Progress Report—Week 4:


53,000+ words

I know. I didn’t post on Sunday, but I had a hard time meeting my writing quota last week, and didn’t feel like I should disburse all of my remaining words onto my blog when I should be aiming them all at my novel.

This week has proven to be less productive in word count as well so far. I find I’ve had more distractions that in the previous weeks, and when I sit down to write, I seemed less able to focus. I think it’s because I’m in the third act now, and trying to tie everything up. It’s a lot of pressure. I’m thinking the 80,000-word thing isn’t going to happen by Saturday, but hey, it was fun to think about. I’ve already made it to my original goal of 50,000 words, at least. Yay me! And I’ve learned what’s workable for next time.  I’m definitely doing this again.

In other related news, I met with Dr. Carroll on Saturday. He had some nice things to say about my previous novel, A Scribble in the Margins, and some exciting suggestions I can’t wait to implement. So I’ll work on my current novel until Saturday and then I’m putting it away for a little while. I’ll work on A Scribble in the Margins and my query letter in May and get it finished (again), and pick this novel up again after it’s had some time to ferment.

I’ve been reading Contact at the gym, so that’s been helping my creative process a little bit. It’s been fun to see the WHOLE story (way to ramble). I love you Carl Sagan!

Wish me words!

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Progress Report—Week 3:

37,000+ words

I’m happy to report that my characters are coming along nicely and my plot has taken some fun and surprising turns. But this week has been a little tougher than the first two weeks, pretty much for one reason. Somewhere in week 2, I decided I was going to write an 80,000-word novel instead of a 50,000 word novel, but I forgot to tell my daily word count that, so where I’ve been writing 1,750 words a day, I should have been writing 2,666 words a day—about three pages more. I’ve been trying to make up some of the difference this weekend. Today alone, I’ve written more than 6,000 words, but it’s still a lot of pressure to catch up. So from here on out, I’ll need to write more every day to get me where I want to be.

I have also determined the kind of research I need to be doing. I need to learn a lot more about mines, agriculture, and solar flares. This is when I wish I had better resources than Google or Encyclopedia Britannica. I mean, if I’d published three New York Times bestsellers already, I’d have a little more clout when I’m asking for a subject expert to help me flesh out my material.

Fortunately for me, I have Dr. Carroll, who is not only the physics department head at a University, but is also very well-read. He taught my Physics in the Plays of Tom Stoppard classes—one of my favorite classes ever. I’ll be meeting with him next weekend to review my last novel, which he’s read twice, and which he recently sent me a very nice email about. I’m thankful for people like him. He’s helping me because he loves science and literature. He periodically restores my faith in humankind. Just possibly he can offer me some insight into solar flares and atmospheric reactions to them.

For now, peace out. I’ve got another hour before I’m going to hit the sack. I’ll try to pound out another couple of pages.

Wish me words!

Progress Report—Week 2:

This week has been fantastic for me as far as my writing is concerned. I have written 12,000 words, which brings me to a grand total of around 21,000 words. That equals about 80 pages. It also concludes the first act of my novel. (Phew. That was almost like math.)

But more than that, I’ve been motivated and excited about my writing all week. I can’t wait to get home and write, and I love getting to know my characters. I find myself thinking about them when I’m not writing, wishing I could be home in front of my laptop. It’s an obsession; I’m in love with my novel. I hope it’s real. I hope it loves me back.

From now on, I want to take this approach to writing. I know I still have 2/3 of a novel to go, and that a lot can still go wrong, but I can tell that it’s going to be a good experience for me. I love that I can’t stop and get caught up in a small detail. I love that I’m not editing the first chapter 27 times. I love that I’m making progress every day. I love that I have been inspired, not only to write my novel, but to revisit some of my poetry as well. I love that I love doing this. I think the worst curse is when you start to hate doing something you love. I think everyone knows what I mean on some level.

Well I won’t write much more than this today. I have a novel to get back to. I just wanted to let everyone know where I am, and that this 30-day thing really is working for me.

P.S. What I learned this week—do what you love every day, even if it’s only for a few minutes.

Peace out until next week, my friends! Wish me words!

Progress report—Week 1:

I’ve been working on my novel for three days now. Okay, I cheated a little and had 20 pages written before the 1st. I’d like to say that I got a little excited, but in reality, I tried this once before and fizzled out after the first week. That’s why I decided to blog about it. I figure you guys will keep me honest. But today puts me @ 9,000 words, or about 41 pages. And I’m pretty happy with what I have so far. And I can either finish 20 pages ahead of my goal, or use them as a cushion for those days I just can seem to get it done.

I’m writing in first person, just because I’ve never done it before, and I’ve created a Microsoft Project file to keep track of my progress. I’m a nut for detail and visual progress, so each day I can check off my 1,750 word progress (about 7 pages), and all the other little housekeeping items I need to flesh out my story—like character and scene development. My book will be divided into three acts, so I need to define and develop each act, which will help me ensure that every chapter I write will help get me where I want to be. It’s easy to get stuck spiraling down a dead end if you don’t have focus.

I’ve never written in such a structured way before. My last novel took me three years to complete, and it was a very fluid process. I did create color-coded note cards for each of my characters with details like their birth dates, family members, important events, fears and favorites. I taped them to my wall and left them there until I was finished, so I could refer to them for consistency. But I didn’t outline at all, and I never really mapped the story out until I was almost done. 104,000 words later, I feel like I have a damn good novel, but I don’t want to wait another three years for damn good to happen. It seems like improbable probability when something like that pans out—infinite monkeys typing, you know? I have several other stories in the works, but I’m such a perfectionist, I tend to write and rewrite the beginning so many times that I have an awesome beginning, and an absent ending. Having a map of, not only where my story is supposed to go, but when it is supposed to get there, is kind of exhilarating.

Wish me luck!