Just a quick update

I am still writing, honest. Just not on a computer. I'm almost to the point when I will get back to typing and word counts, but not quite.

I do have a confession. I haven't been writing as much as I should have been. I seem to run out of time and I just can't seem to give up sleeping. However in a short while all the reasons that took up all the time will be gone.

Then I will have more time to waste again and so should have more time to write. I wonder what I'll do, waste the time or write? Should be interesting to find out. I'm hoping to write a bit tonight, but I also need to do some sewing too and I don't think I'll manage to do both.

At least the busiest part of the year is almost over. It'll be so nice to have some free weekends again.

Not dead...

just not around much at the moment. Deliberately so. I have been writing and crossing stuff out and writing some more and so on. All using pen and paper. I will start actually writing the story again, I just don't know exactly when.

I'm going at a much slower pace now and it seems to suit me. The new outline is getting there and is much more detailed than the previous attempts. In fact it is almost a first draft in its own right. However there is far too much telling and no showing.

But the story is emerging and though the general description still fits, the subplots are entirely new and add another dimension to the story. In fact, I realised that it was the lack of complications that meant that the book didn't work as I wanted it too.

My mind has been wandering too. I have a couple of new book ideas, which are still in the baby stages and may not make it any further. I also have a short story idea, which I'm pretty sure will work. I might write this as well as continuing with the book outline.

Might be good for me as long as I don't get too caught up in it and abandon my novel. Anyway back to work. I'll write more later.

Not around much

I've been away from the Internet for a while now and will not be around much for the next few weeks. I'm doing some writing the old fashioned way and trying to get my story straight. (Why does that sound like I'm in trouble with the law?)

Things are moving, just slowly. I haven't written much with a pen and paper for some time. Typing seems to be quicker, but that may be a false impression. It's much easier to calculate how much I have written on the computer (crtl W), and so I check it quite often. With hand writing, I either estimate or, if I'm really stuck, count each word carefully.

The consequence is that I don't tally up as often when hand writing. Sometimes I don't check for days. That may lead to a feeling that I'm writing more slowly when, in fact, I'm writing at a similar speed.

Of course speed isn't everything and as long as it is good writing, there isn't really a problem. I'll try and update every now and then on how the writing is going.

back to the beginning

At the moment I am writing using pen and paper. I'm re-doing my outline and one thing I've learned is, I need an outline.

There's nothing wrong in what I've written, but at the moment none of it hangs together. It doesn't help that I wrote some of the scenes for one storyline, only to alter the plot and not edit those scenes straight away.

Maybe that was the problem...(and before you ask, it was the problem.)

I think that I should have just started from scratch with the new plot and not tried to bring in what I had already written. I got lost. Very lost.

Now I'm going to write a detailed outline, and then write a list of scenes. Then, and only then, I'm going to start to write on the computer again.

Writing the outline down on paper, helps me to see the story more clearly. So for the next week or so, the word count won't increase, but hopefully I will make progress.

If I change my mind about the story line again, I'm going to go back to this stage immediately rather than trying to continue and adapt what I have already written.

Starting again

Not completely from scratch, but I have deleted a large proportion of what I had written. I'm now down to about 8k words and more may vanish as I go.

The storyline in my head didn't match the one on the page. I thought that they did, but by going through what I had written scene by scene and summarizing them, I found out otherwise.

I deleted all the scenes that were not right. They still exist, just not in my main file and I probably won't look at most of them again. I will simply write the scenes from scratch.

I'm going to write out the story line again and make a list of scenes. I'll then write those scenes. The ones that stayed are from the beginning, which has received the most attention and they did follow the story in my head.

My word count has gone down, but I made progress.

Progress

Not much maybe, but I am getting back into things. I really did get stuck, so I took a break and read some blogs and books and things.

http://www.timothyhallinan.com/writers.php is a great piece on actually getting through the tougher times and finishing your book. It has helped me enormously and is the reason I'm back to writing again.

In fact, I'm not actually writing parts for the book at the moment, but I taking stock of what I have written and really getting into making sure that it works. I know I started this by myself, but reading that other people get like this too really helped.

So at the moment I'm writing about the book and making progress.

The weekend

I actually started to read my pages this weekend. I got about one-third of the way through, which seems to be normal for me. Let me explain.

The beginning of my novel is not too bad. It's the part I've spent the most time on. The rest of the book just sits there, unread. It's not that I'm trying to make the first part perfect. It's just better to read than the rest of it. So I don't read the rest and it never gets edited and it never gets better, so I never read it. Are you seeing a pattern here yet?

I need to re-write some scenes. I need to add in new ones. I need more complications and conflict. I just can't seem to write them. I'm not sure what I should do at the moment. I could try to push on and actually tackle the rest of the book or I could take a break and start something else.

I need to write and at the moment I'm not writing anything. I'm making lame excuses to avoid it at all costs. Ridiculous really, but right now that's how I feel.

Thursday evening

Last night I did what I had predicted I would, I slept and I needed that sleep. The consequence is that there is no change in the progress of my book and there probably won't be until the weekend.

