April Challenge - Write Every Day!

Still chugging along, organizing and refining ideas into sections rather than a mass of notes and "perhaps...". I have a subplot - it involves romance, but is mainly political. At the end the MC has to choose which of the two parties she wants to help and which she wants as an enemy. As you can no doubt tell, I've decided the MC is female, and is possibly called Shana or Shara... or something. There's so many things to decide. There is no way I can start the actual writing by the end of this month and I have absolutely no intention of trying; instead I will spend a while getting the structure right in the hope that will make things easier later on. I hope by the end of May I'll be writing the first draft. Ooh...

In other news,I cleared the flower beds in the front garden, apart from a shrub that will be taken out next week. One bed will be grassed over, and the other covered in slabs for flowerpots.

So, more swimming!

Alessandra Kelly - weird is good in my book (literally).

D. L.: (Have you noticed you always seem to post right after me? Our routines must click!) Five pages a day? You can do it!

Dan: That’s a smart way of working. I’d like to juggle a bit more, but sometimes I need a while to get my head back into another project.

Taylor: Follow that story! Don’t let it out your sight!

Layla: A whole page? Nice. I like working in cafes too; it feels less lonely than sitting at my desk. Never had Yorkshire Gold… Have you ever made mint tea using fresh leaves? It’s lovely (but expensive!).

Alessandra: Weird is good

Keithy: Ooo, I like both those names. I’m glad you’re not pressuring yourself to start before you’re ready. Gardening must be so therapeutic. I bet your brain cooks up lots of ideas while you’re digging around.

Whelp, I had an AWESOME day yesterday. For some magical reason, I had focus and energy, and I edited all day – completing eight and a half chapters by bed-time (my original target had been three). Maybe my rest day paid dividends, or maybe the stars aligned. Who knows. I’m now far ahead of schedule, which is a rare but pleasant experience, and have got juice to push on the rest of the weekend. Come on, April, finish on a high!

P.S. To be clear, I was referring to the month, not doing some weird third-person pep talk.

Day 27: Flying unicorns!; 8.5 miles; lunchtime wine (maybe this was the key ingredient?)

P.P.S. For those who don’t know, Flying unicorns is the top rating I can give myself. Probably best not to ask.

Dan: Thanks for the info. Sounds like it's working really well for you, especially if your ideas come to you while you are concentrating on something else. I'll have to try it after I finish this draft. I really want to work on both stories, if possible, but I just don't know if I can manage the time constraints. Guess I'll figure it out as I go. Congrats on the 1,000+ again!

Taylor: Don't you just love it when your story decides to take a new turn? Have fun with adding to it!

Layla: Great that you got an entire page in...sounds like you had a productive day!

Alessandra: Glad you are still plugging away at your story. I'm guessing "weird" makes for an interesting plot!

April: 8.5 chapters AND 8.5 miles??? Congrats! Seems like 8.5 was your number for the day! (P.S. I hadn't noticed we were posting in sync, I'll have to pay attention to that!)

I got another 2 hours in yesterday, and I am moving some stuff around again in the last few scenes. I added another page, and I have 16 left to go. Talk about taking it down to the wire!

Well, I had to really push myself to get it done before work but the stupid draft is finally DONE. Twenty-six pages. 10,000 words, double what I projected when I pitched the idea to the editor. The anthology is about exploring new places so I’ve got a lot of polishing to do. The real work begins!

Seems like a lot of you have been getting a lot of writing in and fitting it in around your life! That's dedication. I haven't touched my stuff since my last check in here. Busy week. What writing I got done was for a Infinity War review (it's a VERY good film). Today I just want to play on Mario Kart as soon as I get some free time.

I did get a bit done. Got down the next chapter. There's another one there ready to go but I figured I can do that tomorrow because after that I'll be writing blind. How bad is that? Sometimes I hate planning everything out before I write. I find it, sometimes, quite boring. I ALWAYS say you should do that though because the more planning and thought you put into your world and characters the better you know them!

Taylor Harbin - great going!

Ed8350 - Planning is good.

As for me - still working on my outline, and I've found I have a slight case of sagging middle (don't laugh) so I'll be thinking of ways to prop it up or else chop it out (I said don't laugh)

Tomorrow does not look good for getting much done.

D.L.: See, did it again! Ha, I hadn't even noticed the 8.5 thing. Eeee you're so close! Good luck with those final 16 pages

Taylor: Hurray! Take a moment to celebrate (before the long graft begins!).

Ed: Oh, I hope I like Infinity War. I've heard it's good. After Wonder Woman, Ragnarok and Black Panther, my expectations are set pretty high.

Keithy: Be grateful you only have a slightly sagging middle

I had another good day yesterday (maybe it's the air up here?) and I finished my first big edit of Project B. I'm going to have a day off today to clear my mind, then do a read-through tomorrow to look at character development, before the juicy line edits begin.

Day 28: Decent bit; 7 miles; one of the greatest pizzas I've ever had.

