I entered this week excited about how much writing time I would have on my hands compared to last week. I foolishly envisaged myself writing for hours on end. Whole mornings or afternoons would pass in a daze of coffee and brilliant prose. I would ignore the phone and just lose myself in my writing. So why oh why have I struggled to sit my arse down to write? I have even done laundry in an attempt to procrastinate. Why? I am the one who has chosen to write. No-one is making me so why should I have to force myself to do it?
I had a think about it and I think it is because the sequence of things in my WIP is simply not in the sequence I want. I made a brief outline of the order of events before writing but as I wrote I realised I needed to explain the history of the central friendship in some detail but it has taken most of the first 10,000 words. At the moment it is in flash back form but that is a pretty big flash back! I know I want to tweak it. Either break it up throughout the story or split the story into sections one being the past. Now I am past this section I want to just head forward and try not to obsess over the fact the start isn't how I want it to be. I am going to persist with simply getting the words down rather than go back and editing now. I was struggling to sit down as my mind was on what I have already written rather than looking forward. I have made a conscious decision to simply look forward. Fingers crossed.
On Monday I wrote for 55 mins and managed 1,249 words. On Tuesday I wrote for 1 hour and 5 mins and wrote 1,245 words. Today I wrote 927 words in 35 minutes. I also spent 10 minutes making some notes on the new story idea that has been floating around my head. This week I have added 3421 words to my WIP which now stands at 13,599 words. Yay! When I have finally sat down I have been able to write for longer than my 30 minutes day goal. It is just the starting that seems to be the problem.
For the rest of the week to meet my goals I want to keep adding words to my WIP and will post my non check-in post a follow-up NaNoWriMo post tomorrow. Exercise has not happened this week yet but it is only Wednesday so hope to squeeze it in.
I really missed checking out other check-ins last week so guess what I am off to do now! Hope your weeks are going well.
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Sunday, 14 August 2011
ROW 80 Check-in 14th August
Well what a week! I had worried that it was going to be the first week I didn't meet my goals this round but I have managed to do it! All goals met!
My check-in on wednesday was very short but wanted to do it as one of my goals was to check-in every wed and sun. I have to say my phone signal was shocking where I was and I really struggled being out of the loop! I hated not being able to write a lot and not being able to check out the check-ins of others which made me realise how important the ROW 80 community is for me. I posted my NaNoWriMo post before I left on Monday morning (if you left a comment thank you, a follow up post will be coming soon!) and todays check-in is my third post this week. Three posts - check!
On Monday - I spent 30 minutes writing from the Write Anything prompt before I left. Writing prompt goal - check!
On Tuesday I struggled. I had a BRILLIANT holiday with my friends but as I was sharing a room I was never alone and as I am currently keeping my desire to write quiet it was really hard. I try to take my frustration as a good sign that writing is becoming more of a habit for me. I didn't want to just think 'I am on holiday' and not try because I know it is a slippery slope for me and I don't go back to work until the 2nd of September so that slope of 'I am on holiday' could get very steep indeed. I found 15 minutes and made some notes about things I need to research, ideas for the history of my made up town and added bits to descriptions of my MC and her friend. (15 minutes short this day)
On Wednesday as well as my quick check-in (again thank you for comments!) I spent 5 minutes in the morning scribbling some ideas down about a new WIP which I am thinking of as a possible NaNo project (if I take part!). The idea just popped in to my head so thought I better jot it down before it pops out again! I also realised my roomie for the week is a heavy sleeper so once she dozed off I spent 20 minutes reading through my print outs of my WIP. My plan had been to edit these, scribble all over them etc but I felt I couldn't do this properly in this situation and I didn't want to edit in a half-hearted way but a simple read through taught me a lot. (5 minutes short this day)
On Thursday I spent 30 minutes (again while my friend was sleeping!) making notes about my thoughts from my read through. I made sure I had written some positives as well as negatives as I started my notes with add more dialogue, add more description, sort out order etc. and I started to panic so I wrote some things I liked aswell. I know my first draft is going to be very rough and I have lots to sort out to do with the order of things and working in the back story without constnat flashbacks.
On Friday I got home earlier than expected so had some unexpected time to add to my WIP. I caught up with the 20 minutes I had not managed whilst away, wrote my half an hour for friday and did my half an hour for saturday as I knew with my friends staying it was going to be tough. In an hour and 20 minutes I wrote 1664 words which is good but did make me think if I do have a go at NaNo am I going to need to find an hour and 20 minutes to write each day? Eeeek!
