July 2020 Challenge - Write Every Day!

Magnus

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I know I'm repeating myself here, but: Whoa, July is coming up.

This is a thread open to anyone who wants to start, maintain, or reinforce a writing habit. (It can also be about revision, editing, research, or even just the everyday stuff you need to keep up with to support your writing.)

The idea is that repeating something daily will build a habit that becomes stronger over time.

It's entirely up to you how much and in what way you participate. Post your goals if you like, or just check in when you can!

Here are some tips:


  • Set achievable goals – I can't stress enough how important this is. To build a habit, doing something is more important than quantity or quality.
  • Try to do a little every day – even if it's just writing a sentence or two. It reinforces the habit of sitting down to write and makes it easier to get keep it up in the long run.
  • Be adaptive – You'll always be facing new challenges, and what works for someone else doesn't always work for you. What worked for you last week might not work this week. Try different types of goals, different times of the day, and different tricks to reward or motivate yourself. A good habit is what works for you, today.
  • Be patient – It takes a long time to build a strong habit, and progress happens in tiny increments; you won't always notice it day by day, or even week by week.
  • Failure is a part of the process – Failure is a natural part of improving your skills. It lets you figure out what went wrong so you can do better in the future. When you fail to hit your target, your job is figuring out why it happened. That way, you can find ways to get around your roadblocks (and don't be scared of lowering the bar).

Remember: if you share your experiences in the thread, others might be able to help out with tips, tricks, and support! And it's okay to just take a break for a day or two, or have scheduled days off. Find what works for you.

Good luck, and see you July 1st!
 

Magnus

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For July, my goal is not to write a damn thing and never report in here. Instead I'm just going to be grumpy and self-pitying all the time.
 
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K Robert Donovan

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I'm in for July.

Will continue to advance my YA Fantasy each week.

Daily goals of 500 words with a weekly average of 3500 words.
 

Keithy

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I won't do anything until the 6th, but when I do, it'll be accelerating dustworld from ~1700 a week to about twice that.

And it'll be a readthrough then begin the second draft of Demon Hunter.
 
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Kerry56

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Already starting on July huh?

Good to see some familiar avatars in here. Hi guys.

I'm trundling along with my novel. I stopped to work on an earlier novel, did some editing. I also posted the first chapter of that earlier novel in the Sci-fi subforum of Share Your Work here at AW if you are interested. Got a couple of ideas there and cleaned up some clunky structure.

Current novel is sitting at 38k and my last chapter took a left turn on me. My threesome of main characters needed to interact with the natives and buy some much needed food. That turned into a fight I didn't expect. Odd, but maybe true to life.
 

Woollybear

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Magnus, I miss seeing you but appreciate the updated threads. I hope your eyeglasses are working out.

I needed the daily goal during drafting and second draft. At this point the manuscript is starting to take shape and is more fun to work on than during the horrid first draft. So, I am working on it every day and workshopping sections in various groups.

I'm traveling a lot in July. I'll be away from the computer more than normal. So I think I'll just set a goal that by the end of July I will have read through the whole thing to improve the flow of the story, which is decent through act I and I'm starting to tackle flow in act II. But I probably won't check in every day--instead will check in periodically to cheer all you others on.

I might change my goal depending on how things feel as I am working through this next pass. Certainly more science needs to get inserted into the story and there are still plot holes, but by and large a read through for flow actually feels right, now, to help sort through how to add/fix those other things.

Nice to see all y'all!
 

Pterofan

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Come back for another month? Sure, why not?

I'm going to make this a really easy goal: sit outside and write on the porch at least once a week. Now that I have AC and home WiFi and everything is closed anyway, I rarely leave the house except to get food. I need to get outside more. Maybe that will help.
 

Layla Nahar

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As usual - don't let Life stop me from writing. To that end, I'll do at least one action in each of the three categories:

1) Add words to my WIP
2) One action of responsibility or self-care
3) One action in the 'Prosperity' category, which includes earning $$, improving my earning power and caring for my living space & possessions

I'll allow myself one skip day per week in each category.


