Yesterday was toast. My schedule was jammed from wake up to wipe out, and I did not have a single ten-minute interval that was not filled with something I had to get done.
Today I got 304 words. Not in ten minutes—took me nearly twenty, but this was the start of a new chapter (LAYING BAIT) and I had a hard time finding my entry point to it.
It picks up just after the last chapter left off. I’m still iffy on what I got, but it’s the right number of words, and it’s progress. And there’s always revision.
How’s your work going?
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
Just over a thousand words yesterday and around 1400 for today. Still doing well with my 1000 a day goal. Besides taking the odd day off here and there, I’ve hit at least this every day.
Got an unexpected call yesterday from a beta who’s reading the manuscript for the first novel I wrote and she just wanted to call and tell me the she was really excited about the story and she was having a great time reading it. It was a really nice start to the day.
Great! It’s encouraging.
I didn’t get any writing done yesterday since I let my studies drag over the whole day until 10 pm. However I’ve said to myself that I’ll write five days every week (at least), so I’ll just have to write on the weekend. No biggie, writing is fun!
Exactly 500 words today.
I don’t usually fight for words. I fought for these. And by the time they were flowing again I was too tired to continue.
I’m at a good place to pick up for tomorrow though, I think.
Congratulations, Jess! It’s always great to hear that someone likes your story.
I stayed up all night finishing a prospectus (read: investment plan) for a class, and I’m not so sure it turned out very well. One of the hardest things about documentary films, imho, is that you’re supposed to script it *last*, but you have to have a script so you can make a production schedule so you can budget the film so you can get funding…which you need before you do much else. No wonder it’s so hard to find anything worth watching on tv these days…
I have officially reaffirmed my desire to simply write novels…Now I have to decide what to do with that information.
On a different note…
Holly, I’m likely to be changing my e-mail address in the coming year. Will I need to resubscribe for updates etc.?
No. You can go to the bottom of any TalysMana e-mail to change your sub. You find the “unsubscribe or change subscriber options” link there. Here’s how to use it.
Click the link. At the top of the page, in the left-hand corner, you’ll see your current information. Click “edit contact information.”
Save your subscription with the green button on the bottom. You won’t miss any chapters, and you’ll start getting them at your new address as soon as they come out.
Yay! Thanks very much!
Yesterday was a struggle just to show up. It was a late night with lots of errands and I normally would have skipped…as I’ve been doing frequently. But, with the possiblity of losing a treasure hanging over my head, I sat there and stared at my paper for 50 long [very, very long] minutes.
In the last 10 mins I was able to produce a few minor brainstorming things and it felt like I was back on track or–at the very least–I’ve at least FOUND the track again.
Sounds like my weekend, which we shall not talk about. Ugh. Glad you got some traction.
No words on yesterday either, but 561 words today. And I’ll definitely write tomorrow. These were really fun words!
Last night went a little better. I showed up with much less reluctance for my brainstorming hour. came up with a few good things. and a few things have cleared up about the villain.
Had to spend most of my writing time today mapping out more details about what’s coming up next. Only got 770 words, and I struggled for every one of them. I think that means it’s time to take a day off. Tomorrow will be for research and reading, unless the Muse really insists.
Tonight went really well. Spent 90 mins brainstorming. My villain is really starting to flesh out. He’s an evil one. His backstory still has some important holes. But less than before.
Very good session today.
Spent another hour that night fleshing out some more things. The villain’s personality and goals are starting to come together. Still have some crucial holes in his backstory however.
I want to stay up with WABWM but I am not writing right now. I am doing research, and backing up to better flush out my characters, which I did not do when I started my first draft. So, I am going to set up a daily research schedule and report on that, if that is okay. To do my research for Bx2, I am reading, re-reading, re-skimming:
Character Clinic – reading word for word
HTTS-HTRYN -re-reading, skimming
An other very small, short pamphlet in screenplays- gearing up for bx1
first goal –
1. Finish reading Character Clinic by the end of next week
2. Answer questions for main character, her 2 best friends, her parents (because I like them and want to know them better), and the villian who does not have a face, gender or name yet
So come in and let us know about the stuff you are doing. I like seeing what folks here doing. It’s encouraging.
Holly,
I’ve hit a point of decision with my big series that I could use some help with. I’m going to post it here rather than emailing it because any feedback might help others in my situation, so…
My situation is this:
I have a fantasy series that I turned into three screenplays, then realised would be much better as novels. I have the first book done. It’s 100,000 words or so. However, “Book I” covered only “Act I” of the first screenplay…so I’m looking at a lot more books than my planned trilogy, and Book I ends inconclusively, with the series’ mysteries unsolved and the heroes still in the dark.
I signed up for HTRYN…got through the Week 1 slog..and was hit by the Muse Tac-Nuke Air Strike. The still-continuing aftershocks gave me a new Book I villain, a new ending for Book I, a list of scenes to work in to make the new bad guy and ending fit, and a number of changes to the overall series that would make everything more coherent and focused on the theme.
That was just doing -week 1- of HTRYN. My work on the course and the novels ground to a halt as I tried to process this flood of information (amid finishing other writing projects) and decide what to do about it. The new scenes were itching at my fingertips so I wrote a few of them as candy bars. Now I don’t know whether to keep working on this new material while it’s coming, or ignore it and keep going with my revision. In keeping with HTRYN philosophy I haven’t touched the first draft itself.
I’ve signed up for all of your courses, HTRYN, HTTS and HTWAS, and bought most or all of the Clinics. I will note I was not INTENDING to be this insane, I was planning to digest one course at a time, but it’s worked out this way, and I’m so overwhelmed with all the wonderful material I don’t know where to start.
