Nov 19, 2024
There is always an amazing sense of potential when starting a new story. Anything is possible. It’s easier to feel that way when I’ve only written 100 words!
As ever, Tuesdays are very busy, but I managed to get everything done and enjoy the snow. It didn’t set where we are today, but maybe we’ll have more luck on Thursday when it’s Oscar’s birthday.
—
Latest release: Sisterhood
Pre-Production
Minutes today: 20
Minutes total: 86
Plus / Minus target: +6
Currently planning: The List
Production
Words written today: 1,050
Words written total: 54,946
Plus / Minus target: +3,946
Currently writing: The Storm
Post-Production
Minutes today: 22
Minutes total: 421
Plus / Minus target: +41
Currently publishing: The Last Outpost
Nov 18, 2024
Today is the 50th day in a row that I have sat down and written 1,000 words. It’s probably the most consistent I have ever been. Getting up and writing every morning is feeling like something I just do. It doesn’t feel like a struggle, or something I have to make myself do, I just get up and do it.
At this point, I’m pretty close to being four days ahead of schedule, which is going to be useful when things get crazier around Christmas time. I’m not sure how many days I won’t be able to write anything at all, probably only a couple, but I want to be as flexible as possible.
I’m close to finishing The Lottery now. It is just over 20,000 words as a first draft. I think it’s quite good. I’m expecting to finish it tomorrow morning.
The final edit of The Last Outpost is about halfway through, then I’ll need to do the other publishing business.
I’m making progress with planning The List, but I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to get it finished. Hopefully it should be done by Friday, but it will take however long it takes.
—
Latest release: Sisterhood
Pre-Production
Minutes today: 22
Minutes total: 66
Plus / Minus target: +6
Currently planning: The List
Production
Words written today: 1,071
Words written total: 53,896
Plus / Minus target: +3,896
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 22
Minutes total: 399
Plus / Minus target: +39
Currently publishing: The Last Outpost
Nov 17, 2024
I’m not going to be reporting my reading here any more, but I am still tracking it. So far today I have read for over an hour. I’ve decided that this is really a place to report my writing only, and although reading feeds into that, it’s not the same.
The other thing is that I don’t stop reading in the evening, so anything I report here isn’t going to be accurate.
The writing today went well. I’m pretty close to the end of The Lottery and starting the final edit of The Last Outpost. The List is a way off being finished, but I have figured some things out that I think are going to make it much better than it would otherwise have been.
And that’s it.
—
Latest release: Sisterhood
Pre-Production
Minutes today: 22
Minutes total: 44
Plus / Minus target: +4
Currently planning: The List
Production
Words written today: 1,077
Words written total: 52,825
Plus / Minus target: +3,825
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 22
Minutes total: 377
Plus / Minus target: +37
Currently publishing: The Last Outpost
Nov 16, 2024
Had a good start to the day and got most of my stuff done. It was fun to take my time on the planning and do some world building. I think it’s going to be a fun story to write and potentially the first in a series.
It’s unlikely to be planned in time to be my next project, but that’s fine. Maybe the next short story I try to write will actually be a short story.
—
Latest release: Sisterhood
Pre-Production
Minutes today: 22
Minutes total: 22
Plus / Minus target: +2
Currently planning: The List
Production
Words written today: 1,032
Words written total: 51,748
Plus / Minus target: +3,748
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 21
Minutes total: 355
Plus / Minus target: +35
Currently publishing: The Last Outpost
Nov 15, 2024
Is the new title of the challenge as I officially accept that short stories might not be the best fit for me.
The important parts of the challenge are not going to change: the goal is to write 1,000 words per day, every day, and to finish everything I start. But now that I expect to be writing longer stories, there will be consequences.
Firstly, the aim of publishing a short story every week was dead as soon as I started this. That relied on each story being 5-7,000 words long as a first draft. Now that I am looking to longer stories I have a more realistic aim of a story every month.
Then there are the knock on effects of that: with a longer story it makes sense to publish wide, so these longer stories will no longer be in Kindle Unlimited or exclusive to Amazon. I will put them on all platforms and include a paper edition.
Next, working in a longer format means I will want a more detailed outline. So rather than doing one per day, as I have done for the last month, I am going to switch to doing one a week. I will still work on it every day but some stories might take longer to plan than that.
Editing will remain largely unaffected. I will still do my twenty minutes per day and it will take as long as it takes to get a story finished.
Finally, my reading. This one is trickier. I am thinking of doing a time spent reading fiction and that will be longer stories. But still keeping to the one essay and one poem per day goal. That might be the best option.
I still have two short(ish) stories to edit and publish so the impact won’t be immediatly obvious. This is more about setting the new rules for myself and figuring out how it’s going to work.
This feels like the right decision to have made. There seems little benefit to forcing myself to work in a format that I’m unsuited to and that sells poorly. The novella has always been a more comfortable fit for me. As long as I continue to write my 1,000 words per day and finish everything I start, the original goal of the challenge should still be fulfilled.
—
Latest release: Sisterhood
Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 30
Production
Words written today: 1,084
Words written total: 50,716
Plus / Minus target: +3,716
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 20
Minutes total: 334
Plus / Minus target: +34
Currently publishing: The Last Outpost
