August 2020 Challenge - Write Every Day!

Taylor Harbin

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Up to page 12 now, though I’ve realized that I’ve skipped a vital scene and will have to go back and do it over. This hardcore outlining just might be the solution to my problem of time management.
 

starrystorm

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Day 2...1,330 words edited.

ChaseJxyz- Funny, I'm the opposite. I can't work on a laptop, but love a monitor.

April- *Shakes fist with you*.

Second Moon--I love characters like that. I wrote one in my last book and it was a blast.
 

Animad345

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Hi guys - I hope everyone is well. Glad Monday is nearly over!

I've written 500 words today, which is less than I would have liked, but as long as I don't skip a day I feel on track.

Best wishes, all.
 

WGough

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Days 2 & 3
Still revising Chapter 3. Broke out a scene into its own chapter. Rearranging a long dialogue exchange.

starrystorm: Excellent word count!

Layla: Wow, rewriting 2nd draft from scratch. Kudos. Sounds daunting.

Keithy: Hope things calm down soon.

ChaseJxyz: Nice work. Congrats on the new laptop!

April Swanson: Happy Semi-Holiday!

The Second Moon: Nice word count!
 
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Layla Nahar

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Hang in there, Keithy
Chase, congrats on those paragraphs, and on today K
Enjoy that relaxation April :)
Nice work, Moon, with that 733!
Congrats on the progress on all front, Taylor
Congrats on that editing, starry
Animad, congrats on that 500 - it’s a great number. I feel the same way about missing a day
Good work with the revising, Gough


Day 3 - nuther hot one here - but you can see already that the days are getting shorter


WIP - took a skip day
R/SC - a run, two bike rides (from the woods to the lake and back) and a nice swim, got the groceries, went to the bank and made baked beans
BP/$$ - finished the apartment tidy up, and the housemate visitor cancelled…. Welp. At least I got it ready for the next person
 

ChaseJxyz

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Layla: Physical activity is really good, too! Do you ever end up thinking of good ideas while bike riding? I remember that happening a lot in college
Gough: Awesome revising
Animad: 500 words is still awesome, it's 500 more than you had before
Starry: That's awesome!
Taylor: I found that outlining definitely helped with that. I hope it works out well for you, too


Got new laptop all set up and wrote in the living room. 744 words, and before dinner, too! My pantsing self got the best of my outlining self and the coming out scene ended up being about 10 chapters early. Oops! But it's happening in a more natural way instead of "oh no i have a deep SECRET I must confess" so I'm pleasantly surprised.
 

The Second Moon

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Day 3 - Did a lot of brainstorming with Terrance Frima so I didn't add too many words. Only 317.

In other news, I need to totally scratch Sky Beast and think of new characters and a new plot. I love the idea of familiars, but I just didn't fall in love with the story/ characters.
 

starrystorm

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Day 3.....1,285 words. Was surprisingly easy. I should have wrote more. I didn't edit anything, this is a brand new chapter I'm putting in. Hoping to boost that word count.
 

April Swanson

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Second Moon: Good luck with the rethink.

Taylor: Glad to hear outlining is working for you.

starry: Woo, great job!

Animad: 500 is great—especially for a Monday :)

WGough: Nice work; it will be satisfying when you have a shiny Chap 3 :)

Layla: I can’t believe you did all that activity—and on a hot day. I feel very lazy!

Chase: Nice!

I finished revising the last chapter of Book 3. I’m not quite done with the third draft though; need to do another sweep-through. But … it’s getting there.
 

Taylor Harbin

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Almost done with the story draft. Just need to finish one or two scenes.
 

WGough

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Day 4:
Revising Chapter 4. About 500 words. I'm becoming accustomed to the ordeal that is Errand Day.

Layla: Here's to shorter days! Not a fan of our summers.

ChaseJxyz: I'm a fan of straying off the outline path. Congrats!

