A December to Dismember--500 words/day, all genres welcome

[lizmonster]

Oh, IAMAWRITER, my goodness. I'm so sorry. Been there myself. I always convince myself that the words I write to replace them will be better than what I lost, but boy, it's no fun at all.

1172 today. I'll probably punt on the outlining for the moment. On Saturday I want to go back to my edits on the beta - step 1 is to go over everybody's feedback and decide what I want to change and how I want to change it.

[wonderactivist]

Only 358 so far, but I a have to read someone's short story for Crime City Central this morning. I guess they liked my voice and they re a good cause (nonprofit). Y'all have a great day.

[wonderactivist]

Now I'm the one killing the thread, but I do want to report another 749 words. Fun scene.

[Zelenka]

No words so far today but getting some progress on the outline for the rewrite of the space-y WIP. Just now working on the conclusion, always the hard bit!

[muse]

IAMWRITER: Hugs on losing your work. I think we've all been there at one time or another. Take heart, once you've lost work once you rarely do again, but it's a tough lesson to learn.

Ken: Congrats on reaching your30K goal.

Liz, Lucie, Saoirse, frankly, osg, and everyone else, congrats on the word counts.

I'm still plugging away, mostly working out a few plot elements, which I've cheerfully ignored for the last few months hoping they'd resolve themselves. They haven't.

Today's grand total - 239 words.

[IAMWRITER]

Thanks for all your support guys, regarding my whole crisis situation last night. I am happy to report that I'm now saving every 10 minutes - just in case.

And I made up for yesterday, reaching 526 writing the same scene. But a little bit differently, since I can't remember what I wrote last night. Think it came out a little better too, so there is a silver lining after all.

Oh, and well done on the word counts everyone!

Update: A random scene for a a completely new WIP just popped into my head and wrote 168 words of that. Saying as new ideas come once in a blue moon for me, I just had to make a note of it for future reference. Interesting to see if I'll actually go anywhere with it - I just want to get this WIP done first!

[franky_s]

Only 173 yesterday.

[Shara]

I decided to take the NetBook to bed and do some writing from there, which feels gloriously self-indulgent.

Three chapters amended. I have left my characters staring down the zombie horde. Heh heh heh....

[Ken Hoss]

Originally Posted by wonderactivist

Now I'm the one killing the thread, but I do want to report another 749 words. Fun scene.

Yep, all your fault, Lucie.

Crazy day today. Got stuck in backed up accident traffic on the way to work this morning, got slammed with work when I finally got in, and got backed up in over two miles of accident traffic on the way home!

On top of that, I only managed a meager 382 words on the WIP today!

Just hope tomorrow turns out better.

[lizmonster]

Lucie, nice word count - it's always a kick to have a fun scene to write.

And words are words, folks - so yay, everyone!

I did 1092 tonight. Tomorrow's goal: Finish the chapter, and start the outlining. NO REALLY I MEAN IT THIS TIME. I'm wandering, and that needs to stop.

[onesecondglance]

Did a couple of hundred - feeling quite good about the WIP at the moment. I actually quite like it - it's feeling like the kind of book I'd like to read. Given the mess the first draft was, that's pretty good progress.

Right now I'm a little muzzy-headed. Work Christmas night out, which ended with me drinking whisky with my boss at one o' clock in the hotel bar. There may not be any words today...

[Saoirse]

Nice work everyone!

IAMWRITER - Glad things are working now.


676 words last night.

[franky_s]

723 today.


onesecondglance, I actually like writing hungover. It gives me an excuse to lay on the couch for most of the day and still be able to say I accomplished something

[Ken Hoss]

Awesome wordage, people!

I got a whopping 767 today. Wrapped up another chapter and moved on to the next. WIP is coming along, now at 32,160!

*Even got a couple of LOD's out of this round!

[knightrunnermat]

Good job Ken and everyone else.

I am not as regular of a writer as I would like to be and anyone that has noticed my posts knows that I have idea ADD pretty badly and never finish stories.

I've toyed with the idea of just taking my longer attempts at novels and turning them into short stories, but I really want to finish a novel. The goal was to finish one in 2012, but that looks impossible now that there are only 11 days left in the year and I have no ideas that can go to the end.

