September 2020 Challenge - Write Every Day!

Magnus

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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 September 1st!
 

Layla Nahar

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Whew.

I'm in for another month with my usual 3 that keep me writing and dealing with Life

WIP - add words to my wip
R/SC - one action of responsibilty or self-care
BP/$$ - one action toward improving my living space (BP = "Big Project" - a biig tidying up of my stuff) or increasing my income
 

Cindyt

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YaY!

1. Release Dress Her in Chameleon. I should have released it in August, but I ran into some problems. To date, I have just 9 more chapters and the epilogue to edit and then a beginning to end spot check.
2. Finish draft 2 of A Deadly Spill of Scarlet.
3. Write at least 1K words every day to keep moving toward my goals and new WIP.
4. Write a profile on my Our Town blog for a friend's murdered daughter. I keep procrastinating...
5. Write the second Growing Up Buford blog article for The Hunger Series.
 
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Woollybear

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This is awesome--Thanks Magnus.

Two will roll over from August:

1. Properly "chapterize" the manuscript (but this might happen at the very very end)

2. Work on Alphonse's altered conscious dream state sequences

And some new ones are lining up:

1. Add in a bunch of emotional exercises from Donald Maass's handbook (my goal is 30 additional emotional cues/passages, average one per day.)

2. Character voice: I've brought in characters from new areas of the world, and I need to hammer down their speech patterns a little better. I was reading The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County yesterday, and while I don't want to use that character voice it really reminds me of how powerful voice is.

3. (Free square, collect 200 dollars)

4. Separate from the writing I have four sort-of-marketing things that need to happen; two author interviews and two podcast guest thingies. The interviews will take a few hours each to really get the answers where I want them and the podcast thingies will take some energy as well.

5. By the end of the month I hope to begin reading through for flow again.

In October I will start thinking about working on the map, which needs updating, and beta readers. But that's October.
 

Keithy

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Well, I wanted to fix all the problems on Demon Hunter, resulting in a "done" second draft by mid September. And at the same time toddle along with Dustworld as best I can.

Current domestic upheavals (ie, half of our house being torn apart and reconstructed) will make doing both things difficult. There's more buying of stuff and moving furniture around to be done than I anticipated.

So I'll stick with Demon Hunter problem fixing for now.
 

The Second Moon

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Goals for September

Get Barney, Mr. Thomas, and the Alligator Creature ready for beta readers.

Write Eotu

Write Apocalypse Stoppers

Write Vampire Loves Sunling

Good to see my cheerleaders again! (I'll also be cheering for you) :e2cheer::e2cheer::e2cheer:
 

inspector

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Ah, now I have also found the new thread for the month of September! :) As I said before, I am very motivated for this month and I really want to write a little bit every day. Can anyone give me some advice on how to integrate this routine into your everyday life? Like already being said here "To build a habit, doing something is more important than quantity or quality", but how can I manage to build such a habit? It always depends on my motivation how much I finally do...unfortunately I usually give up after a few days or weeks. I would be very happy to receive some tips.
 

April Swanson

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Hello all, here we go again ...

My goals for this month are to FINALLY get Book 3 off to my CP, and make decent progress on Shiny WIP.

So, for today, I got 3771 for Book 3. Was writing some juicy climactic scenes, which were a lot of fun.

inspector: My advice is to identify when/where you can feasibly write every day, and then commit to making that appointment no matter what. Aim low--it's better to succeed every day and build from there, rather than shooting too high and always feeling like you're failing. If you keep giving up I'd say you need to ask yourself why you want to write. Really examine why you're doing this, so when it gets tough, you remember why you should keep going.
 

ChaseJxyz

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Inspector: I agree with April, figure out some time that would work for you. I write after dinner until bed, and sometimes before dinner, too, since there's less things to worry about once work and other commitments have been handled. Another thing that can help you is to find some sort of external motivation. It could be checking things off of your outline, or a bullet journal, or even posting on a thread like this! Being able to check things off on my outline is a visual representation of my progress and it feels good! It gives my brain the dopamine which makes it want to keep doing the thing that gives it dopamine. It might take some experimentation to find something that works for you.
 

