July 2020 Challenge - Write Every Day!

Day 12

463 words today. Started a new piece that's looking pretty good so far.

Woollybear: Nice work! And nice pooch, too

Pteroan: Yay for words and more writing time!

Layla: Yay the things!

aurora: Excellent work. Good luck with the new piece.

I edited four chapters yesterday. It’s getting a bit easier now I’m near the end, because that’s when I started to figure out what the book is really about. Hoping to wrap up today, do a read through, and then commence draft 3.

Driveby here

170 words done on dustworld.

well done everyone for doing something

So I had a really productive weekend and have moved my YA Fantasy up to a wc of 21K words. I'm very happy with the direction its going but am still a little concerned about its size. I might be ok because it will still leave me about 75K words to work the second plot of the book.

Day 12 - 323 words

You can tell when I write on the laptop because the word count is specific.

Finally getting my hair cut next week!

Keithy: Rodney? A harem? Sounds fun!

Layla: Congrats on the things!

Aurora: 463, woot! And a new piece.

April: Your speed is impressive, and bring on draft 3!

Pterofan: Congrats on the words!

K. Robert: You are clocking along--well done!

If I missed anyone, I will get you next time.

Made it through the 5000 word daily polish. I'm 23000 words in altogether and rather amazed that the third draft is so much better than the first. The first was such a mess--word salad, hit the beats, follow a plot, don't worry about it being a mess, but what a mess it was. Draft two straightened out a lot of plot issues, which was great, and that's when the workshopping started. Workshopping has been about 2000 words per week and we're now up to chapter 8... of 34 ... so this workshopping will be a long process. But while that's poking along I'm so happy to have the polish-round-draft and these first 8 chapters... which were workshopped... are easy enough to polish. Like, I am thrilled I might make it through this draft in a month. It's smoothing out.

(Of course, the chapters following chapter 8 might be much rougher since they haven't been workshopped.)

I know I'm repeating myself, sorry, it's just such a nice feeling to feel like the application of intent and determination and daily counts on rinse-and-repeat makes such a difference.

Onward, and congrats to all.

Robert Donovan – 20K seems to be when the story starts rolling along. Well done for getting that far.
Pterofan – I am saving so much cash by snipping off bits myself.
Woolybear – much admiration for your polishing

705 words done on Dustworld.

Reading through first draft of Demon Hunter, I’ve reached chapter 3. There’s no major structural problems so far, but then one would not expect to find them so early.

Non writing

One of the things we bought at the weekend is a new panel for the side of the bath. It’s more complicated than I thought so I’ll need to give up significant time one day later this week to do it. Always the same, you think it’ll take half an hour and it’s more like four.

Keep swimming! And don’t splash so much water on the bathroom floor that it leaks through to the floor below. I’ve done that more than once.

Nice work, aurora
April, w00t on the editing and getting ready for the next steps.
KR, keep up the good work
Ptero, nice work with the 232
wolly, great work! Congrats on polishing 5000 words!
Keithy, congrats on the 750 new words and on the re-read


Day 13


WIP - added words
R/SC — cooked something new, black eyed pea stew, loosely based on hoppin john
BP/$$ - sent some housemate messages, cleaned and staged the apartment for a housemate visit tomorrow; took some actions toward a subproject & put a few odd items in the recycling

Day 13

530 words today. Very happy.

aurora: Fantastic job!

Layla: Mmmm ... stew ...

Keithy: Nice work!

Woolly: Aw, that's so great to hear. But it's true--you just have to push through and keep going.

Pterofan: Happy words and haircutting! I desperately need one :/

Robert: Great work!

So, I revised the final chapters, and dragged the count from 39 to 43. There are three spots where new stuff needs to be added--basically there's a subplot that is horribly flimsy. I'll read through today and start jotting down ideas. Oh, and I got back to my other project too, adding 750. Onwards!

Yes, Rodney needed a bath if he wants to get anywhere with those ladies.

Hoppin' Jon black eyed peas, yum Layla! Hope the stew was good.

Aurora, 530 is awesome.

