Salutiferous September 500 words/day--all genres welcome!

heyjude · Sep 1, 2014

Happy September, where fall is in the air! For some of us!

We're glad you're here, whether you've been in these 500 threads all along or are just getting started. If you need help keeping track, if you need someone to help :poke:

and prod you into getting your daily goal, you have come to the right place!

Post your goals, your successes, your woes, commiserate with others, and please keep it on-topic. Off-topic stuff goes in Mama Jude's Pep Talk or the Life of Crime and Chocolate thread. Thank you!

How was your writing life in August? What are your hopes and dreams for September?

For me, more dribs and drabs in August. Aiming for the same in September.

How about you?

onesecondglance · Sep 1, 2014

No more putting it off because it's hard.

No more feeling "uninspired".

No more "warming up" by reading the internet and then finding there's no time left.

No more blaming long days at work.

No more excuses.

lizmonster · Sep 1, 2014

onesecondglance said:
No more putting it off because it's hard.

No more feeling "uninspired".

No more "warming up" by reading the internet and then finding there's no time left.

No more blaming long days at work.

No more excuses.

Awesome, and me too.

August was not horrible, but it was not all I was hoping. I finished one revision, and then got notes for another. I wrote 15K on the WIP, but most of it was writing around the plotting issues that I'm still persistently ignoring. Enough is enough, Liz!

I MUST FINISH the revision this month, preferably early this month. As for the sequel...time to stop dithering and start writing.

onesecondglance · Sep 1, 2014

The slightly less hardcore version (with added OTT machismo):

*slowly rising strings*
*movie trailer voice*

No more putting it off because it's hard.

*subliminal flashing images*

No more feeling uninspired.

No more warming up.

No more saying you're too tired.

*music cuts*
*whispers*

No more excuses.

*everything blows up*

Ken Hoss · Sep 1, 2014

Love It, OSG.

Published number four in the Kelli Storm series last month! Then took some time off and then picked up and dusted off my Cal Jessup WIP. The goal is too knock out 20k on it this month, and with luck I will do it. This one is a bit different than my usual as I'm writing two POV's, Cal and a serial killer.

Added 102 so far today. Doing steaks on the grill later, so not sure how much more I'll get today.

Good luck and good writing! Oh, and Happy Labor Day! (Labour Day to my friends in Canada.)

ETA: Added another 645 after putting away a 16 oz ribeye, sautéed mushrooms, baked potato, salad and a Shiner Bock beer.

Up to 6998.

asroc · Sep 1, 2014

Since the Horrible Energy-Draining Internship From Hell That Would Not End has finally ended, I might actually get something done again this month. Nothing yet today, but who knows?

lindz · Sep 1, 2014

Oops, it's September now! Reposting here then.

Worked on a summary for a query today. Way too early to even be considering it, but I just wanted the mental exercise.

167 words, but toooooonnnnnns of edits to get there.

Now I need a name for the book so I can post in in query letter hell. Bleh, names.

Goals: Editing. I don't have experience with editing yet so I'm not sure how much I can expect to complete. I'll reevaluate after a few weeks and set some better goals.

onesecondglance · Sep 1, 2014

395 words.

Alex, you can do it

lindz, you can just put "no title yet" in QLH. Might even get some suggestions or ideas from your thread there. Don't forget to spend some time reading other people's queries - and critting - so you know you're on the right track too.

lindz · Sep 1, 2014

Great suggestions, thanks OSG. I've been reading a lot in QLH but haven't been brave enough to post yet. I'll have to give it a shot.

lizmonster · Sep 1, 2014

lindz, I second the suggestion to go ahead and jump into QLH. It's not the same as having your book critiqued (at least it didn't feel that way to me). A query letter is really a marketing blurb, and that's a completely different skill set than writing a novel. I got some tremendous feedback there on multiple versions of my query.

More revisions tonight. I am setting myself a goal of finishing in a week. Right now it seems possible, but tomorrow it's back to the day job after a three-day weekend, so my energy level will probably not be what I want it to be.

