December 2009
9 posts
1208 1209
1208 was about writing and flow.
1209 was about spending time with my family.
WC: 37.895
1207
Worked on a pay the bills thing last night instead.
1206
1300 words. 1300 fun words. I’m having so much fun writing the climatic scene.
My lead character can be a real douchebag.
It’s fun to write in the voice of douchebag.
1205
almost forgot to record yesterday.
about 1,000 words leading up to a really crucial point and I stopped because I really had to step back and think about it and now it is 12/06 and i’m done thinking about and going to write.
1204
I took the day off from work yesterday and realized that I write so much better during the day than I do at night.
Unfortunately, writing during weekdays is rarely an option. But, at least I got the story flowing again at a point where I thought the flow had stopped.
That makes me think of a tampon analogy so I’ll stop there.
1203
Rewriting, moving stuff around, deleting, replacing, working things out. About two hours of that.
1202
I only wrote 585 words.
It’s a combination of a shitty week at work that’s leaving me drained, plus the fact that I’m at a point in the story where I need to start tying things together. This isn’t the same free flow writing of the first 35,000 words and I’m definitely having trouble.
I guess 585 words is better than zero.
1201
Having issues. Will force myself to get back in creative mode tonight.
1130
nada. zilch. zero. nothing.
Is it ironic that I didn’t write anything at all on 1130?
I just didn’t have anything last night. I could have tried and maybe vomited up some gibberish that could have been spun into gold later, but who the hell has ever spun vomit into gold?
Instead, I watched Intervention and went to bed at 10. Sometimes, that’s a successful night.
November 2009
29 posts
1129
Just a reprint of what I wrote over at my main tumblr, so I can keep my progress intact here.
About a month and a half ago, I started something called 1130, which is my version of NaNoWriMo. My goal was not to finish a novel by this date, but to get to a point where I had disciplined myself to get into the habit of working on the novel every day.
So, today tomorrow being 1130, let’s take...
1128
I wrote about 1500 words and I’m pretty satisfied with averaging that many a day right now. These chapters have been hard to write yet I’m having a lot of fun with them. The thing about writing a story that deals with paranormal things in a comedic situation is you can really make anything happen without having to back it up with physics or fact checks.
Han Solo makes another...
1127
about 1500 words.
I know I should be writing more than that a day, but I’m working on the build up to the climax. There’s lots of action and conversation and being that I’m more of a descriptive/narrative writer, I am taking my time with these passages.
Which means I am deleting and rewriting the same paragraphs often.
I’d like to get to 40,000 before the weekend is...
1126
What? It was a holiday.
1125
30,000!
1124
Day off of novel writing. Writing paid articles instead.
And by writing paid articles, I mean thinking about them while eating sushi then falling asleep watching COPS.
1123
Wrote 1385 words last night. They weren’t great words, but they moved the story along. The idea within the words is good, I just need to rewrite after a less stressful day. Some days, it’s very hard to come home from work and get the entire work day out of your head and de-stress and get to a place where the writing will be good. On those days I like to write anyhow just to see if an...
1122
Only 300 words. I had to spend time writing an article for someone that pays me, instead.
I have a feeling this is going to be a slow writing week, what with the holiday coming up and work being crazy.
I also have to think about my goal. What the hell was my goal, anyhow? I certainly didn’t want to finish this book by 11/30, but I wanted to be moving along, and in the habit of writing...
1121
1300 words! It’s not a whole hell of a lot, but it means I’m back on track again.
Plus, Han Solo makes a brief appearance in this chapter as an apparition. I hope some day to be successful enough for George Lucas to sue me for that.
1120
I’m keeping this diary sort of thing here to:
keep a record of my writing habits
document the process of writing this novel
hold myself accountable every night
and to have this to look back on when the novel is finished as a “show my work” kind of thing.
I’m really glad I am making these notes to myself because looking back at the beginning, when the writing was going...
1119
hit a wall at 26,000 words. typical.
1118
Seriously? 260 words? WTF, Michele?
1117
One chapter, 896 words.
This chapter was written solely to clear up something that happens in a chapter already written. I’m glad it happened this way. These are 896 very sinister words. It gave a character some much needed teeth. Sharp teeth.
1116
See here.
1115
Today was a rewrite/edit day. I added some stuff, found the place to put said stuff, edited said stuff and rearranged it all again.
Also: I wrote the ending. I am very far from the actual ending but I had one of those AHA moments in the shower today (that’s where I do most of my AHA moments) and just knew how this thing should end. And in a way, the ending I wrote makes writing some of the...
1114
1500 words today, two chapters putting the end to some open ends. Clarifies a bunch of stuff.
Still feeling really, deeply under the weather so I was happy to get this much done today.
Up to 25,000 words, moving at a much slower pace than the start, but I think that’s par for the course. Happy with the progress, happy with the story, and thanks to whoever is reading this each night. I...
1113
I killed someone off today.
It felt way more satisfying than it should have.
Pretty happy with 1,000 words, which amounted to one chapter and the departure of a major character, considering I’m dying of an acute cold.
1112
A little math today.
Headache + cold + general whateverishness + NyQuil = zero words.
My story is the better for it.
1111
Today was hard.
Today was hours upon hours (I had the day off from work) of writing, rewriting, editing and moving things around. I’m just finishing up now.
I may have made myself cry when I chopped stuff up. I may have become really frustrated at my attempts to move things around and try to make it all flow. I may have yelled at myself and eaten too many chips and missed a work out.
I...
1110
I managed to get 1400 words out which isn’t bad considering it’s my anniversary and we went out and I’m trying to not spend all night on here typing.
