September 2024 Challenge - Build a Writing Habit!

[Hannya Kay]

So Day 2 was a bit crazy at work (and it will be today as well, got a meeting in 30mn already ).

I went back to novel rewriting and wrote a new scene for Chapter 3. It's something that will be deleted later on, but what was blocking me--I think--was getting confused between editing/revising and rewriting. When I add scenes, POVs, or new plot elements, this is not revising. It's back to a kind of Draft Zero number 2. So I'm allowed to have these writing-for-myself scenes where I'm telling myself the story, which helps me then to progress to next scenes with a better idea of what's going on, who these characters are, and what they want.

So it wasn't a bad day. It was not a zero day.

 

[Hannya Kay]

I'm updating Day 3 right now because it's still fresh in my mind.

I've kept on with rewriting Chapter 3. After the block I had for several days on it, and a slight progress yesterday, today was even more progress. I'm now at 2410 words into it. I think I need one final, short scene to wrap it up and increase the tension, leaving a kind of hook right at the end. I need this because Chapter 4 will be returning to the 2nd group of characters. Well that's the idea anyway, lol. I am still very new at this, but I'll just keep on going doing my best, and I'll check at edits, much later, if it works or needs heavy revision.

Writing a novel is such a journey! It's hard work everyday, writing, structuring, developing, connecting plot points, characters, words and voices (and everything else). And when you finish draft zero (reminder, I finished it last December, haha) you have to go back to the start and work even more. And when I finish this pass, I'll have to go back to the start again. There is no other way, and no matter how hard and frustrating, it is also so satisfying at times <3

 

[Tocotin]

Day 3

Wrote over 3 pages and started thinking that maybe, just maybe, I should switch to 1st person (it's now in third). It's a normal wave of doubt, hopefully it will pass. I'm going to write in the other POV tomorrow and see what happens.

Also, I started a new bottle of red ink today, which makes me happy. It's a very vivid red, on a napkin it looks exactly like nosebleed.

 

[lorna_w]

Day two. Really got lost in it. Forgot to eat or drink water for a few hours.

 

[Woollybear]

Day three already. Worked through the same section. Getting it in shape.

Count: 94,603

 

[CometRider]

Day 3 has me at 3,147 on a short story to kick my brain into gear. It's certainly a story, but not one I'm sure will see light of day in any form. At least I'm writing. One step and another and soon to be running.

 

[cutelilcryptid]

Day 3: 848 more words into the revised novella. I'm finding that it's so much more fun to write as I have a better sense of who the characters are (as opposed to when I wrote the first draft which was... nearly three years ago? It's crazy to me that I've been sitting on this project for so long).

 

[Nether]

Day 3 was 1,569 words, and 3 agents queried.

Despite the early session being pretty okay, a bad late session dragged down the day's total. I went from thinking, "Maybe I'll hit 2k" to "How the hell am I going to finish just over 1.5k?"

But I didn't really have a vision for where the teens would be heading to work on clean-up/a repair. Plus, the wishy-washy planning is still an issue. I'm going to say this is probably the most tempted I've been to abandon a project since getting back to fiction-writing, but I've probably approached his precipice a few times. If anything, it's a reminder writing isn't always easy. Granted, the other issue is just I've gotten sloppy with my start times and schedule. And I haven't always been planning in enough detail.

Otherwise, I queried 3 agents today. For 2, I had to use another email address because I've once again got a reject notice on my Outlook. I assume I've been auto-flagged as spam as a result of querying (and, in general, email submissions ALWAYS have that additional question of, "Is it a no-response reject or a no-response because they didn't get it?"). Anyway, one of the batch was another query-only submission, and another I wound up using the UK version of the query because their submission process was different.

None of the batch were UK agents (although I looked a few UK agents, who either weren't taking or had an issue where they want the full manuscript upfront (which I don't like, so they're a lower priority). However, at least one I'm a bit iffy on since I'm not sure they've had enough recent successes.