April, multiple projects, what fun!

me: I'm 28000 words in which must mean I did 5000 words but I suspect I am short. I'll claim it as 5000. The rest of chapter 7 needs real overhaul, so it's getting pasted into a new document now where I can muck around as much as I want. Also wine, because slicing my word-babies apart is hard and easier with wine, easier with multiple documents too.

Keep on trucking, especially if your truck is electric.

Day 13 - somewhere between 150-200 words, I think. By the way, yesterday was Harrison Ford's birthday. Also Patrick Stewart's.

Didn't do much today. Probably won't write much tonight. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Layla - good new words.
Aurora - 530 is good work.
April - sounds like your plots are going well.
Wooly - nothing wrong with a good hack around. I've done a lot of that with Demon Hunter already.

today's work:

801 words done on Dustworld.

Still reading through Demon Hunter chapter 3. One issue that needs attention is one of the antagonists, who might need some foreshadowing.

keep swimming/trucking/whatever.

Congrats on those happy words, aurora
April, excellent work with the new words and the revision
woolly, I’m happy to give you 5000 . Nice work
Hey Ptero, congrats on those words




Day 14


WIP - added words
R/SC - got stuff ready for an early morning tomorrow
BP/$$ = job (12 hrs) housemate interview

Day 14

337 words today.

I had another productive day. Reworked ch 7 and finished the day at 21,759 wc. I will now review Prologue through ch 7 and send it out to my dev readers for review and critique.

While they are reviewing the ms, I will push on with the story. I am really happy with how it unfolding, but there is one issue. I have no antagonist. Early plot is more a struggle against scenarios to find a magic source. There is a black jaguar, a troop of monkeys, an underground reservoir, a wide field of sharp lava rock, and the jungles that have overgrown the ruins she searches. But no real antagonist at this point. One is coming, but he/she will be part of the second plot that comes later.

Woolly: Wine is often a core component of my creative process too

Nice work, Keithy!

Layla: Awesome sauce getting words and all that jazz. Hope the housemate was up to scratch.

Good progress, aurora.

Robert: Remember you don't need a person as an antagonist, so long as you have antagonistic forces. Sounds like you're on fire at the mo'.

I read through draft 2 and ... oh dear. Well, one thread is coming together; the other remains a complete shambles. Back to the drawing board. (Oh, and I added another 750 to shiny new WIP.)

Pterofan--It's so cool those men share a birthday.

Keithy--antagonists really are key, aren't they? Too bad we need like a dozen different keys, but good luck with the foreshadowing.

Layla--Looks like your words are happy ones. Yay!!

Aurora--Keep on keeping' on!

KRobert--antagonists, part two! It's a theme.

April--A wise April once told me that each draft gets better. Hang in there!

Me: Somehow managed about 6000 words of polishing already today (It's still morning!) --this draft #3 is coming together. I'm about 30% through the manuscript now. But also officially up to chapter 9, and from here on out there has been no workshopping of the thing. So the polishing might be quicker, if I like what I wrote, or slower, since fresh eyes haven't spotted issues (assuming I spot them). There's definitely problems awaiting up ahead (I recall ignoring huge problems on draft 2) but so far I'm a few thousand words past where I need to be for day 14, and still on track for finishing draft 3 by August 1st.

Hurray!

So far so good, 500 handwritten words a day... Nice to see others' success in this. Keep going everybody!

Woollybear said:

Made it through the 5000 word daily polish. I'm 23000 words in altogether and rather amazed that the third draft is so much better than the first. The first was such a mess--word salad, hit the beats, follow a plot, don't worry about it being a mess, but what a mess it was. Draft two straightened out a lot of plot issues, which was great, and that's when the workshopping started. Workshopping has been about 2000 words per week and we're now up to chapter 8... of 34 ... so this workshopping will be a long process. But while that's poking along I'm so happy to have the polish-round-draft and these first 8 chapters... which were workshopped... are easy enough to polish. Like, I am thrilled I might make it through this draft in a month. It's smoothing out.

(Of course, the chapters following chapter 8 might be much rougher since they haven't been workshopped.)

I know I'm repeating myself, sorry, it's just such a nice feeling to feel like the application of intent and determination and daily counts on rinse-and-repeat makes such a difference.

