June Challenge - Write Every Day

KayMitch: Look at you go, you winner! Great work! I hope that you patted yourself on the back thoroughly and allowed for a good night’s rest. You deserve it after that! = )

Taylor: Damn, I hear you. I’ve had many of those nights. I applaud you for still writing. If I get too tired, I simply have to call it a day.

thereeneess: Fingers crossed. You can do it!

SKara: Thanks for the wishes and sorry about the nightmare! Sounds like you’re still being productive, so kudos to you.

Pterofan: Hey, anything above 250 is still progress. Just because it’s slow does not mean it’s not worthwhile, right? = D

WGough: Nice! 90K? You’re nearly done then, right? And nice on fixing a major problem. Revising can be a pesky beast!

Layla: Should we cue in David Bowie’s infamous song? We must be getting older or something. I hope you had an enjoyable and fulfilling day off. *Tips metaphorical top-hat to thee*

Me: 2301. I also did six pages of editing and reset my sleep schedule, I hope. I’m also going to start writing earlier in the day. I’m keeping up on not smoking/chewing nicotine gum. Exercise is doing well for me too.

We’re swimming, ladies and fellas!

Day 17
Words Written Today: 613
WIP Total Count: 65,113
Other WIP Count: 22,892

Another drive by cuz fathers day was busy for me. I'm off to to bed now.

Better night’s sleep, and got another page and a half. Action scenes are usually not my strong suite, but this one is rolling along effortlessly. Bracing myself. Bad things are about to happen and I don’t want them to but it’s the only logical outcome.

Day 17 - 227 words. The weekend turned out to be a wash, writing-wise. But I got the lawn mowed. Weeding tonight.

Part of the problem is my ongoing battle with procrastination. I picked up another book at the library and now I'm caught up in the story. Reading other writers' work can help improve your own. Reading other writers' work instead of writing your own doesn't help anybody.

Meanwhile, on the handwritten WIP, I came up with a new idea that's going to cause major conflict for the FMC and the two hawt men she's attracted to. That means I'll have to almost totally rewrite my opening chapters. Fortunately I haven't gotten very far along.Sometimes being a slow writer pays unexpected dividends.

Hi folks,

Keithy: Congrats on meeting your target! That was one successful week of swimming.

thereeness: Take some nice rest I hope you get lots of writing done in the coming days!

WGough: Wow, getting over yourself - that's maybe tougher than the writing itself. Glad you marched on and managed to do so much writing and revising. I like your attitude!

Layla: Hope you enjoyed your day off I wonder what happened to the artist you were talking about earlier?

Daniel: Sounds like a lot of writing and editing! Well done. I really like your idea of fixing sleep schedule - and exercise. That's two of the major keys to strengthening the will-power muscle, from what I hear all the will-power scientists say.

Kay: 600 words on a busy day? I call it success. Hope you had a good night's rest

Taylor: So glad to hear you had a better night 1.5 pages sounds awesome! Actions scenes - yeah, they're tricky (I rarely have them in my stories for the same reason) but looks like you're doing a great job! Swim, swim.

Ptero: Sometimes when you're reading other writers' works, the brain is unconsciously working behind the scenes even if you're not aware. It feels a lot like procrastination, and sometimes it is, but it does lead to better ideas in your own writing. And you did get a fresh idea for the conflict, so I agree, it's paying well.

As for me, again, more work on MG (because that's all writing/drafting), less on YA (because that's all revising/thinking), but a very productive day.

Good work, everyone. Let's swim some more

Hello, thread! As expected, things are super busy and I've been terrible at checking in, BUT! I finished the first draft of my manuscript! It's just shy of 80k, and has been sent out to two readers to give some first-level feedback before I head into draft two. I'm feeling great about finally getting this monster done, and even though I wasn't checking in this thread's existence definitely helped. Hope everyone else is having success, too!

Day 18

Revised 1/2 chapter. Up to 91K words.

Layla - Skip days keep me sane. Good for you.

Daniel - You are on fire. 2000+ words and editing 6 pages? That's an 8 hour day for me.

KayMitch - Father's Day wins. Still, respectable word count.

Taylor - I struggle with actions scenes, too. "Bad things are about to happen and I don’t want them to but it’s the only logical outcome. " Gotta do it. Torture those characters.

Pterofan - I'm with you. Have a stack of library books I keep renewing. If they're craft books it doesn't count as procrastinating, right? Yep, I'm delusional. It's too tempting.

SKara - I envy your routine. If I may, how do you manage revising one WIP and writing another? Do you have a schedule?

