Book in a Month: Day 5

This is just a quick update to publish my numbers from today. I was going to write up an actual entry today, but got distracted by life.

So here are the numbers:

Pages: 8

Total Pages thus Far: 44

Words: 2,127

Total Words thus Far: 13,633

Book in a Month: Day 4

I hate conflict. It's a fact. If there's conflict, I run screaming the other way. Well okay, I actually slink silently the other way in hopes of avoiding the conflict, but you get the idea. This is a bad thing for a writer.

Conflict is the staple of a story. Without conflict, there is no story. So how do I, as an avid flee-er of conflict, put it into my stories? Good question. It's one I'm still figuring out actually.

When I was younger and was just writing because I loved making stories up, I didn't really get that I needed conflict. Or, rather, I didn't get that I needed lots of conflict. I didn't understand that the big conflict wasn't enough, that everything in the story need to conflict with the protagonist. Everything has to go against her and make it harder for her to get to her goal. Or almost everything.

I thought it was enough to just have the journey be the conflict. And to be honest, I was scared of hurting my protagonists. I was worried that if it was too hard, they wouldn't actually make it too the end.

But as I've gotten older, and read more great books, I've realized that there must be more conflict or there's no point in getting to the end. Things have to be hard, or my protagonists aren't going to need to get to the end to get the resolution. Without the hardship, the hurt, the pain in all its forms, the resolution isn't a resolution. And a story isn't a story. Or it isn't a good one.

That's what I've been learning with this rewrite. So, I'm trying to be more conflicted. It's not easy, but the more I try, the more I realize that it's actually kind of fun to throw things at my protagonist. She's strong. She can handle it. Or, if she can't she'll learn from her scars.

Anyway, today I wrote eight more chapters. Here are the numbers:

Pages: 8

Total Pages thus Far: 34

Words: 2,479

Total Words thus Far: 10,987

Book in a Month: Day 3

Day three is done. Fitting in the time to write isn't easy, but it helps that I broke it up throughout the day. Work was slow, so I took a few breaks and wrote then. I just now finished up that last of the pages before youth group started.

I have to say, I'm only on day three and I already feel really accomplished. Sitting down and actually meeting a goal, even a small one like writing eight pages a day, makes me feel pretty good. And seeing those pages add up is really great feeling. I'm already up to 26 pages. Which is awesome cause normally it takes me forever to get that many pages, but now they're just piling up

But my wrists are hurting, so I'm going to cut this post short. Here are the numbers:

Pages: 8.5

Total Pages thus Far: 25

Words: 2,903

Total Words thus Far: 8,490

Book in a Month: Day 2

Writing eight or nine full pages in one sitting is HARD! Okay that sounds ridiculous, but it's true. And not because I have writer's block. Granted, every once in a while I get a little stuck trying to figure out exactly what to say next. But that usually passes very quickly. The most difficult parts are the actual typing and the not going back to rewrite stuff as I go. Why?

The rewriting part is hard because I am a re-writer. I write something, then decide, no that doesn't sound right, so I rewrite it. But then it doesn't mesh with something I'd written before, so I have to go and rewrite that earlier bit. And so on. This can really detract from forward progress (which is probably why it takes me so long to finish anything). But I do it so readily that not rewriting as I go is really hard. Really, really hard.

The other thing, the typing, that's just hard cause it hurts. Literally. My hands don't do so well with extended periods of typing. Or really any repetitive motion. They start hurting really quickly. So I have to rest them. But if I rest them, then I lose the momentum I had been building up and that stinks as much as the pain does. So it's always a game of how long can I push myself before the pain just becomes too overwhelming.

But enough of the boring downer stuff. Here's today's numbers.

Pages: 8.5

Total Pages thus Far: 16.5

Words: 2,977

Total Words thus Far: 5,587

I'd say it was a good writing day. :)

Book in a Month: Day 1

So I started this thing today called Book in a Month. I'm going to write an entire draft in 30 days. I decided to do this, mostly to see if I could, but also because it's a great way for my to get a draft done quickly. It's (hopefully) going to help me buckle down and get the draft done in an actual, measurable amount of time. I have to focus and write a particular amount each day to accomplish this in 30 days. I'm excited and super nervous about this.

So what am I writing this month? I've decided to give this first try to my first full novel that I ever wrote. I am rewriting it in first person and changing some of the plot elements. This is an attempt to make the story flow better. Doing it in thirty days makes me feel like I won't have wasted too much time if I wind up hating what results from this. It's only a month.

As for my daily goal, it's to write a minimum of eight pages per day for the entire month. I've already written my eight pages for today, and they felt pretty good, though it was a little difficult to write for eight pages without getting distracted or giving up. But I think the longer I do this, the easier it will get. At least I hope so.

The results of my day today -

Pages: 8

Total Pages thus Far: 8

Words: 2,607

Total Words thus Far: 2,607

I will update this count daily, just so I have something to keep me accountable.

Long Day of Nothing . . . Sort Of

I hate those days when I feel like I have accomplished absolutely nothing at work. The days when I only close out one or two or three projects and it's taken me the entire day to get in touch with a consultant or two. And of course, today was one of those days.

But complaining about my day job seems some what pointless. These days will inevitably happen. I just wish less occurred less frequently.

In other news, I'm working on character stuff again. This time it's for my contemporary fiction story. I found this great character tool a while ago and just rediscovered it. I've been using it to get a better handle on my characters. Creating normal but interesting people is kind of hard. I'm used to building characters around some bit of magic or another. I don't have that in this story.

But now that I think about it, maybe that is a good thing. Honestly, these characters feel more like they have personalities than my fantasy characters. Maybe I should do this more often.

Ah well, enough of me boring you with my musings on characters you may never meet. I'm off to watch more Star Trek (the original series, since I've never actually seen all of those) and muse some more.

It's Been a While

As I've stated many time before, I'm kind of bad at keeping up with this blog. It's so easy for me to get distracted by other things (the Sims, watching Netflix, earning a living) that I often just don't feel like posting. There's also the issue of not really being sure what to write about.

That's actually my biggest obstacle. If I actually felt like I had something worth saying, I'd probably post more. Generally, though, I don't feel as if I have much to say.

As of late I've been working on a new project (when I'm not traveling to Italy. Well, actually I only did that once, but still, it was Italy). I needed a break from my first WIP. Time to be away from it. Time to get some distance. So I've decided to step back for a while and work on a couple of other ideas that I've had for a while.

The problem I'm facing at the moment is trying to decide how to spend my writing time. I really want to work on my new fantasy project, but I also find myself being drawn back to a contemporary project that is far more lighthearted than any of my fantasy. It's fun to write in my sarcastic voice. I wish I could figure out a way to bring that voice to my fantasy. I think it would make it more interesting.

Anyway, that's what I'm working on at this point. That and my day job.

I will try and write more often. Struggle though I might, I know it's important.