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Agony Aunt
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Today I mostly wrote ... the word count thread.
Anna, I'm totally with Jim and Alicia on this one. If the worst comes to the worst, I can share them as excerpts with my mailing list peps, or, if it ever takes off, my patreon people.
At the very worst you can always start a blog series, "Never write like this" :-)Then gather the blog posts into a really pretentious writer's self-help book with a 1990s management style cover and make your fortune ;-)
1750 words - and another finished scene. The rough draft (very rough - save your words anyway) was a good starting place and a burden. Burden because I always hate changing something I worked hard on years ago, but it is always necessary. Majorly.I was afraid of this one - big turning point being set up for the whole book - but it has just the right nuance - if you haven't been reading the scenes from our pretty little villains' pov all along.
Next one is a WTH doozie.
Nice going Alicia. You're clearly on fire right now! :-) Had a bit of a break through. Worked out how to put seven ebooks into one volume without it looking messy. May not have quite worked out how to do the innards but hopefully they'll work alright.
Fingers crossed. So now the anthology of free first in series is off the mark. I just need to work out a reasonably professional cover design. Hmm ...
M.T. wrote: "Nice going Alicia. You're clearly on fire right now! :-) Had a bit of a break through. Worked out how to put seven ebooks into one volume without it looking messy. May not have quite worked out h..."
Go for it!
I'm with Alicia on this one, go for it :-)
Jim wrote: "At the very worst you can always start a blog series, "Never write like this" :-)Then gather the blog posts into a really pretentious writer's self-help book with a 1990s management style cover an..."
Oh you lot have me laughing and it's too late to be doing that.
Sorry, I've only just seen M.T's and Alicia's. I really can't imagine they'd go in a blog, so boring, ah... maybe I could put them in a 'how to go to sleep' blog.
1,022 words - and another finished scene. Chapter 32 is complete except for a set of headers, a title, and the final selection of epigraphs. Thought I'd never get through it.I credit divine inspiration and not being under threat of death from the coronavirus.
Great, Alicia, absolutely great, and it'll inspire the rest of us.
Title of this chapter is "Mr. and Mrs. Smith?" - does anyone remember that movie, and why it was famous?The headers had to be worked out to make sure the dates and times worked (some of the scenes are in the States, other in the Czech Republic). Eventually they were in proper sequence.
And my favorite epigraph is:
“My client will acknowledge any child he fathers even after taking responsible precautions. However, he will also not be blackmailed. The petitioner must submit to a DNA examination of the child, to be compared with my client’s. He will not have a cloud over his head. And it would not be fair to the putative child.”
Does Roland have a son? Timelines/May 2005
Happy to report another finished scene - I finally managed to write a short one. 800 words even. Must be some kind of spell. Only fans of the villain will really like it. My Ideal Reader should be going Nooooo!
Shamefacedly I come to report that my three writing 'days' this week produced only 1,681 words. All gone over with a fine tooth comb but still an average of just over 500. Groan. The word 'days' was put in inverted commas as they masqueraded as days but really only amounted to about ten hours in total. More groans. Ah... but next week's writing days will be protected with a wall of steel.
I'm trying to work on my 13th book, but I'm averaging about 100 words every other day. It's a very slow start. But my 11th book has just gone online and my 12th is done and is settling until the next edit in June. I'll not beat myself up over my laziness. Too busy looking at holidays. Yeah!
Got a rough ebook onto my Kindle Keyboard, and am listening to it in the robotic American accent. Spotted a couple of actual mistakes that way, plus some bits that are clunky or need rewriting, so have made the changes in the first few chapters.
I don't know what the focus on words is - you do what you can, and don't spend time worrying about things you can't control!The ones I can control are: The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Facebook - I block them all during my writing time, sometimes the whole internet as well.
Funny thing is, if I have any brain at all, buckling down by blocking potential interruptions really works for me: I have to restart my computer to regain access, and it takes a couple of minutes to get back to where I was, so it's not really worth it.
I don't need to block Facebook or Twit or Inst, I don't 'do' them and on writing days I only check my emails during tea breaks, but the family know how to get hold of me! And I have other interests that have to take precedence sometimes. I imagine Jim could say the same if you're still farming, Jim? Probably everyone does! I can't say I envy professional full-time writers but maybe next week, I'll manage to be more like them and do more than 10 hours over 3 days! Oh Alicia, you make me feel a little bad because one of my downfalls is I do love to read my newspaper every day - except today it hasn't been delivered! Yet. I can hope.
Anna wrote: "I don't need to block Facebook or Twit or Inst, I don't 'do' them and on writing days I only check my emails during tea breaks, but the family know how to get hold of me! And I have other interests..."I'm not as full time as I was but I'm still putting in a fair chunk of time :-)
But yes, the problem is that I came to the conclusion that I cannot have 'writing days' because stuff happens, so I just fit stuff in when I can :-)
Things are ramping up with Mum but I did manage to get a few words in this week. What I have to cover now is the gap between what I feel like writing and what I should write. I need to get three or four extras backed up quick smart as I suspect things are about to go severely pair shaped.
Thank you my lovelies. Much appreciated. 🧡
Sending (virtually and appropriately socially distanced) hugs Mary. Chin up!
Thanks for the hugs folks. Much appreciated.
887 words - and another finished one is down the hatch! The next one will be longer, probably, as it has a lot to do, but a couple of short ones is moving things right along.I post now because I am doing more writing. During the worst of the pandemic and the politics, putting fiction on paper seemed pointless.
