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What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?

71writer

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I currently have 3 ideas that I am working on.
1. I have a YA suspense that I am in the process of writing the first draft.
2. I have an adult suspense that I am also in the process of writing the first draft.
3. I am currently working on an adult time slip and am doing my notes and research for it.
Also, my goals right now are to write 500 words a day (need to get on that!), to study the craft daily and to finish one of my novels first drafts by December.
In studying the craft daily I am doing it this way: On Mondays & Fridays I study other published authors websites for tips on writing. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I work on grammar and punctuation in that I found a website where I can study it for free. On Wednesdays I study marketing.
 

AndreaGS

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I finally made the last tweaks to my novel last night. Just awaiting beta reader feedback. I committed to sending it out at the end of the month, and I've got word count on my mind.

Started at 153K, cut to 140K, and based on some initial feedback, ended up having to add things back in - so it's at 145K. WriteMinded, I feel your pain.

Really wanted this to end up at ~120K. :Shrug:
 

plumsink

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I am working on the concluding book of the Saejenjou fantasy, but my head is in a totally different novel I plan to write after. The planned novel is set in a surrealistic version of the 1950's, so I steal moments from my typing this book to research Fifties stuff. :p
 

DragonHeart

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I just realized after cobbling all the chapters together into one document that I recently surpassed 10k on my current project. It's amazing how easily it's all falling into place, too. I have a lot of non-writing responsibilities right now but I think I'm going to try ramping up the pace cause I'd really like to finish this before the end of the year. Even though it's already in progress, maybe a NaNo candidate. Hmm.
 

itsaplane

all the feels, ALL OF THEM
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Sitting here wondering if this book is even worth finishing, or another one for the mush pile. haha.
 

Roxxsmom

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I'm wondering how I'll "know" my novel is as polished as it reasonably can be for querying purposes.

Also wondering how to get motivated to get cracking on a different novel I've been thinking about (involving different characters) rather than jumping right into a sequel for the first one (which obviously couldn't sell unless the first one does, so it would be foolish to put all my creative eggs in that basket no matter how attached to it I am to it).
 

ArachnePhobia

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Also wondering how to get motivated to get cracking on a different novel I've been thinking about (involving different characters) rather than jumping right into a sequel for the first one (which obviously couldn't sell unless the first one does, so it would be foolish to put all my creative eggs in that basket no matter how attached to it I am to it).

Here's what worked for me when I went right into the sequel after finishing one of my books. Sure, I'd heard that it's not a good idea to write the sequel when you're not sure you're going to sell the first, but there are other novels I've written and haven't sold (and have no plans to ever try to sell), and didn't see how a possibly-unnecessary sequel was any different. Then someone pointed out something I hadn't thought of:

"What if you do sell the first one? It's going to go through editing and you may have to cut and change stuff and the sequel won't make sense anymore and you'll have to totally rewrite it."

After my initial reaction of, "D'oh," I stuck the sequel's notes and the three chapters I'd finished somewhere safe and started something unrelated.

On my mind: refurbish query for last novel and still make daily word quota for next novel. Playing over and over like a skipping record.
 
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EvilPenguin

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I just had two people that are very close to me finish my novel and give me feedback. They both know what good writing is and gave me a ton of feedback. Unfortunately, the only good feedback I got was my story idea was good/well-thought out and my dialogue was written well but pretty much everything else needed work: My characterization, my sentence structure, my detail.
I knew I needed to hear it so that I can improve it but I've spent the past two days since hearing it in a state of depression over my writing... I've gone from worrying how I can fix all the errors, to wondering if it's even worth it to bother....
 

kkbe

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My latest is out there, being read. I hope. Waiting. I keep going back to it and kicking myself, thinking damn, that sucks. I come back to it later and think, Not bad, not really. Is it? Vacillation is killing me, as is the waiting. Second-guessing is a close second. Meanwhile, I've been trying to post on threads like this, expanding my horizons, trying to post something of interest and/or relevant, and critting to keep my mind off my latest whilst giving back something to aye-dub; trying to be helpful and second guessing how well I'm doing that. . .