It's unlikely that I will do much today, so tomorrow will be the first day that I will actually be able to sit down somewhere quiet and work on the scenes.

Flu

I have not posted recently because for the last week I have been in bed with the flu. Today is my first day back at work and the first day that I have felt human again.

The consequence of this is that my current word count stands at 45080 words, just over half of the end total. I have printed out all of the individual scenes and now I have to go through them all, editing and rearranging them.

I find this a daunting task. It doesn't scare me, but I am really not looking forward to it. I am hoping to start tonight, however I am a little worried that I will not have the energy left after a full day back at work. I still get tired quickly.

I am resolved to do some editing this weekend. Even if it's only to go through one or two scenes. I need to get started. I know it will get easier once I start. And I know this because of a short story that I once wrote. I had real trouble getting up the courage to re-read it and to begin editing, however once I started, it went really well and the second draft was so much better than the first.

Also, I need to add in more scenes. Currently missing are the subplot(s). These just don't exist. Well one has been started, but all I have done is introduce a character. The actual plot is still missing.

More detail still needs to be added as well. Most of the conversations are just talking heads with no action attached. Hopefully at the end of this, I'll be much closer to the 80-90k words that the novel should reach and the scenes will finally all be in the right order.

I'm hoping to get this all done before the end of January, but as I just lost a week that could be pushing it slightly. I haven't given up on getting it done by then as there are still just over two weeks to go, but I wouldn't put money on it.

I am content with what I have done so far. I wish I had done more and some of that is due to me, the rest though is due to ill health and I can't control that.

Wednesday.....

I have yet to print out the individual scenes and go through them. I intended to do that yesterday, but yesterday was Wednesday, which is never a good day for me. I did nothing in terms of writing or editing.

What I did instead was to try to resurrect my dying desktop computer. It's been randomly rebooting itself for a couple of weeks now and yesterday, it began producing warning messages whenever I did anything. The warning message was rather dire at that.

A hardware check showed nothing wrong. So I did a software check and there were errors. Lots of errors. I had to run a full CHKDSK and it appears to have been successful. However I haven't used the computer enough to be sure of this.

This weekend will be the real test. In the mean time, I'll print out the scenes tonight and tomorrow, I'll start to edit, reorder and combine the scenes. I'll also look for places to put new scenes and mark those in with a scene summary.

Today, I will do very little. I might start reading through, but I much prefer a paper version for reading. I find it much easier with a hardcopy.

Today

I wrote about 1000 words today. Not much and nowhere near my goal, but more than I have written in a while. I have also split my file up into scenes. So that each scene has its own file.

Tonight or tomorrow, I will print out those files and then mix and match the scenes. I know that the story doesn't flow at the moment and due to the changes in the storyline, the timeline is dodgy at best. And I'm still either contradicting myself or still leaving in references to now removed encounters.

It's all a bit confused. I need to sit down and reorder the scenes. Mark out which parts need to be removed or altered that still remain and work out where there still needs new scenes/information added. None of the remaining scenes need to be completely deleted, but the may need a complete re-write.

Some of the conversations still need annotating. Currently that's all there is, talk. No action, no interruptions, just talking heads. Time to add more substance.

So on the writing side, didn't make my goal of 2500 words in a day, but I'm more organized now. Whether that is a good thing (which I think it is) or a bad thing, is still to be seen.

Update

The total so far is 44069 words. I started this morning with 14068 words. The majority of this increase came from adding the good scenes from the first draft. I've added about another 1000 words as I have gone through, editing the new additions.

This means I dropped about 9000 words from the first draft, which was written during NaNoWriMo '09. Not a bad keep rate, especially for me. I am going through and editing the scenes, which for the most part is producing an increase in word count. Of course I am deleting parts, but I am also adding new bits.

I've already reached my daily goal, but I'm going to continue as it is currently going well. My main goal for this month, is to have a second draft finished before the end of January. In this second draft, I hope to have most of the book written. There maybe details missing, and a few parts that still need more research, but for the most part it will be complete.

In February, I hope to fill in those details and check the facts. After that, I'll start with checking the English - grammar and spelling separately - and then leave it for a few weeks, before reading through again. But that's all far in the future. I still need to get this second draft finished. And I might need a third before all the scenes are complete.

Happy New Year!

The snow got worse and the schools closed and I stayed home until today. Actually I did go out between then and now, but I didn't go back to work. I also didn't go on the Internet much nor did I write much. In fact I didn't write at all. I did have a great time with my family and got a netbook at Christmas.

This should mean that I can write more when at home, but one thing I learned over my two and a bit weeks at home, is that my family are exactly helping me to write. Every time I tried to sit down and write there was something someone wanted, or it was time to cook again. Still the house was cleaned top to bottom and everything that needed polishing was polished. Now all I have to do is find time to write when at home.

Today I hope to fit a little in this afternoon. I'll blog later on with the result...

Snow, and lots of it.

And because of the snow, there will be very little writing/editing done today. It took me just over two hours to get into work. That consisted of about 1 hour and 40 minutes in the car and another 20 minutes walking.

