Brand New Notebooks

I took a walk to Staples today to pick up the printed copy of my first draft. Unfortunately, I thought I had ordered it on 3-hole punched paper and I ended up getting it on regular paper. It's not the first time I've screwed up a web order. Oh well, it is easily fixed. I own a 3-hole punch - I just need to do it myself, which I will do as soon as I finish this post.

Anyway, the point of this post is that the aisles were full of back to school supplies. While my children definitely do not share my enthusiasm for this, brand new notebooks still get me excited (yes, I am a total geek). They are so crisp and so full of potential, just waiting to be filled with all sorts of important things. I like that sense of potential.

Done.

I would like to say that I'm jumping up and down at the fact that this story is done, but I'm not. I mean, I should be, right? I met my goal - I finished my first draft in under two months. I like the story. I actually like it better than my first novel. All of which should give me reason to celebrate, but mostly I'm just tired and a little sad that it is done. After all, the writing is really the fun part. I've looked forward to working on it each day that I could and watching the story develop and the word counts go up. Now, that is over.

Some overall observations: This second novel was easier to write. Practice does make perfect. Well, I don't know about perfect, but it does make it easier. I remember writing the last novel that there were times I truly hated the story. It seemed to take so long and it was such a struggle to figure out what should happen next, what the characters were doing, where they were going. I kept going by sheer force of will sometimes. This time around, the story just came out. I definitely felt more in the zone. I'm thankful to God for giving me the time and the inspiration to do this.

I'm not sure why it mattered for me to write this story, but it did. I honestly don't know if anyone will ever read it. I once read, though, that when we give ourselves permission to pursue our creative pursuits, that in turn allows others to give themselves permission to pursue their own, and the world is better for that. So, while my story may not matter, perhaps someone else will be inspired by the fact that I wrote it and be convinced they can do the same.

So, what's next? Editing. I get to go back and fix all my mistakes. Honestly, I haven't read the story through start to finish. I sent it off to Staples to be printed. I'll probably pick it up Friday.

Today's total: 889 Final total: 46,352 (not quite 50,000 but close enough!)

So close . . .

While on the work front, I am wishing for a brain implant that would allow me to magically understand all there is to know about Joomla (a content management system similar in function to Wordpress but wildly different in configuration and usage), on the writing front I am so close to being done I can taste it. I am currently working on the last chapter. Unfortunately, it is bedtime and I need to call it a night. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring. I'm not seeing writing in my future, but one can never tell. I might be able to squeeze a little in.

Today's total - 905 Total to date - 45,463

Writing Productivity Pitfalls

Here is a good article from Writer's Digest on 10 Writing Productivity Pitfalls and how to avoid them: Top 10 Productivity Pitfalls for Writers to Avoid

Getting there . . .

Tonight I was back at work on my other project, but I did have some time earlier today to write while my children were outside playing.

Today's total - 1,110 Total to date - 44,700

Making Progress

My work is on hold while I await some technical support which I am hoping will come tomorrow. But, on the plus side, it did give me some time to write this weekend.

Saturday's total : 280
Today's total: 3, 035

Total to date: 43,590

I'm close to the end. I think it will probably end up around 45,000 words. Maybe a bit more. A little short, but I can live with it. Maybe I will get the chance to finish this week.

And I was getting so close . . .

I had a very good night of writing, and then I checked my email and discovered a huge work project waiting for me. I knew it was coming. It was supposed to come a couple weeks ago, but they had been ignoring me this long. I was hoping beyond hope that it might wait long enough for me to finish this story. I was trying so hard to get it done - taking advantage of every possible minute. I was getting so close, and now I need to walk away from it for a bit. I'm not sure how long. I'm so discouraged right now.

Today's total - 2,565 Total to date - 40, 235

If I only needed less sleep . .

I would make a huge push and finish this story. This is the hard part for me, when I am nearing the end. I just want to get it done. It is somewhat emotionally exhausting and exhilarating at the same time to push out a story like this. Can I finish by the end of the month? I'd like to :)

Today's total - 1,391 Total to date - 37,670

On self-editing

This is a good article on learning how to edit one's own writing:

The Importance of Self-Editing

The Novel Without a Title

It is getting to the point where I am going to have to come up with a title for this work of fiction. As it stands now, the file (which I email to myself every night) is called "Novel 2 1st draft." Yup - doesn't get more exciting than that. I'm hoping a title will come to me soon. I have an obvious title I could go with - "The Rose Ring," but I was hoping for something a bit more compelling. We shall see.

I'm pretty sure how the rest of the story is going to unfold and I am at the point at which I wish I could just download the story from my mind to the computer, but who knows? There may be a couple surprises along the way.

Today's total - 1,207 Total to date - 36, 279

15,000 words to go

Today's Total - 580 Total to date - 35, 072

A rare Saturday writing session

I almost never get to write on a Saturday, but I was able to squeeze in a short writing session today. It is amazing. I know I shouldn't say this too loudly, but this story is almost writing itself.

