January 2021 Challenge - Build a Writing Habit!

Drive by due to looming deadline. I'll be back to catch up on Thursday.

Day 19: 502 words

Driving by again, for the same reason... third time's the charm?

Cindy - nice work on the editing (ps = wow. creepy for sure!)
Ptero - congrats on 115 and 109. Enjoy the tea
Chase - nice work!
Morgan - congrats on the 554. (I was recently plagued by oversleep)
kara - congrats on the 300 (oooh. fluffier but more solid than a moose... that just sounds goood. What I'm making have the same texture thru out. It's firm but melty. They are usually rolled/covered in cocoa powder ps-are you talking about the Lindor 'truffles' - def different than what I'm making. But those are good too. Unless you eat a whole bag at one sitting (see below))
Moon - one of the worst things about a streak is that you have to deal with the day that you don't have the streak. So, well, it's here now. And 114 on a stressful day is really great
ap - congrats on the 300 & the 400
April - w000t! FINISHED! very excellent
Magnus - I have a lot of Wauugh days... Congrats on getting the writing in




Day 19 - wow. I just really ate too many cookies...


WIP 1) editing WIP 2) reading
R/SC - did the dishes & tidied up when I got home
BP/$$ - job 12 hours, housemate call scheduled, she cancelled, already found a place

Day 19

Added words

DRESS HER IN CHAMELEON - Adjusted the space between part number and its title on all five sections. Previewed 12 chapters, spot editing here and there. Overall, it looks pretty good.

A DEADLY SPILL OF SCARLET - Did a lot of scut work, like hunting down the bib info on my theme epigram and coming up with zit. So, I settled for a very good Shakespeare quote and put my single attribute on the copyright page along with a notice that the Welcome To poem belongs to me.

April - Woop indeed!

Kara - Yeah, I’ll never forget. I don’t obsess about it, but whenever I do think about it, I shudder at what might have happened
had I stepping out of my bedroom while he was unhooking the TV or woke up while he was going through my purse.

Layla - Nice things! It was horrifying.

Moon - I didn’t watch a whole lot of TB back in the day. I mostly had it own for soundless company. I say “soundless” because I can’t hear.

Day 19: Only worked on some backstory/world stuff, nothing in the actual documents for [birds]. I have to fast for bloodwork early tomorrow so not eating has made it difficult to concentrate/brain good. Tomorrow is going to be super busy, too, so not sure how much work will be done.

Day 20- Partial drive by with about 350 words.

Second- I hope your mother gets well soon.

Day 19 - 1,163 words on Tap (MG Portal Fantasy). I left off with Trumaine realizing he's turning into a dragon after being tickled by one. He needs to cross the city in disguise to get to his best friend who can has the secret power to travel between worlds.

And I'm back in the 1k club!

Kara - Luckily, Mom's feeling a little better.

Layla - Yeah. I'm just glad I beat the blank page that day.

Day 20: 516

And the site just ate my reply, so... driving by.

Magnus: Nice work! Sometimes the muse just clicks.

Morgan: Great double 500

Layla: Nooo, there’s no such thing as too many cookies!

Cindyt: Great job adding words and doing all those fiddly bits.

Chase: I can’t concentrate if I’m hungry, either.

karasunoyashi: Great work!

Second: Enjoy that club!

I worked a little on my book description today, but mostly I watched the inauguration. I’ll get back to it tomorrow!

Cindy - wtg adding words, and congrats on the WIP/Publish tidying
Chase, I've done a little bit of fasting here & there but the medical stuff is no joke
kara - nice 350
Moon - w00t! Back in Style! Tell the Maitre d' I said hi
Morgan - nice 516 (and I hate when that happens...)
April, sounds like a good day off
Magnus - much feelz - I'm muddling along, grateful for every word I get


Day 20


WIP 1) revision notes & some added words WIP 2) reading & editing
R/SC - crafting, errands, made another batch of truffles
BP/$$ - a couple of aid related errands

Day 19 - a little over half a page of flash

Assignment's done and out. I'm going to scribble some words and then go to bed.

Day 20: No [birds] stuff, but worked on some [next project with monsters] stuff. Today was super busy and I was pretty exhausted once work was done. After dinner I sat down and did some building/planning for [next project]. I wanted to do SOMETHING writer-ly but not "problem solving" or trying to think of where I put a scene in that big ol draft, that would be too much work. Made a new document in my Remarkable and started writing stuff down. Hoping to be back to normal brain tomorrow.

Day 21- I wrote about 825 words today. Tomorrow will probably turn into another clean up day.

Ptero- Good job on the half a page and half an assignment in.

Morgan- Congrats on the 516.

Second- Congratulation on getting 1160 words down.

*Drive-by*

Day 20 - 526 on a new WIP. I also wrote somethings down for another Shiny new idea.

Magnus: I wouldn’t overthink it—just do it, and see what happens.

Layla: Twas a damn good day Yay for all words, truffles and the like.

Pterofan: Nice work.

Chase: Great job doing something even though you were knackered.

karasunoyashi: Great effort!

Second: Woo for lots of words and new ideas!

