I'm enjoying this challenge more as time goes on. I'd forgotten how much I love these characters and this setting. As I write each day I'm filling in gaps in my manuscript, places where I'd just had a summary sentence or two to remind me of where I was going during the frenzied writing of NaNoWriMo. It's a bit odd to incorporate setting details I created in the second part of the manuscript into the first part. I'm finding myself putting in placeholders for things and places I've forgotten the names for. I'm spending more time than I expected simply reading the second manuscript. I sit down to find a reference and look up ten minutes later when my screensaver turns on. Is it a good sign I'm drawn into my own writing? My words for today are accomplished, so I can spend some time putting them into Scrivener tonight along with some notes for the aforementioned setting details. It'd probably be a good thing to create a text note for each character, too. The first part characters are all named, but there is a considerably larger cast in the second part.
I realised last night that the second manuscript deals almost exclusively with the technology school and shows very little of the magic school. I wonder if that ought to be balanced out. The primary characters are equally important, so they should get equal time. Though I fear the story is going to transform somewhat if I do that. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, I'll focus on my 500 words a day, filling in gaps, and tracking the information I need to keep my fingers on.
February challenge:
Day Two: 338
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
A Trickle of Stones
Okay, so my participation in A River of Stones was not as robust as I'd intended. I've never been more glad to see the back end of a month as I am to see that of January. I'm hoping February is a touch kinder. I could use some breathing room.
I did River posts when I could, sometimes tossed them onto Twitter, but basically didn't kick myself for missing a day. I had my doubts I could produce one every day even before I started. I'm pleased with what I did accomplish, and am moving right along into the next challenge.
Speaking of which, I got off to an inauspicious start yesterday. I spent a couple hours putting the current manuscript for "The Rise of Umbra" in my new Beta copy of Scrivener for Windows (c'mon, Scrivener people, build us a Linux version!) but failed to get any new words written for it. Overall, I like Scrivener. It has a few ugly spots (like document importing), but overall I think I slightly prefer it to Writer's Cafe at the moment. Scrivener for Windows is a beta release, though, so I'm not judging it too harshly. If I'd thought of it, I'd have taken a screenshot to put in here, but I may do a more formal review of Scrivener later, so I can do it then.
February challenge:
Day One: 0
I did River posts when I could, sometimes tossed them onto Twitter, but basically didn't kick myself for missing a day. I had my doubts I could produce one every day even before I started. I'm pleased with what I did accomplish, and am moving right along into the next challenge.
Speaking of which, I got off to an inauspicious start yesterday. I spent a couple hours putting the current manuscript for "The Rise of Umbra" in my new Beta copy of Scrivener for Windows (c'mon, Scrivener people, build us a Linux version!) but failed to get any new words written for it. Overall, I like Scrivener. It has a few ugly spots (like document importing), but overall I think I slightly prefer it to Writer's Cafe at the moment. Scrivener for Windows is a beta release, though, so I'm not judging it too harshly. If I'd thought of it, I'd have taken a screenshot to put in here, but I may do a more formal review of Scrivener later, so I can do it then.
February challenge:
Day One: 0
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Well, here we are, on day one of my 500-words-a-day challenge and I don't have a topic. Project. Subject. Whatever. I have a few choices.
If I choose "Prediction Center" I'll wind up with over 17,000 words at the end of the month. That's way too big for a short story. The story doesn't feel like it needs or wants to be that big. I could go the NaNoWriMo route and just carve it up when I'm finished, but I'm leery of that approach. I dislike needing to cut a story down to size (though I expect that's one of a scad of things I'll learn to do regularly, whether I'm comfortable with it or not), and short stories don't typically run over 10,000 words. Even though I'm only writing 500 words a day, it's probably better to work on that outside the self-imposed mini-marathon. I ought to do my 500 words on whatever project I choose, and then work on "Prediction Center". That should be doable, even if I don't do it every day.
I could choose to start a story for Sterling, but that would be a new project and I do, as I've mentioned, have other projects that need attention. Speaking of which...
I wrote the first 26,000 words of "Umbra" in 2005. I wrote 50,000 more in 2008. I want to get this story into shape to be printed as a proof copy this summer. This seems to be the most obvious choice, though the 'editing it at the same time' part makes me worry. Well, it'll be a learning experience, eh?
I've looked at the first section of "Umbra" so many times I get discouraged when I think about editing it or even working on it. So for the moment I'm picking up the second part that I wrote in 2008. I'll put it into Scrivener and start banging around and pray the beta version for Windows doesn't decide to randomly eat my work. Yes, I'm a pessimist. It occasionally saves me from minor disasters.
So "Umbra" it is. Why do I have a sinking feeling about this?
- Add words to "The Rise of Umbra" while also editing it
- Plot out a cohesive story for James Sterling and write that
- Dump a heap of words into "Prediction Center" and hope to trim it back to a workable short story size
If I choose "Prediction Center" I'll wind up with over 17,000 words at the end of the month. That's way too big for a short story. The story doesn't feel like it needs or wants to be that big. I could go the NaNoWriMo route and just carve it up when I'm finished, but I'm leery of that approach. I dislike needing to cut a story down to size (though I expect that's one of a scad of things I'll learn to do regularly, whether I'm comfortable with it or not), and short stories don't typically run over 10,000 words. Even though I'm only writing 500 words a day, it's probably better to work on that outside the self-imposed mini-marathon. I ought to do my 500 words on whatever project I choose, and then work on "Prediction Center". That should be doable, even if I don't do it every day.
