Defiant December - 500 words a day writing/editing - all genres welcome!

onesecondglance

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A few days late, sorry. Defiant this month because no matter what happens - bad weather, impending holidays and family time, political nonsense* - we will defy the odds and get some words done!

How did you do last month? What are your goals for this month? And, importantly, how are you going to reward yourself if you get there?



* applicable wherever you are in the world and whomever you support, at the moment, I think.
 

onesecondglance

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So last month I wanted to write 30k. I got 15k. Not great in terms of meeting the goal, but hey, I'll take 15k.

I'm all about setting realistic targets, so I'm going to reduce that down to 20k this month, which is still more than I've been able to achieve any month so far this year, and therefore I am demonstrably (1) optimistic, (2) unable to extrapolate from past data, and (3) an idiot.

Nevertheless, here we go! I have written *checks* 1,400 words so far this month. Already behind target. WHO CARES, we're doing this anyway.

My reward of choice is a mince pie. If I have done a decent day's work, regardless of word count, I will allow myself a mince pie. On that basis, I estimate I will be approximately 40% mincemeat by the end of this month.

Oh, and per last month's thread, my other goal is to update this thread with progress at least twice a week, so you can all look forward to disappointing word counts and mince pie action on a regular basis.

Happy Advent-tide, everyone (because it firmly isn't Christmas yet, regardless of the mince pies).
 

Saoirse

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November was rough health and work-wise, and I anticipate this month will be about the same.

I've pretty much given up on the idea of getting any writing done for the rest of the year. I will if I can, of course, but no pressure. Between work, family drama, and Christmas, I'm already exhausted. I just want this year to be over.

So, for goals, I am going to set one. Get to bed at a decent hour so I can get up at a decent hour and get to work. My schedule is STILL borked, and I need to fix that. It would really help with the whole let's-stay-up-till-1am-working thing. And maybe I can squeeze writing in more consistently.

My reward? Working on Oubliette, which has been haunting me for the past few months. :D

I am hoping things settle down for me in the new year.
 

Zan75

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Salutations all,

OSG - Full steam ahead, looking forward to your progress updates.
Saoirse - Best wishes that this month turns out to be a good one.

Last month I switched things up and went with NaNoWriMo thing. Broke the 10k mark - no complaints. I think this month I'll continue on with that story for awhile and see where it takes me.
 

onesecondglance

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I've had a decent couple of days (anything over 1k is a decent day as far as I'm concerned). Now up to 3,300 words for the month.

Zan75 - best of luck with continuing your Nano story!
Saoirse - I think I need to follow your example... I go to bed at strange hours and then wonder why I'm tired all the time. Hope you have a better month.
 

BlackKnight1974

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Targets for December are the same as they were at the end of November.

Finish my fourth edit. Save a copy and then remove one major character, one 2nd level character and tidy up.

Even if the word count is still too long after that - I am going to take a break from this project and do something else for a while (hopefully I'll have plucked up enough courage to have it beta read which can coincide with my break).

Also, I'm planning on doing a generic twelve month version of the word count spreadsheet I shared previously.

(I also have all the usual commitments of Family, admin, training and work - with the added bonus of Xmas and a IT exam that I really need to study for!)
 

lizmonster

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Hey guys - long time no see!

I have to finish this revision this month. I have to finish this revision this month. I know what I want to do, I just have to, you know, do it.

I'm about halfway through the text, but until now there haven't been a lot of changes. I'm about to start adding new chapters/pulling apart and tiling in existing stuff. It's kind of like pulling taffy.

Go, everybody! :e2cheer:
 

onesecondglance

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Time for me to update this. See! I'm meeting my goals! Or at least the simple ones. The words are coming, just very slowly. Up to 4400 for the month. Waaay off pace. Never mind, I like what I have, so that's the most important thing. Also, I put up our Christmas decorations today, which is just a generally nice feeling.
 

BlackKnight1974

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We're already a third of the way through the month...

Good news, I've finished my fourth edit :) Bad news, it's still far, far too long (for comparison only, it's longer than Moby Dick) :(

More bad news, cutting out one of the characters has resulted in a fairly paltry reduction, so more drastic action is required.