Today I added 685 words to my WIP so this week in total I have added 2349 words to my WIP so I am now at 10,178 words. Yay! Broke the 10,000 barrier! *confetti*
My exercise goal was to exercise twice. I went swimming twice and went for 2 short walks so exercise goal - check!
This week should be a lot quieter so I am going to try and aim for between half an hour and an hour of writing a day (official goal still 30 minutes). I am really looking forward to the writing week ahead!
I hope you have all had great weeks, off to check out some check-ins!
My check-in on wednesday was very short but wanted to do it as one of my goals was to check-in every wed and sun. I have to say my phone signal was shocking where I was and I really struggled being out of the loop! I hated not being able to write a lot and not being able to check out the check-ins of others which made me realise how important the ROW 80 community is for me. I posted my NaNoWriMo post before I left on Monday morning (if you left a comment thank you, a follow up post will be coming soon!) and todays check-in is my third post this week. Three posts - check!
On Monday - I spent 30 minutes writing from the Write Anything prompt before I left. Writing prompt goal - check!
On Tuesday I struggled. I had a BRILLIANT holiday with my friends but as I was sharing a room I was never alone and as I am currently keeping my desire to write quiet it was really hard. I try to take my frustration as a good sign that writing is becoming more of a habit for me. I didn't want to just think 'I am on holiday' and not try because I know it is a slippery slope for me and I don't go back to work until the 2nd of September so that slope of 'I am on holiday' could get very steep indeed. I found 15 minutes and made some notes about things I need to research, ideas for the history of my made up town and added bits to descriptions of my MC and her friend. (15 minutes short this day)
On Wednesday as well as my quick check-in (again thank you for comments!) I spent 5 minutes in the morning scribbling some ideas down about a new WIP which I am thinking of as a possible NaNo project (if I take part!). The idea just popped in to my head so thought I better jot it down before it pops out again! I also realised my roomie for the week is a heavy sleeper so once she dozed off I spent 20 minutes reading through my print outs of my WIP. My plan had been to edit these, scribble all over them etc but I felt I couldn't do this properly in this situation and I didn't want to edit in a half-hearted way but a simple read through taught me a lot. (5 minutes short this day)
On Thursday I spent 30 minutes (again while my friend was sleeping!) making notes about my thoughts from my read through. I made sure I had written some positives as well as negatives as I started my notes with add more dialogue, add more description, sort out order etc. and I started to panic so I wrote some things I liked aswell. I know my first draft is going to be very rough and I have lots to sort out to do with the order of things and working in the back story without constnat flashbacks.
On Friday I got home earlier than expected so had some unexpected time to add to my WIP. I caught up with the 20 minutes I had not managed whilst away, wrote my half an hour for friday and did my half an hour for saturday as I knew with my friends staying it was going to be tough. In an hour and 20 minutes I wrote 1664 words which is good but did make me think if I do have a go at NaNo am I going to need to find an hour and 20 minutes to write each day? Eeeek!
Today I added 685 words to my WIP so this week in total I have added 2349 words to my WIP so I am now at 10,178 words. Yay! Broke the 10,000 barrier! *confetti*
My exercise goal was to exercise twice. I went swimming twice and went for 2 short walks so exercise goal - check!
This week should be a lot quieter so I am going to try and aim for between half an hour and an hour of writing a day (official goal still 30 minutes). I am really looking forward to the writing week ahead!
I hope you have all had great weeks, off to check out some check-ins!
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
ROW 80 Check-in 10th august
Quick check-in..tiny bits of undercover writing..lots of ideas in my head and quick notes being made in my notebook. hope to do more later today.
Hope you are having good weeks!
Hope you are having good weeks!
Monday, 8 August 2011
NaNoWriMo - Dare I try it?!
From the moment I started following writing blogs NaNoWriMo has been there. It has been there, in the background, winking at me and trying to get me to have a go. Trying to tempt me into what must be an intense month of attempting to write 50,000 words. I have read some of the good, the bad and the ugly about the challenge on other people's blogs and now I am trying to decide whether I want to have a go. I NEED HELP!
A link to the official site is here - http://www.nanowrimo.org/ but in brief the description on the website is: "National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000 word, (approximately 175 page) novel by 11:59:59, November 30."
It is as simple as that. You sit, you write. You don't plan and revise during this month, you simply write. It is about output, about sheer numbers and then after the month you tweak it and edit it and I guess finish it. I know it is not until November but if I want to do it I need to start thinking of the story I want to write now so I can do some preparation.
I have read accounts of people who haven't made it to the finish line, who have found it does not fit in with their life and have found it a stressful experience. But I have also read accounts by people who have really enjoyed the challenge. Posts by people who have been able to throw themselves into it, knock out 50,000+ words and have enjoyed the community of support from other NaNoWriMo participants.