Magnus - Glad you're back! Breaks are necessary. Breaks are vital.

heykatydid - Congratulations on finishing your first draft! I'm curious to see how your revisions go.

Keep at it everybody.

Daniel - (You mean Heros?) Congrats on six(!) pages of editing. And 2K+ new words - Keep at it D!

Kay - nice work getting in 600+ words on a busy day!

Taylor - congrats on the 1.5 pages -- and on the good night's sleep!

Ptero - You wrote. You beat the blank page. You wrote 227 words. Congratulations on that victory

SKara - Congrats on getting that writing done, and even an extra bit of mind-work (it wasn't a day off really. I worked my retail job for seven hours… (ach! which artist?) )

MAGNUS!!! & KATY!! -- good to see you both, & congrats on the work

Wgough - nice work - revision is hard!


Day 18
WIP: 1/2 page
R/SC - nice gardening session - harvested a ton of cilantro. FINISHED sewing the noren, repaired another pair of pants & did some laundry. Errands for groceries and hooks to put my noren up, made tomato stew
$$ - made a draft of a business card; typing (20 WPM !); a wee bit of research to get back on my old indy project exercises

Lets keep on keepin on yall!!

Hey everyone! I'll give detailed responses on your progress tomorrow, just have to go to bed now. My sleep schedule is normal now.

I did really well today: 4 pages of editing and 4293 words. I've finished editing the fourth draft now. Fifth draft time!

I also read a ton.

Good luck all. I'll reconvene in the morning.

Swim!

,Day 18
Words Written Today: 6,321
WIP Total Count: 65,113
Other WIP Count: 29,213

Made up for yesterday's short word count with this killer day. I also cleaned the house with the boyfriend which was nice, cuz now we have a clean house. I still need to change the sheets on my bed, but that can wait til bedtime. I finished 3 whole scenes today, leaving me 16 scenes until the end of my WIP! Next scene coming up is a fun training montage so that will be interesting to write.


Taylor: I am not great at action scenes either so don't sweat it! The more you write the easier they get.

Ptero: 227 words is still words! And great job with the yard work! To get myself out of spending all my time reading, I reserve a little bit before bed every night to read at least one chapter.

SKara: I am like you and prefer writing/drafting over revising/thinking. Thus why I'm working on my WIP instead of editing my pirate manuscript or polishing my demon one XD Good work with the productive day!

Magnus: You might have fallen off, but you're getting back on! Good job!

heykaty: Great job with your ms! And great job sending it off to readers! I'm always too terrified to send mine off to readers, especially at first draft XD

WGough: Yes my father wins my attention over my writing, but I did still get words in. Good job with revising!

Layla: Good job on half a page and all the other stuff you accomplished today. PS: I love cilantro!

Daniel: Congrats on 4 pages of editing AND over 4k in words. That's amazing. 4 pages of editing takes an entire day for me. I write fast and edit very very slowly.

Daniel - Nice word count AND editing count! Not to mention the health stuff, that's just as important and big a milestone as the writing!

KayMitch - A clean house is a great thing to have and WOW! You're so close! Don't break any laws speeding to the end XD

Taylor - No one wants bad things to happen, but hopefully the momentum from your action scenes will carry you through. Good luck!

Pterofan - Procrastination is the murder of all progress ;_; I struggle with it myself, it's how my perfectionism manifests. And yes, sometimes writing slow means you get to implement new ideas without messing things up further along

SKara - Nice work on both projects and kudos for being able to juggle 2 age groups.

Magnus - I feel you, cause I also took a long ass break, but now results are finally starting to show themselves. Sometimes you brain just needs some time to itself ^^

katydid - CONGRATS! Finishing a draft is a huge milestone and such a rush Hope your readers give some great feedback!

Layla - Sounds like a great gardening session. Wish I had the green thumb (my mom does but not me), since going paleo, I'm using a crapton more seasonsings and I hear they're better fresh. What an awesome, productive day

As for me, I'm also finally getting back into the swing of things. In the wee hours of Day 19, after cooking not one, not two, but THREE paleo dishes, I sat down and churned out 8500 words over the course of 4 hours. I've officially begun transcribing my draft. I've made it through the first, introductory scenes, my three leads have met, two of them have had some sparks fly, and there were some tears involved, not gonna lie. I've deviated wildly from my handwritten draft, but this happens a lot. This just...it felt better, you know?

One of my MCs was deep in the hole of blaming herself for something she couldn't control (she has confidence/self worth issues) and my main MC pulled her out of her funk through forgiveness and reminding her that she may not have saved one life, but she saved four others, and so she's not a failure. And it was just a great bonding moment overall and I got really teary writing it.

