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Agony Aunt
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Today I mostly wrote ... the word count thread.
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Anna
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Oct 29, 2021 01:08AM
Scaffolders are here at the moment and I cannot concentrate on writing! So I'm saying 'hello' instead. Alicia, this is the third attempt to stop the leaks so you see why it's dominating my mind.
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Water is a huge problem when it gets where it doesn't belong. Things are destroyed by being soaked, mold gets in, and it is never quite the same if a smell gets started. Hope you have your leaks stopped! I used to panic when there was an inch of water on the basement floor before we moved.
Hello everyone, glad to see you have all been busy beavering away while I was off grid. The man from Porelock visits me in many guises too. I managed about 7k in Portugal, which is nice, and wrote a 4k blog post today. Note to self, maybe I should not have a gap in blogging so I can keep the posts down to less than novel length. On the up side I did enjoy writing it. Now I'd better go and write some proper stuff!
Jim wrote: "your blogs are fun :-)"Glad you enjoyed it it was fun writing that one. 🙂👍
Yay howzit? A girl from my writers’ Group and I have been doing NanoWriMo, which is that thing when you try and write 50k words over the course of November. I’m never going to hit 50k but I’m hoping I might make 35k. So far, except for Wednesday, I’ve managed to average 1000 words a day, although I need to average 1500 if I’m going to hit the 50k. Today I’ve managed 200 so far, then I got this lovely fan letter and now I’ll probably use my words replying to that.
Replying to a fan letter is totally worth it :-)
I missed her main question so I had to reply again. She’ll be taking out a restraining order next.
M.T. wrote: "I missed her main question so I had to reply again. She’ll be taking out a restraining order next."Don't worry, you'll get a novel out of it :-)
Fans are the most wonderful of things!
Fans are ace ... I am amazed and humbled that I have any to be honest. It's really fantastic. After doing 2k yesterday it's 200 today but I did write a blog post!
Here it is. https://mtmcguire.co.uk/2021/11/07/yes/
Nano total is up to just over 12k. Dead chuffed with that. I wrote 3.4k on Monday but managed another 800 or so today and yesterday.
Somehow created 345 words out of thin air last night because I was determined not to go to bed without writing SOMETHING (these are the actual fiction words, not the thousands of research bits).Then today blocked the internet, rolled all that research out into the first finished scene (around 1500) since I went to Boulder for our son's wedding party and I think I left my brain there (three weeks now, with some other paperwork bits I HAD to do tucked in there).
What I don't get is that it saunters back into the office, sits, demands attention - and produces what it usually does, something that can be worked into something better without too much grief - and pretends it's been there all along. While I thought it was permanently lost.
Now for the close work, and another one's down the hatch. I even prevented myself from using most of that research - I just had to do it to know what I was doing. The reader doesn't.
And of all the odd things, today (which helped) I'm on the Virology Blog waffling on about my 'process' for working with no brain.https://www.virology.ws/2021/11/10/tr...
Love that post Alicia. I’m in awe of anyone who can write while contending with illness like that. It was hard enough for me with menopausal brain fog and what I think was, mostly, the effects of chronic pain. Right off to see if I can do some more words this morning.
Alicia wrote: "And of all the odd things, today (which helped) I'm on the Virology Blog waffling on about my 'process' for working with no brain.https://www.virology.ws/2021/11/10/tr......"
Just looked at the blog and it really does help to know what you have to battle through. Keep going, gal, we love you for it.
I never know how much to mention it, but sometimes it gets to me - and, of course, I have to battle it every day.I'm hoping some of it, especially the fiction, helps the long covid people - because it will take time before there's substantial fiction created by the newly ill, and it is similar enough that I hope they will notice, subliminally:
that resting is essential (and not wimpy),
that learning their limits and staying within them (pacing) helps,
and that they may face a lot of ignorance, but it's not about them.
I've read credible research that shows that each flare/crash is followed by a lower level of functionality, so it's important to get the idea that 'exercise does not cure everything' across before some of these new people have done irreversible damage.
And of course we all want proper diagnosis, treatment, and preferably cure asap. Even if it's too late for me, I don't want this gigantic cohort of newbies to stay sick - imagine what it's going to do to the world economy!
--End soapbox--
Good point Alicia, about the economy and the hosts of people who may end up suffering this. It’s hard to be patient, too so I can imagine people do try to exercise it off and do damage. Loved the article, too.Wrote some yesterday, just going to write some more now.
Yay, I’ve finally hit 20k on Nano. Did 2,424 words today, after a very slow start and a lot of interruptions it all came together in about an hour and a half this afternoon. I probably wrote more in real terms because I had a whole load of notes at the bottom of the page and I deleted them.
M.T. wrote: "Good point Alicia, about the economy and the hosts of people who may end up suffering this. It’s hard to be patient, too so I can imagine people do try to exercise it off and do damage. Loved the a..."Not only that, but a huge number of people are going from useful (to the economy) relatively healthy working people - to people needing health services, and for the long-covid ones, services for the rest of their lives (like me - unless all the research does something, and I benefit). Once you lose a limb (metaphorically), it doesn't grow back, regardless how good the prostheses.
