felkirsch

Reached 1,059 words, completing a scene and a half. It was a struggle but it feels good to get some done. I feel like I'm flapping around right now. I now where I need to go, but I don't know what to put to get there right now. I want to concentrate on the characters, but it's been kinda hard. Tommorow I am going to be working on a particularly hard scene that needs a lot of characterization to work so yay for that.

I recently signed up for Nano again this year. Last year I had a good start, but burned out within a week or so. I am going to work on Remnant since I have the most pre-writing done for it and really want to tackle it. My own personal goal is 2k a day. This gives me enough leeway to not reach the wordcount everyday and if I do, I will more likely than not have a completed first draft, since my first drafts are usually about 60k. I'd love to have another finished first draft under my belt. I'm hoping it ups my confidence again. And even if I don't make it, whatever words I get will be great.

This week I am going to finish up the pre-writing and finish the short for Musemuggers. I've had a friend with us for the past week and she'll be here for the rest of this week to so I shouldn't be too ambitious. If I get time, I'm making my last bits to one of my crits and posting it finally.

I've been keeping up with my friends list but other than that, not much on the writing front... again. I did get a new book as a gift called The Writer's Idea Workshop and I did sign up for Nano again this year. So we'll see what comes of that.

I have been debating whether to stay with the Wyvern's or if I should give my spot to someone else. I really don't want to leave, but I don't feel like I'm contributing as much. Also because I don't have any writing to post, I feel like someone else could use my spot more. But again I really feel comfortable with this group and I have loved seeing them all grow as writers. I'm giving myself the end of this week to make a decision. A lot of it will be based on what I accomplish on the writing front this week. If it's nothing like the past few weeks, then I will probably say goodbye.

My only goal for this week is to finish a short for Musemuggers. I have a few ideas.

Got a little over 1,000 words written on Quest. To catch up to my goal I need about 1300 words a day, six days a week. So that's my goal.

I've been having a difficult time starting Quest. I know where I need to go and kind of how I'm going, but I can't get down the point to start it. Everyday the past three days, I have sat at my computer and wrote. And then went back and deleted everything because none of it was anywhere near right. So technically I have 0 words so far this week. It is becoming so frustrating. I know I don't have to find the perfect start, that I can work on it again during the next revision, but I just can't get the engine to start at all. Gah.

Anyways, I did some math to figure out what my word count goals should be the next few months to have Quest, draft two, finished by the end of the year.

115 days until the end of the year.
15 days off
100 working days.
Projected word count of 90,000
900 words a day.

So I'd like to average 900 words a day to get this done.

The past week I've spent a little time just getting used to writing again. Nothing big came out of it. Yesterday night, I finished Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. Amazing book, btw. I don't have the next in the series so I decided to start reading Quest again. I'm still really stuck on how to fix this book but I'm having my boyfriend read it as well and we're going to brainstorm ideas on how to fix it. One problem we both have discovered already is that I hate my main character. How can I write my characters convincingly when I dislike them so much? So a lot of work is going into making my characters stronger.

My goal this week is 500 new words of Quest a day, with room to take a day off. 3,000 new words by next saturday.

Haven't been around much mostly cuz whenever I try to open up a word document my mind goes completely blank. And then starts to hurt. I know I need to take it slow and gradually get back to writing, but unfornatly my mind doesn't obey sometimes.

I did just finish two crits for Wyvern's. I've felt the worst cuz I know I abandoned them with little explanation and feel horrible about it. I'm glad they haven't kicked me out yet, though I wouldn't blame them if they did. I can only hope to begin to make it up. Their the only crit group I've been a part of that I want to continue to be a part of.

I've decided to work on my arthurian piece. It's something I've been secretly passionate about for years yet never let myself seriously write cuz the arthurian niche is overfilled and I like to consider myself a serious writer. Well, pooh. I'm going to write it no matter what now. If it never gets past a slush pile oh well. I feel better once i get it on the page.

Tried to revise Quest, but can't concentrate on it still. It feels so broken but I have no idea how to fix it right now, so in my drawer it stays.

I am making a goal for myself and that is to write for at least ten minutes a day. That's it. I'm starting today's ten right now. Good luck to me!

I've been away from writing for a month or two now. After finishing Quest and jumping head first into something new so quickly, I burned out hardcore. I haven't checked lj, or FM, or writen much.

A couple of days ago, I printed out Quest, all 215 pages or so. Placed it in a binder and began editing. Haven't gotten much yet.

So it seems I'm back. Will be trying to catch up with my friends page, but I dont know how far I'm going to read back.

My first draft of Quest came up very short and during the rewrite I am going to be adding words, especially setting since there is nearly no setting right now. I'm going to try something different for The Remnant. I just finished Stephen King's On Writing, a wonderful book. In it he says he uses this formula for his second drafts: First draft - 10% = second draft. So since I want a final draft of 100,000 words, I am aiming for a first draft of 111,000. Giving me ample room to cut. This will teach me to write more than is necessary, something right now I can't do.

