Nov 4, 2024
One of the reasons that aiming for a small amount of work each day is effective for me, is that it’s hard to say I can’t find the time. A single story idea, a thousand words, twenty-minutes of editing, a short blog post. None of it seems like a lot, but doing it every day adds up.
Today I had Oscar’s friend over from school and if I’d had a lot of editing to do, I might not have done any. The excuse that I couldn’t make the time would be right there. But twenty-minutes isn’t much time, so I did it.
In a single day, twenty-minutes doesn’t look like much, because it isn’t. But that’s ten hours a month, 120 hours a year. That’s more than I think I would manage if I was aiming for 40 minutes a day or something.
I think the key is that it’s easy to do, and difficult to make excuses not to do. If I can’t find 20 minutes to do some editing then I would have to question how committed I am to all this.
The writing is continuing to go well. I haven’t hit the pit of frustration yet, so I’m probably still quite early in the story, but I’ll get there. This is story number four and I’m beginning to see patterns in things.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 20
Production
Words written today: 1,040
Words written total: 39,116
Plus / Minus target: +3,116
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 24
Minutes total: 97
Plus / Minus target: +17
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Nov 3, 2024
It’s not the end of the process, but this morning I finished my first read through of Sisterhood. Tomorrow I will move onto a pass using Pro Writing Aid.
The writing on The Lottery is going well, although I think it is going to be another long one. Possibly the longest so far, based on the number of words I’ve already written, and where I am in the story. I’m enjoying it though.
We were out for most of today, at my nephews birthday party. They played laser tag and we sang karaoke. It was a fun day.
Tomorrow Oscar goes back to school, and Tamzin goes back to work, so I’m going to lose some time in the mornings. I think I will still be able to manage everything though.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 19
Production
Words written today: 1,066
Words written total: 38,076
Plus / Minus target: +3,076
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 23
Minutes total: 73
Plus / Minus target: +13
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Nov 2, 2024
A good morning of work. I managed to get myself three days ahead on the writing side, and am half a day ahead on editing already. I think that’s a pretty good way to start the weekend.
It’s going to be interesting to find out if I can actually edit every day next week. Tuesdays are the busiest day of the week for me and I have got it into my head that I can’t even find twenty-minutes to do a bit of work. Logically, that’s probably not true, but it might mean that I have to edit on my phone, or grab some time first thing in the morning after I’ve done my writing.
Twenty-minutes doesn’t sound like a lot, but over the course of a year, it’s going to add up to over 120 hours, which is a much better figure. And if I find that I can easily edit this amount, there’s nothing to stop me doing more.
I have to accept that editing is the thing most likely to be disrupted by Christmas and other things. So far I haven’t had to use any of the lead I’ve built up but it’s only a matter of time before that changes. I went into this knowing it would happen, but I think it will still feel a bit like a failure when it does.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 18
Production
Words written today: 1,019
Words written total: 37,010
Plus / Minus target: +3,010
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 24
Minutes total: 50
Plus / Minus target: +10
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Nov 1, 2024
Today has been a bit rushed, but I managed to find the time to sit down and do some editing. Maybe not as much as I would have liked, but I hit my target and got six minutes ahead.
I have never really loved the process of editing a story. I love planning stories and I love writing the first draft, but going back over it to look for spelling mistakes and things has always been a bit of a struggle. That’s why I have so many stories that only exist as a first draft. But I need to do it before I can start publishing them.
As you can see below, there is a new section to my daily roundup of work done. I am aiming to average 20 minutes of editing every day. I got a decent chunk done on Sisterhood, but don’t know how long it will take before that is actually published. Once the editing is done I still need to make a cover, format the book, and put it up for sale.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 17
Production
Words written today: 1,049
Words written total: 35,991
Plus / Minus target: +2,991
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 26
Minutes total: 26
Plus / Minus target: +6
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Oct 31, 2024
I love Halloween, despite not being allowed to celebrate it as a child, or maybe because of it. Of all the holidays it’s unique in the community aspect: we put decorations up and invite strangers to come to our doors where we give them food. We dress in costumes and talk to other people doing the same.
When I was a kid, I was told it was begging to go to peoples houses asking for sweets, but I don’t see it like that at all.
Of course I love the spooky nature of everything, and this year was especially spooky as a thick mist had fallen when we went out to trick-or-treat. We also saw two black cats and a bat.
I think more holidays should be like Halloween though: imagine if at Easter you gave chocolate eggs out to people dressed like bunnies, or if at Christmas you invited people into your house to share your food. Those holidays, especially Christmas, have become so bloated and insular that it’s almost a shock when they’re over and you have to go out and interact with people who aren’t your family.
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The writing went well today. Tomorrow is the start of my editing challenge and I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully you will start seeing some stories published during November.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 16
Production
Words written today: 1,051
Words written total: 34,942
Plus / Minus target: +2,942
Currently writing: The Lottery
