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First Pass Edit Complete

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.

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

Three Days Ahead

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.

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

First Day Editing

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.

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

Happy Halloween

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.

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.

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

New Story Day

I finished the first draft of Son of Mars this morning and moved straight onto The Lottery. It’s a horror story, so very different to the three stories I’ve written so far.

Pre-Production

Stories planned (total): 15

Production

Words written today: 1,057

Words written total: 33,891

Plus / Minus target: +2,891

Currently writing: The Lottery

Just Checking In

Super busy day and evening. Should finish Son of Mars tomorrow and move onto the next story, I have plenty to pick from now.

Pre-Production

Stories planned (total): 14

Production

Words written today: 1,047

Words written total: 32,834

Plus / Minus target: +2,834

Currently writing: Son of Mars

A Bit Better

Most people probably wouldn’t think it to look at me, but I suffer from an all or nothing personality. No idea where I got it from, but it’s mine to deal with.

It comes out at times like when I try to improve my relationship with the internet. A sensible approach would be to reduce the amount of time I spend online, but I find myself jumping straight to not using the internet at all.

And it snowballs. I go from not using the internet at all to trying to reduce all my technology useage, until I’m ready to sell my phone and computer and go and live off the land.

This writing challenge is a good example of me trying to do the opposite of that. But it wasn’t until yesterday that I realised it.

The first writing challenge I set out to do was a million words in a year. Which I failed. To be fair, I got something like 800,000 so I failed well, but even if I’d managed it, I couldn’t have sustained it. This time things are different. 1,000 words a day is a goal I can hit pretty much every day. It’s not an impressive number, but it’s something I can do consistently. And that’s what I’m looking for.

The same is true for the planning (one story plan a day) and the editing I’m going to be starting on Friday. And now that I’ve realised it, I’m looking at other areas of my life where I can apply this simple goal of being a bit better.

Pre-Production

Stories planned (total): 13

Production

Words written today: 1,048

Words written total: 31,787

Plus / Minus target: +2,787

Currently writing: Son of Mars

Not Every Story is Going to Work

I don’t know for sure that Son of Mars isn’t going to work. Like I’ve said before; when I’m in the middle of writing something, I’m the worst judge of whether it’s any good. I might get to the editing stage and find out I really like the story and that it (whisper it) might even be good. But it also might not be.

I’ve been thinking about that a bit recently and trying to work out what to do. I am successfully overcoming my desire to stop writing a story because I don’t think it’s good (while I’m writing it), but there’s still the chance that I don’t think it’s good after I’ve edited it. Do I still go ahead and publish that story?

I don’t know the answer to that at the moment. I know Dean Wesley Smith would say that I should publish it and let readers decide, and maybe that’s what I’ll do. It’s probably what I should do.

Even if I do publish it, there is still a chance that it won’t be any good. That it doesn’t really work. I’m still (re-)finding my feet with this writing and publishing thing, so I’m not going to pretent that everything I write will be solid gold. But then not everything I published before was either. I’m happy to admit that some of the stuff I wrote and published isn’t any good, but maybe what I think is no good, and what you think is no good, aren’t the same.

I’m just thinking through this. I don’t have an answer. At the moment, it’s making it easier to finish a story if I tell myself I don’t have to publish it, and that’s half the challenge I’ve got going here. Maybe by the time I get to the editing and publishing stage, I won’t feel so connected to the thing and can put it out.

Writing went well this morning and it’s feeling more natural to put together a story plan. On Friday I will be starting the editing / post-production part of the challenge and, as you can probably tell from the post above, I’m a bit anxious about that.

Pre-Production

Stories planned (total): 12

Production

Words written today: 1,057

Words written total: 30,739

Plus / Minus target: +2,739

Currently writing: Son of Mars

Writing More Words

It has been 27 days since I started this writing challenge and I am at 29,682 words, which means I am averaging 1,099 words per day. And, if I’m honest, it’s starting to feel easy. So I am thinking about increasing my daily word count to 1,100 words per day at the start of November.

It’s not that I particularly want this to feel like hard work, but I would like to feel aware of the challenge.

Of course, an alternative argument is that I will be starting the editing and publishing portion of the challenge in November, and that will brings its own challenges. So maybe it’s premature to think about changing the rules until all the pieces of the game are in play.

Pre-Production

Stories planned (total): 11

Production

Words written today: 1,030

Words written total: 29,682

Plus / Minus target: +2,682

Currently writing: Son of Mars

End of the week

Not a lot to add. I’ve written my words for the day and planned my story. It’s been good.

Pre-Production

Stories planned (total): 10

Production

Words written today: 1,109

Words written total: 28,652

Plus / Minus target: +2,652

Currently writing: Son of Mars