Today's count - 769 Total to date - 34,492

Record Day for Me

I'm pretty sure that life will not hand me another day like today to write, but I took good advantage of it. This is the most I have ever written in one day.

Today's total - 4,502 Total to date - 33,723

3000 word day

So, I held out hopes of hitting 30,000 words today. That didn't happen, but I did write 3000 words which I think is pretty close to my all-time best writing total for one day. Oh, and my friend on FB actually wrote 8,300 words on her story yesterday! She finished the novel today - it weighed in at over 83,000 words. I can safely say that I will never get there. She blogs about how she did her marathon writing session here: http://fabianspace.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-novels-journey-fueling-full-speed.html.

Today's total - 3,025 Total to date - 29,221

Keeping at it.

One of my writing FB friends posted that she wrote 4000 words today. Truly, I am in awe. I'm hoping to get a good session of writing in tomorrow. We shall see what the day brings. God has been being kind to me, letting me have some time to actually do this. I take that as a good sign. Also, I really like how the story is turning out. Still not sure if it will take me 50,000 words to tell or not.


Today's total - 1,104 Total to date - 26,196

Half-way done!

I was a woman on a mission tonight. I wanted to reach the half-way point. And I did!

Today's count - 1,853   Total to date - 25,092


On an unrelated note, I've been known to get songs stuck in my head and play them repeatedly on YouTube while I work. It's been a while, but "Half of my Heart" by John Meyer and Taylor Swift has now won that honor. There is no special reason why I like the song. Something about it is just catchy. I think I listened to it about 30 times tonight.

A Productive Evening of Writing

I made up for yesterday's lackluster performance. I finished what I thought was Chapter 12. Then, I realized I actually needed another chapter between Chapter 11 and what I had just written. So, Chapter 12 became Chapter 13 and I started work on a new Chapter 12. I am so thankful for computers. I can't even imagine doing this on the typewriters I used to use when I was in school! While I am appreciating modern technology, I am also very thankful for the thesaurus feature in Word. I own a hardbound thesaurus/dictionary set that I won as an academic prize when I was in high school, but it is just so convenient to type in the word and have all those wonderful synonyms come up!

Today's count - 1,445   Total to date - 23,239

Slow night

The words weren't coming very easily tonight, but I did manage to hammer out a few.

Today's total - 674   Total to date - 21, 794

483 more words

Which brings today's total to 1567 and the total to date to 21,120. Woo-hoo!

Over 20,000 words!

I'm not sure if I will have more time to write tonight, but I had some time this afternoon and took advantage of it.

Today's total - 1,084   Total to date - 20,637

Plot Problems

I've said before that I really don't have a story mapped out before I write it. I may have a general idea of where I want the story to go, but that's about it. The rest fills itself in as I write. As a result, I end up with some plot problems - inconsistencies I realize I have to go back and fix in order for the story to make sense. While I generally try to avoid editing when I am working on the first draft, I do go back and fix some of these. Tonight, I spent some time making the story make sense. I also wrote another scene. It is coming along.

Really, my concern at this point is that it won't take the 50,000 words to tell the story; that it will come up short. But, I figure I will just keep writing and see what happens.

Today's count - 1038  Total to date - 19,553

July 7th

Another scorcher.

Today's total - 1,159    Total to date - 18,515

Hot, Hot, Hot

It was over 100 degrees in my part of the world today. That doesn't happen very often around here. The heat doesn't bother me very much, but even I was forced to seek the refuge of air conditioning in order to work tonight. Not that I couldn't have lived, but I feared my computer would overheat. As a result, both it and I worked in comfort. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a tad bit cooler.

It is interesting the places inspiration can come from. The entire scene I wrote tonight grew out of an experience I had while mini-golfing over the holiday weekend. You just never know . . .

Today's total - 1,155  Total to date - 17,356

July 5th

It's the end of a relaxing long weekend. I took a break from work (at least mostly) and took some much needed rest. That included writing this evening. I had my 80s music going as I wrote. I laughed at some of the comments teenagers had put on the songs. They were ruminating that they wished that they had grown up in the 80s. I remember growing up in the 80s wishing I had grown up in the 50s! LOL Ah well, it is good music. It brings back good memories, and keeps the creative juices flowing. What more could one hope for?

Today's total - 1,289   Total to date - 16,201

I got to write after all.

After thinking I wouldn't get to return to my story, I had about 20 minutes to write this evening.

Today's count - 348  Total to date - 14, 912

A Couple Interesting Writing Articles

I'm always happy to get to read the latest issue of Writer's Digest. Today I read the May/June 2010 issue. There was a great article in there, "He Said, She Said" which gave some interesting information on the differences between how men and women write and what men and women like to read. There was also an informative article on writing romances. Unfortunately, neither of those articles are online so you will need to seek out the actual magazine if you read them (I get mine at the library.) They did have a couple other interesting articles on their website, however:

How to Enhance Your Character's POV

9 Questions to Ask Your Main Character