July 2020 Challenge - Write Every Day!

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Pterofan: love the idea of sitting outside and writing once per week. It is hard to get out, isn’t it? The laptop doesn’t like the sunshine, and then there can be connection issues, but it is so good to get the fresh air. I love the rules you’re developing with the bullets and shifters. Yay, worldbuilding! Good job on the words, and words, and good luck with the block, and good luck also with the heat. We’ve got a little today as well.

Layla: Good job on the early starts and it’s nice to see the summer chair again. Nice to see the balance continues apace with R/SC and BP/$$ as well. Nice word additions too, steady on.

Keithy: How is it you’ve now won me over to Dustworld? Those prompts sound fun. Hope you found what you need, and hope to see you soon.

Taylor: Those goals look great and you’ve already started subbing, congrats! I’ve not heard of Warframe but my hubby probably has. Video games, computer games—they are so addictive! Love them.

April: Great momentum!!! Wow. Good job on all the projects and keep at it. Nice revision, nice words, I will think ‘chunky novel fattening’ thoughts in your direction but am sure your novel will be great regardless! Congrats on Chapters 1, 2, and now 3. Woot!

Kerry: Congrats on the 41000. That middle part is a rough slog, isn’t it? Sounds like you have ideas to make it work, with your nice guy. Rogues are fun, for sure. If you still want eyes on your chapter in SYW I’m happy to pop over.

KRobert: CPmatch sounds awesome! Good luck with your new gang. Also congrats on the words!

Aurora: Congrats on 585 words, woot! And the 333. 300 per day sounds like a nice steady pace.

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Me: The story board for this novel is so useful for ‘big picture’ visualization for me, and every time I have a random thought (like, ‘Oh! The sick boy should have a dog companion,’) I stick a post it flag with a note at the appropriate chapters on the board. About 25 such flags had accumulated on the storyboard, so I’ve spent July 1 – 4 going through and inserting each... for example the dog went in, in four spots.

I think this means the plot is solid, which was June’s goal. It seems I’m enjoying adding fun bits like a dog. Word count creeping up, currently 115,383 (despite cutting 500 words on Wednesday.)

My travel (car-bubble driving-travel) starts tomorrow, and runs for a week, then more travel back home later in the month, for another week. So, any writing will get put to the side, but I guess that’s OK. Between those two travel weeks, I have three visit-my-family weeks, and my plan is to read through the draft again in those weeks, and polish it up from all the dog-bits (etc) that I’ve been shoe-horning in.

Then the science gets plumped up.

I got some great feedback on chapter 7, too, from writers’ club. We are officially into Act II and I am happy about this. They know I want to add the nuclear science and have been great in finding spots where they think it would work well. Additionally, they’ve been great in helping me make characters more likable.

OK, that was a long post, but I won’t see you again here for another week. Have a great week!

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Pterofan: Good job with the words!

Layla: Naps, binge reading and words sound like a top day.

aurora: Nice work! Good luck finishing Chap 4.

Woollybear: Sounds like you’re making excellent progress!

I added 2265 to Chapter 3 today. It’s only half done, but that’s good, because I need to get the word count up. I’m tired of this second draft already :/

April Layla & Pterofan - well done on those many words (particularly April, a common inhabitant of the 3K+ gang)
Woollybear - I like your word count, I'm aiming for something like that with dustworld.

I know, I know, I'm officially on writing leave. So I didn't do any words, just some map making for Dustworld and a bit for Demon Hunter. I decided that dustworld needs a few railways as well as airships. So I need to draw little train tracks on my maps

non-writing

mail ordered some masks. I already wear gloves for shopping.

keep swimming, sailing, or trucking, or whatever else keeps you writing.

aurora, wtg with the 368
woolly, wow, you got plenty done, and plenty ahead - enjoy that travel
w00t April - excellent work with all those 2265 words!
Keithy, good to hear your update & glad you’re keeping at the project(s)


Day 4


WIP - Added words, a very wee bit of revising
R/SC - cooked a batch of lentil stew; full moon viewing bike ride
BP/$$ - job, 4.5 hours; deep cleaning - part of the refrigerator, part of the bathroom

Day 4

742 words today! Chapter 4 is finished.