Oh, and I was looking at the author blurbs on the back of The Bad Ones, one of which refers to the novel as "contemporary fantasy." Honestly, that feels like it'll probably be a lot closer to where the book is going than YA horror.

Currently at 12,498 words for ACP
Queried 10 agents so far this month.
Currently 230/384 pages into a YA comp (The Bad Ones)

 

[Gehenna]

Day 4 updates:

• I continued editing my WIP, so less than 100 pages left of this draft. When complete, I'll do one more
• No progress on the Beta for now
• No news on the partial, but that's not worrysome, the agent is extremely busy
• Wrote about 2500 words from my *next* project while lounging on the beach

 

[TheBleedingTypewriter]

Day 3 was a good day. I wrote three blog posts and outlined a fourth. My blog posts tend to be short, so the total word count was something like 700 words, which I'm happy with. I also critiqued some short stories.

 

[Hannya Kay]

Day 4 was a mixed experience.

First I fiddled with my novel. Added a few words, brainstormed what next scene had to be about, experienced with some sensory details of whatever gruesome entities are about to play on my characters' nerves (if not with their lives). All useful things to do, but not much to show at the end in terms of progress.

For my second session, I decided to be brave and to face the edits I needed to do on a short story. It stood at 8k, which is way too much for the market I think would be a good fit. But this story scares me. I went very weird on this, both in plot and writing style, and I'm not sure I'm a good enough writer for this. My first attempts at revising it ended up in an even bigger mess lol. BUT no way I would be scared by my own story, hey? Well maybe a tiny bit terrified. Good news. I did a first round of heavy tidying up and it now stands at 5.6k. It also makes more sense, and I fixed somehow this crazy fragmented structure that was giving me headaches. Maybe by the end of the month I'll have something decent to submit, but there's still so much work to do on this.

 

[Tocotin]

BUT no way I would be scared by my own story, hey?

Oh no, it happens. It happens a lot.

Day 4

Wrote over 3 pages again, which is good and surprising. This character feels comfortable with 3rd person POV, she doesn't want anything special from me. It's the other one that is behaving badly. I might need to get back to her tomorrow.

 

[lorna_w]

Great morning. Still being happily surprised that the problems are minor. Only one bit I need to think through. It's highlighted, and I'll finish the first revision and just sleep on it a few weeks. It might come out, or get revised a good deal, or it might be fine. Time will tell.

 

[kickashstory]

One of my habits is arriving to these monthly goal setting sessions a few beats late, but arriving nonetheless!

1. I'm picking up my historical fiction WIP again. My goal is to spend time with it every day. At minimum, jot something down. Ideally, a solid writing session 4-5x/week.

2. Read 1.5 books (finish this one, one more in the lineup).

Grateful to be here and counted among you writing legends!

 

[JoeySL]

Day 5:

Drafted almost 1k of new words to make it 80,830.

According to my current re-outline I'm aiming for roundabout 87k, BUT I reminded myself that all I need is to finish this thing, then worry about wordcounts and stuff later. Like, I already have a very good idea of what I'll be looking out for in my second round of revisions, but I'm trying to ignore that for now. First, get this thing written down.

 

[TheBleedingTypewriter]

Day 4 was another good day. I wrote a horror drabble and edited a few other drabbles. Now if only I could channel some of this productivity into the rest of my life...I moved apartments a month ago and have barely begun to unpack.

 

[hapaweyrlady]

One of my habits is arriving to these monthly goal setting sessions a few beats late, but arriving nonetheless!

Same here! Better late than never.

This is a busy month for me with events and birthdays, and my husband will be out-of-town all next week, so lots of mommy and kiddo time. Keeping goals simple this month.

SEPTEMBER goals
1) Outline next WIP (possible NNWM 2024 project)
2) Find 1 comp for LGC and TKT

I think I can handle that.

 

[cutelilcryptid]

Day 4: 468 more words for the revision over the course of 54 minutes and 20 seconds (the exact length of Evanescence's album The Open Door. No, this is not a coincidence. Certainly not my best pace, however). First chapter of the revision is almost complete; I hope to finish it tomorrow.