I’ve barely scratched the surface of HTRYN. I’m afraid I stalled for so long I’m going to have to go back and restart the revision. HTWAS has my Muse maniacally spawning series-shaking ideas. I’m too scared to even look at HTTS at this rate.
In my situation, in what order should I do the courses I’ve got? Should I just soldier on with HTRYN and my unsullied first draft like nothing happened? And if I do that, what do I do with the new characters, scenes, and ideas bubbling up in the back of my brain?
Help much appreciated!
- Wanders.
FIRST, if you have a completed manuscript, do HTRYN first. Put all the other stuff aside. It will wait, and be there for you when you’re ready.
SECOND, don’t get sucked in by your Muse’s tactical-strike antics.
This happens. It happens a lot, and trust me, this is NOT going to be the only time your Muse nukes this story.
So hang in. Later bombshells can (and do—voice of PAINFUL experience here) completely destroy any work you’ve done on earlier parts of the book, and these bombshells don’t care whether that work was first draft, or whether you just spent three months rewriting the first half of the book based on their first strike.
So save yourself a whole lot of time and pain and do the HTRYN process as written. It’s designed to teach you how to revise ANY novel, no matter how badly trashed, into the book you want to have written, in ONE pass. Not multiple revisions. This is important, because the more times you revise a book, the more of what’s going you’re going to lose and the more of what’s ordinary is going to replace it.
Read all the way through your manuscript, work your way step by step through figuring out what you want and how you’re going to get it. And THEN mark up the manuscript.
Otherwise you can enjoy the same thrilling experience I had—of tossing more words on a book that was due than the number of words the contract called for.
This is NOT fun.
Thank you, Holly, your advice is always a breath of fresh air (or maybe a cold bucket of water in the face – a good thing)
I’ll keep going with HTRYN from where I left off. If the new badguy et al still fit by the end of the revision, I’ll work ‘em in. They’re looking like the fix I need, but you’re right, I won’t know for certain until I’ve gone through the whole course.
Very much appreciated, I think I’m back on track.
749 words today and my first week of writing produced 3969 words. Not bad and soon finished with what I thought was the first scene which will be 4 in total for now. So first chapter soon finished I think.
Took a day off to refresh the Muse where I did some research on other topics (Not related to the book in any way) and trying hard to ignore that little voice that keeps telling me “What are you doing? You should be writing!”
I’ve been bad this week. I bought a new TV and I’ve spent the last three days mesmerized by the new shiny, so I haven’t done any writing. But I’m doing some writing right now and am currently at 446 words and will definitely make my 1050 quota.
I’m kinda tense. I’m very close to finishing the first draft of my very first novel, and trying to weave everything together into the ending is both exciting and a tiring. I know it won’t be the ending I want and I will have to fix it in revision along with a bunch of other stuff. I give myself permission to be okay with that =)
@WandersNowhere: I think my situation and yours in regards to the wealth of Holly’s course material have some similarities. I have HTTS, HTRYN, HTWAS, and a few of the shorter clinics that she offers.
It’s awesome how much of her expertise and experience she’s made available, but it’s tough to decide how best to approach it. I was originally trying to work through HTTS while writing the first draft of my novel, then trying to retroactively apply what I was learning to my WIP.
I reached a point where I decided to just concentrate on finishing my first draft, then take it through HTRYN. Out of my current writing goals, what I want the most is to finish a novel and start submitting it. Completing a first draft and learning how to revise it seems like the best way for me to reach that goal.
Maybe you could reflect upon your current writing goals and determine what you want the most, and when you do, maybe that will help you figure out the best way to get there. Then focus on that and see where that gets you.
In my opinion, trying to handle too many things at once can be stressful and less productive. I think it’s better to find a focus and try to stick with it. When I get an exciting new idea, if it’s something I can use for my WIP, I make a note of it and incorporate it when I can. If it has nothing to do with my WIP, I tuck it away in my writer’s notebook or in my brain someplace. That way it’ll be there when the time comes for me to use it.
Thanks Oz! That’s a good way to look at it. Was one of my big problems, taking on too much at once. The reason I had to pause the revision was because I was writing a whole new book for Rebel Tales (R.I.P, Rebel Tales) and a bunch of other stuff simultaneously.
I’m going to follow ours and Holly’s advice and soldier on with HTRYN and my untouched first draft.
You’re welcome. Sounds like you have a solid plan.
Yours and Holly’s, even. Writing these from my phone is awkward. lol.
I took a short writing course in January, that used prompts. I finally got those chapters off email, into Word and saved for Bx2. 2000 words, not too bad. In addition to my summer goals to read about characters, flush out my characters better, I added a 20K goal by end of summer, for the characters to say their piece about the whole thing. I am not only doing this sideways, I am doing this a bit backwards. But, darned and determined.
PS Life has been chaos for about a month, good and bad chaos – guests, job change, moving another household into the house … geez. This week things settle down again. I am glad to get back to a routine, and writing.
Yesterday I showed up in the morning but it was pretty much starting at the page again. I got a few nice things but very stumped right now. Today I think I’ve come up with the right question. Hopefully that will help with my brainstorming session today.
oops *staring at the page
60 mins this afternoon but…. well maybe I can fit in another session tonight.
Holy crap! I wrote 1334 words and I’m not even done with this scene yet.
Back on my game and loving this write in! Always there is the feeling I might be doing this wrong. I’m used to that.
But I’m very happy with today’s words.
Awesome!
Good job, Larkk =)
Thanks, Holly! Thanks, Oz!