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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
Nov 14, 2024
I went into this challenge intending to write short stories but my current WIP is currently at 16,321 words and not at the end yet. It’s getting difficult for me to think of it as a short story. Honestly, it’s getting into novella territory.
Of course, I don’t know how long it’s going to be once I’ve finished editing, but I can’t see it being less that 15,000 words.
I guess the length doesn’t matter. It’s the fact that I’m writing my 1,000 words every day and that I haven’t given up on anything I’ve started.
The problem might be in my planning process. If I’m writing longer stories, then maybe I need to do more planning? At the moment I’m doing the bare minimum and I think that’s contributing to things getting too long.
I’m not sure what I’ll change, but the fact is I’ve planned 30 stories now and only completed the first draft of three. So I could afford to spend some more time planning. Maybe aim for one story planned per week, which is what I was thinking I would move up to when I start writing longer stories on purpose.
Maybe this is just a natural evolution of the challenge and maybe it would be better for me to forget about the length of the story. Instead I should just focus on getting my 1,000 words done each day and switching to a different model for planning.
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Latest release: Sisterhood
Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 30
Production
Words written today: 1,034
Words written total: 49,632
Plus / Minus target: +3,632
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 22
Minutes total: 314
Plus / Minus target: +34
Currently publishing: The Last Outpost
Reading
Short story: The Familiar Stranger – Truman Capote
Essay: Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully – Stephen King
Poem: On My First Son – Ben Jonson
Nov 13, 2024
Things are moving in the right direction. I am really enjoying having the reading element of the challenge. I think that’s going to pay off soon.
I haven’t really got much to add to this today. Things are getting done.
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Latest release: Sisterhood
Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 29
Production
Words written today: 1,090
Words written total: 48,598
Plus / Minus target: +3,598
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 20
Minutes total: 292
Plus / Minus target: +32
Currently publishing: The Last Outpost
Reading
Short story: The Wish – Roald Dahl
Essay: The Rise of the Essay – Zadie Smith
Poem: Crossing the Bar – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Nov 12, 2024
Very busy but managed to get everything I needed done. Not much to add to that. Hopefully more time tomorrow.
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Latest release: Sisterhood
Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 28
Production
Words written today: 1,080
Words written total: 47,508
Plus / Minus target: +3,508
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 20
Minutes total: 272
Plus / Minus target: +32
Currently publishing: The Last Outpost
Reading
Short story: Some Live Like Lazarus – Ray Bradbury
Essay: The Nature of Fun – David Foster Wallace
Poem: The Villain – W. H. Davies
Nov 11, 2024
This is the 50th post I have published in the last 50 days, which is a new record for me. That also means that I have been doing a daily challenge for 50 days.
I don’t talk about the blogging element of the challenge very often (nor the journaling part, which is currently at 29 consecutive days) for the simple reason it doesn’t seem that important. I am under no illusion that people are reading this, but it helps me to write it. Blogging every day gives me a sense of accountability which I strongly believe is one of the keys to the success I’ve had so far.
There have been days when I haven’t felt like writing, or have been tempted to give up on a story, but knowing that I will then have to admit as much here, or give up the daily blog posts and have them suddenly stop, has pulled me through.
Sometimes the blog posts have been very short, sometimes a little longer. They have always contained updated statistics on other challenges.
In other news, the first story of the challenge is now for sale on Amazon and free if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited. For now I’m not releasing it elsewhere but if you send me a message I’ll be happy to send you a copy as an ePub.
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Latest release: Sisterhood
Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 27
Production
Words written today: 1,047
Words written total: 46,428
Plus / Minus target: +3,428
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 22
Minutes total: 252
Plus / Minus target: +32
Currently publishing: The Last Outpost
Reading
Short story: Swamp Terror – Truman Capote
Essay: On Killing Charles Dickens – Zadie Smith
Poem: The Emporer of Ice Cream – Wallace Stevens
Nov 10, 2024
This morning I published my first short story of the challenge: Sisterhood. I am just waiting for it to go through the Amazon approval process and then I will share the link here.
It took me 230 minutes to get the editing and publishing process done. The first draft was 8,855 words long, so that means it took me 1.5 seconds per word to publish it. I’m not sure that’s a particularly helpful statistic.
Tomorrow I will add it to the website and then, if there is time, move onto editing The Last Outpost.
The writing is still going well, although it feels a bit like I’m struggling to reach a turning point but can’t quite find my was there. It’s not near the end yet, but it’s moving forwards.
I’m enjoying the reading challenge. I have a pretty good collection of short stories I’m working my way through but I want to mix in some more modern essays and poems, so I found some to download. I think this element of the challenge is going to be very interesting.
And that’s the end of the weekend.
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Pre-Production
Stories planned (total): 26
Production
Words written today: 1,049
Words written total: 45,381
Plus / Minus target: +3,381
Currently writing: The Lottery
Post-Production
Minutes today: 22
Minutes total: 230
Plus / Minus target: +30
Currently publishing: Sisterhood
Reading
Short story: Dip in the Pool – Roald Dahl
Essay: My County Right or Left – George Orwell
Poem: I Saw a Man Pursuing the Horizon – Stephen Crane