Onward, and congrats to all.

Click to expand...

Woollybear

Can you expand on the term workshopping and how you use it? I am curious if there is another resource I should be considering or if its just another name for something I already do.

Example, I am part of a writers group and we exchange chapters every two weeks, but the feedback is typically pretty light, not the detail I would hope for. I also have developmental readers who will be receiving the first part of my newest project to review and critique, and lastly I have two Critique Partners, where we exchange material and do full critiques.

Let me know if workshopping mirrors any of the items I call out or if it is a whole other resource to consider.

Thanks - KRD

Yep--You're covered.

I'm in four writers' clubs (no, wait, five. No, six, but that is a stretch.) and each fills a different role for me. One is a small group of dedicated novel writers and we are hugely intense--2000 words every week, week in and week out, group is closed.

This is a fantastic group. In several groups, I participate only rarely because to do so turns into a time-suck. Or the other participants are writing... you know, like porn or something (not erotica, gratuitous porn). But this one is FANTASTIC because we are all writing novels and we all agree to critique 2000 word excerpts every week. (the other groups have other strengths, though.)

In Chapter 7, the five or six other members of this group uniformly agreed that Alphonse needed to be more likable. See, I had opted for him 'driving his growth arc' which is common advice. But when five people said "I hate him now, because he chose to drug his son" ... because that was what needed to happen plot wise, and I thought he should drive his story for better or worse, ... I realized I needed to intoxicate his son in a way that did not cause him to take such a hit on sympathy. So, wrenching apart who does what, when.

I don't know how many groups there are in your part of the country, but a good one is all you need. Sounds like you are doing All the Things.

Just a drive by today, sorry about that guys. Though I have to say, handwritten brasiliareview? My handwriting sucks so badly I'm afraid it will form a black hole. I certainly can't read it well.

I just passed 50k on the novel and the plot is coming together nicely.

Special thanks to Woolybear for taking a look at the first chapter of an earlier novel in SYW. Really helped.

Aurora – 337 words is good, I’ve had far worse days.
Robert – It’s good to hear about your progress. How about having a sub-antagonist or agent of the main antagonist who is orchestrating all these scenarios? Then perhaps have the agent turn on the main antagonist.
April – I see you are also working on two things at once. I do the new writing first.
Wooly - great polishing – it’s going to be very shiny soon!
Brasilia – 500 words is good going handwritten! My hands go crampy before long if I write like that.
Kerry – 50K is a whole load of words, things are going well by the sound ofit.

My work today (half day as usual on Wednesday)

516 words done on Dustworld. Rodney is all cleaned up and has been presented to the Prince. He’s fat and creepy. I mean, really creepy. And fat.

More progress on the Demon Hunter read through. It’s still too early for structural problems to be apparent because I’m setting up future developments. Also noting down minor decisions I need to make. Should I give the types of
demon numbers? Hmm, if they’re in a catalog or list of some sort then yes. But then I need to refer to them later on… Grog ought to know them by heart: he’s been a Demon Hunter for 40+ years.

I did a little work on a revised plot for Fire Witch. I will need to make this dual POV, possibly triple.

I also did a tiny bit of work on my Dragonriders of Pern fanfic, identifying the protagonist and antagonist, and some inter-character conflict. It’s a sort of detective tale set in the fourth pass. I must be insane taking this on too!

Non-writing

Lots of food shopping. Getting ready to wear a mask next time. Urgh.

Nice work, aurora
woolly, way to go with the polishing and the draft coming together
Hello & welcome brasil - congrats on those 500 words
Kerry, 50K and beyond! w000t!
Kiethy, nice work (the fanfic sounds like fun too)


Day15


WIP - added words
R/SC - took a vacation day from my retail job; made two ‘paperwork’ phone calls, ran errands but — couldn’t get into the places, so I have to try again. (But at least I tried today.) Some crafting
BP/$$ - some tidying & sorting for the ‘Possession Consciousness’ (kind of related to my Marie Kondo project); got some marketing stuff set up

I'm going to have to bow out for a while. I'm having time management issues again.

I may be back for August. I'll have to see what happens.