I sat down thinking, I'm not going to get anything down. This is just gonna be one of those nights I skip.
1222 new words later, I'm headed for bed. I wrote a longish thing on my progress and why I thought it was going so well over at my other vox blog Writing In Traffic so if you're curious you can look there.
ie; Me.
Tonight 825 new words.
Last Night 2/20, 751 new words.
2/19, 1007 new words, yes that's more than twice my quota.
I know these progress reports are dull to anyone but me.
In the fourteen days since the new program started. I've written 500 words or more for twelve of them. Over 8000 words. Not that they're all good words, but progress is progress. I have a total of about 48,000 on the book right now. I am not sure but I am guessing, in fact totally guessing, that this book will run 85-100k.
The question of course, is will making up and writing scenes every night actually get me to a climax (LEAVE IT!) and conclusion? I'm not wild about the ending I've had in mind and am hoping something better will occur to me.
In the meantime though I'm delighted to be writing as much as I have been, and some of what's been coming out hasn't totally sucked. (Now, you may make the climax joke.)
Ten of the last eleven nights I have worked on the novel. That's better than my quota of days, and each time I hit or exceeded my wordcount quota. I'm over 6100 words added to the novel since I started the program.
So I ordered my little reward today (a dvd I wanted) and I get to consider what treat I will buy myself if when I hit my goals again in a couple more weeks.
I wrote six days of seven. My goal was five of seven. I could have done that seventh, Saturday. Probably. I decided to skip it so that I didn't get myself into a mental funk by getting a too many days in a row. Why would that be a problem? It might when I finally missed a day. Yeah. My brain is that messed up.
Also I was tired.
Anyway, the part that surprises me is that the writing hasn't totally sucked. I'm doing it at night after my son is in bed. I hadn't been writing at that time because I am usually really tired and brain dead. Turns out though, that once I usually force a few sentences out I can often get something started that I am happy with.
Of course, I have yet to re-read any of these scenes by daylight.
It's too soon to crow about it much but I am trying a new approach, and it's led to my writing five whole days in a row. That's not much, but I honestly feel I am going to be able to maintain some consistency for at least a while. There are two main things I am doing differently. One is re-defining the writing as something that just has to get done. The other is rewarding myself when it does.
The Stick:
Im now treating the writing as a chore. It's just something I have to get done, like taking
out the garbage. Doesn't matter how good it is, but I have a daily
wordcount and a number of days writing per week quota to achieve. I've often groused that by the end of the day my mind is shot and I
can't write anything good anyway. Now I am really trying to embrace the
"shitty first draft" school of writing and not care about that. The
only thing that matters is making my quota, which ain't that high. A couple of the
nights were brutal as I really couldn't figure out what to write and I was just exhausted, but I didn't want to end my "streak" at just a few nights running. In the end, I was pretty happy with what I got
(though it's still shitty first draft, it can be re-writ, not tossed
completely.)
The Carrot:
If I write at least 500
words every day between now and my net paycheck, I am buying myself a
couple dvd's I'm anxious to own. If I don't manage it, I'm still
allowed to buy the dvds, but not during the next pay period. There are a couple of "outs"(*). My real goal is writing five days a week.
In respect for the concept of weekends I am allowed to miss two days a
week, but I am supposed to make up the 500 per day I miss in overflow
from other days. If I start consistently beating the 500/day
mark, I hope to bump up the quota, but for now I want something
achievable even when I have NOTHING coming out of my brain to put on
the paper.
The Big Carrot:
This is unlikely, so I'm
not even thinking about it much, but in September Bouchercon, THE big
mystery and thriller conference of the year, is in Anchorage. IF I have
a completed manuscript, it might make sense to attend (assuming I can
afford it and get the time off). This would be a big reward for
completing the draft, and an opportunity to meet agents and editors and
be able the answer the magic question, "Why, Yes. Yes I do have a
completed manuscript."
Monday about 40 minutes before "24" started, I told myself I had to make my count before turning the show on. It took about an hour and though I was now "allowed" to watch the show I decided to put it off for the next day, as I was beat. That was both carrot and stick.
The 25-page Cleanup:
Both
years I found the prep that I did for Writers in Paradise helpful. I liked combining scenes, smoothing the transitions and polishing a decent sized chunk of work. I think every 25-pages or
so, I will stop and so some cleanup. The amount of "polished" pages in
a row will grow. I think this also makes me feel like a draft of a book
is appearing, not just a set of scenes. Organizationally it's also good
to get my stuff into fewer files, rather than one for each scene. It's
kind of GTD, in that I no longer have to keep track of what scene comes
before what. I start putting them together and I don't have to think
about it.
(*) and by "a couple of outs" I mean more rule variations and exceptions than the tax code, though not as many as in Magic; The Gathering.
Hi, I'm Michael.
I'm writing a novel tentatively titled "My Education in Crime". I will update here occasionally as I have news regarding the novel. Many of these entries may be a little dull as I log wordcounts and other tiny bits of progress just for my own reinforcement and pleasure.
I'm a member of the Mystery Writers of America, a founding member of the Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound, a former student of The Northwest School of the Arts Humanities and Environment and Bennington College. I used to practice Kokikai style Aikido.
I recently returned to my home in Seattle from Writers in Paradise, a writing conference focused on craft that's held in St. Petersburg, Florida. This was my second year attending and it was wonderful. I've worked there with Tom Franklin, Dennis Lehane, David Simon, Laura Lippman and others.
Please check out my blog WritingInTraffic where I write about finding the time to write while holding down a full time job, being a single parent and missing my naps.