Keithy: Have fun with your trains!

Layla: Ahh full moon bike ride?! That sounds amazing! And yay for the words and revision

aurora: Woo! Well done

I dragged myself to the end of Chapter 3 (gonna need so much work) and started on Chap 4. Got about 1700 words. From tomorrow I’m going to add a daily 750 words on a new project into the mix. Or so goes the theory …

(Layla - more words are good
Aurora - ahh, getting a chapter done is a small victory in itself. Next chapter!
April - 1700 words is not bad at all for dragging.

OK, although I am supposed to be taking a break, again I could not resist doing something writing-wise. No words or editing, but I did some map making. I find it helps immerse myself in the story. Anyway, tomorrow the serious work resumes.

keep swimming!

aurora, congrats on the 742 and on finishing chapter 4
April, there were fireworks, too (surprise surprise!) Congrats on your 1700, and getting to chapter 4
Keithy, maps are fun!




Day 5
(I really slept in today. Guess I needed it…)


WIP - added words
R/SC - packed a nice lunch for work & something to read
BP/$$ - job, 7 hours; made an appointment for help with a project, more kitchen & bathroom cleaning, sent some house-mate emails

I cont. to push through my ms. Visited with some family for the Holiday weekend but still got some writing in. My total word count is up to 16,200 now. Not sure what the breakdown is from the last few days. Best of luck to everyone with their projects.

Day 5

1004 words today! I switched gears and picked up an old short story from a year or two ago and ran away with it.

I submitted a story to a new market. That's all I got. Hoping to get back to the novel sometime this week, but we'll see. The house is in desperate need of a good cleaning.

Day 4 - not quite half a page, 200 words or less (maybe)
Day 5 - at least 200 words, I think (smaller notebook paper)

I wrote a couple lines this morning, and hope to get back to it after I vacuum. The good news is, one of the books that didn't have a plot now has the start of one. Day 4's writing was me fiddling around with a flash scene about two vampire-slaying sisters. The next morning a possible plot direction popped into my head. Sometimes Mr. Brain takes pity and throws me a bone. Now if only he'd let me write the first book, without which the others are stuck in limbo...

Taylor - yay for the sub!

Keithy - your plans for Firewitch sound intriguing and ambitious. Go for it!

Keithy: Map making sounds fun. And immersion definitely helps, IMO.

Layla: Woo for words and a big sleep!

Robert: Well done for getting words in over a busy weekend.

aurora: Woo, awesome! Enjoy the 1k club

Congratulations on the sub, Taylor. Got my fingers crossed for you.

Pterofan: Yay for words and plots!

Revised Chap 4 and half of Chap 5, but they’re both definitely going to need more work because the plot is just … bleh. Need to rethink how to get characters from A to B. Anyway, that’s Draft 3’s problem. I also wrote 750 for my new project, so about 2400 overall for the day.

Hi KR, keep up the good work
Wow, aurora, a great day!
Taylor, you are among the brave at heart - wtg on a sub!
Pterpo, congrats on those 200s
April, dang! That’s a great day



Day 6
(oh good, it’s only day 6)


WIP - added words
R/SC - walk in the woods, cooking & chores
BP/$$ - sent 3 housemate messages; more cleaning

Aurora - good going on the 1K+, a sign of hard work.
Taylor - wishing you luck with the submission. I did some cleaning last week and it's already dirty!
April - 750 and editing is hard work too, well done.
everyone else - keep at it, you're making progress.

Today's work: 612 words done on Dustworld.

I started editing Demon hunter.

non-writing

very very busy today with food shopping and a gazillion errands.

keep swimming!

I'm so far behind in wishing people well, I don't know where to start. Maybe I'll just work backward.

Keithy: Good addition to Dustworld, and hang in there on editing.

Layla: I can't remember the last time I got to walk in the woods. Am jealous.

