December Challenge - Write Every Day!

DAY 13: Wrote a new 189 words on the same chapter.
DAY 14: Wrote some, but ended up trashing it.

Day 14
Revised those last six chapters. The first revision (that I'm happy with) of Book I is done. Sigh.

The Second Moon: Awesome job!

Layla: Congrats on your half page!

Taylor: Way to wrestle. Enjoy your human interaction!

Keithy: 300 words is amazing!

Blinkk: I'm wowed that you can hold a story in your head for that long! Great word count. And thanks for commiserating.

Cindyt: Yes, yes it does. Gosh, I hope you feel better soon!

Pterofan: Way to get it done. Sleep well.

xenylic: You can do it!

starrystorm: Nice word count, and way to brave the delete!

Happy weekend, folks.

Pterofan - yes Grog is man. He is in his early twenties and used to go by the name "CC" which stood for "Cheeky Chappie". He's the sort of person who laughs at everything, and especially nothing.
Xenylic - good to see the end in sight to a project!!
Second moon - that is my goal. I tend to have good days and dud days in which I write nothing. I need at least one day of 800+ every week.

Well, I am telling myself that I am a writer because I'm writing, and I am beginning to believe it. And feel happy about it. I know there will rough times.

Regarding today's progress - 690 words. Good, but I'm going to have to up the beat.

Shana has just finished her sword training and is sitting on front of a fire, looking up at the night sky and thinking wistfully about home, thinking about the constellations that would be there. She starts thinking about how she got here and feels sad, and starts singing a song that her mother taught her when she was a child. Unfortunately she has landed on a planet where singing is banned, and for very good reasons. And, alas, the group she has fallen in with are tasked with enforcing that ban.

And that means I have to think up a suitable song. Hmm.

Just keep swimming

Congrats on that page, Taylor


Nice work Blinkk


Cindy congrats on the 91. Hope you feel better. (I put cotton wool up my nose and just wait for it to over…)


Congrats on the fiction & on getting the freelance out the door Ptero


You're a trooper Xen! keep at it


Way to go Moon -


Starry, Congrats on your Day 13 189 and your Day 14 production!


Kiethy - congrats on the 690!



Day 14
WIP 1/2 page (& some mulling over the Three Query Questions)
R/SC - earning service, chores, housemate email
$$ - indy research

Day 14

Getting closer to The Big Climax Scene. 600 words done today, and the tension is rising. A king is going to die very, very soon. Damn I'm excited.

@xenylic wow that's a nice chunk of writing. Great job! Also, if you learn that christmas song let me know. I love music. I love musicians <3 Wanna hear!

@Wgough, it's done?! Congrats! Even if there's more drafts to get through, do something nice for yourself. That's awesome work.

@Keithy a planet that bans singing is a terrible thing. Also, a wonderful setting for a story. Also, never invite xenylic there.

Day 14

Draft - 233

Layla - I rub Vick’s salve on my nose. Works for me. So far. Congrats on the ½ page. Hope you came up with good ones on the three query questions.

WGough - Congrats!

Welp, I slept most of the day. Haven’t done that in a long time, but I’m not complaining. I may not sleep for the rest of the weekend. Fixing to get to writing.

Day 14 - half a page longhand, about 200 words

That week devoted to freelancing paid off; it kept me from getting the Christmas cards out. I've been sending my brother homemade cards for Xmas and his birthday. This morning I woke up with an idea even better than the one I had planned. Hope he enjoys it. Hint: he's a conservative Republican and I'm ... well, not.

To Second Moon and WGough: , plus a bunch of bananas apiece:

I missed Gough! That's a good enough reason to check in early - Conngratulations on revising Book 1. Dang you got to The End twice! (I'm still trying to get to the beginning…)


Blinkk - wtg with the 600 words


& congrats on the 233 Cindy


Day 15


WIP - 1 page
R/SC - puttered on a few projects, took it easy - self-care win
$$ indy project - research

Sorry I haven't been around for this month's challenge. I've been busy with holiday season at work, and my pup isn't doing so well. He's lost probably 15-20lbs in the last few weeks and is having some kind of issue with his bladder/urinary tract. I'll probably be back next month, but I'll try to keep all of you updated and check in to see how you guys are doing with your writing! The pup has an appointment on Monday so hopefully they will have some answers for me.

KayMitch said:

Sorry I haven't been around for this month's challenge. I've been busy with holiday season at work, and my pup isn't doing so well. He's lost probably 15-20lbs in the last few weeks and is having some kind of issue with his bladder/urinary tract. I'll probably be back next month, but I'll try to keep all of you updated and check in to see how you guys are doing with your writing! The pup has an appointment on Monday so hopefully they will have some answers for me.

