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the Joys of Progress (The Progress Report)
COngrats on your progress!I've been working off and on all day on the final leg of a non-fiction book about the rescue of over one hundred dogs from a hoarder in Forks, WA. I am not a trained investigative reporter, so doing the investigating has been the hard part. Since I was one of the participants in the rescue, I knew the story, but I had to have the self-discipline to verify, verify, verify. So this is somewhere between a sign of relief and ...I'm not sure. SOmething like fear since my publisher wants the manuscript and that means the reality of getting published is soon. I guess its just the nervousness of putting some work out there where it will inevitably be criticized. And I know that friends and supporters of the hoarder will be looking for any detail that is wrong to use it to discredit the whole book. So...a mixture of satisfaction, joy, and nervousness.
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Melissa, Great idea to start this thread! Congratulations on your progress! HugsLaura, Wonderful rescue job! Congratulations and good luck! Hugs
Great progress, Dwayne! Hugs
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Thank you, Sam. I am so excited about this one!
This is a great idea for a thread. We as authors tend to get so wrapped up in release and marketing that we often don't let ourselves remember how much of an achievement it can be to just get words down on paper. I think a thread like this could act as a shot in the arm for other writers who might be struggling with certain aspects of the process.On topic, I started writing a new, 15 chapter novel right around Valentine's Day, and finished earnest writing for it at about the midpoint of last month. I've never written something so big so quickly, and it kind of made me feel uneasy that it went so smoothly. However, early readers have really been into it, so that sense of disease has waned quite a bit in favor of just being proud I got it done. I'm looking quite forward to editing it and helping it become an even better story than it already is.
That in itself feels like victory.
For me writing is fun. If it was not fun, I would not want to do it. This thread is inspiring because people are posting about the fun of writing, not the hassles and disappointments of the selling part. Thank you for starting this discussion.
Laura wrote: "For me writing is fun. If it was not fun, I would not want to do it. This thread is inspiring because people are posting about the fun of writing, not the hassles and disappointments of the selling..."You're welcome :D this thread is something I kept wanting to do for some time, but I'm easily distracted these days so I kept forgetting. But it's something writer friends of mine would do - post progress reports whether it was word counts or page numbers or just an idea for a book cover. They mostly did it for themselves as a visual aid of the progress they were making, but it was very inspiring to see people get excited over getting paragraph written or figuring out a plot issue. And it made for a great reminder that it doesn't matter how small you're progress is, even if all you managed was to figure out what to name one of your characters, it was still an accomplishment bringing you one step closer toward the finish line.
Thanks folks. This was a great pep talk. What I needed right here and right now. I've been working, it seems, forever and a day on getting a rewrite done and getting a new thing written. I want it all done now but LIFE is constantly getting in the way of writing progress. :-(
Following the completion of my last book, I had no less than seven false starts and lots of blank staring out the window (not to mention I had to continually slap myself on the wrist: NO, you may not just go online "for a while", no you may not see what's on Netflix or play a video game), but finally, two days ago, something clicked. I've written (nearly) ten thousand words over the last couple days and I'm excited to write again, just in time for a six day work week.But still, progress.
I just wrote a story about dragons. Not nice cuddly ones: mean, deceitful cold-eyed ones. And I have no idea where it came from. And it would NOT let me alone until I wrote it.....
Jane wrote: "I just wrote a story about dragons. Not nice cuddly ones: mean, deceitful cold-eyed ones. And I have no idea where it came from. And it would NOT let me alone until I wrote it....."Ooh! Sounds awesome!
I'm in pursuit of editing book 4 of my Shiva XIV series (only up to Chapter 4 so far. Eep!) I am aiming for 2 chapters a week, so that I can get it all done by September, in time for formatting and all that jazz. I want the sucker out by November, the latest!And I'm also in the middle of writing short stories: 2 are backstories for my Shiva series and 2 are for an upcoming fairy tale based anthology!
Oh, and did I mention I'm at about 60,000 words of my new novel about an artist battling madness and love. Phew! I'm exhausted just reading this. lol
I figure I'll get it all done if I take it step by step, one sentence at a time!
Sorry, this thread is supposed to be about the joys of progress, right? Oops. lol
It's not much, but an animated discussion with the spouse tied together story and plot treads for three characters and two concept ideas!
Love this thread! Congrats to everyone who has made progress today! I got some editing in last night on one of my books I hope to release this summer. I was super thrilled to get some of it done. Haven't touched anything yet today, but hoping to get some things done tonight. Had fun at Dave & Busters, so there's that. lol
What a great idea for a thread. It has inspired me to get back to writing which I have put off for so long because of marketing and other stuff. I do post to my blogs at least once a week, but I don't think that's what you're talking about. Congratulations to all those who are making progress.
Yay for a progress thread.I'm all over the board. I'm currently having problems focusing on one project, but I'm committed myself to finish editing this draft of Afflicted to the Core by the end of this month. Then go over it a few more times (I figure the major heavy lifting will by done by this draft) then off to betas. Hoping to publish this novel and the prequel short story this summer/early fall.
And great progress to everyone here. I know it's hard to focus sometimes and we fall off the writing wagon and it's great to see everyone stepping up and shouting out their words!
Jane wrote: "Polishing turds today...."Lol You've such a way with words sometimes, Jane. ;)
Good luck!
I finally managed to write over one hundred pages of my book. I was getting a little worried that this thing was going to end up being super short. Which would have been ironic since once upon a time I used to be rather notorious for writing ridiculously long books (one book I wrote ended up being close to five hundred pages.)
