Oct 14, 2024
I’m not sure why but this morning felt like a slog. I got my 1,000+ words, but only just made it before I had to stop and get on with other things. Tomorrow will probably be better.
On the editing side of things: I am thinking about kicking it all off in November. I’m not sure exactly how that’s going to work, but I think I need to find a similar approach to what I’m doing with first draft stuff.
It’s not that I don’t want to edit, but something else always seems to get in the way.
The simplest thing would be to make a daily commitment to an amount of time, and maybe increase that gradually, as I am doing with reading.
At the end of the day, I got my words done, so I am counting that as a win.
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Words written today: 1,037
Words written total: 16,493
Plus / Minus target: +1,493
Currently writing: The Last Outpost
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Latest release: n/a
Oct 13, 2024
Not as much as I would have liked, but enough to keep my daily average up and push me a bit further ahead.
What I need to do is apply the same level of commitment to the editing and publishing side of things, because I am not making much progress there.
The difficulty is that I can treat writing first drafts every day as an ongoing habit. There is not much complexity involved with ‘get up, feed the cats, make coffee, write 1,000+ words.’ But as soon as I move to the multi-step process of publishing a story, which I can’t do everyday, it becomes a project that I have to manage.
As far as I can see, there is no way around this, other than to just get on with things, so that is what I am going to focus on this coming week.
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Words written today: 1,078
Words written total: 15,456
Plus / Minus target: +1,456
Currently writing: The Last Outpost
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Latest release: n/a
Oct 12, 2024
Today wasn’t so easy, and I guess that means I’m hitting the 40% mark of The Last Outpost. It’s not as bad as with Sisterhood, which I guess means that this exposure therapy is working.
It might also have something to do with the fact I’m writing in a different location for a while. Typing in my office at 6am was waking people up. I don’t mind working at the kitchen table, but it feels different and that could have an impact on the writing.
I finally started editing Sisterhood this morning. Not sure how long that’s going to take. So far I like what I’ve read and have only made some minor changes.
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Words written today: 1,133
Words written total: 14,378
Plus / Minus target: +1,378
Currently writing: The Last Outpost
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Latest release: n/a
Oct 11, 2024
No time to do a longer post today. My numbers are below.
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Words written today: 1,055
Words written total: 13,245
Plus / Minus target: +1,245
Currently writing: The Last Outpost
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Latest release: n/a
Oct 10, 2024
My plan going into all the stories this year is that they should be in the 5,000 word region. The first draft of Sisterhood ended up being longer than that and The Last Outpost looks like it might be even longer. And I’m asking myself if that’s a problem.
The whole point of this process is to finish stories and does it really matter whether it’s 52 x 5,000 word stories or 26 x 10,000 word stories? I don’t think so. Even if some of them end up verging on the novella length.
If I was thinking about sales and marketing (which I’m not) then I might even say it’s advantageous to write longer stories. But I’m not thinking about marketing or sales, so I won’t.
The important thing is that I am averaging 1,000 words per day, and that I am finishing everything I start. Which so far I am.
I ended up writing at the kitchen table this morning and the change of location felt strange at first, but once I was writing I got used to it. I’m happy with what I wrote and looking forward to finding out where it goes next.
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Words written today: 1,132
Words written total: 12,190
Plus / Minus target: +1,190
Currently writing: The Last Outpost
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Latest release: n/a