You're on a roll, Alicia!Thinking of you M.T.
My diary has this Tuesday down as a writing day. The Universe has this down as a 'send Anna some interruptions' day. Today's began with an unscheduled call from the roofers to discuss scaffolding etc. One hour later, I didn't feel like settling back into history. After lunch, I did my stomp. Then followed a short burst of writing, then another two hour interruption after which I needed a cup of tea.
A total of about 500 words is all I managed.
Tomorrow is another day.
And today the electrician turned up unannounced and the window cleaner came.However, 2,029 words written and reviewed over Tues and Wednesday so I feel I can face you all as a working member of this band of brothers (suppose I'd better add 'sisters' too).
Anna wrote: "My diary has this Tuesday down as a writing day. The Universe has this down as a 'send Anna some interruptions' day. Today's began with an unschedul..."500 words is a good writing day - with all those interruptions! SO much better than none.
Somehow, in spite of FIVE naps and the morning lost to a doctor's appointment in a nearby city, I managed 332. Not deathless prose, not polished yet, but starting a scene somewhere, and getting it going is always a big step for me - after all the material-gathering.
It often looks better in the light of day than I thought when I wrote it, but continuing seems always easier than starting a scene. I think that's fairly typical.
I'm still on the rewrite of my Truth About Trees book. Realised when just over half way through exactly what it's all about so have changed the ending accordingly. Crazy lark this writing gig!
That's a great feeling. If we knew exactly how it all worked, it wouldn't be creative.
Absolutely Alicia. Nothing else like it that I know of!
Yay for all of you. Things are going badly here but hopefully, I can sort it out and get going again soon.
And on my next writing day, another builder turned up to go over all the things that need doing. One hour + one cuppa tea destressor, + nice family matters equals a pretty poor show at writing. Plus I tried to do some marketing - huh!Thinking of all those above battling away regardless and with much worse matters than the odd builder or so to sort out.
Finally sat down at the computer after a few days away and produced a blog post.I always try and get a few photos and a story or two to go with them when I'm on my travels :-)
Anna, if it's any consolation, I've had to ditch writing to attend to some of the stuff that's getting in the way and also to do stuff that isn't trying to write, because the well is dry and I need to leave it alone and give it time to refill! :-) Nice going Jim.
M.T. wrote: "Anna, if it's any consolation, I've had to ditch writing to attend to some of the stuff that's getting in the way and also to do stuff that isn't trying to write, because the well is dry and I need...""The well is dry" - I ask for you drops of the water of life to fill it to overflowing.
Jim wrote: "Finally sat down at the computer after a few days away and produced a blog post.I always try and get a few photos and a story or two to go with them when I'm on my travels :-)"
Your blog is brilliant, full of interest, and good sense thrown in too!
Anna wrote: "Your blog is brilliant, full of interest, and good sense thrown in too!..."
Glad you enjoy it. I'm about to launch another collection of the stories from it :-)
Excellent news Jim. I think I'm getting close to what kind of book Space Dustmen is going to be. I like the idea of shorter, but still novel length, serials with an adventure in each one and possibly an over-arching story arc - although that means I can't string it out if it goes well so I'll have to have a think about that. Feeling a lot less meh today. There has been a hormonal shift!
Go, go, go, both of you. I'll try and keep up!
Anna wrote: "Go, go, go, both of you. I'll try and keep up!"I do cheat, publishing collected blog posts :-)
M.T. wrote: "Excellent news Jim. I think I'm getting close to what kind of book Space Dustmen is going to be. I like the idea of shorter, but still novel length, serials with an adventure in each one and possib..."I have always liked the 'collection' idea where you can read stories in any order.
I bet you could do your 'over arching story arc' with a collection but have the First and Last fixed and the ones in between in any order.
Also I think that you could get away with variable 'novel' length from 30,000 to 100,000 words in the arc. Perhaps a novel at each end and novellas in the middle. :-)
That way you could keep the collection growing with short handy works, even as you work on the novels that will punctuate the arc
After more than a week of physical problems, including the antibiotic I hope cleared them up, I finished, polished, edited, and declared done the next scene - 1863 words. And the last we hear from this character until some momentous occurrences.Phew! When my brain is fogged, the output is nil. When the brain is on, I try not to waste it on anything else. But it can be exhausting to fight.
Happily into the next scene - my process is to never leave something at an end point. So much easier to continue than to start.
Hope everyone is ticking along with their manuscripts or other writerly activities. Have been making some progress lately, getting my Kindle Keyboard to read chapters aloud while I make notes and then making the changes to the book. Plus updating chapters of another book in readiness for the next round of my online crit group circulation.
Grrr. On antibiotics - in fact the second one. Brain absolutely refuses to function in such conditions. 5 days for the first + 7 for the second, plus all the rest of the involved brainless days.I was on a good roll, too.
I'm editing stuff. The only thing I've written was yesterday's blog post for Tallis Steelyard
Better than I'm managing - my brain is mush from the antibiotics. Who knew they would do that.
Well done everyone, Alicia, my brain is mush too although I'm hoping I'm getting to the end of it now. It's a monthly thing so I know I'll be able to start writing again the minute my boobs stop aching. Sorry if that's TFI everyone.
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Ack! Don't discard necessarily, but save the ones that might have further life, even as an example in a blog post!"
Absolutely, never throw words away!