novel.

Today: write 700 words and play with one of the higher stakes ideas.

 

[Pterofan]

Day 16 - they're still in the cemetery. They're going to be there awhile.

At some point I'll need to drive down to Philly and refresh my memory of the locations. I went there to research the other book, but that was like a decade ago. I think I'll put off the road trip until fall, when hopefully both temps and gas prices will be back to more comfortable levels.

 

[Cindyt]

Day 16 - they're still in the cemetery. They're going to be there awhile.

At some point I'll need to drive down to Philly and refresh my memory of the locations. I went there to research the other book, but that was like a decade ago. I think I'll put off the road trip until fall, when hopefully both temps and gas prices will be back to more comfortable levels.

I use Google Street View May to refresh my memory when writing my Growing Up Buford blog articles and to eyeboll sites in Miami, Fla., for my current WKP.

 

[Cindyt]

Day 16

Word Count 1,255

A DEADLY SPILL OF SCARLET
(Draft 3)​

Thank God for the Casa Bella house and grounds map I drew up several years ago. It came in handy routing Billy’s sneak to grab Carolina’s Bible, which didn’t exactly go off without a hitch. There were the two appearances of the wolf-dog, then the Allen’s German Police dog spotted him. But it turned out all he wanted was the treat bribe Billy always gave him when he sneaked over the wall to bed Jenny. And then there was the violent electrical storm. Then there was his spontaneous detour to The Secret Garden where he sees something right before his memory goes blank. He won’t remember what he saw in the grotto or walking into a bullet aboard The ScareCrow until he has the face-off with the monster.

Now Imma gonna pop me some corn.

 

[Nether]

Day 16 was 2,440 words.

Wound taking a nap and oversleeping, which cut into the day's word count. Probably would've been fine or close to fine if not for that. Guess it's practice getting used to lower daily word counts (for when I try to focus more on the other stuff).

The semi-bigger issue was not getting around to doing more mark-ups on RRWARB since I lost that time napping.

Thank God for the Casa Bella house and grounds map I drew up several years ago.

Meanwhile I've just been looking at my descriptions from earlier manuscripts when trying to catch continuity

 

[anaemic_mind]

Day 16.

Did lots of thinking, mostly about getting rid of the first two chapters and starting the book from chapter 3. Made a few notes but didn't open Scrivener. Pondering if I'm brave enough to post the current chapter one in SYW to see if it works or not...

 

[Pterofan]

Day 17 - the PI finally gets around to reading the journal the zombie hunter's daughter left behind. However, I don't know what's in it yet, so I put writing on hold for a bit and went to work on the paid assignment. At the end of the scene the daughter herself shows up (she was hiding in the trunk of the PI's car). Yes, it's instalove and yes, it's cliche, but I've got a justification that ties into the mystery's solution. Plus I've been writing and editing romance books for the past seven years. Some tropes may have rubbed off.

Cindy - I was looking at photos of the Horticulture Center and Laurel Hill just last night. I still want to visit in person because I like road trips and getting away from the house. That's why I set it in Philly, for ease of in-person research and a justifiable excuse to avoid housework and yardwork. (Not necessarily writing, not if I take a notebook with me.) Which reminds me, I haven't been to Gettysburg in a few years. I had a story set there but abandoned it. Maybe I'll dig that one out when I'm done with this one.

 

[Cindyt]

Day 17 - the PI finally gets around to reading the journal the zombie hunter's daughter left behind. However, I don't know what's in it yet, so I put writing on hold for a bit and went to work on the paid assignment. At the end of the scene the daughter herself shows up (she was hiding in the trunk of the PI's car). Yes, it's instalove and yes, it's cliche, but I've got a justification that ties into the mystery's solution. Plus I've been writing and editing romance books for the past seven years. Some tropes may have rubbed off.

Cindy - I was looking at photos of the Horticulture Center and Laurel Hill just last night. I still want to visit in person because I like road trips and getting away from the house. That's why I set it in Philly, for ease of in-person research and a justifiable excuse to avoid housework and yardwork. (Not necessarily writing, not if I take a notebook with me.) Which reminds me, I haven't been to Gettysburg in a few years. I had a story set there but abandoned it. Maybe I'll dig that one out when I'm done with this one.