Good for you on the writing - progress!
M.T. wrote: "Yay, I’ve finally hit 20k on Nano. Did 2,424 words today, after a very slow start and a lot of interruptions it all came together in about an hour and a half this afternoon. I probably wrote more i..."Well done MT. I'm doing NaNo but as a "rebel" as I'm editing instead and using the formula they used to post on there (not sure if it's still there since the website totally changed) of one hour equals 1K words
Pam wrote: "M.T. wrote: "Yay, I’ve finally hit 20k on Nano. Did 2,424 words today, after a very slow start and a lot of interruptions it all came together in about an hour and a half this afternoon. I probably..."Well done Pam.
This month writing-wise has been quite hard, I have indulged myself and let a bunch of other stuff drop in order to give NaNo a go. Yesterday, I finally caught up so I am, frankly stoked. Today, I only have to do 1.6k to keep on track and I’ve been doing 2 regularly for the past couple of weeks. I also have two scenes which I know I have to write. It should be doable - watch me not write 100 words now! Mwahahahrgh.
How’s it going for you all?
I'm glad you're writing. I'm glad you're succeeding. Must feel great.I think I tried it once, back in my writer salad days (when I was young and green - as a writer - if that's an American idiom). Failed even then.
I write lots of words every day, even on bad days, but the only ones I count are finished fiction words - and I admire people helped by deadlines, but can't join you. Deadlines make me go la la la la and stick my fingers in my ears.
M.T. wrote: "Alicia, glad you had a good meal..."The bigger surprise is that I'm getting a lot of pre-writing done. I've decided that the slog to the end would be a lot easier with a detailed written roadmap of every thread I could think of, including threads that end in this middle book of my trilogy - and the ones that will be continuing into Book 3.
Smaller bites, lots of bits of dialogue, etc., written as I go - a mini version of my usual, but for the last 20 scenes as a whole, instead of tackling each individually.
I'm even using the Scrivener index card feature - just as I might have done paper ones, but tidier, easier to change, and searchable. Turns out what you write on the cards goes in the synopsis box for each Scrivener text file (use the Inspector to see it), so I can use it in parallel with the other 'stuff' I have. Handy.
M.T. wrote: "Pam wrote: "M.T. wrote: "Yay, I’ve finally hit 20k on Nano. Did 2,424 words today, after a very slow start and a lot of interruptions it all came together in about an hour and a half this afternoon..."For some reason NaNo has gone so much better this year, maybe because I made a real effort to do something every day even if I could only manage 30 mins of editing. I've done way more than usual - I have "won" it every year apart from my first attempt, even when I was writing first drafts rather than editing, but usually by not a lot. Have forged ahead this time having reached the goal a few days ago so am really pleased with my progress. Now doing a 4th read through of the edited novel on my trusty Kindle Keyboard.
Pam wrote: "Have forged ahead this time having reached the goal a few days ago..."Wow. Congratulations.
I also find short periods of time can be productive, if not for the writing, definitely for research, editing, listening...
I block the internet for a specific time length, and try very hard not to waste that time. I can get out of the block by restarting, but I find it easier to just keep going.
Today I mostly wrote Christmas cards...!
Today, I finished NaNo. I have written 50k in 29 days and I have 60k done of my novel. I hope to finish the bloody thing by Christmas but I have to read back through it a bit now and just make sure I’ve worked out where the plot is going. This one is much harder, the last novel, I just watched them and wrote what they did. This one there’s a couple of other POVs over and above our hero’s so it’s a bit more complicated. I can see I’m going to have to stop this series at six or things are going to get out of hand and I’m going to end up with a bunch of sweeping epics like the series I’m writing it to join up with. Anyway, dead chuffed as there’s enough to work with and I have the rest of the story pretty much sussed so any which way, that’s a result.
Alicia, frankly I’m in awe at what you manage to achieve!Pam fab job!
Anna … ugh, that’s my next job.
M.T. wrote: "Alicia, frankly I’m in awe at what you manage to achieve!Pam fab job!
Anna … ugh, that’s my next job."
Thanks, M.T. It doesn't feel like enough, but it accumulates like sneaky snow, and all of a sudden there is another scene, and another chapter, and...
I'm doing a mini-reorganization - making sure everything that ends, ends believably and neatly, and everything that continues, is set up to be resolved in the next book. But on a page, not in my head.
Things have changed remarkably little since 2000, which astonishes me. I have added to the original outline only one significant character - and removed three sidekicks as pov characters (they're still there, but don't get a say). Stubborn and slow, that's me.
Alicia wrote: "M.T. wrote: "Alicia, frankly I’m in awe at what you manage to achieve!Pam fab job!
Anna … ugh, that’s my next job."
Thanks, M.T. It doesn't feel like enough, but it accumulates like sneaky snow, ..."
Cracking stuff. I think for a lot of us, writing isn't really a choice.
M.T. wrote: "I think for a lot of us, writing isn't really a choice."Too late for us now, eh?