Click to expand...

Take care, and we'll see you next month!

Kay, I hope your 4-legged friend will be feeling better very soon.

Day 15: 960 words.

That's almost 1K.

DAY 15: 215 words

Layla: Good for you for taking it easy.
Kay: Sorry.
The Second Moon: Good job.

Day 15
Loaded Book I into the Kindle. Reading it in that format is weird. Did some Christmas shopping. Cleaned off my desk and thought about a revision plan for Book II. Gonna try the three-pass approach. First pass for plot, second pass for character development, third pass for world building. Printed Book II. Read through one chapter and made notes. Failing at leaving sentence-level issues until the bigger problems are fixed.

Keithy: Great word count.

Layla: Nice page and a half. Way to take care of yourself!

Blinkk: Your excitement is contagious! Great job.

Cindyt: Sounds like you're feeling better. Way to carry on!

Pterofan: Nice word count. Thanks for the bananas. You and your brother = me and my dad. The holidays are fun!

KayMitch: Poor pup! Hope he feels better soon.

The Second Moon: Awesome job!

starrystorm: Nice. Are you still editing?

Absolutely no progress at all today. Amazon are being a pain in the you-know-what about digital downloads, and I've wasted loads of time getting nowhere.

Apart from that, I've been trying to work out an Alien nursery rhyme. My wife came up with "Baa Baa purple sheep, have you any scales?"

I'm getting an inkling that this aspect of my story isn't going to be straightforward. It's got to be nursery-rhymeish but fit with an alien culture. And, err, rhyme.

Keep swimming

Day 15

Draft - 833

Edit - 2 scenes

Research - kidnapping, torture, and death of DEA Agent Kiki Camarina and the drug lords responsible. Correct suffix for diminutive forms of Spanish names ending in an o, as in Cuervo
is Cuervito. I hope.

Finished the first scene of Chapter 4 of the crime novel. Maybe sixteen more chapters.

Day 15 - another half page longhand, roughly 200 words.

I think I'll just kick back today and finish reading the library book so I can take it back tomorrow and get the sequel. Dropping in an unpaid plug for Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows. I love caper stories and always wanted to write one, but my brain won't go in that direction. I might have to buy a copy of this so I can analyze it to see how she put it together.

Kay - hugs to puppy.

Day 16
Book II, four chapters of revision notes. This round of revisions already feels better than Book I.

Keithy: Sounds like you're thinking. Thinking counts as progress. Good luck with the nursery-rhyme.

Cindyt: You're back! Awesome job, as usual.

Pterofan: Nice word count. I always mean to break down how specific structures work. And then don't.

Have a great week, folks.

Day 16: 452 words.

Nice work starry

You can do it Kiethy - keep at it & let it come to you

Whew Cindy - sometimes research gets grim, dunnit?

Congrats on the 200 Ptero

Whew Gough - once more into the breach!

Congrats on the 960 and the 452 Moon


WIP 3/4 page
R/SC - earning service, groceries, cooking, got lunch packed for tomorrow - Spa Sunday w/ the manipedi & everything (well, no mani - but wot else? epsom soak, & skin polishing. Now I'm a very smooth lady)
$$ - indy project research & practice

DAY 16: Another winter flareup. Nothing done. Could barely get out of bed.

WGough- Yes, I'm editing, but currently rewriting a large chunk of the chapter, so I count by words instead of pages since this is all new material.
Second Moon- I'm impressed.
Layla- Good job

More thinking today, shifting blocks of prose from previous versions into place and a little tinkering.

I'm homing in on that rhyme/lullaby.

WGough: Wooo you’re done! Good grief you work fast. How long has that been for drafting and revision combined (for Book 1)? Can’t believe you’re already tackling Book 2! (Can you tell I’m super impressed?)

KayMitch: Hope that pooch feels better soon.

Woops, dropped off the radar for far longer than I intended! I’ve read through all your posts – sounds like everyone is killing it Unfortunately for me the festive season is taking its toll and engagement from now on will be patchy. Bleh. Trying to let myself enjoy Christmas but, to be brutally honest, I can't be doin' with it. Bah, humbug.

Day 13: Decent bit; 5 miles; Scrabble gorge

Day 14/15: Off; 9.5 miles; liver I am sorry

Day 16: Wee bit; 4.5 miles; shiny pens

Day 16

Draft - 531

Edit - 3 scenes

WGough - I am better. What a Christmas gift to yourself!

Layla - writing about the drug culture isn't a stroll in the sun.

Edited a flash piece, cut from 1600 to 1300. Next up: finish the new story before my in-laws get here.