The Second Moon: Good for you! Sometimes you just gotta kill it before it eats you.

starrystorm: Great word count!

April Swanson: You are on fire, child! Kudos for finishing that draft. And yes, it was satisfying.

Taylor Harbin: Nearly there!
 

Keithy

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Animad - well done for getting through Monday. Some weeks it's about getting off to a good start, other weeks a complete dud.
ChaseJ - nice 744 words. Confessions kinda work when they're made to someone who it doesn't directly affect.
Second moon - Oh, familiars. I want a cat.
Starrystorm - into the 1K club!
April - almost there - I like the sound of that. Haven't been "almost there" since I finished Fishy Tail and won't be again for a few weeks yet.
Taylor - another one almost there! Not far now.

OK, I had a better day than the Sunday meltdown and the no-words Monday recovery day.

1112 words done on Dustworld.

Non-writing

The paint guy was here today sanding down walls. We had to move some of our stuff around and it's only when you do that you find out much stuff you have. (and then you ask why you have it.)

So, some days of disruption to come :(
 
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Kerry56

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There are a few new avatars for me in this thread. It's good to see more people coming in and sharing.

Well done starrystorm. That's a good chunk done.

Finding pleasant surprises in your writing is always fun, so good for you Chase.

Getting close April. Well done.

As for me, I've finished the first draft of my novel, The Oolmar Pearl. It is considerably shorter than I planned, barely 81k, and I'll have to start revising soon, which generally cuts down on word count. I'll be adding descriptions/depth so maybe that will balance out. Still, its a good feeling to write The End, even knowing that the work isn't finished.
 
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Layla Nahar

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Chase, interestingly, I can’t say ideas have come to my riding. More likely from washing the dishes. Congrats on those 744 words!
Moon, congratulations on the 317
Congrats on the 1285, starry
April, when I looked at it I was like - wow, I did all that? Congrats on that revision
Nice work, Taylor
Gough, I love summer, except this year with all the strangeness it hasn’t been a good one. Congrats on that revising :). (oh - and on dealing with Errand Day.)
Nice work, Keithy with the 1112 words and the other work :)
Kerry, congrats on finishing your novel!


Day 4


WIP - added words
R/SC - tea and c-drama
BP/$$ - job, 12.5 hours, housemate visi
 

ChaseJxyz

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Second Moon: That sounds frustrating. It always sucks having to throw a whole thing out
Starry: That's awesome!
April: Keep it up!
Taylor: You're in the home stretch :)
Gough: Congrats on 500 words
Keithy: That's quite a few projects, and still a lot done even dealing with painter stuff. Glad to see you having a better day
Kerry: Congrats on finishing the first draft!!!
Layla: Keep it up


Did a little bit of writing during lunch and finished ch 25. Had a headache and rested after work and only got deep into writing after dinner. 1,577 words. I'm really bad at making up "NPCs"/minor characters, so instead of making a new one, I just took one I knew was working elsewhere and just put here in the current location instead (but the readers will never know that! muahaha). Bonus that it's the POV character's sister he hasn't seen in years and now he won't be all alone in a new place (and I can do some character dev stuff with their interactions).
 

The Second Moon

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Day 4 - Wrote 845 words on Terrance Firma thus finishing another short story in it. I really just wanted to read or watch TV, but I forced myself to finish the short story. I think, (but don't quote me on this) that it is the longest short story I've written at nearly 4,811 words. Now I'm curious if it is the longest I've written.

EDIT: In other news, I might bring Sky Beast back. I really do love the idea. Maybe I just need to work with the MC more.Plus, I've never been good at writing girl POVs despite being female myself.

Starrystorm - Good luck adding new words.

April - Thanks

Taylor - You're so close!

WGough - Ugh. Errands stink.

Keithy - sorry about the distractions

Kerry - Woot! That's great!

Layla - Thanks

Chase - I'm kind of used to having to throw out ideas that aren't working.
 