Not bad for 5 AM XD

Hope everyone has a great day and keep swimming!

Hello everyone,

Magnus: Sometimes when it looks like you're doing nothing, the brain is working behind the scenes; and it shows in the form of fresh ideas and creativity afterward. So congrats on getting back into writing mode - hope you get lots written
heykaty: Big congrats on the first draft! That feeling of having finished something - it's so precious!

WGough: Well done on your 1/2 chapter revision! My revisions on the old project are going super-slow - that's part of the reason why I've started working on the new MG story because I wasn't feeling any progress. My schedule is flexible but it does have an order: I work at polishing my writing skills first thing in the morning, then the next few hours (variable) are devoted to the exciting fresh MG draft, and the last hour or so I spend on the revision of the good old YA story. I don't usually juggle projects like that, but the MG idea was fun and fresh, and the plot came to me really fast. It's more like an escape rather than official work

Layla: I was talking about the protest you went to on the weekend, about the musician who was being forced to leave their dwelling - it sounded very sad.

Well done on the writing, though - and the noren! Sounds like a very busy day you've had. So ... I'm assuming you never really take a day off in the strict sense of the word? (Which sounds awesome, btw!)

Daniel: That's a LOT of editing and writing. Seriously! I'm glad your sleep is alright now

Kay: Wow, that was one big word count you got there! And the cleaning - yeah, that often accompanies good writing days Only 16 scenes to go - yay! You're a strict plotter, I'm assuming?

thereeness: 8500 words in 4 hours! WOW - that was nicely done! And I love the sound of that bonding moment

Day 19: A lot of serious plot development in the MG project, some slow work on the YA revision. Not as satisfying as usual in terms of the latter, but the former? Amazing.

Carry on writing, good people We're doing a great job!

SKara said:

Kay: Wow, that was one big word count you got there! And the cleaning - yeah, that often accompanies good writing days Only 16 scenes to go - yay! You're a strict plotter, I'm assuming?

Click to expand...

Hilariously no. I used to not plot at all and then I'd get stuck in the middle because I'd write my self into a wall. I have changed my ways tho. I am no longer "pantsing" but I can't do full big outlines so I am what they call a "plantser" I write out vauge scene ideas to push me in the right direction. Like currently my scene plan has things listed like "training" "wedding" "Yancy leaves" "Run away" and so on. And then I give myself a word count goal for each scene. This way I don't accidentally write myself into a corner and I always have an idea of where I'm supposed to be headed.

Day 18 - 215 words. My excuse this time is that I got another freelance assignment and devoted my day to that. Paid work is the best excuse ever.

Dancing bananas for everybody!

Magnus: Hello, fair traveler! Where the heck have you been?

heykatydid: Fabulous work Katy! I just finished a manuscript too, so I know the feeling! Great!

KayMitch: Ooooooo! You’re nearing the end now—nice. Over 6K is more than solid; it’s a landslide of a day! A clean house reflects a clean mind, or so they say: you are what you keep.

thereeness: Over 8K? Extremely productive. What a powerhouse of a day! I calculated it and that’s 35 words a minute. Woah! You’ve got to love the feels as well—that is one of the primary reasons behind my desire to write. Without the feels, for me, it’s not worth it.

SKara: Development and progress are great! You’re getting there. Plot development is hard and if you’ve made great strides in that vein then all the power to you. Good work!

Pterofan: I’m so happy you’re able to find work as a freelancer. For me, that’s a dream job—so you’re already living the dream to me. = D

As for me, I think I've finally quit for good-- no urges. I see people smoking and wonder what the hell they're thinking. Totally not worth dying over.

Additionally, I am now drinking only 1-2 cups of black tea/coffee (no sugar) per day. To add to that, I just purchased a big box of green tea-- it will be my new go-to beverage. I will drink it without adding any milk or anything. I took two 45 minute walks yesterday and plan to keep up with that. Furthermore, I am doing sit-ups and pushups to help influence a healthy body shape.

All is good on my end! We're doing awesome!

Day 19 - just typed 446 words in public library (I get my WiFi there) and finished a scene that was giving me trouble. Progress may move faster after this.

There may be a Part 2 to the word count later. It's not bedtime yet.

Daniel - smoke free and getting healthy. You are my newest hero.

Weird day. Slept till 7, got up, and wrote in a frenzy for what must have been almost two hours, and no telling how many words. I stopped before the well ran dry and I’ve had to beat myself away from the typewriter since. The bad things didn’t happen, but it’s close at hand.

Day 19

Revised a chapter, cut a scene (yay!), down to 90,800 words

Layla - Renaissance woman! When do you sleep?

