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.
—
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 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.
—
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 5, 2024
Went to start writing this morning and found my computer stuck in a software update. Fortunately I have access to my writing on my phone so I ended up writing half my morning words that way. It was surprisingly comfortable to work on my phone, although it’s not something I want to make a habit of.
I ended up having to troubleshoot my computer because the update got stuck. Then I had to take a break to make breakfast for Oscar and watch a video of a new computer game he wanted to show me. So by the time I got back to writing I didn’t feel up for doing much more. I still ended up with an additional 101 words for the day, and that all helps.
I think I should finish the story tomorrow, it feels as if it’s near the end now. Then it’s onto the next one.
Going to spend the morning doing some decorating, which I really don’t enjoy but want to get done.
—
Words written today: 1,101
Words written total: 6,742
Plus / Minus target: 742
—
Currently writing: Sisterhood
Currently publishing: n/a
Latest release: n/a
Oct 4, 2024
Last night and this morning I got into the state of mind where everything I have written this week seems stupid and I was trying to think of ways I could quit the story and still continue the challenge.
If I’m honest, I’m surprised it has come so quickly, but this is the point where in the past couple of years I have stopped. Maybe it came sooner because I’m writing something short and the point isn’t related to the amount of time I’ve spent working on the story, but to the percentage of the story I have written?
I was pretty close to stopping, but then I realised that this was the whole point of this challenge: to reach that point over and over again in quick succession and keep going anyway, like I used to. In doing so, I hope to take away the power of that feeling.
It helps that it is a short story because there are only a few days where I have to deal with feeling like I’m wasting my time on a rubbish story. In a couple of days I will be working on something new.
In that sense, I count today as a big success and when I finish the story tomorrow or Sunday I will be very pleased.
I’m 641 words ahead of schedule now. So averaging 134 words extra per day. Tomorrow is Saturday, so time won’t be as tight and I might get some additional words, but we shall see. As long as I get my 1,000 words I’m happy.
—
Words written today: 1,103
Words written total: 5,641
Plus / Minus target: +641
—
Currently writing: Sisterhood
Currently publishing: n/a
Latest release: n/a
Oct 2, 2024
The story continues. I did my usual routine of waking up, making coffee and getting on with the writing. The words are coming quicker now but it didn’t feel as comfortable as yesterday.
I’m not sure how much difference that makes to the quality though. When I have gone back and read stuff I have never been able to distinguish between the parts that flowed easily and those that were a struggle. The quality of the output doesn’t seem to reflect the difficulty of the input.
Getting a decent amount ahead now and maybe I will build up more than nine days lead between now and the end of the year. Or maybe I will have to cash some in between now and then.
I’m thinking a lot about A.I. generated content at the moment and there may be a longer post on the subject when I’ve got my thoughts in order. But one thing that has stuck with me today is how chat services might influence the way users think.
It is well documented that YouTube and Facebook algorithms lead people to some pretty dark places, and those are relatively easy to detect. You can point at a video and say ‘this is extreme’ but can you do the same with A.I. generated text, images and videos?
Believing that A.I. models have no inherent biases is naieve but I don’t hear anyone talking about the possibilities of these things brainwashing huge segments of society.
I’m still thinking about the matter but this is enough to confirm that bipassing A.I. in my own life is the right choice to make.
—
Words written today: 1,206
Words written total: 3,432
Plus / Minus target: +432
—
Currently writing: TBC
Currently publishing: n/a
Latest release: n/a
