Today I mostly wrote ... the word count thread. Showing 2,801-2,850 of 4,252

[Alicia]

M.T. wrote: "Jim is right. My usual method would be to make a list of bullet points. Check my watch as I started talking, and then stop when seven minutes are up. But I feel I need to be slightly more organised..."

You know whatever you say will be enough. And good. As your words were about your dad while he was still with us - I wish I had known him.

[Kath]

672. Not a lot but better than a smack in the belly with a wet fish, as they say round here. Gets me to the end of a chapter, anyway.

[Alicia]

It would be easier if I got regular sleep, but I'm still oscillating - and got to sleep at 6am last night/this morning.

[Jim]

Kath wrote: "As a once-church-organist so has Kath!"

are there no limits to your talents!

[Rita]

Just starting my day here in Australia and hoping to finish the first draft of my next book.

[Jim]

Hi Rita
I've been busy for the last could of weeks putting together stories for a blog tour for the next release.

[Kath]

Jim wrote: "Kath wrote: "As a once-church-organist so has Kath!"

are there no limits to your talents!"

Can't drive. Not even a quadbike with a border collie co-pilot.

[Kath]

Only 302 words today. I'm revising this bit.

[M.T.]

I think I've done the Eulogy ... but it's a full 15 minutes. My brothers will probably be longer. It isn't as tight or as pointy as my usual stuff, I just can't seem to get it right, but reading it made me giggle so it'll probably do.

Cheers

MTM

[Jim]

Kath wrote: "Jim wrote: "Kath wrote: "As a once-church-organist so has Kath!"

are there no limits to your talents!"

Can't drive. Not even a quadbike with a border collie co-pilot."

just let the border collie drive :-)

[Jim]

M.T. wrote: "I think I've done the Eulogy ... but it's a full 15 minutes. My brothers will probably be longer. It isn't as tight or as pointy as my usual stuff, I just can't seem to get it right, but reading it..."

It will
And don't worry if you find yourself tearing up, getting emotional or tongue tied

[Kath]

382. Working my way slowly through until I get to the bit where I need to pick up the baton and start running again.

[M.T.]

On the brink of writing more, only a few bits and bobs to do on the telling bodies about Dad’s death thing. Also it’s sunny and I’m sitting out in the sun with the cat, typing this. There’s a very annoyed dunnock on the fence who wants catticus batticus to go indoors.

The funeral went OK. In fact it went incredibly well. It was wonderful and cathartic and if Dad was watching, I hope he enjoyed it. McMini brought the house down by standing up to read his payer and opening with, ‘oooh I’d better be quick I need a wee.’

I will be writing some stuff soon.

Cheers

MTM

[Alicia]

Glad it went well, MT. Hugs.

[Darren]

M.T. wrote: "I will be writing some stuff soon."

And that is one more step back to some sort of normality (if writers can ever be called normal).

[M.T.]

Darren wrote: "M.T. wrote: "I will be writing some stuff soon."

And that is one more step back to some sort of normality (if writers can ever be called normal)."

Bless you thanks me duck!

Alicia wrote: "Glad it went well, MT. Hugs."
Thanks me other duck.

Have done stacks on my auto responder for the mailing list, mainly because a couple of folks have joined so I need to be a couple of months ahead!

[Alicia]

Wrote 357 new polished words to start the next scene yesterday, and am still hoping to get into it today.

Our weather is topsy-turvy: California has low humidity, so every night the temperature drops, and every day it starts low, peaks when the sun has been shining all day, and drops slowly in the evening, and more precipitously overnight.

Which means that when it is over 100°F, it is best to ride a bike in the morning, and to swim in the late afternoon when the pool starts to be shadowed by the buildings.

The first, however, interferes with writing; the second, with the dinner hour which is the main social event of the day.

Haven't found a consistent solution yet, but I'm hoping for an early ride, some writing, and either swimming before dinner or after. Or instead of, some days. I think we're getting there. Slowly. I'm arranging to possibly buy another, older resident's adult trike - so I don't have to spend so much energy getting it ready to ride. The facility's trike is a real pain to sign out and extract from the underground garage - either pushing uphill or wrestling the awkward thing into an almost-too-small lift.

What I really want to do is write; the body needs maintenance, though.

[M.T.]

I hear you. I sometimes resent the time I have to spend at the gym. On the up side, I’ve done a butt load of forms today for Dad so hopefully we’re getting through that.

Cheers

MTM

[Alicia]

The worst part is educating each new doctor that the meaning of ME/CFS is that if you push your energy envelope, which is mostly empty, you will crash for days. And it's non-negotiable.

But go a couple hundred new words down today, and I've realized why this one is hard - it's a major scene on a Bollywood movie, and there is a lot going on. All of which has to be choreographed.

[M.T.]

Woot. Back in the saddle. Today I wrote an enormous blog post and I have a scene that’s burning a hole in my brain for the incredibly long K’Barthan book.

Cheers

MTM

[M.T.]

Alicia wrote: "The worst part is educating each new doctor that the meaning of ME/CFS is that if you push your energy envelope, which is mostly empty, you will crash for days. And it's non-negotiable.

But go a c..."

Wow! You’ve made it complicated for yourself then.

[Alicia]

I get myself into these scenes - TV talk show, filming a Revolutionary War battle, tackling an American/Indian co-production in Uttar Pradesh, because the plot needs them.

I have clear goals, know the cast of thousands, and want to let the reader load it into memory easily. It's work! But they are necessary for pace, and I like having written them.

[Will]

For some reason, I lost all my update feeds which is annoying. But I've been putting effort into organising marketing recently, rather than writing. I can't seem to do both at once.