Daniel - Holy crow, that's a ton of progress. Congrats on you draft and beating the cravings. I'm on my third draft, and it's killing me (slowly).

Pterofan - Always feels good to fix a problem. Love it.

KayMitch - Amazing word count, you writing fiend! And you cleaned the house? I'd go straight to bed. Interesting plantsing. I like it.

thereeness - 8500 words. Wow. Buying new doors since you just blew them off. I'll admit, when I write myself to tears, it feels like a tiny catharsis.

SKara - Oh, the joy! Sounds like you're having a blast with the new project. I feel you on the slow revision. And thanks for answering my question.

Taylor - Good job tearing yourself away from your WIP. If I work until the tank is empty, the last paragraphs read "and then...(adverb)...and then (adverb)...500 words of simultaneous action...xqyng9."

Fantabulous progress, all and sundry!

2310.

I stayed true to my resolutions.

Time for bed-- gotta snooze!

P.S. I'll catch up with progress reports tomorrow, fair ladies and gentlemen!

Daniel - nice work - editing, new words and on to the 5th draft! You're doing the butterfly

Wow, Kay, 6K+ words - so nice! & it feels great to have a clean house, right?

Wuuuwiiii reeness - *that's* a productive day - congrats on those words, and on getting those chores done (I do virtually all my cooking in batches - then you don't have to think about it for days (I freeze stuff))

Skara - ok, 'artist' threw me off. (uh. Maybe I never do take a day off… Congrats to you on the plot development - 'satisfying' is a good word to hear

Well done, Ptero & even better done on Day 19! Congrats!

Taylor, I think stopping before the well runs dry is a good idea

WGough - these days I go to bed at 9:30 - which is here now!! Congrats on that revision

Day 19

WIP: 1/2 page - but it was a struggle…
R/SC - more tidying & sewing,
$$ - designed a business card, went to the liberry, printed the doc for the cards & took it to the copy shop to investigate options - I'll be able to make a set of ~24 double sided card for about 5-6 dollars. (If you do it the 'real' way it's $43 for 50 double sided cards.)

Layla - I did loads of gardening today and got myself a bad back and blisters. I now have to cook "proper" food nearly every day due to the wife's diet (no pizzas now).

The writing effort yesterday was putting chapter 5 (tentatively titled "sniffing around") into order. And today I wrote 672 words of it. Shana has been found a job in the royal castle as a cleaner and general skivvy. She's not enjoying it, and she likes it less when she is told her supervisor likes to "take" the new recruits. Thankfully she has discovered that something strange is going on deep in the bowels of the castle...

Swimming along nicely... and wanting to write more, which helps.

Skara - That's awesome that you're getting so much work done!

Pterofan - Aw yeah, dancing bananas! And grats on getting that tough scene done.

Daniel - That's awesome, congrats on kicking the habit! Health goals are so important, and the fact you're making such strides is definitely something to be proud of

Taylor - Ah, gotta love those times when you're so lost in the frenzy that you forget what time it is, when you ate last, why your hands hurt so much...the crash afterward isn't so great, but what can you do? Hope things keep trucking!

WGough - Whoot for revisions! Making cuts is always fun, for many reasons

Layla - That's great you got anything done, writing wise, but wow, you're still doing all the things!

Keithy - I'm loving the bits of your WIP that you're throwing out there Shana sounds like a delight and I love the mystery of where it's going. Yay for wanting to write more!

Once more, it's 5 AM, but today it's Day 20 and wow, I am deviating SO HARDCORE from my hand written draft that it's not even funny. I've cut huge chunks of scenes, that really did nothing for the plot, and am moving right from the opening battle/introduction scenes to the Inciting Incidents.

Added another 5k words, which isn't bad, but it's not where I wanted to be tonight. Still, I'll take it.

Also made a roast tonight, with sweet potato, rutabaga, carrots, and onions. I'm a bit leery, because the last crockpot dish I made turned out watery as hell, and I do not want to ruin a 20 dollar chuck roast by making it watery. Thankfully, about 5 hours in, it looks to be holding up okay. The veggies might turn out a bit mushy, but the roast has browned nicely and it smells amazing. So I'm sending up a kiss and a prayer that it turns out.

Slept in by accident and only had about an hour, but managed to get a full page or so.

Day 19
Words Written Today: Idk like 10?
WIP Total Count: 65,113
Other WIP Count: 29,213

Drive by for now. I'll pop back in with day 20 after I finish work. Yesterday I finished work, edited for about 5 minutes before the boyfriend got home from work, went to dinner, and then went to see The Incredibles 2. So fun day, but not a big writing day.