I understand completely. If things were different, I'd be living aboard a trawler yacht docked on Biscayne Bay, Miami right now.

 

[RaggedEdge]

Yesterday: I wrote 1473 words in multiple attempts at playing with higher stakes. It may have tangled me up more than set me free, but I accept it as part of this stumbling drafting process.

Today: Write 700 words. For now I'm going to move my focus from trying to choose the 'right' elements for this story and get back to finding its groove. I feel like it's right under the surface, waiting to run, but it doesn't have manners and I just need to be okay with that.

 

[Cindyt]

Day 17

Word Count 547

A DEADLY SPILL OF SCARLET
(Draft 3)​

RESEARCH do Florida lizards have claws? Welp, I got as far as a picture of a lizard with record-breaking constipation and was too puked to continue riding that train. So I surfed lizard toes and hit paydirt. What do lizard toes have to do with anything? One crawls inside Billy’s britchy leg, as we put it down here in the south, while he’s in the grotto. Merely description, my dear Mr. Watson.

I pumped a stronger hook into what Billy saw in the grotto before the total recall.

I finished the remaining recall today!

I’ve got some thingys to tie up and then I will have to begin the vampire scenes. I thought about dumping that subplot, but to quote Johnny Depp, “I don’t want to.”

 

[Nether]

Day 17 was 2,599 words.

Once again wound up taking a nap that ran long -- just tired lately.

Either yesterday or today I wrote the scene where the MC crosses the fence and falls into the false world. Right before it, I added a parallel world rumor, which... I'm not sure whether I like. Removing the lead-in might give it more of a "What the hell's going on?" vibe, but I'd have to tweak a lot of thoughts/internal dialogue (at least at first -- and then have her surmise it's a different reality).

Within the original concept, jumping the fence was more explicitly tied to bringing somebody to RH -- and, within the original concept, RH had a pocket dimension vibe which I changed.

And as with yesterday, the nap interfered with RRWARB mark-ups but the few pages I checked I didn't really see much I wanted to change. SLS, my seventh manuscript, was the first I'd written in first-person so I was more experimenting with the format. After that, two of the manuscripts had one POV in first-person and I had another where it was mostly first-person so I might've also just had a better handle on it. Who knows.

 

[dansimmonds]

Wrote 113 words yesterday around a very busy period at work. Need to get my evening session reinstated, but I'm just so mentally drained once work is done and the kids are in bed. Trying to switch the brain back on feels so draining. Anyone else find this? Or resolved it?

Off out today and Father's day in the UK tomorrow, so not a lot of time this weekend, but going to just spend 45 minutes now doing what I can as better than nothing!

 

[RaggedEdge]

Wrote 113 words yesterday around a very busy period at work. Need to get my evening session reinstated, but I'm just so mentally drained once work is done and the kids are in bed. Trying to switch the brain back on feels so draining. Anyone else find this? Or resolved it?

I remember running into that a lot, and for years I didn't even try to write. My brain was too fried to think in sentences let alone create an imaginary world. But I got serious about making my writing a priority when my youngest two were 4 and 6, so I must have found a way. It helped that I'd healed my post-baby brain in the prior two years by reading a lot of different kinds of books, from biographies and histories to fluffy novels. I skipped watching most of the shows my family watched in the evenings and holed up in my room to write. I wrote my first novel that way. The biggest difference was that I was tired of postponing my dream until things got easier. And I found a lot of new music that inspired and energized me. Creating that playlist meant I could drop into the world of the my novel any time and forget everything else. I still find that immensely helpful. I never thought I could write to music, esp. music with words, but once I get accustomed to the songs, it really worked for me. I hope you find something that will give you the energy again.

 

[RaggedEdge]

Yesterday: I wrote 1021 words and took a long walk in which some fresh ideas emerged.

This weekend: Write 700 words between the two days.

 

[Taylor Harbin]

Just been transcribing my short stuff to computer.

 

[suedelima]

This is a thread open to anyone who wants to build a long-term writing habit, which can include writing, editing, research, etc. 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!

Feel free to start the month out by stating your goals and to chat a little with the other participants as you report in. But it's up to each person how they wish to participate in the thread.