Maybe I should have taken note that I always seem to be telling people these little stories - like my mother, but she didn't write them down (more's the pity). I thought it was normal.
Other people don't do that.
Alicia wrote: "M.T. wrote: "I think for a lot of us, writing isn't really a choice."Too late for us now, eh?
Maybe I should have taken note that I always seem to be telling people these little stories - like m..."
Definitely, as Thelma said to Louise, 'something's crossed over in me, I can't go back.'
Re the stories, yes, definitely.
Got a present this morning in my inbox, so I had to write about the power of a review,https://prideschildren.com/2021/12/01...
Keeps one's nose to the perfect distance from the screen, and the fingers rhapsodizing on the keyboard, it does.
Thanks. :)People say clumsy things sometimes, but I was taken aback at what is probably a common awkward one: "You must have written it yourself." From a man I consider a friend! With a smile, of course.
I wish I had that power over reviewers!
Christmas is over, and the husband and I have chosen not to associate with other humans so much that dining services called last night to see if we were okay!We just don't feel safe - omicron on the horizon is too big of an unknown, and there are way too many people here who, though vaccinated and boosted, spent Christmas as if it were a normal year with family and friends. Now we wait to see what, if anything, they bring back. Without testing, we're depending on people paying attention to any symptoms they might develop. Testing is available in town, but not required, even of staff. Seems the height of pretending.
Anyhoo, I managed to use the time to rewrite Scene 36.1 (I've not had to do that in ages) because it wasn't convincing ME somehow, finish the rest of Chapter 36, find some pertinent epigraphs I really like, and send another chapter off to my beta reader. Ended being about 8k, and starts with:
"What is the Law of the Jungle? Strike first and then give tongue.
Rudyard Kipling, Mowgli of the Jungle Book"
The minor reorganization of the last few chapters may make me faster for the rest of the book, and so was worth it, but it took a month. Stress over covid does NOT make me anything but more dysfunctional. But we hobble along.
I suspect covid is having more impact on writing than people realise
Jim wrote: "I suspect covid is having more impact on writing than people realise"When you've been carrying a heavy backpack so long you forget you're wearing it, it still feels good to put it down.
Alicia wrote: "Jim wrote: "I suspect covid is having more impact on writing than people realise"When you've been carrying a heavy backpack so long you forget you're wearing it, it still feels good to put it down."
Word.
I did well in Nano and managed another 5k and then Christmas hit. It’s still Christmas for us because we have to go to Scotland tomorrow to do it again. I just have to hang in there for another few days. I’ve not done as much Christmas stuff as I should. I wanted to write but I felt I should do other things, except they were too slow and never happened because I was dragging my feet because I wanted to write. It’s worth just doing half an hour’s writing every day because I can. Might do a bit in the car tomorrow. Am reading the draft back that I have written so far. Man it needs a lot of work. I’ve marked up the first chapter and I need to put them in really, before I go on. Happy New Year in advance, because I doubt I’ll get the chance to pop on here again until Monday!
Happy New Year MT. Even half an hour a day builds up so hang in there!
Been doing crits for my critique group since Christmas, then working on the next chapters to send to them on the next round which starts tomorrow so have been very busy and need to get back on to the book I intend to self publish next when that is out of the way. Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2022.
Finally played with pain meds to reduce brain fog (accepting more pain is the price), and last night and today, after a couple of weeks of NO usable brain, managed to get 855 words into 37.1, the next scene, and most of those are probably going to stay.Not having your own brain to use is a real problem.
I don't think the pandemic stress helps in any way, except in reducing social expectations (we haven't had dinner with other residents since before Christmas). Hope there's a reasonable 'normal' in the future. With estimates of 10-30% survivors of even asymptomatic cases ending up with long covid, it's going to be a real mess if they don't figure out how to fix these post-viral syndromes pronto.
I'm not sure where the proportions of people with long covid come from, or the definition of long covid.Within my own circle of people who have had covid, those who had 'long covid' were actually discovered to have had other long standing and undiagnosed problems that were only spotted because they'd do more testing if you said you had long covid rather than saying you felt under the weather a lot of the time
The only impact that covid had was it sharpened up the medical sector and made them check properly
Well done, Alicia. I managed about the same in the two slots I allocated to writing this week. As I hadn't done any since about the beginning of December, I had to reread the previous chapters. Still, 850 is better than nothing, eh Alicia? I had planned to catch up with all sorts today but a delightful interruption has kiboshed two hours.
Good going Alicia and Anna, I managed a blog post but it was 3k!Cheers
MTM
I am ecstatic. It took digging into the roots of procrastination (as when I wrote my thesis back in 1977), and answering all the questions in writing, and then I just finished the scene and ran it through Autocrit umptyfrat times (50?) cleaning up word choices and usage and making sure it scanned - and it is 1947 finished words, and does the exact job it was put into the book for - pending approval of the beta reader.Writing the villain's self-justification sticks in my craw - but she gets her say, and in her own world she's right about a lot of things.
'Tis done - and the next four scenes should give me a bit less grief.
You'd think I was panning for gold.
You people understand. Thanks for the support.
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