My concerns are;
1) I am doing well as part of the ROW 80 Challenge and getting so much support from that. If I do something so intense will it mess with my ROW 80 success? Will it throw me off course?
2) If I fail to write the 50,000 words will it ruin all the confidence I have been slowly building up? 50,000 words is 1612 words a day. That is a lot. I have not had many days when I have written 1000 words. In fact I think I have only had two so far. But could I push myself? Could I do more?
3) If I start looking towards the next story when my current WIP is in its baby stage will I lose my way? Will I be torn between my WIP and the story I plan for NaNoWriMo?
4) I don't have a burning story idea I am desperate to write so deciding on a concept/planning may take a lot of time. This time may be detrimental to my current WIP.
Now to the reasons I want to have a go;
1) It appeals to me. I like a challenge and I like being accountable to something. I need to be accountable to make me stick to something. ROW 80 has shown me that. By making public goals I have kept them, maybe it would push me to write more in a sitting.
2) I was excited to see the online groups and also last year there was a group of people who met in Exeter near me, so I could maybe go along!
3) It may be a good way for me to come out of the closet....to tell people I am interested in being a writer. That way when I possibly become a hermit for a month people will understand and hopefully be supportive.
I am aware that a lot of my questions above I can only answer myself but I would love to hear from anyone who has taken part about how they found the challenge. Did you love or loathe the experience? I don't want to put extra pressure on myself by taking part alongside the next round of ROW 80 but I also don't want to miss an opportunity that may well be amazing!
Do I dare try it?
A link to the official site is here - http://www.nanowrimo.org/ but in brief the description on the website is: "National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000 word, (approximately 175 page) novel by 11:59:59, November 30."
It is as simple as that. You sit, you write. You don't plan and revise during this month, you simply write. It is about output, about sheer numbers and then after the month you tweak it and edit it and I guess finish it. I know it is not until November but if I want to do it I need to start thinking of the story I want to write now so I can do some preparation.
I have read accounts of people who haven't made it to the finish line, who have found it does not fit in with their life and have found it a stressful experience. But I have also read accounts by people who have really enjoyed the challenge. Posts by people who have been able to throw themselves into it, knock out 50,000+ words and have enjoyed the community of support from other NaNoWriMo participants.
My concerns are;
1) I am doing well as part of the ROW 80 Challenge and getting so much support from that. If I do something so intense will it mess with my ROW 80 success? Will it throw me off course?
2) If I fail to write the 50,000 words will it ruin all the confidence I have been slowly building up? 50,000 words is 1612 words a day. That is a lot. I have not had many days when I have written 1000 words. In fact I think I have only had two so far. But could I push myself? Could I do more?
3) If I start looking towards the next story when my current WIP is in its baby stage will I lose my way? Will I be torn between my WIP and the story I plan for NaNoWriMo?
4) I don't have a burning story idea I am desperate to write so deciding on a concept/planning may take a lot of time. This time may be detrimental to my current WIP.
Now to the reasons I want to have a go;
1) It appeals to me. I like a challenge and I like being accountable to something. I need to be accountable to make me stick to something. ROW 80 has shown me that. By making public goals I have kept them, maybe it would push me to write more in a sitting.
2) I was excited to see the online groups and also last year there was a group of people who met in Exeter near me, so I could maybe go along!
3) It may be a good way for me to come out of the closet....to tell people I am interested in being a writer. That way when I possibly become a hermit for a month people will understand and hopefully be supportive.
I am aware that a lot of my questions above I can only answer myself but I would love to hear from anyone who has taken part about how they found the challenge. Did you love or loathe the experience? I don't want to put extra pressure on myself by taking part alongside the next round of ROW 80 but I also don't want to miss an opportunity that may well be amazing!
Do I dare try it?
Sunday, 7 August 2011
ROW 80 Check-in 7th August
I may be about to have a week when I don't manage to complete my goals but for week 5, all goals met!
From Thursday through to Sunday I added words to my WIP. On Thursday I wrote 572 words. I have to say they didn't flow but I sat there and kept going for the 30 minutes but on Friday the 848 words flowed easily. On Saturday I managed 1,222 words in half an hour which I think is my record! Today I have written 908 words as I had my morning coffee so as we stand now I am 7829 words into my WIP! I have broken the 5000 word barrier! Actually I am closer to 10,000 than I am 5,000! I have to say though I am rushing through my story like someone who is gobbling their dessert down because their mum wants to take their plate away. I don't think my first draft is going to be that long but I am aware I plan to go back and add in lots of details and descriptions and dialogue. I guess at the moment my priority is just getting the story down!
