until school starts. Wow, where has the summer gone? Hubster was bemoaning the fact that we didn't go anywhere for vacation. Of course, I had to point out that we had just come back from a long weekend in the Ozarks, but he said that wasn't the same thing. Guess his idea of a vacation is hopping on an airplane or sitting for more than four hours in a car.
It used to be my job that held us captive--I worked in hospital and it was first come first served on vacation time. Some of the people put their vacation time over a year in advance and always got it, especially around Christmas. I could understand if you are going out of the country or have a special get-together, but it was always the same people year after year who did this--and some of their kids were in college. It really pissed me off that I never got time off around Christmas, especially the year I had to work Christmas day and I had a three year old.--Yeah, I missed Christmas morning. The preferential treatment pissed me off. Glad I don't have to deal with that political crap anymore!
Sorry, that was a digressive rant. Anyhoo, the Hubster's job was holding us back this year. But we have a nice trip planned for Fall break (Disney World, of course!) and we only have to take the kiddo out of school for two days. YAY!
At first, summer break seemed like the days were stagnant, but now the finish line is in place!
And I seriously need to get my ducks in a row.
With the kiddo in school, one of two things will happen.
1) I will write like a maniac,
2) I will sit on my ass eating bonbons and watching judge (my secret addiction) shows, but I also need to,
3) exercise my BUTT off. Yeah, literally. . .
During BIAW last May, I discovered that I CAN write like a fiend. I had a middle grade novel that I wanted to enter into Delacorte's Yearling contest, deadline was 6-30-09. So I had to have my rough draft finished by the end of May. During the last two weeks of May, I wrote 30K words. Not too shabby. This little story is currently out in the query stage.
I have started book #2, and I'm calling it, The Fast and The Faerieous. I'm only 1000 words in, but I don't really have a clue where it's going. My personal goal is to have the rough draft (30-35K words) finished by the week before vacation in October. Why a week before? Because there is so much to do to get the house, yard, pets, and ourselves ready for vacation. I need a week to take care of the extracurricular stuff.
As if finishing one story isn't enough, I decided to add pressure to myself by writing a suspense, currently called Rosewood Manor. I'm 17.5K words into this story with a goal of hitting 70-75K for my rough draft. During my second draft, I usually tweak and tighten, but also fill out my subplots, deepen the characterizations, yadda, yadda, yadda, which ultimately adds 10-20K to my final count.
Finish two books by the first week of October, eight weeks, is it doable? Heck, yes. I'm not setting a daily writing goal but I know roughly how many words I'll need to write--A LOT. :-)
All I need to do is focus and the words will come. Research will happen while the rough draft ferments. And then I'll tackle the second draft.
Who knows? By the end of the year, I might have two more novels to pimp.
So, for those of you with kids or without them, what's your goal for the rest of the year??
Write on!
Showing posts with label BIAW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BIAW. Show all posts
8/7/09
7/24/09
Candace Haven's Write Workshop
I have no idea where I heard about Candace Haven's workshop.
Maybe it was Facebook. Candy left a link to subscribe to the yahoo group, but it isn't the first time I'd heard about it. One of my former RWI chapter mates, Deanna Ponder mentioned doing her workshop.
Every day for two weeks, Candy pulls a word count number or # of pages to revise out of a hat. Do the daily challenge and you succeed. Go over the daily challenge and you can bank your extra words/pages for another day--kind of like Weight Watchers. You save your extra points for that one big splurge you plan on the entire week. I try not to write on the weekends. That's my family time, so I'll be using my banked points. BUT I'm a miserly son-of-a-gun and don't want to give up my words. So if the count is easily doable (<1000 words) I'll make a point of doing it so I don't spend my words.
It has all the goodies in it that I like:
--no money
--self-paced, up to a point
--challenging
--Yahell is silent
No money is involved. I love freebies. Candace Haven's definitely earned her 2009 PRO Mentor of the Year honor with this one. Love it!
Self-paced. Just like regular BIAW's you only get out of the challenge by how you decide to tackle it. Do it half-assed, then you don't get the positive effects from it. Plus you can do the revised pages challenge if you aren't working on something new.
Challenging. Every day a new number is drawn. Yesterday's draw was the biggest, 3265 words. Now if I had been on this loop prior to May 2009, I'd have been freaking over this word count, but in May I did Barbara's BIAW and logged in 15,000 words in only five days. I knew I could do this.
Yahoo is suspiciously silent. Candy's had some problems with people not getting the messages. I'm one of them, but I don't mind. All I do is head over to the Write Workshop yahoo group and find out today's count. When I'm done for the day I post to the Write Workshop Chat group.
I don't need anyone's 'YAY!' Congrats. blah, blah, blah--and I don't get them since I'm new to the group and many of the members have formed their friendships.