Gah.
 

Mark Moore

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I've got two new short stories going. Whenever I feel like it, I'll also take an old story that I'd written over a decade ago, polish it up, and self-publish it.
 

Undercover

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I'm waiting to hear feedback on two novels. It's been months of wait. I started another and got up to 35K but stopped all of a sudden. Hopefully I'll come back to it.
 

frankiebrown

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WOOOOOOO! I'm almost to 11k words on the rewrite of my WIP and I'm completely happy with the outline!
 

Roxxsmom

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"What if you do sell the first one? It's going to go through editing and you may have to cut and change stuff and the sequel won't make sense anymore and you'll have to totally rewrite it."

After my initial reaction of, "D'oh," I stuck the sequel's notes and the three chapters I'd finished somewhere safe and started something unrelated.

Which is yet another reason I'm really trying to get motivated to write something different. It's hard falling in love with a new set of characters, though, when I'm still in invested so heavily on my first ones.

Another thing that's on my mind is writing a basic 2-3 page plot synopsis without falling into the pits of despair because it sounds too much like a "and then this happened, and then this happened" booooring monologue. And of course figuring out how to expand and contract said basic synopsis for different agents who may want longer or shorter versions.
 

Ellielle

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Trying to finish the seventh draft of my current project before November, because leaving it incomplete is bothering me, while also wondering if it's the utter garbage that I think it is at this point.

But excited for nano! I'm also finishing prep work for that. I'm looking forward to a new project for a whole month where I will just focus on writing and not on editing/query letters/ohmygodshouldIeventrytopublishthiscrap?.
 

lhuds21

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Trying to finish the third chapter of my new WIP.
 

chicgeek

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I'm all over the place! Making progress in fits and starts on my WIP, gearing up for NaNoWriMo (gonna be a rebel and put that 50k toward my WIP), writing an extensive character bio for a cyberpunk/horror themed tabletop game that my friends and I just dived into... and well, going through the motions of getting my own private editing/critique service up and running.

Lots of stuff, but all of it's good.
 

Coco82

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I'm working on a future history novel and after a long stretch of writer's block I'm going strong now. I do at least 500 words a day (at about 27K out of 100k) and am really excited about it.
 

Melanie Dawn

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I have this weird thing I do. I KNOW I have a project i SHOULD be working on, and that always lingers in the back of my mind. But, usually, when I am drifting off to sleep, my mind starts racing and plot points, ideas, etc come into view, and whole ideas will come together. I usually think I will remember in the morning, but i rarely do. My wife tells me to get up, go write down what's on my mind and come back to bed! She always wants me to be creative, but she doesn't like to go to bed without me. She understands once she's sleeping, I may get up and write lol.
 

runningfree

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Hummm.....

Wanting to start writing two different novels but feeling like they are WAY out of my league....but I REALLY want to write them.

And feeling antsy about starting two long novel projects 'cause I have no attention span recently.

Wondering why I can't just glue my butt to the chair and puke out what I have in my head already. Why must I find every excuse in the book to NOT write?! *huff*
 

VeronicaX

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Hummm.....

Wanting to start writing two different novels but feeling like they are WAY out of my league....but I REALLY want to write them.

And feeling antsy about starting two long novel projects 'cause I have no attention span recently.

Wondering why I can't just glue my butt to the chair and puke out what I have in my head already. Why must I find every excuse in the book to NOT write?! *huff*

I'm exactly like that--too often.
 

DarkSongofErrin

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Trying to will myself to start going over my first two chapters rather than moving to the third
 

RemiJ

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This song comes to mind when I think about my book.

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother what will I be
Will I be pretty?
Will I be rich?
Here's what she said to me

Que sera sera
Whatever will be will be
The future's not ours to see
Que sera sera