Taylor: Woo hoo! Nice work. I love the polishing part...have fun with it!

Ed: Great job getting another chapter done! You don't have to plan if you hate it that much. It's good, if you find it useful. Me, I like to just see where the characters take me, and learn about them as I go.

Keithy: Instead of laughing, I am picturing you pruning a tree. Have fun propping and chopping!!

April: Hooray for finishing your first big edit. That's a great accomplishment! A pizza is hands down the best reward for that!

For me, another hour and a quarter done, 12 pages left. Today I am booked up most of the day, but I am going to attempt to take that number down to 10. Tomorrow, I'm off, and hope to have a marathon session so I can finally finish this draft!

Shepherd and April: I'm not celebrating anything right now. Got a big life decision to make that's been looming over me for the last week and it's brought no end of anxiety and depression. Finished the story in the nick of time, I guess.

Taylor: So sorry to hear you are struggling with this decision. I hope once you make up your mind, and get past any hurdles that come with it, that things smooth out for you and you feel much better. For what it's worth, hang in there.

Alessandra, keep on keeping on!

Keithy - have fun with your gardening & with getting to know your story (I sowed some crimson clover the other day & alyssum.)

April - IMO Focus+Energy=Magic - I often ask the Whatever for "focus and energy" (no kidding)

DL - congrats on 2 hours and 18 pages to go!

Well, snap Talor! "DONE" for sending the month off with Glory!

Ed congrats on getting to that next chapter

Day 28 & 29 - I did a full page today, and yesterday I followed a lead for a new $$ project. I may do other stuff tonight, but I"m going to check in with only 2/3. I did something. I checked in. I'm swimming.

I'm going to just jump back into this.

1500 words so far today. Going for 2000.

UPDATE: Made it to 2100.

I've done rather more than expected today. First of all I've kind of resolved my saggy middle (it wasn't that saggy) but I think I've come across a plot hole. Best I fill it before I go much further. But I also outlined a fun fight scene. You know, MC is in peril, then wins. Typical stuff, but she shows her power briefly.

There's still some family drama going on, alas, and I think I'll be distracted from my progress on the story during next week. There's always so much else to gobble up my time!

Taylor Harbin - you have my sympathies. Every so often I fall down a dark rabbit hole.

Layla Nahar - great swimming!

Everyone else... just keep swimming.

Layla: 2 out of 3 still ain't bad. Congrats on adding another page.

Daniel: Really nice run, great way to close out the month!!

Keithy: It's so hard juggling family issues, work, and life in general, with writing. I hope you find yourself a happy balance.

Zippo for me yesterday. But I'm off from work today and goal number one is to dig in and *try* to finish this draft. I keep telling myself I only have 12 pages left, but at the rate I've been editing (average of 2 pages an hour), I'd better get myself some glue and an IV coffee drip if I'm going to do this thing.

Closing out a successful April with a successful day. Didn't get to 1K words of "actual" writing, but got 670 words, plus put about 1600 words down in outline format for future chapters. Ended up April with 7 words shy of 16K.

See you all in the May thread!

Driving by today. I had a rough weekend, with a high fever on Saturday. Probably could've made up the difference if I put my all into it, but it really wasn't worth the extra credentials. Instead, I decided to lighten the load today and do the minor edits of Book #1 that have been plaguing me for a while now. I've really been putting book #1 on the back burner too much. Book #2 is doing just fine right, way ahead of schedule, there's no reason I should be putting all my gas in that right now. Next week, once school's out, I'm gonna start the third version of my query letter, and submit to agencies again thereafter.

All in all, still a stupendous month, especially considering the hardships. 43.5k words into the new manuscript after 2.5 months. I hope you guys met your goals as well!

Dan: The 1600 words of outlining count too. Nice way to close out the month!

xenylic: Sorry to hear you were sick this past weekend, but hope you are feeling better now! Have fun working on the edits from your other book...hope to see you in the May thread!

5.5 hours today...because I *had* to finish before the month ended. And...draft 2 is done. It took me 102 hours for this edit, and I took a ~55K manuscript and brought it up to ~75K, ironed out all my plot issues (I hope), and now it's time to let it simmer a bit while I switch gears to work on Book 1 for a while. Feels good to have completed something before things get crazy at my day job, even if it is only one draft of many.

Drive by for me cept to say wow - *way* to go DL!! Knocking it out of the park!!! Congrats my friend

Day 30 - 1 page; responded to a recruiter; started a big major cleaning (moving furniture etc) to take advantage of the free time. 3/3

See you in the May thread!

1,004 words.

I had fun writing it, but I'm operating on about 3 hours of sleep-- so I need a rest.

Better luck tomorrow I say!

D.L.: YAAAAS! I knew you'd do it

Drive-by... Did a read-through yesterday and found lots of stuff to work on. So, the May goal writes itself!

Day 30: Decent bit; 3.5 miles; mysterious illness.

Edit: Oops, this is for April. Sorry. Off to the May one. Still, congratulations on everyone's perseverance over the last month.