Woollybear

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Yes, Inspector--my advice is nail your butt to the chair. It works.

April, yay for words!!

Keithy, here's to hoping the renovations are smooth.

Second Moon-great goals! Good luck.

Chase: Good luck with Bird Book, :) .

Layla: All the things will happen, I can feel it in my bones.

Cindy: A release??? Woohoo!

Me: Day one and I surprised myself by sending the two interviews off (half of goal number four.). Once I got into them, they were not hard. It's a mindset. I'm off to a cabin for a few days and unsure about the WiFi. Good luck all!
 

katfeete

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I’m back! Had a couple of months there where setting a formal daily goal was... not helping, a combination of hitting a point in the novel revision where I couldn’t see the story for the changes and *waves arms vaguely at the entire year*

But I reprinted, reread, and spent the last month or so taking notes, and I’m ready to have another go at this never-ending bloody thing. For this month I have a list of about fifteen scenes that are flat-out missing and I’m focusing on filling those in.

Non-writing, I’m making it a goal to get some exercise every day. It’s that, or give up chocolate. And 2020 is so not the year for giving up chocolate.
 
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WGough

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Thanks for starting the thread, Magnus.

September Goal: Revise Book III

Day 1: Chapter 9 revisions. Added 1663 new words.

katfeete: Welcome back! Your revision circumstances are eerily familiar. I agree, 2020 is not the year to give up chocolate.

Woollybear: Enjoy cabinning! It's a word.

ChaseJxyz: All good advice. I, too, am addicted to list-checking-offing.

April: Another amazing day for you. Congrats on the juice!

inspector: Welcome! Robert Olen Butler's From Where You Dream has some tips for developing the writing habit. I'd check it out from the library rather than buy it. Try everything until something sticks. When I was a student, I used to write first thing in the morning before my brain was fully turned on. I think I did my best work that way. Now, like Chase, I have to wait until my day job stuff's out of the way. Or some people get up at 4 AM and whack away. I'm too old for 4 AM. Or not yet old enough. Good luck!

The Second Moon: I'm always cheering for you!

Keithy: A sound plan!
 

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Greetings, September friends!

I did some number crunchin’ this morning I realized I will have to increase my word count if I want to participate in NaNoWriMo. I’ve never done it. I’d sort of like to. Usually November is not a good month to commit to every day but, hey, nothing is usual about 2020 so I thought it might be the one chance I get. To do that, I have to really kick out some words in the month of September and get most of Lake Maribelle Summer written. I don’t have to finish it this month, but I’ll have to be withing spitting range if I can even think about a new book (Lake Maribelle Fall) in November.

Now that I have a little added incentive, I think I’ll give it a try! I started today with 2660 shiny new words, so the month is off to a good start.

I ditto what all have said, Inspector, and maybe just add that I am a great fan of the current research being done (I am currently reading Nancy C. Andreasen, who had done a ton) on the neuroscience of creativity. It turns out, most of it is occurring when we are not aware. This means that while walking or sleeping or doing things other than writing, the book is being written. For this reason, I think we often approach the process incorrectly. In all likelihood, you know what it is you are going to write next—you just are not consciously aware of it. The idea of simply approaching the work with fingers on keyboard and an open mind is incredibly powerful because, by allowing this “butt to the chair” time (as Woolybear so eloquently put it), you are accessing the work you have already done.

I suspect this is why most writers have more success in the morning: they are closer to their dreaming state and probably putting up less resistance. But there is no inherent reason it has to be morning.

As others have said, you have to play around and find what works for you, but for me it is, quite literally, being patient and present and having my butt to the chair. I’ve written just over 200K words this year and there is no other secret that I am aware of.

All the best to all of you!
 

Keithy

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Bit of a drive by here (sorry)

1 (one) problem solved on Demon Hunter. It was a bit of a tricky one, though.