My deadline (self-imposed again) is August 31, 2005, giving me four months to complete the first draft. (Stephen King also says in his book that no manuscript, no matter the length, should take no longer than three months. Well, not following that statement with this book.)

Wordcount: 111,000
Days until 8/31/05: 123 days
Days until - days off: 105
Daily word goal: 1,000 words
Need to make-up words: 6,000 words

So while I am going to keep a wordcount goal of 1k a day, I need to somehow add 6k in. Which for me shouldn't be too hard since I usually write over my wordcount goal if I make it.

April goals:

1. Finish Quest- I finished

2. Write 20,000 words for April Fools- I only got about 11,000

Overall a successful month, though short on word count.

May goals:

1. Begin writing The Remnant

2. Write 26,000 words, which is the equivalant of 1,000 words a day, with one day off a week.

3. Decide whether to continue the 2yn program, and catch up if I decide to continue.

46,813 / 46,813 (100.0%)

Didn't get to 50,000 which is fine. I was going to add some scenes at the end, but once I got to the end of the climax scene, I knew that this was the ending anything else after it would be redundant and could go. I'm happy with the end and I'm happy that I finally finished a novel!!!

I'm taking the rest of the month off and starting on Monday with Remnant.

45,224 / 50,000 (90.0%)

I have three scenes left to write for Quest. I'm on the climax which itself is a very very long scene. Then two more scenes wrapping up two sets of characters, the former gods and the former heroes. Then I can finally type the end. Which will feel amazing. I doubt that it will hit 50,000 words. But that's still what I'm aiming for. Currently it sits at 44,000 words so lets see if the next scenes can be stretched out to 6,000 words.

I like the story and characters and such but I don't love it and I will be relieved when it's over. I'm going to let it sit for at least two months, maybe longer depending on how it makes me feel to pick it up again. I don't think I will try submitting it though unless the rewrite produces something better cuz I'm just not behind this particular story. The practice of finishing and then rewriting and polishing is still worthwhile so I will finish and I will rewrite, even if I don't intend (right now at least) to submit.

R.L. is fine. My uncle got married this weekend to a woman my family doesn't like. She got pregnant and that's how she hooked him. She already has a son she doesn't take care of (Brian my uncle has been doing that.) She can be nice but theres something not right, especially in the way she treats my uncle. But it isn't my, or anyone else in my families, right to tell him who to marry. So instead we're happy for him.

At the wedding and such the talk of my family was when are me and CJ going to get married. We haven't set a date yet and he hasn't officially proposed but its out there somewhere. My family seems to be pleased with that which is a good thing.

So off to do some writing before WoW decides to distract me again.

Wrote 636 words on Quest today. Didn't reach the 1100 word count goal but at least I got something.

The boyfriend is now researching the possibility of going into the army. I'm not sure how I feel about this. We have a few friends in the guard and such that were sent over to Iraq (one of them is still there) and I know how I'd feel if he got sent there. On the other hand job security is an issue for him and a steady income would be helpful for our future. Argh. We'll just have to see what happens.

Well I've taken another vacation from writing. So need to reexamine goals to see where I am at and what I need to do to stay on track.

43,154 / 50,000 (86.0%)

Quest stats above. So I need about 7,000 more words to complete quest. I have 11 days until the end of this month and the self imposed deadline. So an average of 600 words per day until the end of the month. I'll aim for 1k a day to make sure.

7,975 / 20,000 (39.9%)

April Fools progress above. I still need 12,000 more words. Which averages to about 1100 words day. 15,000 words for April Fools will be made with the rough of Quest. The other 5k needs to be made some where else. So I plan to continue working on my Remnant notebook and catching up (I'm behind two assignments I believe) with my 2yn assignments.

Plan for the rest of April:
Write 1100 words a day, at least 600 of them on Quest.

Didn't make the word count goal for FM. But I did get some words which brings me closer to the finish line.

I'm putting together a three ring binder for Remnant. Five sections: People, Places, Events, Research, and Submission. Until the end of the month I will be printing and compiling all the stuff to put into those five catagories and then keep it by my side when I start writing.

2,614 / 5,000 (52.0%)

And taking a break now.

1,215 / 5,000 (24.0%)

Starting word marathon.

Started earlier today but everything I had written didn't get saved before my comp crashed so I have to start over. So 9pm GO!

4,877 / 20,000 (24.4%)

My April Fools total above. I'm behind but that's ok.

Revised April Goals:
1. Finish the rough of Quest. Just need another 10,000 words or so to reach the ending.
2. Organize Remnant notes, music and everything else I need to start writing on May 1st. This includes making additional notes.
3. Catch up on my 2yn assignments and keep up with the worldbuilding. Lots of WB for Crystal Rebellion.
4. Side goal- I would like 20,000 words by the end of the month to reach my April Fools goal. 30k would be even more awesome. But this month is less about wordcount and more about finishing my first novel!

Tomorrow night I'm starting FM's monthly marathon of 5k words to catch up with my goal. Starting at 6pm and going until 5:59pm on Saturday. Wheee!