Finally reached the end of this pass of edits at almost 113k. That was heavy lifting! I added over 20k total. Still have a bit more work before I can send this draft to my reader and move on to (deep sigh) revising the sequel.
September 2023 Challenge - Build a Writing Habit!
- Thread starter Magnus
- Start date
Day 16: About 1360 words. I researched polio symptoms.
Current count: 65,494, and just about at the climax, which I think means I am on target to be done with this crappy draft by the end of October. Certainly by the end of November. OK, off for another training hike.
Current count: 65,494, and just about at the climax, which I think means I am on target to be done with this crappy draft by the end of October. Certainly by the end of November. OK, off for another training hike.
DAY 16
I can move my mouse so I'm fiddling around with map making to try and keep myself sane and not fall into 'productivity despair mode'.
I also caught an amusing video about productive procrastination and I've never related to something so much in my life...
I can move my mouse so I'm fiddling around with map making to try and keep myself sane and not fall into 'productivity despair mode'.
I also caught an amusing video about productive procrastination and I've never related to something so much in my life...
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2023
- Messages
- 246
- Reaction score
- 350
Made it to 1,027 today - I'm relieved that the story seems to be flowing better now! I'll be satisfied with a 1k daily average, that'll have me finishing by the end of November, and reaching my goal of 3 novels start to finish (including editing) this year.
Day 15:
426 words written, so still not a whole lot, but edited 3050 words of chapter 12. I really like how that's turning out, so yay
426 words written, so still not a whole lot, but edited 3050 words of chapter 12. I really like how that's turning out, so yay
Day 16 was 1,122 words... and I read through the early pages of LP (which wasn't necessarily productive)
Disappointing writing day. I'm already behind and it wound up being a smaller result. The early session was a little on the low side, the main session was abysmally low (where... idk, guess I just didn't really get started or something), and then the late session was tiny.
And, because of a tech issue, I wound up opening LP at which point I read through the first chapter and part of the second, and... well, it looks surprisingly clean and the prose seemed to have turned out pretty good. I'm thinking I'll do a quick-read of it whenever I get the other stuff out of the way.
The real issue is I don't expected to be done with TW by the end of the weekend and I'm already far behind on it, which means the schedule is looking worse and worse... although maybe I can make up on the time during CM.
Whether you think about it or not, it's just around the corner.
Disappointing writing day. I'm already behind and it wound up being a smaller result. The early session was a little on the low side, the main session was abysmally low (where... idk, guess I just didn't really get started or something), and then the late session was tiny.
And, because of a tech issue, I wound up opening LP at which point I read through the first chapter and part of the second, and... well, it looks surprisingly clean and the prose seemed to have turned out pretty good. I'm thinking I'll do a quick-read of it whenever I get the other stuff out of the way.
The real issue is I don't expected to be done with TW by the end of the weekend and I'm already far behind on it, which means the schedule is looking worse and worse... although maybe I can make up on the time during CM.
Whether you think about it or not, it's just around the corner.
Written yesterday,
1294 words, of an editorial. I actually wanted to write a monologue, I don't know if I succeeded, but I'm happy I wrote it.
521 words of a short novel.
1294 words, of an editorial. I actually wanted to write a monologue, I don't know if I succeeded, but I'm happy I wrote it.
521 words of a short novel.
16th September
Whizzed out outlines for chapters 29, 31 & 32. Finally feel like I'm making headway with this messy second half.
Whizzed out outlines for chapters 29, 31 & 32. Finally feel like I'm making headway with this messy second half.
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2023
- Messages
- 246
- Reaction score
- 350
Are you writing on contract for your publisher? Their WC requirements seem really aggressive! If you don't mind sharing, I'm curious what genre and how many books you've already published. Are the deadlines always so fast?
OMG for the first time all year I outwrote Nether. They said it couldn't be done! I feel like popping a bottle of champage.
Day 17: 2119 words.
I hit an easy patch. It's too telly, and too little plot-driving by my protagonist, but it's still the right set of plot points so I'll fix the creaky bits later.
Current count: 67613
I feel like popping a bottle of champage.Day 17: 2119 words.
I hit an easy patch. It's too telly, and too little plot-driving by my protagonist, but it's still the right set of plot points so I'll fix the creaky bits later.