I really need encouragement in staying consistent. I have many many ideas, but I always find that I fizzle out 20 or 30 (sometimes 40K) into a novel. I have maybe 4 or 5 attempts at novels saved on my hard drive.

I started a new thread of ideas today. It's a concept that I came up with about a month ago, but finally figured out how I want the story to progress, AND what's best of all is that I can easily use a few characters and scenes that I've already created.

I need an accountability partner, I think. I know it's not realistic for me to write 500 words per day every day, but I would really like to accomplish something substantial this coming year. Anyone have suggestions for finding a writing partner? I was thinking of asking at my library, but I recently moved a few months ago and I still don't know the people at this library very well.

[IAMWRITER]

A couple of hundred for me today.

Tomorrow, my day off, I'm going to type up some of my handwritten work to see what my overall tally for this WIP is.

[lizmonster]

436, and I've finally killed off the chapter. Will try to do some outlining tonight, but I appear to have caught the family flu. Bleah.

Matt, I've been a fizzler most of my life. All I can say is that I finally hit on something that's holding my interest - but yes, I think accountability, for whatever you can commit to, is the way to go. Even if you don't find a story right away that you can stick with, it's good exercise. I always found if I waited for the muse, I never got anything done.

[Saoirse]

Matt - I used to be the same way. But sometimes you have to push through that so you can finish a draft. Everything can be fixed in revision. As for ideas...once you're writing...do you outline at all? Or are you a pantser like me? I have a few methods I use when I get stuck (and that's often). I also have days where I don't even want to write whatever it is that I'm writing, but if I didn't write those days, I'd never get anywhere. (I'm from the write-every-day camp. Your mileage may vary). Now, I finish all my drafts. It might take me awhile, but they are getting done. I also never commit to an idea that I'm not sure I can sustain for the long haul. I'm about a book-a-year person, and that's a huge commitment. So I am picky now about what I'll start. Hugs, though. I know this is rough.

1,340 words today. Feels good.

[Ken Hoss]

I'm with you, Saoirse. I started my first book with a full outline and ended up throwing it out four or five chapters in to it. Now I write by the seat of my pants, or to be more accurate, I write what my MC tells me to write. I also believe in writing every day, even if I only get 50 words, I write.

Hang in there, Matt. You know you can always come here for encouragement.

[knightrunnermat]

Thanks everyone! I have outlined in the past, and I sometimes still do, but only as a way for me to get ideas down on paper as quickly as possible before I forget them. Most of the outlines I write I never even look at while I'm writing a first draft since the stories always change so drastically by the time I start constructing them. I take away the key elements from the outline and then work them into a story, completely independent of the outline.

I wrote a lot today, and I did a lot of cutting and pasting, too. I'm not sure how many new words I wrote, but I had no idea for a novel at the beginning of the day, and four solid chapters at the end of the day, a total of about 10,500 words. I'm pretty happy with this!

[Zelenka]

Same problem here. I used to get a few chapters in (normally around 40K) and then I'd think the book sucked and didn't work and actually this other idea I have would work so much better, so I'd dump the project and go work on something else. I have maybe 20 unfinished books at least on the hard drive. But this time I had to make a decision to avoid those thoughts and work through whatever problems the book has, even though it is really hard and I am still at that stage of thinking it sucks. But this time I believe that the actual idea would be something that, if I could do it justice, would maybe sell, so I use that as motivation, just wanting to get something out there, even if it ends up self published.

And remember, we're all here to help you push through with things as well. This is a great group of writers and an unbelievable help.

[Ken Hoss]

Wishing all of my AW friends a Joyous Holiday Season!

[wonderactivist]

Thanks, Ken. I hjave no words to report today. Too much holiday going on here. HAPPY HOLIDAYS to y'all--and peace to this world.

[muse]

Thanks Ken and Lucie.

I'm another one with no words to report. Things have been hectic here.

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year.

[Ken Hoss]

Short day at the day job today. Only another 90 minutes to go!

BIG HUGS to those with no words today. The holidays can be stressful. Just be glad it only comes once a year!

I did manage words today. At first it didn't flow, but I kept at it and ended with 516. Not super, but words is words. Brings the chapter to 839 and the WIP to 32,232!