Arrgh, I spend ages doing prep for the big house renovation today. First I went to get some paving slabs, heaving and carrying them about. Gawd, so heavy, but no squashed fingers this time.

Then emptying cupboards and dismantling kitchen furniture to put elsewhere, mostly upstairs. Our main bedroom now contains a (disassembled) round kitchen table and two chairs, with lots of other stuff. The lounge now has our fridge-freezer in it, and I had to take the opportunity to paint behind it otherwise it'll never be done. There's more to do tomorrow so that floor guy can start on the kitchen on Thursday once the new flooring and the builder's skip comes. I am hoping that once things start I'll be spared moving stuff around for a few days and can do some of my work.
 
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Layla Nahar

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woolly, great start!
Gough, congrats on the 1663, and getting to ch. 9
Keithy, way to keep at it

Day 1

WIP - added words
R/SC - voted
BP/$$ - job, 10 hrs
 
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icedesperado

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Happy September everyone! My goal continues to be writing 1k a day.

Day 1
1,556 words.

I passed 90k and got a promotion at work. It's been a good day! Quick drive by today before I top up on champagne and then sleep. :)
 

ChaseJxyz

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Woolly: Enjoy the cabin! Enjoy a break of a few days from the news
Gough: A strong start to the month!
Carrie: Another great start! Awesome work
Keithy: Having multiple POVs helped solve a lot of the issues earlier verisons of [bird book] had. If you've watched Handmaid's Tale on Hulu, then you're probably familiar to what I refer to as "pulling a June," where the main character is invited to take part in a conversation or event that she has no reason to be because she needs to see/learn something because the audience needs to know it. It drives me CRAZY how much that show did it before having more POV characters in Gilead. It's more moving pieces and creates more work in some ways but can create a great story. I like creating situations where no one character knows the full truth but the reader does and the drama that can cause.
Layla: Hooray for voting!
Morgan: A little bit each day adds up quick. Starting small is a great way to get things rolling until it snowballs into something much bigger!

1st: 0 words but! I did all the detailed outlining for this last bit. I found that by breaking things up into these chunks it's a lot easier to manage and it has just enough detail (and just enough wiggle room) that it works best for my writing style/brain. Having the villain finally be vanquished and everyone getting the thing(s) they really needed felt really good to write, even in a very sentence fragment-y outline sort of way. Everyone gets their happily ever after (for now...) and things are looking bright. We're going to change the system and make it fair and just! Equity for all! This monarch is going to be totally different from the last one!

I also started copying editing tasks/to-dos from my notebooks into a spreadsheet because my handwriting is illegible and I want to be able to search for things and make a graph and see the line go down like in JIRA.
 

Cindyt

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Day 1

Word count 1038

Research:

  • Camera for crime scene snaps. Minolta 70000 Dynox, which came out in February 1985 (Billy has his own darkroom in the hold of The ScareCrow.

Dress Her in Chameleon - Edited Chapters 55 & 56, and transferred it to them dock.

A Deadly Spill of Scarlet - Reformatted Chapter 12. Edited Chapters 8 and 19, plus added new wordage to 19.


Woolly - A release right onto my own ebook site. I know that’s not traditional and I don’t care.

Carrie - It’s a full but sleek desk and has drawers.
 

April Swanson

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Woolly: Enjoy that peaceful cabin retreat!

Welcome back, kat! I hear you re chocolate and 2020 …

WGough: Tremendous word count! Good luck tackling Book 3. May September be the month that all the Book 3s are polished into shiny gems.

Carrie: Great work! You’ll definitely beat Nano with those sorts of counts.

Keithy: Nice work fixing up Demon Hunter. Good luck with the reno.

Layla: Yay for words and exercising your democratic right!

Nice work, Morgan.

ice: Congratulations! You were due a break after the stress of recent weeks. Enjoy some posh champagne in the 1k club :)

Chase: Sounds like you’re on top of things :)

Cindyt: Excellent effort!