Here are some tips to start you on your path:

Set achievable goals– This is the most important part of successfully building a habit. Set your goals so that you can reach them 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.

Accept failure and move on – Even with a small goal you'll inevitably fail some days. Don't worry about it. Failure is a natural part of improvement. Try to figure out why it happened and how you can prevent it in the future. Don't stack your goals, but start fresh the next day. Forgive yourself and move on.

Be patient and persistent – It takes a long time to build a strong habit, and sometimes you won't notice the progress you're making day-to-day because it happens in tiny increments. Keep at it. Sticking with the habit gets easier with time, but that being said; don't trust it to run on autopilot. It's when you think that you've 'made it' that it's the easiest to stumble. If you keep at it, your progress will be slow and steady, and that's the only type of progress that lasts.

Experiment – Not everything that works for others will work for you, and sometimes what works for you changes with time. Always be ready to mix things up if you're stuck in a rut. Does reward work better than punishment for you? Is it better to get the writing out of the way or to get other stuff done first so you can relax? Do you perhaps need different goals for different days of the week? Do you need skip days? A good habit is one that works for you.

See you in June!

Is it too late to join in for June? I just stumbled on this thread, though I was already working on a goal for June.
My BIG GOAL this month is to finish the first technical revision of my novel. It's a big process with a lot of detail, so it's been slow. But I've been plugging away almost every day and I might just finish by the end of the month.

 

[Pterofan]

Day 18 - Mostly worked on paid stuff today, so I only got a few lines down. However, I did jot some notes about what happens after the cemetery chapter. They're going to hole up in a fleabag motel just outside the city, because by now everybody needs a shower.

The plotline involving the zombie hunter continues to evolve. The character was based on the series writer's father, who was either a pastor at one of those hardline offshoot churches or maybe even a flat-out cult leader. Whatever happened may have involved the writer's older sister, who rebelled by leaving the church to marry a Jewish boy (in the series, she fell in love with a mutant. No, there is no intended connection there.). In real life she just got excommunicated, but in the book I'm sure they both would have been executed. That would definitely make the daughter, the next kid in line, want to consider blowing Daddy's head off. That's where the plot stands as of today. It may change further by the time I actually get to the confrontation scene.

 

[Nether]

Day 18 was 1,565 words.

Dismal Saturday. Either started each session late or ended early, including missing almost my entire late session. Plus, I had a bit of a slump.

The MC is wandering through the house now, but I didn't have a lot of concrete plans for the house (at least, not in the early going). I used the puppet audience already. There's one or two things I need to introduce, as well as hitting a place where I wrote ahead to another encounter.

I also wanted to do a completely different version of RH reflecting the original owner's design, but... I'm half-thinking I might go more for a contrast where things are somewhat off. And then whenever I do a full RRWARB sequel... you know, I'm not sure which side of the house to push in context.

No progress marking up RRWARB.

Is it too late to join in for June? I just stumbled on this thread, though I was already working on a goal for June.

It's not over til it's over!

 

[Magnus]

Is it too late to join in for June? I just stumbled on this thread, though I was already working on a goal for June.
My BIG GOAL this month is to finish the first technical revision of my novel. It's a big process with a lot of detail, so it's been slow. But I've been plugging away almost every day and I might just finish by the end of the month.

It's never too late! You make the rules for your participation, so if you want to get going now, then do it!

 

[Cindyt]

Is it too late to join in for June? I just stumbled on this thread, though I was already working on a goal for June.
My BIG GOAL this month is to finish the first technical revision of my novel. It's a big process with a lot of detail, so it's been slow. But I've been plugging away almost every day and I might just finish by the end of the month.

It's never too late to jump on our train. Welcome aboard!

 

[anaemic_mind]

Days 17 & 18

Compiled chapter one to Word to check for grammar issues and then amended the original. Have marked it with a lock icon in an effort to stop fiddling with it until I have a day of bravado and post some of it in SYW.

I also started looking again at chapter two. Currently, I have three versions: 1)in the MC's POV, 2)entirely in her best friend, Q's POV, and 3)has a mix of them both. I was edging towards the mix being the best one but starting to have doubts now about Q's scenes. They still all feel too much about the MC and not enough about Q herself. Still not entirely sure she has a decent arc throughout the story.