--I get my satisfaction from meeting the challenge head on and defeating it.
So as soon as I learn what today's challenge is, I'm going to be . . .
Writing on.
Today's challenge: 862 words--Easy-Peasy, I'm going to go over to add to my banked word count. :-)
Maybe it was Facebook. Candy left a link to subscribe to the yahoo group, but it isn't the first time I'd heard about it. One of my former RWI chapter mates, Deanna Ponder mentioned doing her workshop.
Every day for two weeks, Candy pulls a word count number or # of pages to revise out of a hat. Do the daily challenge and you succeed. Go over the daily challenge and you can bank your extra words/pages for another day--kind of like Weight Watchers. You save your extra points for that one big splurge you plan on the entire week. I try not to write on the weekends. That's my family time, so I'll be using my banked points. BUT I'm a miserly son-of-a-gun and don't want to give up my words. So if the count is easily doable (<1000 words) I'll make a point of doing it so I don't spend my words.
It has all the goodies in it that I like:
--no money
--self-paced, up to a point
--challenging
--Yahell is silent
No money is involved. I love freebies. Candace Haven's definitely earned her 2009 PRO Mentor of the Year honor with this one. Love it!
Self-paced. Just like regular BIAW's you only get out of the challenge by how you decide to tackle it. Do it half-assed, then you don't get the positive effects from it. Plus you can do the revised pages challenge if you aren't working on something new.
Challenging. Every day a new number is drawn. Yesterday's draw was the biggest, 3265 words. Now if I had been on this loop prior to May 2009, I'd have been freaking over this word count, but in May I did Barbara's BIAW and logged in 15,000 words in only five days. I knew I could do this.
Yahoo is suspiciously silent. Candy's had some problems with people not getting the messages. I'm one of them, but I don't mind. All I do is head over to the Write Workshop yahoo group and find out today's count. When I'm done for the day I post to the Write Workshop Chat group.
I don't need anyone's 'YAY!' Congrats. blah, blah, blah--and I don't get them since I'm new to the group and many of the members have formed their friendships.
--I get my satisfaction from meeting the challenge head on and defeating it.
So as soon as I learn what today's challenge is, I'm going to be . . .
Writing on.
Today's challenge: 862 words--Easy-Peasy, I'm going to go over to add to my banked word count. :-)
6/15/09
Draft #2
Okay, this week I'm getting serious about my second draft of MOGG. So far I've made it to page 16. Not a good thing. The first 30 pages will be the roughest and take the longest as I have to change the mom's POV to the daughter's POV and then layer description/ emotion/ characterization/ etc. to the story.
Two things are in my favor this week:
1) Rachel is at all day soccer camp. I have to fight traffic and take her to Tulsa University for a drop off at 8:30 and pick her up at 4:30.
2) My cyber friend Barbara is holding her monthly BIAW this week.
Once I get home, the timer will be put to good use. When I was writing this story I didn't know what kind of word count I was going to get, but when I hit around the 3000-word mark on the first day, I knew I could do it again. And by this type of dedication, I managed to finish the story.
I think I'm going to try something similar with my edits. And I may or may not blog this week. If I can blog without it interrupting my editing time then I will post on Wednesday and Friday. The same thing goes for my blog hopping tendencies. So without further ado . . .
Write on!
Two things are in my favor this week:
1) Rachel is at all day soccer camp. I have to fight traffic and take her to Tulsa University for a drop off at 8:30 and pick her up at 4:30.
2) My cyber friend Barbara is holding her monthly BIAW this week.
Once I get home, the timer will be put to good use. When I was writing this story I didn't know what kind of word count I was going to get, but when I hit around the 3000-word mark on the first day, I knew I could do it again. And by this type of dedication, I managed to finish the story.
I think I'm going to try something similar with my edits. And I may or may not blog this week. If I can blog without it interrupting my editing time then I will post on Wednesday and Friday. The same thing goes for my blog hopping tendencies. So without further ado . . .
Write on!
5/18/09
BIAW: Book In A Week
Not literally, but I'm sure there are a few diehards willing to try.
One of my cyber GIAM (a goals group) buddies, Barbara White Daille supports a monthly BIAW, and today is the starting day. It runs Monday through Sunday, though I doubt I will be able to write anything from Friday onward. Todd will be home on Friday, so I'll be kissing any productivity out the window. :-) Plus it is Memorial Day weekend and I want to hang by the pool provided it warms up and the rain leaves us alone for awhile.
Back on topic, the goal of BIAW is to write as much a possible each day. Some people have a goal of simply sitting in the writing chair for ten minutes a day, while others intend to write thousands of words each day. Barbara suggests we shut off all communication with the Internet (my personal bete noir), freeze meals for the family, and buckle down--BICHOK (Butt in Chair, Hands on Keyboard).