 

[eekwrites]

So I'm allowed to have these writing-for-myself scenes where I'm telling myself the story, which helps me then to progress to next scenes with a better idea of what's going on, who these characters are, and what they want.

I really love this way of framing it. I often get down on myself for "wasting time" writing scenes that clearly will not be sticking around after this draft, but sometimes, the only way to find my way to the next part of the story is to write those types of scenes.

Day 3 was about 1 hour of staring at the ceiling thinking about funerals/death/the afterlife in my world, and ~300 words on page.

Day 4 is 0 words so far...but it's not over yet!

 

[Nether]

Day 4 was 1,139 words, and 1 agent queried.

Bad writing day all around. Kinda started late and couldn't get things together during my early session (so it was very low) and then my late session was also a bit low. But, again, a bad writing day is better than a no-writing day. And I'll complain about this, that, and the third, but my overall output is still better than it was years ago, even if I'm in a bit of a gully.

Speaking of gullies, I haven't heard back from any agents in a while. Guess they're all sleeping or something. My two oldest active QMs are from August 4th (a month ago, which isn't super-late or anything, but you know).

As for today's agent, I accidentally queried somebody on my second-string list. Whoops. The agent looks like they have a solid background, and my misgiving was really just their recent track record seems a little weak (but it's hard to judge at times)

Currently at 13,637 words for ACP
Queried 11 agents so far this month.
Currently 254/384 pages into a YA comp (The Bad Ones)

 

[TheBleedingTypewriter]

Day 5 — I wrote 300 words in a short story that's sloooowly starting to take form.

 

[cutelilcryptid]

Day 5: 414 more words for the revision. Feeling easily distractable--I think the work week is catching up with me. Finished that first chapter though! (Just don't ask me about the next one. I'm sure the outline says something about it).

 

[Hannya Kay]

Day 5 was not much. Lots going on in my day job, and when I finished with that, I had to help with the kids' homework. Then, not much time left for anything, but I managed an edit pass while dinner was cooking. Better than nothing...

 

[Nether]

Day 5 was 1,783 words and 1 agent queried (and 2 rejections)

Early session was pretty good, although a bunch felt like filler. Late session got going after a while.

Right now, though, it's kinda not very horror. During revision, I'll have to add foreshadowing. Right now, it's kinda more drama. Maybe I could get away with that as upmarket horror, but the prose isn't terribly upmarket and I'm not gimmicking anything.

The agent of the day is a UK agency that's specifically worldwide. iirc, I think they looked good, but can't remember specifics.

The day's rejections were... idk. One was a UK agency where the founder had a cool story. Less cool was the rejection, which included -- with a disclaimer this wouldn't apply to everybody -- ideas that could be pursued to improve a manuscript, including listing the name of an editor (where the agency openly discloses the editor is a former employee and claims that there's no monetary incentive -- both of which might be true, but the practice still leaves a sour taste). On the plus side, the turnaround time wasn't bad -- I sent the query on 9/1 (a Sunday), got a response on 9/5

The other rejection came a lot more slowly. That query I'd sent out on 8/13. To be fair, that agent wasn't one of my top choices, but the person I'd wanted to query wasn't open (and, even more honestly, that agent wasn't on a dream list, either).

I'm a little started by how quickly time is passing. The other query I sent on 8/13 I recalled being a lot more recent.

Currently at 15,420 words for ACP
Queried 12 agents so far this month.
Currently 265/384 pages into a YA comp (The Bad Ones)

 

[Gehenna]

Day 6, decided to switch projects. Not sure why, a hunch I guess. It might end with this one chapter. I've started this particular project three times, always stopping, unsure if others would find it interesting. I'll give it a try (bout 10k words) and see where it goes from there.
WIP- less than 100 pages left to edit. I will rest after it, think I'm overly excited about it and I don't want to blow my chances. The query is just... not coming to me.