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starrystorm

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Day 4- nothing. Had a really bad flare-up and took a day off. Good job on everyone keeping it up though.
 

Carrie

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Hullo!

Okay, so my keyboard was late and I got a new desktop while I was at it. I'm old enough to remember when that used to be a pain in the ass. Good Lord, I love the cloud. I also tried to do some editing on the prologue in Book One and the whole kitten scheme fell apart at the seams. I worked for a couple of days on the same few hundred words and, when I was done, I reread the original. I had done absolutely nothing to improve it. HA! I guess it was a good exercise for something, although I'm not quite sure what.

Still, it has now been a week since I sent the second book off to be read and I now feel ready to tackle the third book, "Lake Maribelle Summer." All I did today was write the prologue, 430 words, setting the scene in a fierce summer storm. I have as little idea of what will happen in this book as I have had in the previous two and I am starting not to worry.

Chase: Congrats on the new laptop. I thought I might do that but then realized I likely wasn't going anywhere for the foreseeable future! I do like my arrangement with a large monitor to see two pages at once, and a wireless, compact keyboard. I seem to get about 100k out of a keyboard but this one has a one-year warranty. I could get free keyboards forever!

April: I'd love to hear what your series is and how many books you anticipate will be in it! I just started book three of five.

Keithy: Thank you for the warm welcome!

WGough: Are you working on a series as well? I'd love to hear about it.

Sorry to be joining the August party a little late but that was just how it timed out for me. It is safe to say I will not complete this project in a month's time, so now you are stuck with me. Happy writing and so good to meet you all!
 

WGough

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Day 5:
Revised Chapter 4 of Book III. Not super-pleased with it, so I'll take another stab tomorrow. And the ol' laptop's acting up. Good times!

Keithy: Congrats on that word count! And the research and tinkering. Making up for future distractions.

Kerry56: Way to reach the end. Kudos!

Layla: Nice triple goal. You're lucky to live somewhere with pleasant summers!

ChaseJxyz: Great word count. Way to think it through!

Magnus: Thanks, again, for starting this thread!

The Second Moon: Congrats on finishing that story. A great feeling!

starrystorm: Feel better!

Carrie: Glad you're here. No such thing as too late. I'm working on a four-book historical queer romance set in the Middle Ages. Tons of research, but so fun. I'm gonna stop now.
 

Keithy

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Kerry – Ooh, well done on getting that draft finished! 
Chase – 1577 is a ton of words. I doff my hat.
Second Moon – 845 is good going. I don’t tend to do short stories.
Starrystorm – there’s always tomorrow!
Carrie – does that mean no kittens? 
WGough – good revising

Today’s progress:

704 words done on Dustworld.

Non-writing

Food shopping.

Lots of moving furniture so that painter guy can do his stuff. He’s going to be here till Saturday.
 
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April Swanson

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Chase: Sorry to hear that. Those days are rubbish. BUT you still beat the blank page, and that’s a huge achievement.

Kerry: Congratulations! Hope you take the time to celebrate.

Layla: Yay the things! Enjoy that c-drama.

Keithy: She could rip the skirt of her dress, which might help her to climb?

WGough: *sends healthy laptop vibes*

Carrie: My series is open-ended; no idea how many will be in it! I’ll keep writing until it dries up. It’s a sword ’n’ sorcery fantasy about five Dragon Warriors whose job it is to protect people from dragons, magic etc. They are semi-successful. Have a peek at aprilswanson.com if you want to read more.

starry: Rest up :)

Second: Excellent job!

I’ve had a couple of days off—really needed it tbh—but I’m going to dive back into my shiny WIP today and tomorrow, before picking up Demon Book 3 on Monday.
 

Taylor Harbin

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Finished the draft of my mystery short: 6000 words! I really overshot my goal; some mystery advice columns I’ve read advise starting with much shorter pieces for professional markets, but I’m glad I tackled this one anyway. It’ll take a lot of polishing but I kinda like this genre.