Current count: 67613
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2023
- Messages
- 246
- Reaction score
- 350
1,114 words today, woo-hoo! Normally such levels of enthusiasm would be reserved for 2k+ days, but after such a long time of not hitting my 1k goal, I'm happy to have hit it a few days in a row now. Hopefully this bodes well...
Day 17 was 2,445 words.
The entire late session -- a little over 1.4k words -- will likely need to be chucked or, at the very least, heavily edited. The flashback to being burned alive is probably unnecessary, considering it just references the poor treatment beforehand. On top of that, the voice during that scene might need to shift... although the kinda bigger issue is the nature of the event. Murdering a whole bunch of people is fine (#AuthorOrSerialKiller), but the handling should be right. My original concept focused on rage, but there's a bit of whimsy with this that probably doesn't work. idk. I'll probably write it through, see how it sounds, and then decide.
More disappointing still is the fact I'm still probably 2-3 days out from finishing.... and I'll likely be hitting 95k words on this draft (so... maybe more than just 2-3 days out).
Oh, and I haven't done any agent research. And other tasks weren't done.
No, this is all part of the struggle to get trade-pubbed. If I already had a deal -- let alone an ongoing commitment -- I could relax. Until that happens, my schedule should be aggressive, especially because I'd like success in my own lifetime and I've only got so many years left (and, considering how many relatives have died reasonably young, probably far fewer than even I suspect).
Trying to get something else done before NaNo is because I want to participate in NaNo, but don't want to take a long writing break prior to NaNo just so I can NaNo (granted, as a last-ditch thing, I can finish something during NaNo, but... that's not as exciting). And then wanting to query in the very-near future reflects my three-year-goal where either I'd get an agent/deal by the end of three years or self-pub... but that plan assumed I'd have been querying as I kept writing, which hasn't happened.
And my word counts used to be higher, so... I'm still somewhat down.
GASP! SHOCK! DISMAY!
The entire late session -- a little over 1.4k words -- will likely need to be chucked or, at the very least, heavily edited. The flashback to being burned alive is probably unnecessary, considering it just references the poor treatment beforehand. On top of that, the voice during that scene might need to shift... although the kinda bigger issue is the nature of the event. Murdering a whole bunch of people is fine (#AuthorOrSerialKiller), but the handling should be right. My original concept focused on rage, but there's a bit of whimsy with this that probably doesn't work. idk. I'll probably write it through, see how it sounds, and then decide.
More disappointing still is the fact I'm still probably 2-3 days out from finishing.... and I'll likely be hitting 95k words on this draft (so... maybe more than just 2-3 days out).
Oh, and I haven't done any agent research. And other tasks weren't done.
No, this is all part of the struggle to get trade-pubbed. If I already had a deal -- let alone an ongoing commitment -- I could relax. Until that happens, my schedule should be aggressive, especially because I'd like success in my own lifetime and I've only got so many years left (and, considering how many relatives have died reasonably young, probably far fewer than even I suspect).
Trying to get something else done before NaNo is because I want to participate in NaNo, but don't want to take a long writing break prior to NaNo just so I can NaNo (granted, as a last-ditch thing, I can finish something during NaNo, but... that's not as exciting). And then wanting to query in the very-near future reflects my three-year-goal where either I'd get an agent/deal by the end of three years or self-pub... but that plan assumed I'd have been querying as I kept writing, which hasn't happened.
And my word counts used to be higher, so... I'm still somewhat down.
GASP! SHOCK! DISMAY!
17th September
Busy day so not much writing happened. Just a quick read through chapter 16 that was marked as needing re-doing, but I'm actually fairly happy with most of it as-is, so moved it over to the 'Drafted (Notes)' board.
Busy day so not much writing happened. Just a quick read through chapter 16 that was marked as needing re-doing, but I'm actually fairly happy with most of it as-is, so moved it over to the 'Drafted (Notes)' board.
I was not too available over the past few days, but I'm catching up on everyone's posts. The weather has been horrible with heavy storms, lots of rain, electricity and Internet wobbly. I kept on writing though, around 1.8k over the past 3 days.
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2023
- Messages
- 246
- Reaction score
- 350
18th September
Worked on chapter 21, making yet more margin notes to override the old ones and moved part of it to a scene in the third act as it really didn't fit here. Balance still came out 105 words higher. I swear I just breath on this thing and it bloats.
I think I need a day of deleting crossed out stuff just to cancel out all these additions and make the number go green in Excel. Might make me feel better.