I plan to do something in the middle. I'll still have stuff to do around the house, namely working out, laundry, cooking and some gardening, but I'll set the timer to write for 30 minutes at a time without checking email or turning on one of the damn addictive judge shows. Trust me, this is my challange!
In preparation for this, I'm pre-writing my blogs for this week. Yes, I'm writing this on Sunday. I will not blog hop or comment on blogs. I will not check email every 2.5 minutes. And I MUST finish my third wave of revisions on Faerie--DONE! They are marked on the hard copy, but I want to put them in the computer so Todd can read it to Rachel tonight.
I will finish these items even if I have to type while watching the Survivor finale tonight!
Why am I making myself crazy about this?
I really, really need/want to finish my gnome story. Yes, I want to enter it in the Delacorte contest, but primarily I want this rough draft finished before Rachel is out of school. If it's finished, then I can edit/tweak to my heart's content over the summer, provided I have something to tweak!
So my goal is BICHOK.
Write on!
Monday: 2515 words
Tuesday: 3373 words
Wednesday: 3028 words
Thursday: 3408 words
Friday: 1929 words
Saturday: 980 words
Sunday: 336 words
Grand total: 15,487 Words or 53 pages!!
One of my cyber GIAM (a goals group) buddies, Barbara White Daille supports a monthly BIAW, and today is the starting day. It runs Monday through Sunday, though I doubt I will be able to write anything from Friday onward. Todd will be home on Friday, so I'll be kissing any productivity out the window. :-) Plus it is Memorial Day weekend and I want to hang by the pool provided it warms up and the rain leaves us alone for awhile.
Back on topic, the goal of BIAW is to write as much a possible each day. Some people have a goal of simply sitting in the writing chair for ten minutes a day, while others intend to write thousands of words each day. Barbara suggests we shut off all communication with the Internet (my personal bete noir), freeze meals for the family, and buckle down--BICHOK (Butt in Chair, Hands on Keyboard).
I plan to do something in the middle. I'll still have stuff to do around the house, namely working out, laundry, cooking and some gardening, but I'll set the timer to write for 30 minutes at a time without checking email or turning on one of the damn addictive judge shows. Trust me, this is my challange!
In preparation for this, I'm pre-writing my blogs for this week. Yes, I'm writing this on Sunday. I will not blog hop or comment on blogs. I will not check email every 2.5 minutes. And I MUST finish my third wave of revisions on Faerie--DONE! They are marked on the hard copy, but I want to put them in the computer so Todd can read it to Rachel tonight.
I will finish these items even if I have to type while watching the Survivor finale tonight!
Why am I making myself crazy about this?
I really, really need/want to finish my gnome story. Yes, I want to enter it in the Delacorte contest, but primarily I want this rough draft finished before Rachel is out of school. If it's finished, then I can edit/tweak to my heart's content over the summer, provided I have something to tweak!
So my goal is BICHOK.
Write on!
Monday: 2515 words
Tuesday: 3373 words
Wednesday: 3028 words
Thursday: 3408 words
Friday: 1929 words
Saturday: 980 words
Sunday: 336 words
Grand total: 15,487 Words or 53 pages!!
11/4/08
BIAW & vote
Okay, I tried, I really tried to hit the 2000 word mark on my new manuscript, I made 1458 words.
So for today, I have 2542 words to write. I think it helps that the TV blew last night and I won't have anything to distract me. :-)
DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!
So for today, I have 2542 words to write. I think it helps that the TV blew last night and I won't have anything to distract me. :-)
DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!
10/31/08
BIAW & NaNoWriMo
BIAW--Book in a Week
NaNoWriMo--National Novel Writing Month
Both of these endeavours are writing challenges. Most BIAW participants don't finish a book in a week, but the goal is to write as many pages as possible within that week.
NNWM does have a goal of 50K in 30 days. This is a doable goal, but as a writer your plate must be cleared, your research accomplished, and your internal editor turned off. The problem for most Americans is that this is also the month of Thanksgiving which is spent with family, not writing.
This next week I will shoot for 2K a day, Monday thru Friday. That should give me a 10K start on book 1 of my demon war series.
Now to finish organizing my notes, finishing my demon excel worksheet, and thinking about my first couple of chapters.
NaNoWriMo--National Novel Writing Month
Both of these endeavours are writing challenges. Most BIAW participants don't finish a book in a week, but the goal is to write as many pages as possible within that week.
NNWM does have a goal of 50K in 30 days. This is a doable goal, but as a writer your plate must be cleared, your research accomplished, and your internal editor turned off. The problem for most Americans is that this is also the month of Thanksgiving which is spent with family, not writing.
This next week I will shoot for 2K a day, Monday thru Friday. That should give me a 10K start on book 1 of my demon war series.
Now to finish organizing my notes, finishing my demon excel worksheet, and thinking about my first couple of chapters.
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