I also have exercised twice! I mentioned Aqua Aerobics already and my second exercise was a 50 length swim. I was pleased with myself as I have lots of things going on and I thought I wasn't going to squeeze it in so I went at 8am which in a School Holiday is early! So check!
Tomorrow I go away until Friday and then on Friday I will be back but have friends coming to stay for the weekend so who knows how this week will go writing wise! The good thing is I have been thinking about it and tried to work out some solutions. I have just printed off what I have so far for my WIP to take with me. I was thinking of taking my children's stories too to look at but at the moment my WIP is constantly on my mind so I want to stick with that. I will try and post a brief check-in from my phone on Wednesday. I also have my non check-in post ready to post tomorrow (about NaNoWriMo...any comments/thoughts gratefully received!) so that part of my three posts a week goal will be taken care of before I go away.
I hope you have had great weeks and wish me luck! I don't know if I will get to check out everyones check-ins but I will try!
ps. Thank you for all your lovely comments! It really is the best feeling to hear from people who are somewhat in the same boat as you! So motivated by you all, thank you!
From Thursday through to Sunday I added words to my WIP. On Thursday I wrote 572 words. I have to say they didn't flow but I sat there and kept going for the 30 minutes but on Friday the 848 words flowed easily. On Saturday I managed 1,222 words in half an hour which I think is my record! Today I have written 908 words as I had my morning coffee so as we stand now I am 7829 words into my WIP! I have broken the 5000 word barrier! Actually I am closer to 10,000 than I am 5,000! I have to say though I am rushing through my story like someone who is gobbling their dessert down because their mum wants to take their plate away. I don't think my first draft is going to be that long but I am aware I plan to go back and add in lots of details and descriptions and dialogue. I guess at the moment my priority is just getting the story down!
I also have exercised twice! I mentioned Aqua Aerobics already and my second exercise was a 50 length swim. I was pleased with myself as I have lots of things going on and I thought I wasn't going to squeeze it in so I went at 8am which in a School Holiday is early! So check!
Tomorrow I go away until Friday and then on Friday I will be back but have friends coming to stay for the weekend so who knows how this week will go writing wise! The good thing is I have been thinking about it and tried to work out some solutions. I have just printed off what I have so far for my WIP to take with me. I was thinking of taking my children's stories too to look at but at the moment my WIP is constantly on my mind so I want to stick with that. I will try and post a brief check-in from my phone on Wednesday. I also have my non check-in post ready to post tomorrow (about NaNoWriMo...any comments/thoughts gratefully received!) so that part of my three posts a week goal will be taken care of before I go away.
I hope you have had great weeks and wish me luck! I don't know if I will get to check out everyones check-ins but I will try!
ps. Thank you for all your lovely comments! It really is the best feeling to hear from people who are somewhat in the same boat as you! So motivated by you all, thank you!
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
ROW 80 Check-in 3rd August
I can't believe I didn't make more of a fuss about the fact I managed a month of meeting my goals and stuck to the challenge! I was obviously pleased and happy with myself but I think I was aware that a month is a month and yes it is good but don't get complacent. Don't ease off. So I haven't.
First half of this week has gone well.
On Monday I wrote for just over half an hour and wrote 879 words of my WIP and on Tuesday I wrote a further 856 words. I did the maths and that is 1735 words in two days! For someone who struggles to bloody well sit down and write I am really pleased with this. I have lots of details that need filling in but I managed to stop myself rushing off to google bits and pieces and simply made a note of it or wrote FIND THIS OUT or LOCATION? in my WIP. These details can be found out at a later date and are NOT an excuse for me to go on a lovely jaunt into internet land and get lost for 30 mins. I know when I am more disciplined I will be able to do this but at the moment getting into a habit of writing is important. I distract myself way to easily!
So far so good and am 4,279 words into my WIP! I dread to think how many of these words are duds and will never make it through even a first edit but they need to be written to be able to be edited. Yay! I also am aware I want to change the order things are happening. It looked good in the outline but as I tell the story it is not sitting well with me. This is something I may try and sort on my holiday next week when hopefully I will be scribbling over print outs.
On my new goal of exercising twice a week I have been to an Aqua Aerobics session and am hoping to squeeze a swim in over the next few days if I can.
Todays writing is going to be the Write Anything prompt: Your character walks into a room of people. Everything goes uncomfortably silent and all eyes narrow in on your character. I think I will do this from the point of view of one of my WIP characters as is good practise to write as them even though I have started writing it in the third person.
Hope your weeks are going well. Off to check out some check-ins. Oh and then write, yes must write.
First half of this week has gone well.