Thanks Magnus, for the threads :)
 

Taylor Harbin

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I’m traveling again this weekend, so hiatus from book still in effect. But once I’m done I’m going to try to reestablish my old routine. Hence, my goals are:

1. Research as needed to continue WIP, then start writing second half.

2. Pass short stories around to new markets as they become available.

3. Continue brainstorming new works.
 

April Swanson

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My goal this month is to finish draft 2 of book 3, publish book 2, and get some words down for book 4--or another project if one tickles my fancy.

Today I worked on the description for book 2, went over some second draft notes, and updated the world continuity file.

Another month has cometh ... here we go again!
 

Pterofan

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Wrote a couple lines this morning, and intend to get back to it before bed. The month just started and already I've hit a snag: once I finish the current scene, I have no idea what happens next beyond a few vague notions. I can always go back and type up the longhand and fill in the spots I skipped. Or I can go back to Book 1, which needs rewriting and also ran out of plot. Or I could fiddle around with Book 4, which has an ending but nothing leading up to it. Maybe I should change my July goal to "learn how to plot."

On the other hand, I answered a question that nobody asked. In this "universe," silver bullets kill shapeshifters, but only if they're hit in the head or the heart. Anywhere else and it acts like slow poison. It also prevents them from changing shape, so my wolf shifter has to stay human after the hero shoots him in the butt. Actually, I needed him to be human so he could fling the coyote into the river and reveal the location of the portal my heroes are going to escape through. Having silver impede shifting solved that problem nicely. Welcome to "How Pantsers Write a Series, Episode 12: World Building on the Fly."
 

Layla Nahar

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April, I methinks I want to write in Olde Englishe now… Congrats on that workPtero, congrats on the lines and on the world-building :)






Day 1


Got a nice little start, 5:00am, writing in the Summer Chair (though it was cloudy, grey and cool…, seemed kind of like winter day without the freezingness)


WIP - added words
R/SC - a bit of afternoon porch time between jobs, got my coffee & everything ready for an early start tomorrow
BP/$$ - job 1, 6hrs, job 2, 5 hrs
 

Kerry56

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Pterofan: Vague notions are sometimes all you need. Lots of times I'll just start typing from a tiny toehold of an idea and blast away until I run out of steam. What's on the page might not be worth keeping, but there is usually more than the starting point. Good luck.

April: Wow. That's more ambition than I can muster for a month.

Layla: Your time at work sounds exhausting in itself. Writing on top of that? I feel like a slacker in comparison.

As for me... I've learned once more that I'm terrible at query letters. I suspect that by the time I've written fifty or sixty I might get an acceptable version.

Added more to my novel. I'm at 41k total, so about halfway through. I'm at the lull in the storm, which is always hard to make interesting, other than to round out personalities of my main characters. One of them is a little too good to be true at the moment...good looking, kind, loyal...all that good stuff, but that doesn't make him interesting. Needs a little more rogue showing through.
 

K Robert Donovan

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Day 1

So my weekend was busy participating in #CPmatch on twitter. The event is designed to make a pitch of your project to find a Critique Partner (CP). I had seven writers approach me. We each exchanged first chapters to read and critique. I have narrowed it down to two who have agreed and a third who I think will join me as well. So I feel really good about the new partners and look forward to working with each of them to exchange work, review it, kick around ideas, etc.

Today I wrote about 750 words of new material and finished the draft of chapter 4. So goal accomplished for the day.
 

aurora borealis

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Aiming for 300 words per day this month. Hoping to be able to write more.

Day 1

585 words today, which is a good-sized chunk of chapter 4. I'm happy.
 

Taylor Harbin

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I polished and submitted one short story, planning to do the same with another before the 7th. Unfortunately, I’ve also discovered Warframe, so now I’ve got to grapple with this super fun video game while not letting interest in my novel die (hard to do given how tired I still am).
 

April Swanson

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Taylor: Congrats on the submission!

aurora: Great start to the month :)

Robert: Another great start--hope the CPs work out for you.