So, I've saved a copy (as it was the story I wanted to write) and I'm going to cut back-stories, sub plots and more minor characters in a vain attempt to reduce it to something that won't be rejected on word count alone. Realistically, it's (at least) a couple of months of work.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...
 

Zan75

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The holiday's are accelerating toward us along with all the things that still need to be done. Yet somehow I still manage to accomplish some writing in there. I've cleared 3k words so far for the month - no set goal this time.
 

lizmonster

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I have been inching through revisions and having the worst procrastination issues of my life. I am larding way too much importance onto this book.

Someone kick me, please, and tell me I can do this?
 

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I have been inching through revisions and having the worst procrastination issues of my life. I am larding way too much importance onto this book.

Someone kick me, please, and tell me I can do this?

I'm procrastinating revisions too because they feel like they're progressing slowly, and I know there will be so many more revisions after this. :/

You have three books published. You've revised books before. You can get through it. You can do it again! :D

(There's a WWII song called "We Did It Before and We Can Do It Again." Go listen to that and then sing "I did it before, and I can do it again." :p)
 

lizmonster

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Well, I'm ticking along. Mostly I think I'm anxious because I originally thought the revision would take me six weeks and that was the end of August HAHAHAHAHA.

I've had to add some chapters, and this particular character is slow to write. It's first person present, and I have to be very careful with her.
 

BlackKnight1974

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I've got no further from the last time I posted. After finishing myfourth edit, I've realised that a total revision is the only option to get the word count down and joking aside, I should probably have a (short) break from my WIP.

As luck would have it, I've needed to focus on revision for an IT certification/exam, so that at least gave me an excuse (although "solutions architecture" could never really be seen as a interesting excuse!). The exam was yesterday (I have no idea how I passed), so that means I'll be rolling up my sleeves and getting back to it, soon...

Keep going everyone - as I tell the fighters I train. If it were easy, everyone would do it :)
 

onesecondglance

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5700 words for the month so far. And let me tell you, the 1300 since last update have been painful. I have ridden the rollercoaster of "this whole book is shit" and am back to cautious optimism. I would like to say that certain *events* in the UK have been distracting, but that would be letting the buggers grind me down, so non carborundum.

Part of this is realising that I have written 24 chapters of a 45 chapter outline, which totals 82k words, whereas the first draft of my last finished novel was complete at 78k. It feels complicated because it is complicated. It's going to be long because that complexity requires room. And the first half of the book was adding all that complexity, but now I'm in the second half, I get to start closing off those plot threads and making it simple again.

(I'm writing this at least as much for myself when I check in again with even less hair than I have now.)


ANYWAY. I had a nice mince pie earlier, so that was good. Hello liz, BlackKnight, Zan, and InsomniaShark! We still have a few days before Christmas - here's to your success.
 

Saoirse

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Haven't written a word all month. :( Sleep's still borked. At this point, I want this year to be over. I've finished a good portion of my to-do's for the next two weeks, so there's that. Less stress. At least theoretically.

But...Christmas is coming. :)
 

BlackKnight1974

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Sorry to hear that you are struggling with sleep, Saoirse. If it makes you feel any better, I'm currently waking up very early and getting out of bed to avoid disturbing my wife. With things slowing down for Xmas and my exams finished for the time being, I was really hoping that I'd be sleeping better. Sleep problems are really isolating, on occasion I resort to Night Nurse, just to get a half-decent night's rest!

One plus, I started the cut down version of my WIP today . Here's hoping it doesn't take as long as it feels like it will!

OSG - I feel you! I'm alternating between Iced topped mince pies from Sainsbury's and Brandy butter topped ones from Asda - looks like training will be stepping up a gear in January! :)
 

lizmonster

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Sorry about the sleep, Saoirse. I hope the holiday brings you peace and enjoyment, before, during, and after. :)

osg, as you know, sometimes the book is just long. And the "this book is shit" stage is right on schedule, isn't it? You will get past this, because you are awesome.

BlackKnight, good luck with the WIP! And the certification. :)

Insomnia, thank you for the encouragement. :) Revisions are always before us, no matter how far we get.

Zan, well done on the words!

I am having for-real wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night panic attacks over this book. Progress is happening, but I can't help but feel it's all going to dissolve any moment now.