Oct 16, 2024
I would like to be one of those people who can write without a plan. When I read about authors who work that way, I envy them. But I don’t think it’s for me.
The other thing, is that I enjoy planning out a story. I like the back and forth of changing my mind about things, coming up with details that might never appear in the story, building a world. That’s fun for me, and I think it makes my stories better.
So starting today, I am planning stories. It’s not a 1:1 plan it, then write it. I am going to make a habit of coming up with a short story idea every day and coming up with some structure around it. It doesn’t have to be much. Then, when I come to start a new story, I will have a few to pick from.
I am just about at the end of The Last Outpost. The writing went well for the most part, and I really enjoyed writing a story set in the future. I think I am going to do more of that.
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Words written today: 1,151
Words written total: 18,805
Plus / Minus target: +1,805
Currently writing: The Last Outpost
Currently publishing: n/a
Latest release: n/a
Oct 15, 2024
Started a little bit late this morning, but got all the words I needed for the day. The story is nearing the end and it hasn’t gone quite the way I expected. There might be one or two days left of it, which will bring it to around the 10,000 words mark.
I think I have figured out an approach for the editing, and that is to treat it as an entirely separate challenge that will begin in November. My goal will be to average 25 minutes per day, although there are two days a week when I won’t often be able to edit, so on the days when I can, the aim will be 35 minutes.
Not sure if that will be enough to edit and publish 5,000 words a week, but it will be a start, and much closer to that goal than not editing anything at all.
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Words written today: 1,161
Words written total: 17,654
Plus / Minus target: +1,654
Currently writing: The Last Outpost
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Latest release: n/a
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
