Oneiric October - 500 words a day, all genres welcome!

Ken - sounds cool! It's weird but most of the stories for my 1920s Czech detective came from dreams. Usually when I dream a story it sounds amazing in the dream then I wake up and realise how terrible it is!

Book or Die is still going. I've actually started two projects now. One is now up to 2,036 words and the one I started yesterday is up to 1,240.

And I thought I was pretty fast.

I didn't post yesterday but I did write, just over ~800 for the day. A little short but I did go to bed and consequently wake up early, hence my posting at such an obscene hour. I've already been at it a little bit today.

10/5 1,540
10/6 1,293

Keep on writing!

Well, put my other WIP on the backburner while working on this new one, which I still haven't figured out exactly what genre it belongs in. Not sure if it's a thriller, though I suppose it could be a military thriller. Not sure how many words I added today, but it's now at 470. Stuck right now, need to locate an original ad from the 1975 edition of SOF for mercs to use as an example. Until then, I suppose I could just block a section and keep moving.

Oh, and my friend, Patti Roberts already did a cover for me! No pressure. Below is the Kindle cover. Pretty cool, and it's an early Christmas present!




Also have the first part posted in SYW MT/S if you want to take a look.


ETA: Did some edits, thanks to feedback from a former Marine, and added 8 new words. Oh well, words is words and it is better.

Nice cover!

1493 today, give or take a few. I could keep going but I decided to stop for the day.

I know it's not all about the word count but I decided to recalculate to make sure I'm on track to finish by the end of the year and...I'm actually kind of ahead. I thought I'd need around 1k per day but I'll do fine with 600-800, depending on how long it ends up. Going to aim for an 800 average for now. Maybe I'll get some holidays after all.

DragonHeart said:

Nice cover!

Click to expand...

Thanks, I owe it all to my good friend Patti Roberts at Paradox Book Covers.

Ken Hoss said:

...need to locate an original ad from the 1975 edition of SOF for mercs to use as an example. Until then, I suppose I could just block a section and keep moving.

Click to expand...

Love the cover.

And yes, just block the section and keep going, especially if the rest of the words are flowing.

I'm a member at a shooting forum, and several people there are likely to have old issues of SOF. I've posted there to see if anyone could scan a few pages and email them to me.

Absolutely nothing tonight. I did get notes back from my agent though. Small ones this time...except for one little tiny thing that crossed my mind the last time I was doing edits, but ignored because I figured "meh - who's going to notice?"

I should know better by now, shouldn't I?

Gorgeous cover, Ken!

My goal for October is to actually get some writing done. September was not a good month writing-wise.
I'm hoping to finish the first draft of my Jack Miller novel, a project that's been on the go for thirteen months now.

I'm still working on the horror WIP, and my goal is to finish the current draft - which I hope will be the final one - this month. Which I acknowledge might be a tad ambitious.

Amended a couple more chapters this morning, but I discovered one of the earlier chapters was in the wrong place. And of course moving it meant minor changes to other chapters.

Awesome cover, Ken!

711 words last night. Felt like pulling teeth. It's the inevitable slow-down before the end.

Saoirse said:

Awesome cover, Ken!

711 words last night. Felt like pulling teeth. It's the inevitable slow-down before the end.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Saoirse. On a side note, I may have to scrap the what I have, but that's not a terrible thing since I'm less than a thousand words in. Got some good feedback and it seems the beginning I have is a bit too cliché and doesn't really grab the reader. Cest' la vie. The good side is, I think I know how to punch it into high gear and grab the reader by the collar and pull them in.

1,966 yesterday. Things are starting to get exciting!

Had to scrap everything on the new WIP and start from scratch. Cest' la vie. The good news is I got 548 new words and I think it's a lot better beginning. Posted the new start in SYW MT/S. Also posting a few lines in LOD. *shameless plug*

AWesome wordage, cmhbob!

Bravo for you for starting over, Ken. I have chapters I've written seven times before getting them right. I don't believe the earlier iterations are ever wasted - they help your brain work out how the story needs to go.

Made all of my corrections, apart from the Horrible Cascading Timeline Thing, which I will worry about tomorrow. (Tomorrow is another day!) Down 274 words.

Well done, Team October!

Only 454 today. I woke up 2 hours late and it was pretty much downhill from there. Still, better than nothing. I'll just have to work harder tomorrow to make up for it.

ETA: Wow, I was in the zone this morning. Just cranked out 1,272 in about 45 minutes. It's amazing how the story just falls into place. I don't even outline or anything, I just go with the flow. It's a good thing too since sadly I have to stop already to take care of annoying mundane things. But if I can swing it I might get another hour in after lunch.

I've also hit a milestone: writing every day for 7 days straight. Normally I'm sporadic at best but I've been really pushing myself to do this. I'm even keeping an overall average of 1k a day, which is a good bit over my 600-800 'sweet spot' for production.

DragonHeart, huge props for hitting that milestone! It's a great feeling when you're able to hit something like that, especially on a consistent basis!

I only made 359 yesterday. It's a slow point between tense/action scenes, and those always drag for me.

Made my Stupid Timeline Changes, and tried to figure out how to format the @#$%! MS properly. Will give it a quick skim tomorrow, and then send it on its way.

Fabulous progress, everyone!

Big 0 today on the new WIP. Still out of work and running real low on funds, and it's not like I'm selling tons of books, so had to go to the Unemployment Office to see a Veterans counselor about job search assistance. Got some good leads and good advice. Fingers crossed I get something real soon. On a brighter note, I do have a phone interview in the morning for a position. Once I get past that, then it's a face to face. Just don't know how quick they'll move to bring me on once it's all done, but hopefully it will be really quick. Fingers crossed.

I just sent off the maybe, possibly, could-be-you never-know final version of the MS to my agent. Don't know if I should be relieved or terrified. (In fairness, it'll probably come back for edits AGAIN.)

Best of luck, Ken! They will be lucky to have you.

Well done on the morning words, osg!

Only 61 today. But it's still something; I was this close to putting down a 0 for the day.

Thanks, Liz, and good luck with your final revision.

No luck on the job front, and I may have flubbed the phone interview. Haven't had an interview in over 2 years, and I guess I was a little nervous. *sigh* Fingers crossed I get something soon.

Despite the situation, I got a few words today. 181 new, so far. Think that makes the chapter. Hope to get more in today.

ETA: Got another 293, and it wasn't the end of the chapter! Still have more on this one. So far it's at 1,023 words, which is the total WC on the WIP. What a coincidence.