Worked on chapter 21, making yet more margin notes to override the old ones and moved part of it to a scene in the third act as it really didn't fit here. Balance still came out 105 words higher. I swear I just breath on this thing and it bloats.
I think I need a day of deleting crossed out stuff just to cancel out all these additions and make the number go green in Excel. Might make me feel better.
Day 18:
1,371 words fresh new words in WIP2. We had a cousin visit from the US, which was lovely, but cut into my writing time in the evenings.
1,371 words fresh new words in WIP2. We had a cousin visit from the US, which was lovely, but cut into my writing time in the evenings.
I'm procrastinating a lot these days lol. Meaning I have at least 3 or 4 files open, and I write down a few words in one, then in another, then the full opening scene of a story, then get bored of that, and so on. Still 570 words in total, but not serious writing at all. This is my fluttering phase
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2023
- Messages
- 246
- Reaction score
- 350
Progress is progress!I'm procrastinating a lot these days lol. Meaning I have at least 3 or 4 files open, and I write down a few words in one, then in another, then the full opening scene of a story, then get bored of that, and so on. Still 570 words in total, but not serious writing at all. This is my fluttering phase
DAY 19
Wrote 100 odd words, deleted 2 small scenes.
Not bad for a mid-week attempt. I'm chalking that as a win. So far this week, me and the day job are even. Hoping I can continue to stay ahead of it but Wednesday and Thursday are gonna be hurdles that's for sure!
Lea: 1 Day job: 1
Wrote 100 odd words, deleted 2 small scenes.
Not bad for a mid-week attempt. I'm chalking that as a win. So far this week, me and the day job are even. Hoping I can continue to stay ahead of it but Wednesday and Thursday are gonna be hurdles that's for sure!
Lea: 1 Day job: 1
19th September
Drafted the first scene of chapter 29. Or cobbled together a scene from bits of old ones and a jumble of margin notes. But it's a shiny new scene where there hasn't been one before. Boy, that feels good after messing about with the already done ones for ages and ages. But it added 724 words which annoyed me no end.
So, I went back to chapter 21 and actioned all the margin notes there (except the scene I can't decide which POV to use). Book balance came out 31 words less. Very happy me tonight
Drafted the first scene of chapter 29. Or cobbled together a scene from bits of old ones and a jumble of margin notes. But it's a shiny new scene where there hasn't been one before. Boy, that feels good after messing about with the already done ones for ages and ages. But it added 724 words which annoyed me no end.
So, I went back to chapter 21 and actioned all the margin notes there (except the scene I can't decide which POV to use). Book balance came out 31 words less. Very happy me tonight
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2023
- Messages
- 246
- Reaction score
- 350
1,253 words today, but a crummy day overall.
MS1: officially dead on sub - not going out for a round 2.
MS2: rejected by agent, dead on not-even-sub.
MS3: The one I'm currently working on, but I have a feeling my agent won't like it. mehhhhh.
MS1: officially dead on sub - not going out for a round 2.
MS2: rejected by agent, dead on not-even-sub.
MS3: The one I'm currently working on, but I have a feeling my agent won't like it. mehhhhh.
Day 18 (which I realized I hadn't mentioned yet) was 1,623 words.
Okay early session, but I underperformed during the late session. Not that much closer to finishing
Okay early session, but I underperformed during the late session. Not that much closer to finishing
1198 Words written yesterday, I'm not convinced of what I wrote, but I'll leave the corrections until later, otherwise, I won't write anymore and I'll freeze.
320 words, when something arises in my mind, I write it immediately, I can always use it in future stories.
Corrected an entire chapter of my Science Fiction novel.
Finished creating the characters for my novel, spy story.
Fixed short script for my Horror.
320 words, when something arises in my mind, I write it immediately, I can always use it in future stories.
Corrected an entire chapter of my Science Fiction novel.
Finished creating the characters for my novel, spy story.
Fixed short script for my Horror.
Day 19 - 500+ words and nothing really great out of it. I'm hitting a wall in creativity and motivation. I keep on going though. Stephen King said that if you wait for Mr Inspiration to pay you a visit to start writing, you'll never write. On the contrary, make sure Mr Inspiration knows where and when you write (i.e. everyday with an established routine) so when he feels like coming to say hello, he'll know where to find you. I'm waiting Mr Inspiration!!! 