April: Good luck on revisions. Bleh is hard, cause it's not great and not terrible, both of which are easier to deal with. Pat yourself on the back with the first, and break out the cut and slash mode with the other.

Pterofan: Good to hear your plot is coming together.

Taylor: Nice to hear you have something submitted. But don't remind me of house cleaning, please. I've got dust bunnies that can scare me in the dark.

aurora: 1000 words Yea!

Robert: 16K is good to hear about. That's a solid chunk of writing done.

Woollybear: If you want to look at that chapter in SWY, it's open for business. Got a couple more comments since I last checked in fact.

As for me, I'm up to 45k. My little band of characters is planning a heist from a tough target, and I feel like I'm trying to write a Mission Impossible episode. I've got some new ideas on tech they'll be using, so that's fun.

Day 6

542 words today.

Got home yesterday, only a five hour drive, and spent most of the afternoon doing... nothing. Wasn't until 6:00 that I got motivated and spent the entire time reviewing/improving chapters 4 and 5. Five still needs a little work on the end, but overall I am happy. WC stands at 16.5K. I am a little concerned about pace and my burgeoning wc. My target is 100K but I am already afraid that I will exceed it. Being YA, I am trying not to get too carried away with the subplots but I have a few already clamoring for attention and page time.

Just on a quick break at work. Looks like you're all making some good progress. Keep at it.

Layla: Hope the woods were suitably enchanting.

Keithy: Yay Shana! It's been a while.

Kerry: Great progress! Good luck with the heist

aurora: Nice work.

Robert: Nice job reviewing those chapters. My creative juices often come alive in the early evening.

Had to ditch Chap 5 because it's just too crap. I'll wait until I reach the end of the draft to figure out what happens in 4/5. Anyway, I revised Chap 6 and added 750 to my new WIP. Just over 2k for the day. Dunno about anyone else but I could really do with a holiday.

Kerry56 - there's nothing wrong with rewriting a Mission Impossible episode. I don't think anyone will notice, and there's only so many ways to rob a bank.
Aurora - that's a good number
April - yeah, dumping chapters and plots can happen. You can always stitch them back in later in an altered form.

My progress:

510 words done on Dustworld.

Also reading through chapter one of Demon Hunter.

non-writing

Another busy day - and I won at Trivial Pursuit.

Tomorrow an electrician will come and replace the main fuse board. So another crimp on my work rate.

keep swimming!

Keithy, congrats on the new words, and on the editing
Kerry, congrats on that advancing
Congrats on the 542 aurora
KR, congrats on the chapter reviews
April congrats on the revision & the new words.




Day 7


WIP - added words
R/SC - ate watermelon for dinner & finished a small batch of handwash
BP/$$ - job, 12.5 hrs

Day 7

429 words today.

Did some more writing bringing my ms total up to 17K. I am still not happy with Ch 5 but its an improvement. I think the emotional arc is all over the place and doesn't transition well. I tried gluing together several ideas and comments and it came out really clunky. So I'll have to go back to it to smooth it over more.

I hope everyone else is advancing their writing goals and enjoying the work. Keep at it all.

Day 6 - a solid 200+ words
Day 7 - smaller paper again, so maybe 150 words

Just when I thought I'd won the war, the ants invaded the kitchen again, this time attacking the snack foods. The little bastards bypassed all the dried fruit and went straight for the cookies. I had to throw out the entire package. I'd previously banished them from the sink area, so I should have expected this. This is how Ant War I ended last year, with them in the junk food and me spraying behind the stove. Hopefully this marks the end of the conflict. Once I bring peaches into the house I'm liable to get fruit flies, but I can deal with them.

Got the house power washed too, and finally vacuumed. Now I can put off writing in a clean environment.

aurora, nice work on those 429 words!
KR - way to keep the energy going
Ptero - congrats on those words. (I did a lot of cleaning today - I think better after it)

Day 8


WIP - added words
R/SC - packed a nice lunch for work, did some stretching
BP/$$ - lots of small tasks; put a few things in the recycling; had a mentoring phone call; job, 5 hours