I read through the draft today. It was no better or worse than I had anticipated. The beginning’s good, the end is good, and the middle is a hot mess Back to the drawing board.

KDP is currently publishing DRESS HER IN CHAMELEON. Be back later for my report.

Day 21: 542

April: A little is better than none, and tomorrow awaits! And good luck with your middle!

Magnus: Kudos for the writing and editing! And hopefully you can find a viable balance!
Layla: Yay progress!
Pterofan: Yay flash! And scribbling!
Chase: Kudos for being writerly, and best wishes for a better brain!
karasunoyashi: Yay words!
The Second Moon: Nice work!
Cindyt: OOOH. Very cool! Hope it goes smoothly!

I love this community, but from a technical perspective this place is driving me crazy. I can't edit my previous post. It keeps saying my message is too short. I just want to take out that extra line break and switch the message back to the default font, and I can't.

Morgan_R said:

I love this community, but from a technical perspective this place is driving me crazy. I can't edit my previous post. It keeps saying my message is too short. I just want to take out that extra line break and switch the message back to the default font, and I can't.

Click to expand...

Just be patient. The server is being hammered, not only by bot nets, but by new registrations directed here from recently shut down sites because there's a forum.

Day 20 - a little over half a page of flash
Day 21 - not quite half a page, but this time it's the series

Yay! I'm back on schedule! At least until Monday, when the next assignment comes in.

I've started rooting through old notebooks to see if there are any fragments in there I can resurrect and turn into something marketable. The fact both my car and homeowners insurance bills came in today has nothing to do with it.

Chase - much feelz & congrats on staying writerly
kara, congrats on the 825
Moon - nice 526!
April, congrats on that reading
Cindy! W00t about that publishing
Morgan - congrats on the 542
Ptero, congrats on the flash


Day 21


WIP 1) added words Wip 2) reading
R/SC - set up my coffee, and started the rice cooking for tomorrow's lunch when I got home from work
BP/$$ - job 12 hours

Day 20 Driveby.

DRESS HER IN CHAMELEON - Finished the last preview.

Day 21

DRESS HER IN CHAMELEON - Subbed. It was published. But. I found a--to me--glaring error: (Although they were perfect on my tablet), on the phone and computer, the title and part page lines I typed under the titles were too long and carried over to the next space. I put it on draft, but couldn’t find a way to fix it. So I repupped and will let it fly. If I ever use lines again, I’ll make them short. There were other things that I can live and learn with. My niece didn’t notice anything wrong. Gah. Lol.

A DEADLY SPILL OF SCARLET - Edited the scene chart and jotted down summary questions beside chapters 1 - 5 on an a table that also includes word and page counts. I’m really looking forward to working on this during most of my daily writing sessions. And sideswiping White Wolf on Saturdays.

Ptero - Grats on getting back on schedule!

Layla - Thank you! Grats on added words and reading!

Morgan - Thank you. Look at that 542!

Congrats on finishing your draft April. As for the middle not meeting your standards, not to worry. You'll knock it into shape once you revise it four or five or fifteen times.

Good to see someone publish their work, so congratulations to Cindyt also.

As for me, I've added 4k since I checked in a few days ago. Not too pleased with this section, and it feels like I'm treading water to some extent. It is necessary to get my characters from one spot to another in this novel, but making it interesting is another level of difficulty. In fact, most of this novel revolves around travel and adventures along the way, and I'm getting a little burnt out doing it again. Final conflict is coming soon, so maybe that will get the creative juices flowing again.

Day 21: Writing the 1 sentence summary/elevator pitch for [next project] yesterday made me think of how I should really do that for [birds], so I did a few versions and asked for feedback from friends. Brain process then went like:
Oh they really like the contrast of magic and radioactivity in that one pitch > right, all the POV characters' magic is from [radioactive source] > I forgot to include how that would look/feel/react different from magic from "normal" sources > I need to figure out those differences > I need to figure out how the energy sources are different to cause those differences > I need to figure out the differences in the scientific concepts my magic system is based on > I am now googling "is magnetic force EM radiation" and "what causes quarks to change flavor"

I know what long-term (like, thousands of years) of exposure to [radioactive source] causes (I don't explicitly state it in the text, but there's some Pretty Big Clues) since birbnobyl happened 20k+ years ago, but it also happened 20+ years ago, so what would those minor but appreciable differences be? And I don't want to do the tired/kind of offensive* tropes you see in a lot of atomic-age media (flippers, third arms, insanity, glowing green...). The best way, I've found, to answer questions like this is to set my brain up for "if X is true, then Y" steps in logic...which means world/magic system building that only I'm ever going to see probably. It's already made me realize Just How Wrong the story's "author" is in her understanding of how the natural world actually works due to her species/culture's biases/notion that They're Always Right in all matters scientific. There's just...a lot of layers here. I can appreciate how it took Frank Hebert 6 years to do the research for Dune. There's just So Much Stuff.

*There was a disabled author on Twitter who talked about how much it hurt to see villains/ugly people be "deformed" in the same way she was or to be called freaks/mutants and it has made me mindful of things like that