I could choose to start a story for Sterling, but that would be a new project and I do, as I've mentioned, have other projects that need attention. Speaking of which...
I wrote the first 26,000 words of "Umbra" in 2005. I wrote 50,000 more in 2008. I want to get this story into shape to be printed as a proof copy this summer. This seems to be the most obvious choice, though the 'editing it at the same time' part makes me worry. Well, it'll be a learning experience, eh?
I've looked at the first section of "Umbra" so many times I get discouraged when I think about editing it or even working on it. So for the moment I'm picking up the second part that I wrote in 2008. I'll put it into Scrivener and start banging around and pray the beta version for Windows doesn't decide to randomly eat my work. Yes, I'm a pessimist. It occasionally saves me from minor disasters.
So "Umbra" it is. Why do I have a sinking feeling about this?
Monday, January 31, 2011
The Empty Head
Time and time again I sit down here to write. Oftentimes I have a subject in mind: a bit of advice or a goofy observaton, perhaps. Today my head is empty. I've got an important meeting coming up today and I expect that's taking away some of my focus. Knowing I have a limited amount of time to get something written in here should spur me to get writing, and it would ... if I had a subject. I've picked up three of my writing books and flipped through them for inspiration for a short bit to write in here but nothing seems to fit. But I've got to write something.
I write here in the hopes that each time I do I'll inspire or inform or entertain someone, somewhere out there. There are times I just toss an article entirely because I don't have a suitable idea or whatever I've written or decided to write seems substandard.
Tomorrow starts my 500-word-a-day challenge. I'm not yet certain what my project is. I suspect I'll figure that out today sometime. I'm considering using February to add the requisite material to "The Rise of Umbra", the 2005 (and 2008) work I wrote during NaNoWriMo, especially since my local library is having a novel-writing workshop of sorts in the middle of the month. But I have other projects and characters who are very good at pulling me into writing something, too. Maybe I'll take my 2005 manuscript with me to my meeting today, to look at before the meeting starts. I need to remember how much I enjoyed writing those characters and get inspired to write them for 500 words or more every day this coming month. And "Umbra" is the book I'm hoping to have properly prepared for a proof copy by summertime, so I really ought to be focused on that.
See you tomorrow for the first of twenty-eight days of daily project writing!
I write here in the hopes that each time I do I'll inspire or inform or entertain someone, somewhere out there. There are times I just toss an article entirely because I don't have a suitable idea or whatever I've written or decided to write seems substandard.
Tomorrow starts my 500-word-a-day challenge. I'm not yet certain what my project is. I suspect I'll figure that out today sometime. I'm considering using February to add the requisite material to "The Rise of Umbra", the 2005 (and 2008) work I wrote during NaNoWriMo, especially since my local library is having a novel-writing workshop of sorts in the middle of the month. But I have other projects and characters who are very good at pulling me into writing something, too. Maybe I'll take my 2005 manuscript with me to my meeting today, to look at before the meeting starts. I need to remember how much I enjoyed writing those characters and get inspired to write them for 500 words or more every day this coming month. And "Umbra" is the book I'm hoping to have properly prepared for a proof copy by summertime, so I really ought to be focused on that.
See you tomorrow for the first of twenty-eight days of daily project writing!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Out of meandering comes... a challenge!
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| The view out my window |
I haven't been in much of a creative mood lately, so not much work has been done on my writing. I haven't been writing on 750words.com much in the last week. I don't know if I'll go back to the site. It's a fine site, just perhaps not best suited to me and my writing. What I ought to be doing is doing my real Morning Pages, longhand, in my notebook purchased for that purpose. Getting the drek out of my head and onto the page first thing is a great help, especially if I do it day after day. But I've been falling down on a lot of self-helpful things lately.
I wonder if it's not time for a project. A real project like NaNoWriMo. Take the month of February, perhaps, and commit to writing a certain number of words a day on a specific work. If I think about it enough, I can come up with a reason why any month is a bad month to start a project like this. "January is right after the holiday season. I'll be depressed and angry and have no motivation. February is the month I decide I'm really really sick of winter, really. March is ..." And so on. Even November is a pain due to American holidays and such things, yet I manage to get NaNoWriMo accomplished every year. I've talked about the concept of having lots of others out there working with me and the strength it lends me. Who out there wants to join a 'words per day' challenge?
Inkygirl's blog sports a handy-dandy set of word challenges to suit your comfort level. Commit to 250, 500, or 1000 words a day. If I'm to write on the same story/project each and every day, I think I'll choose the middle-of-the-road amount of 500 words. I find writing 1600+ words each day on the same story during NaNoWriMo to be challenging, and, for me, not conducive to creating good story, ultimately. It makes more work in the revision and editing departments, and that's a mountain I've yet to tackle. But 500 words seems simple enough, and will give me room to plot, outline, and do whatever other planning and organising work I need to do.
So who's with me? Choose a level and pledge to spend the month of February writing 250, 500, or 1000 words a day with me. Believe me, you won't be the only one thinking, "What have I done?!"
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