[Kath]

649 words on the WIP and over a thousand to a bloke I've beta read for.

WIP is coming along nicely.

[M.T.]

Too shagged to write anything this week. Have to do three workshops at McMini’s school and a trip to Sussex - there’s still one parent. ;-) Should get another blog post done though.

[Alicia]

Give your mum an extra hug from me. This is very hard on all of you.

[Alicia]

Kath wrote: "649 words on the WIP and over a thousand to a bloke I've beta read for.

WIP is coming along nicely."

Yay, Kath.

[Kath]

1234 words today. Nice non-round number! I'm sneaking up on the end of the first draft.

[Will]

No real word count as I've been messing about with my website instead, to clean it up and add some doggy pictures.

Who doesn't want to see a doggy pic on a writer's website?

[Kath]

Better than dodgy pictures...

[Jud]

Or dogging pictures

[Will]

Clearly I've had a very sheltered life.

[Jim]

I've spent last week and this week on the move! I'm struggling to finish a Tallis Steelyard blog post, because things have been somewhat hectic

[Darren]

I finished off my current short last night and I like the way it turned out.

I need at least another one before I have enough for a full collection, but don't have any ideas at present, so it's back to one of the several works in progress.

[Leslie]

I don't bother to count words until the story is finished - what is the point of counting 1000 words as if it means something, when later on it is edited/rewitten down to 750?
Yesterday I was rewriting the penultimate chapter of the tale I'm working on right now - this chapter has to be right as this is what the tale has been leading to, so it is slow going.
Other than that, we are planning a trip to The Orkney Islands which I hope will be fun - lots of ancient standing stone circles, burial mounds and prehistoric towns.

[Alicia]

I don't count words in a scene/chapter until they're locked down, but I work a scene at a time to finished, so the number is pretty steady at that point.

It's as long as it needs to be, but 'hours in chair' is even more vague than words.

[Darren]

I agree, any book or story should be just as long, or as short, as it needs to be. It's a good way of making sure that you write, though. Set yourself a target and it may motivate you. If only half of what you write is worth the reading then you're doing well. Better than well.

[Alicia]

I'm a compulsive editor. I can't be motivated - chronic illness doesn't give me that choice. I write when the brain comes on enough to do so, and, believe me, I don't waste that feeling.

I spend hours a day at the computer, with the internet blocked, and do what I can.

[Kath]

1052 today - and the last two were THE END!

Now the work starts...

[Alicia]

Congratulations on the milestone, Kath. Woohoo!

[M.T.]

Yay Kath for finishing.
Darren, fist bump to fellow writer doing shorts. I have no idea how you do a job, write and do the single Dad thing. You are fucking awesome.
Ditto Alicia, keep on trucking.
Leslie, stone circles sound cool! I can imagine planning an itinerary is almost as fun as visiting.
Will, I’ve been writing auto responders so I sympathise.

As for my sorry lot, nothing much, but I have so many letters to write ... oh god my mother writes so many letters and now she can’t I have to. I have about 20k to do and then I’m done ... on the letters that is. Have made some good inroads on the forms so hopefully most of those are done too. Life is just over the brow of the hill ... just have to get planning permission to build on my parents’ garden so that I can get the biggest endowment mortgage possible on the house to keep Mum in care fees. Rolls eyes because that’ll take for fucking ever! And then I’m done.

Cheers

MTM

[M.T.]

BTW if any of you are interested, I have a book free to download, no strings, new material, until 1st July. You can get it here.

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/bpk5o5obux

Cheers

MTM

[M.T.]

Alicia wrote: "I get myself into these scenes - TV talk show, filming a Revolutionary War battle, tackling an American/Indian co-production in Uttar Pradesh, because the plot needs them.

I have clear goals, know..."

One of the problems for intelligent people writing books is that they get really complicated! :-)

[Darren]

I don't do complicated. It's too complicated.

And MT, as for how I do all that juggling, look at what you're juggling right now.

We are all awesome.

[M.T.]

Darren wrote: "I don't do complicated. It's too complicated.

And MT, as for how I do all that juggling, look at what you're juggling right now.

We are all awesome."

Well I guess complicated is relative, yours are complicated enough for me. ;-)

And yeh, we chuffing rock! Mwahahahrgh!

[Alicia]

M.T. wrote: "Alicia wrote: "I get myself into these scenes - TV talk show, filming a Revolutionary War battle, tackling an American/Indian co-production in Uttar Pradesh, because the plot needs them.

I have cl..."

I just forget that some scenes end up costing me a lot of time for choreography, and that's where this one will end up.

On the other hand, though, when they are finished I marvel that I was able to make something that complicated actually work on the page. Those scenes end up some of my favorites.

[M.T.]

Yeh, I hear you. When my books come back from the editor I look at them and think ... Did I write this? How?

[Darren]

M.T. wrote: "Yeh, I hear you. When my books come back from the editor I look at them and think ... Did I write this? How?"

I tend to look at my books and think… Did I write these? Why?

[Alicia]

I am doing something I think will help get me restarted: I made a clean pdf of the beginning of Book 2, and I'm reading it to get everything back in my head - it's been such a fractured year or so that I was starting to question my own sanity as a writer.

It is fine (found a few small bobbles); I should be able to pick up from here.

It's going to be another fat volume - and I don't pad.

[Bernie]

My diary, that I do every day anyway, so my bad. But I also write quizzes for my local social club of pensioners. They do love these and it helps to keep their brains in gear. They are all keen on 'using it or losing it'. Some day, when I get time, I will put all of these quizzes into a book. Yeah, right.