I wrote my penultimate chapter—about 1600. One more to go, and then I’ll be heading back in for revisions which should *hopefully* be fairly light. They bloody better be, given I’ve written this book three times over …
 

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Day One

Writing: a tad over 200 words written and remembering why most of these scenes are in the "missing" stack. My writerbrain is like "conversations about tea? Fabulous! Let's write 'em all day! Chase scene? Ehhhhhblah how about.... no."

Exercise: Walked a mile after lunch, which is the great part about living on a farm. It's a start. Now if I can just talk myself into using the exercise equipment gathering spiderwebs here at home....

--

WGough: Revision solidarity, and some serious wordcount envy! Your writerbrain clearly loves you more than mine. :p

Carrie: Dang, serious wordcount envy. I'm one of those writers that works better in the morning, but this year with the kid doing school from home I'm still wrestling with my schedule. Hoping to make it to best two out of three somewhere in this month.

Keithy: Argh, house renovations, that's an even bigger schedule-wrench than a work-avoidant nine-year-old. Good luck!

ChaseJxyz: Outlining counts! I've found that just jotting a few notes before I start a scene, even, helps me keep on track. Or at least get started, which is half the battle sometimes.

April: Another companion in revision hell. Welcome and godspeed. I keep telling myself "this round will surely be easier....

Good wordcounts and progress all around! Chocolate for everyone!
 

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Day 1 - 327 words. I left off (in Apocalypse Stoppers) with Billie meeting up with his team to save his mother-figure.

This morning has NOT been good. I woke up with a excruciating neck cramp. So far I've been using pain killers, a heating pad, and numbing cream. It was working until I accidentally touched my eye after touching the numbing cream. OWWWW!!!

Woolly - cabins are great, aren't they. My family brings our own Wi-Fi (Don't ask. I have no idea how it is done)

WGough - I hear the 1K club is decorating for fall (in the northern hemisphere). I'll have to try and get in to see for myself.

Carrie - I envy your 2K word count

Katfeete - I love chase scenes, but they can be hard to write if your not in the mood

Keithy - Sounds like Shana and Ella are in trouble.

Layla - words are always good.

Morgan - Small is also good.

Ice - sounds like an awesome day!

Chase - I also have bad handwriting, which isn't fair because my twin sister has gorgeous penmanship.

April - way to go with the words!

Cindy - I love hearing about your research.
 

Carrie

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Greetings, my September friends!

Second Moon—OMG that sounds terrible! I hope your neck is better soon and your eye recovered quickly. I remember, during a particularly bleak moment in my life, I had to go to a meeting and I had been crying. I grabbed for my eye drops and picked up breath freshener drops instead and dropped them in my eye! I feel your pain.

Katfeete—Conversations about tea. Now you’ve got me thinking… Seriously, I completely sympathize with folks who have kids at home and other challenges. I have it really good right now. Normally, I would be off seeing family in the Midwest (and I miss them terribly!) but, things being what they are, I am putting that frustration into writing and (knock wood) it’s going well. I know I’m very fortunate in my current circumstances.

April—Oooh! Penultimate chapter! I am excited on your behalf. I haven’t finished enough books to know if it is the norm, but the last chapter in the book I just finished was an absolute blast. Have fun and congratulations!

Cindyt—Congrats on the word count and, I have to say, this floating desk concept is getting sexier by the day. The thing I would love (and I don’t suppose anything so mundane would figure in your novel) is that I could sweep all the way under it. I am always appalled at the amount of junk that manages to accumulate under my desk.

Chase—I think you are super wise to work according to what you know works for you. I honestly think the challenge in writing is not learning how to write but learning how I write. I think far too many writers fixate on how things are supposed to work instead of really exploring how their mind and creative process function.

Icedesparado—Gongrats on the promotion and the word count! Enjoy your well-deserved champagne!

Morgan—That’s how to eat an elephant: one bite at a time.

Keithy—Again, you have my complete sympathy. In a different world, I would be involved in renovation projects right now. The pandemic changed my plans—and so I write! I do not think I could do both at once.

I had another terrific day with 2630 new words and two thirds of Chapter Five finished. Thank you all for your support!