Kerry: I think everyone starts off terrible at query letters! You'll get there :)

Layla: Yay for the words. It's chillier here too--I much prefer it to the blistering heat we had last week.

Pterofan: It's crap when you run out of story. At least you've got options to keep you busy. Good luck!

I revised Chap 1, adding about 400 words, and mused a new series. I'm hoping all the other chapters get a lot chunkier in the second draft, else this is going to be a very slim book.
 

Layla Nahar

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HJ - I’m looking forward to the day when I’ll be doing less of it. Congrats on that progress
KR - congrats on the 750 :)
Hi aurora - you were here before, weren’t you? Welcome back & conrats on the 585
Taylor, congrats on the polishing - and that sub!
Nice work, April. (We got the heat back today…)


Day 2


WIP - added words
R/SC - woods, lake, bank
BP/$$ - did tasks to advance a few projects in this category
 

Pterofan

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Day 1, revised - I added half a page to those "couple lines," so maybe 250 words, 300 if I'm lucky.

Put off writing today because once I finish that scene, I hit the wall. I'll get some words of something in before I go to bed. We're looking at a heat wave over the weekend, and with nowhere to go I'll probably stay in the house, so something is sure to get done. Could be writing, could be vacuuming. I'll have to see how it goes. At least the laundry's out of the way.
 

aurora borealis

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Layla: I was! I'm rejoining after an unplanned hiatus from writing.

Taylor: Congrats on the sub!

Day 2

333 words today. Chapter 4 is about halfway done.
 

Keithy

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Pterofan - I like your nuanced take on silver bullets. That opens many interesting possibilities.
Robert donovan - 750 words sounds like good progress to me.
Aurora - good progress there too!
Taylor - ah, my current addiction is the Risk app.
April - hope your chapters are chunky.

Well I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing here, being as I'm supposed to be doing nothing writing-wise. I just couldn't resist it, so after some research, I did some planning on the next 2-3 chapters of Dustworld.

keep swimming! :)
 
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April Swanson

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Layla: Hope the lake was refreshing in the heat.

Pterofan: Good luck pushing through the wall.

aurora: Nice work!

Keithy: Relish the feeling of being unable to resist! It’s definitely a good thing :)

Revised Chap 2 and started Chap 3, which is a brand new chapter. Added about 1600 words. Hopefully I can get most of Chap 3 written tomorrow.
 

Pterofan

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Day 2 - 285 words
Day 3 - 153 words. More than I figured on, fewer than I could have done.

I'm still dragging my feet on that final scene. The heroes escape, but get captured by other bad guys on the other end of the portal. The portal's like a one-way tunnel, so the witch twists it so it lets you back out near where you came in, so the wolf shifter and the vampire can't follow them. They're going to have to take the long way, driving in their stolen truck. The witch realizes her mixed heritage may give her an unexpected edge when she faces her father, the wolf king of New Orleans.

And... that's as far as it goes. I still need to come up with ways for her two guys to be useful. And figure out where to fit in the required second sex scene. That'll probably happen at the end, after they escape. :e2brows:

I like to bring something new to the table when I write paranormal; add logical changes to the mythos. Hence how silver affects a shapeshifter. I wrote my first vampire novel just to answer the question of how a man who's basically dead can, um, have romantic relations with a living woman. There's a bit of vampire lore that says vampires can't enter a private dwelling unless invited in by a member of the household. Solution: the wolf shifter "marking" the witch's apartment so he can let his vampire buddy in. None of my vampires sparkle, though. Gotta draw the line somewhere.
 
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Layla Nahar

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aurora - congrats on that 333! (3 is the magic # :) )
way to keep at it, Keithy
April, nice work with the revision, & the new chapter work. (The lake was blissful as usual)
You got some good work in Ptero, congrats


Day 3
Thank goodness it was cooler here today. Hope the weather is fine where you are


WIP — added words
R/SC — grocery shopping, naps and binge reading
PB/$$ — listed my loveseat on freecycle, and got a small portable clothes rack (on freecycle)