NO EXCUSES, LIZMONSTER. :whip:

onesecondglance · Sep 2, 2014

349 words this morning.

lindz · Sep 2, 2014

A couple of minor changes and then some additions. Total of 221 words today.

vagough · Sep 2, 2014

Did reasonably okay in August, considering interruptions by Killer Nashville and family stuff (nothing bad, all good stuff). Still working on revising the third quarter of the draft (the August goal) but am now halfway through that, having collapsed three chapters into just one (which alone took about a week and a half to accomplish), then added a little twist to up the stakes a bit.

Happy September!

lizmonster · Sep 2, 2014

More revisions. :e2woo:

Of course, all the easy bits are done now. :scared:

Well done, osg, lindz, and vagough! :e2cheer:

Ken Hoss · Sep 2, 2014

Nice going everyone! Edits, words added and such.

Didn't get a lot today, and even less yesterday. Struggling already, and not even 10k in to this one. Having a hard time getting into the killers head, it's dark and scary in there. :scared:

Hopefully I'll get it going again.

Good luck and good writing.

Shara · Sep 3, 2014

Wow, September already?

In August I got back to the horror WIP and vowed to finish what WILL be (it will be, I say) the final draft.

So, September goal is to press on with that. I wrote the first part of a new chapter this morning. But I'm now changing my mind about whether this chapter is in the right place, or has the right content.

Still, 876 words written. They might not be good words. I'll have to revisit that later.

Namatu · Sep 3, 2014

August: I finished revisions on one book.

September: Begin revisions of second book and make progress on the WIP.

Got some new words down on the WIP last night. I'm feeling diabolical.

lindz · Sep 3, 2014

Added a scene that I'd decided awhile ago was missing from my first draft. Now I'll need to do some pretty big revisions to get it to fit in properly but the scene was definitely needed. Will probably mean a complete rewrite of chapter 2 and potentially some changes to chapter 3 as well.

So it goes!

916 words for this morning to complete the scene.

Ken Hoss · Sep 3, 2014

Hooray for words, edits and revisions!

Finally got my head around this serial killer and got some words. Not a lot, but added another 545 today. Now I just have to keep this psycho from getting inside my head!

Good luck and good writing!

lizmonster · Sep 3, 2014

Ah, the sticky bits. Got partway through a particularly ugly chunk today, and lost almost 500 words. Whee!

Once I get through this mess, I'm down to one task: chop the daylights out of chapters 5 through 12. And then I may hibernate until spring.

Namatu · Sep 4, 2014

Well done, ladies and gents!

New chapter written last night, but there's something wrong with it. Maybe. I may experiment with a different approach.

asroc · Sep 4, 2014

Wrote some 1,1k words yesterday and today, but it's not very good. Lately I can't seem to get the words to flow. It's all clunky and uninspired. It's pretty disheartening when you finish a scene and already know you need to rework because the writing is so pedestrian.

lindz · Sep 4, 2014

Two sleepless night have made for a fuzzy brain today so the writing didn't happen. I've been planning though!

Crossing fingers for a good sleep tonight so I can make some more progress tomorrow.

lizmonster · Sep 4, 2014

More edits - one small change that cascaded (of course), and some tweaks to some of the physical descriptions.

On deck: Change some of the interjections I'm using, and then a big consolidation push.

I'm almost done, but that last bit could take days.

onesecondglance · Sep 5, 2014

99 words this morning. Must try harder.

Sending out encouragement to everyone!

Salutiferous September 500 words/day--all genres welcome!

Making my own sunshine

pretending to be awake

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

pretending to be awake

Storm Rising A Kelli Storm Novel

Alex

pretending to be awake

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

pretending to be awake

Traveling down the Query Road...

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

Storm Rising A Kelli Storm Novel

Fix it in the Rewrite

Lost in mental space.

Storm Rising A Kelli Storm Novel

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

Lost in mental space.

Alex

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

pretending to be awake