On Monday I wrote for just over half an hour and wrote 879 words of my WIP and on Tuesday I wrote a further 856 words. I did the maths and that is 1735 words in two days! For someone who struggles to bloody well sit down and write I am really pleased with this. I have lots of details that need filling in but I managed to stop myself rushing off to google bits and pieces and simply made a note of it or wrote FIND THIS OUT or LOCATION? in my WIP. These details can be found out at a later date and are NOT an excuse for me to go on a lovely jaunt into internet land and get lost for 30 mins. I know when I am more disciplined I will be able to do this but at the moment getting into a habit of writing is important. I distract myself way to easily!
So far so good and am 4,279 words into my WIP! I dread to think how many of these words are duds and will never make it through even a first edit but they need to be written to be able to be edited. Yay! I also am aware I want to change the order things are happening. It looked good in the outline but as I tell the story it is not sitting well with me. This is something I may try and sort on my holiday next week when hopefully I will be scribbling over print outs.
On my new goal of exercising twice a week I have been to an Aqua Aerobics session and am hoping to squeeze a swim in over the next few days if I can.
Todays writing is going to be the Write Anything prompt: Your character walks into a room of people. Everything goes uncomfortably silent and all eyes narrow in on your character. I think I will do this from the point of view of one of my WIP characters as is good practise to write as them even though I have started writing it in the third person.
Hope your weeks are going well. Off to check out some check-ins. Oh and then write, yes must write.
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Should you stick to what you are starting to know?
Something that has been on my mind lately is whether it is possible to successfully write in many genres and write in them well. I have written (and not yet edited) two children's books aimed at 3 to 5 year olds. I am currently writing something that best fits into the category of 'chick-lit'. The more I get into this writing game and the more blogs I read, the more different types of book I want to write. When ever I read something by Jamila about her historical research (http://jamilajamison.wordpress.com/) it makes me excited about writing something historical and whenever I read a murder mystery novel I start to daydream about writing a thrilling masterpiece of my own.
But I have been having passing thoughts about whether it is simply better to stick to one thing.
I am on a huge learning curve at the moment. I am learning about every stage of the writing process, reading up on plotting, characters etc. I am starting to write. I haven't given much of a thought to editing and don't even mention agents or the querying process. Shudder. I had to google what a beta-reader was yesterday as I keep seeing them mentioned but had no clue what they were!
People talk of the 'conventions' of certain genres, what people expect from them. I know rules are often made to be broken but is tackling different genres with different conventions wise? Is it better to learn how to write one genre really well and put effort into that? I have also seen blog posts and articles about how hard it is for writers to be published in different genres. Now I know this is thinking way a head into the future but should I be thinking about the future? About my 'platform' as a writer? I have not completed anything but is it better I think about the future now or go with the flow? Finish my chick-lit novel (makes it sound like an easy thing to do!) and then if the next story that excites me is a mystery, write a mystery. Am I just getting over-excited by the great ideas I see and in a way being a bit greedy that I think I can conquer all these genres?
But part of me doesn't want to box myself in. Why pigeon hole myself this early? If I do get something published which seems surreal to even type, then if I write a murder mystery just for the fun of it but it never comes to anything, then I will still have had the experience. I can still say I did it.
What do you think? Do you write mainly in one genre or do you write/plan to write across several? An enquiring mind wants to know!
But I have been having passing thoughts about whether it is simply better to stick to one thing.
I am on a huge learning curve at the moment. I am learning about every stage of the writing process, reading up on plotting, characters etc. I am starting to write. I haven't given much of a thought to editing and don't even mention agents or the querying process. Shudder. I had to google what a beta-reader was yesterday as I keep seeing them mentioned but had no clue what they were!
People talk of the 'conventions' of certain genres, what people expect from them. I know rules are often made to be broken but is tackling different genres with different conventions wise? Is it better to learn how to write one genre really well and put effort into that? I have also seen blog posts and articles about how hard it is for writers to be published in different genres. Now I know this is thinking way a head into the future but should I be thinking about the future? About my 'platform' as a writer? I have not completed anything but is it better I think about the future now or go with the flow? Finish my chick-lit novel (makes it sound like an easy thing to do!) and then if the next story that excites me is a mystery, write a mystery. Am I just getting over-excited by the great ideas I see and in a way being a bit greedy that I think I can conquer all these genres?
But part of me doesn't want to box myself in. Why pigeon hole myself this early? If I do get something published which seems surreal to even type, then if I write a murder mystery just for the fun of it but it never comes to anything, then I will still have had the experience. I can still say I did it.
What do you think? Do you write mainly in one genre or do you write/plan to write across several? An enquiring mind wants to know!
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