Great thread!!!!! And congrats to all of you!It might help me get back my motivation...If I know I'll post about my progress. :p
Great thread, Melissa and good idea... but seven pages in one day? Seven Pages? That's super. Yeah, "polishing turds" is the perfect description (thanks Jane) for picking commas and bits out of previous paragraphs instead of pushing your story line farther... so done there, been that.
Okay, hit 106k of a projected 120k draft last night. This is book 3 of 3, so I can already feel that "send" button just get'n warm under my finger. Goin' live in August, woo-hoo!!
Great thread! I did 1K words yesterday, not at white heat but busy with other things. However, it adds up, so since start of May now at 36K words. This is for #3 of the trilogy, so on track for August. All three will have been released this year, 48K, 56K, and now w00t, the 3rd one! :)Write on warriors! :)
Jane wrote: "Polishing turds today...."Some people like to polish and wear petrified turds, so hey, you might find a gem in there.
You folks who are on books 3 of 3... that must be an exciting feeling!Write on Warriors!!!
Nat wrote: "You folks who are on books 3 of 3... that must be an exciting feeling!Write on Warriors!!!"
How about book 4 of 5? ;)
ROAR!!!
You roar it out, Lyra! You are awesome pants!
Nat wrote: "You roar it out, Lyra! You are awesome pants!"My awesome pants think your pants are awesome too! Wait... what? lol
Just counted. Eleven works in progress. Somebody needs to get her head on a bit straighter methinks.
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Dwayne. You have a habit of making me feel a lot better about myself and my mad writing brainworms. Muchos gracias amigo
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And here I thought I had tons of stuff I was working on but Jane and Dwayne make me feel like I'm doing nothing. I did get "The Jillian Factor" last edit complete and wrote over 3000K words on a novel which is the 3rd book in a series but each is stand alone. I've been working on this book for almost a year as the main character kept trying to be totally boring. Gave her a few whacks and she perked up a bit. I also have been doing my character profiles for a dragon shifter story. I love dragons and this one has been running around in my brain for over two months now.Love this thread. Considering I'm working full time again, I don't have the time to write like I had for the past two years.
Jane wrote: "Just counted. Eleven works in progress. Somebody needs to get her head on a bit straighter methinks."11 WIPS! Okay, I have 5, but 11!!! I'm impressed.
Lyra wrote: "Nat wrote: "You roar it out, Lyra! You are awesome pants!"My awesome pants think your pants are awesome too! Wait... what? lol"
*purrs*
Dwayne wrote: "Jane, I just counted and I have thirty-two works in progress. I have never taken the time to count them before. I may go through in a bit and "thin the herd" some as some of them have been in there..."32!
*chokes*
I went back and counted my WIP...17 all in various stages. One I have the basics, several are percolating as I hit a wall, 12 are completed and in various stages of editing with one ready for publishing. And yes Alex, I can write 3000K words in a day. The novel ready to be published is 132,000K words. Seems most of my books end up around the 100-125K word mark.
*pokes out, reads the posts, sees that she only has ONE WIP, crawls back under the rock she's been hiding*
Don't hide G.G. One work is great. You don't get sidetracked working on multiple things like I do frequently. You'll probably get finished before I do on my next one...lol.
GG, you're just more focused than the rest of us!
Lol...G.G. you're no alone! I'm right there with you. But I still love reading this thread and hearing about what everyone else is up to!
I wanna be GG . My count just went up when I looked behind the sofa
B.A. I am slow so even if I am working on one project only, you have ample chances to finish one before me. :PNat, More focused or just I just have less imagination than all of you. ;)
LG COOL! I am not alone! We are not alone! (and I am not talking about aliens here...or am I?) *grins*
Jane, can I look behind your sofa to have ideas to finish my ONE project? hehe (joking! of course. I have the ideas, just slow going.)
I am finally getting ready to write the first real battle scene in my book's war. It's only taken me two hundred pages, but I'm here!
I'm writing the sequel to my first book. I'm about 20 or so chapters in. This WIP has been interrupted so many times, it's not funny. But I'm determined to get it finished before I start another project. It's coming along, though. Coming along.
Alyson wrote: "I am finally getting ready to write the first real battle scene in my book's war..."Good luck on your battle scene. You'll likely find that the first 200 pgs. was the easy part. Be prepared to throttle your writing speed way back and pay a lot of attention to your POV.
Got my own 'Grand Kablooie' underway and it's been slow slogging... too many moving parts. But stick in there, Alyson. Your battle scene is where you can really make your heroine/hero shine.
And please... post again when you finish; let us know how you did and what your experiences were.
O.O how do you guys handle so many WIPs? The most I've ever had is 2 and that was because I kind of abandoned my novel for a year and started doing shorter things that fit in better with my busy schedule! I'm happy to report that that novel is well under way again now, which is super exciting. I finally managed to get back into it after the year away. It's still slower going than usual for me because it takes quite a bit of research, but the other day I finished writing 5631 words in ONE DAY and it was on a section that I was having trouble with organizing in my mind so now that that's out of the way hopefully it'll become smooth sailing.
Thanks for this thread, btw!
It's the dragons. They won't leave me alone
This is a great thread; love the comments; keep working on your project regardless of your word count, and congratulations to those who are managing a number of projects.
This thread is for sharing in the joy that is getting some dang writing done. Whether you managed to write a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter, finished your book, got past that plot issue that was stalling your story, figured out a title or wrangled in your blurb, progress is progress and we should all feel good when book related things get done.
So let's hear about your progress whether it's in the form of a sigh of relief, a cry of joy, or mad gibbering.
For example, I just finished writing seven pages of my novel today, as well as managed to get through a scene that had been stalling things for several days.