I’m off from work tomorrow (yay federal holidays), and I’m going to spend a good portion of the day rewriting and moving paragraphs around to fit the timeline better. An editing day.
I still feel good about this story,...
1109
614 words and I gave up.
Very distracted today. It happens.
I feel like at least I wrote something and some days that’s going to have to be good enough.
Also cleared up some major plot points, figured out the definitive ending and a major motivation for one character, so all is not lost, there was stuff beyond those 614 words.
1108
2,000 more words today.
My brain is exhausted.
1106
338 words.
I am fucking exhausted.
I have a lot of words to make up for this weekend.
1105
Things have taken a very dark turn. I like it.
Only 880 words tonight but I’m so very happy with them.
I might end up writing more or I might end up in an Excedrin PM coma.
Coma sounds nice all of a sudden. 880 words, it is.
1104
UGH.
Wrote about 1500 words and hated every one of them. But I had to write tonight and while what I wrote was crap, it was part of a story that needs to be told - it explains one characters actions. I like the idea I put down and I like how it connects her past and present. Fundamentally, it’s good stuff. But the writing down of it sucks and I’ll rewrite it this weekend. At least I...
1103
I took the day off today.
I can do that. In much the same way I can have ice cream for dinner or wear my slippers to 7-11. Because these are my rules.
Not that I’d ever wear my slippers to 7-11.
I did, however, think about the story while I was cleaning the house and grocery shopping and moving furniture and doing all those things that normal people do on their DAY OFF.
I’m a bit...
1102
2,000 words tonight.
I connected two chapters that seemed disjointed and gave more life to one of the characters who needed some dimension.
I know I need to work on action. I tend to write a lot of descriptive narrative with some dialogue thrown in. I’m really working on the action part of this story, so my characters are doing, not just saying.
Tonight was good. The 2,000 words I wrote...
1101
Got about 500 words total written today, but I had to take time out to write a 900 word article for PJM. After spending three hours writing about gang rape, it’s hard to get back into the flow of writing with a humorous bent.
I edited a lot today. Todd really helped out with my timeline/sequence of events. It’s nice to have a sounding board, though sometimes I have to stop him from...
1031
I breached 10,000 words!
I didn’t think I’d get anything done today what with being interuppted by trick or treaters and also I ate seven thousand pounds of candy most of it reese’s peanut butter cups and i might have had a lot of coffee to go with that candy but i did get a lot done tonight.
> breathe <
I introduced a character tonight I didn’t know existed. While...
October 2009
12 posts
1030
Mexican Food and writing do not mix.
I did write 146 words and they were 146 very important words, as they changed everything I thought was going to happen for the rest of that chapter.
I stopped mid sentence at word 146.
Then I wrote three words.
PLEASE. SEND. PEPCID.
The Mexican food was worth both the crappy writing night and the heartburn.
1029
Really productive day. I got past the point where I was stuck. It just took one word to move the character along. And he really moved. I figured out a couple of points I was unsure of and got really excited while writing one scene. I’m almost at 10,000 words.
I decided to the best way to write this is exactly how I’m doing it: choppy. It’s not a complete flow. Many things will...
1028
So. Fucking. Frustrated.
I’ve been on the same page since yesterday. I know what I want to the story to do, but I just can’t make it do that. I know a lot of it has to do with me being so tired but still, I want to write. I want to make this story GO.
This is the point where I usually shut down and give up. I have lost so many stories at this point because I didn’t work to...
1027
Good news: I finished my swine flu article.
Bad news: I am freaking mentally exhausted. Word count on the novel tonight: ZERO.
I need to find a way to separate my work brain from my after work brain. How do I get my mind to chill out enough to let my work day go, but not chill out so much that I can’t write?
1026
I’m up to 8,261 words. I need to contemplate some stuff before I move further.
I’m also stuck on my swine flu article.
My head is filled with mucous that make the words hard to get to.
I’m gonna start looking in my tissues for my lost words. Maybe I’ve sneezed out a novel already.
1025
I didn’t write a whole lot tonight, maybe a few hundred words, but I edited a ton and figured out a few rough spots and wrote 500 words toward my next article. Not bad for being sick.
I did hit a wall at one point this afternoon where I suddenly developed a deep hatred for one of my characters because he would not move forward and develop the way I wanted him to, but then I realized it was...
1024
I’m at 5,670 words.
I found eight chapters to an old story, chapters I thought I lost. They are being merged with the current story because they are really two of the same thing. Well, some of them are being rewritten and merged.
It’s going ok. I have to slow down a bit because I’m too eager to fit pieces together and I can feel myself getting sloppy. Which is ok, because the...
1023
A thousand words tonight.
I am sick, sick, sick. My head feels like it’s filled with jello and my chest feels like it’s filled with the smoke of a carton of Lucky Strikes. But I knew had to write no matter how shitty it would turn out.
The writing itself tonight is not that great and will have to be rewritten at some point, but I movied the story along, and reached this epiphany...
1022
Started, finished and handed in an 800 word article for PJM
Wrote 867 words for the novel.
Fuck yea progress.
1021
Day 2
I wish I did not waste my writing time tonight being frustrated about a myriad of things.
But I did and the end result is the complete trashing of the novel (or cutting the bridge, as I mentioned last night). It’s gone, done, I don’t know if it will ever see the light of day and that’s 20 years of obsessing over it down the drain.
I am going ahead with another novel I...
1020
first day.
I only wrote ten new words.
But.
I went over my story, which is 6,757 words long right now. I deleted, added, edited, fixed, changed, moved and pondered. I have been stuck at this point for a while and I finally figured out how to move this from where it’s at to where I want it to go.
I write in a very unstructured manner. All my notes and ideas are kept in my head. There are...