This means I need to leave work at about 2pm to be sure that I get my children to their Christmas party on time. It's going to be a short, white day.

Not that there are many people in today. Most haven't bothered trying to get here and I don't blame them. I'm taking my computer home with me tonight so that if the weather doesn't improve, I don't have to come in tomorrow.

Everything does look pretty.

Progress at last.

I know today is Wednesday and all the way through NaNoWriMo I never wrote on a thing on a Wednesday, but today I did quite a bit.

With the problems I've been having with writing a new scene, I decided to do some editing instead. The result of this is an additional 8752 words have been added to my total, bring it up to 12528 words.

Now I know this is mostly editing. I have deleted a lot and I have rewritten parts, but mostly the increase in my total is due to the bits I wrote during NaNoWriMo that were actually quite good. (OK, so I think they are very good, but that might change over time).

I think I will continue like this tomorrow and possibly Friday. However I might run out of good parts by then and so I'll be back to writing again. My biggest gain from doing this, is the feeling that I am actually accomplishing something. My lack of progress in writing a new scene was really getting to me.

I was starting to lose confidence. Going back and getting stuff from my first draft has cheered me up tremendously. Not mention it has boosted my word count. I've also identified where new scenes are needed. I haven't even tried to write these yet, I've just simply put a note in the text, which includes a brief description of what I think the scene should include.

I think that I'll end up using about 30000 words from the first draft and hence will be dropping about 20000 words. I don't think that's a bad ratio. Especially since I re-did the storyline and changed the identity of the killer. I think I've worked out a new sub-plot that will increase the word count while illustrating the behaviour of a couple of characters.

So onwards and upwards.

Today's progress

Miraculously I wrote something today. Not much, but it's better than nothing. I added 361 words to my total, bring it up to 3776 words. Nowhere near as much as I should have written, but at least the total is increasing now.

I'm hoping to get more done over the Christmas break. I get 2 weeks off work, so I should be able to get something done. The only day that I know I won't get much done is the 26th December. That's visitor day, when we open our doors and everyone turns up. It tends to end up as a very long, chaotic day.

Now I know that we will also go out on at least a couple of other days as a family, but I should still be able to write. Hopefully I will get into a routine that will help my total increase and perhaps, I'll even reach my goals.

If it turns out to be a real disaster, I'll re-evaluate my plan. Perhaps I'll change to another storyline/plot. We will see.

Here we go again....

I didn't write again yesterday. My excuse is work. I did a lot of work yesterday and that took up all my time. When I got home I did the housework I hadn't done on Sunday because I was out a birthday tea instead.

But today, I have time. Trouble is will I write? I would be stupid not to and I have the time. All I have to do is to start typing. I think writing this post will help. It is at least some sort of writing and is a start. Now all I have to do is get creative.

Update (lack of)

Unsurprisingly, I did not write over the weekend. I managed 0 words.

However I did work out that I needed to change the location of the scene that I'm stuck on. If I move the location and add in a new character, one that isn't actually new, but was deleted from the NaNoWriMo draft because I thought that she was superfluous. Now I realise my first instinct was the right one. Moving the scene and adding the character will add a new dimension and solve some other minor problems. My MC will show herself off in a different environment and that is needed.

It will increase the word count too and that's no bad thing. The first draft, written for NaNoWriMo, was only 52000 words long and the final draft needs 75000-90000 words to lie within the "normal" book lengths.

I might change the timeline a bit too, not sure about that yet though. I think I need to write more before making a decision. Perhaps that's something for the next draft. Keep with the current timeline as is in this draft and see how the whole thing pans out. Sounds good to me.

On a separate note, I seem to have lost the spell checker from my post editor. I have no idea how I managed that, but I really need to find it again. My spelling is so weak, it's scary.

Quick Update

Today's final word count is 3415 words. So the second draft total is 3415 words. It's completely edited, so I did make my 2500 words goal. However I do need to write a new scene. Currently there is a paragraph that basically describes a scene, but I don't actually show it.

I've tried twice now to write that scene and have got absolutely nowhere. I need to approach it from a different angle. I know leaving it for later isn't going to work. It was in the first draft in just about the same form as now and it hasn't gotten any easier to write.

Trouble is I don't understand why this one is so difficult. Maybe it's just one of those things that just don't seem to have an explanation, they just are. Still it's bugging me a little. I think I will start by expanding the paragraph I have now and see if that will lead to proper scene, but that is for tomorrow and I will be writing tomorrow.

At least a little. I know I won't be writing on Sunday as I have to go out for the entire day, hence I'm determined to do at least something tomorrow. Maybe I'll get that scene written.

Writing

So far today, I have added 3884 words to my new draft. This gives a total of 3884 words in the second draft. Most of these words come from the first draft and a lot still need editing. I'm 750 words into the edit. I've already deleted some scenes that are no longer relevant. I just have to re-write the ones that are still relevant.

My goal for this second draft is to get 2500 words written and/or edited per day for at least five days per week. I failed miserably to do that this week, but in defence I did only start writing today. I should have started earlier, but didn't. Still I should be able to make my daily target for today at least.

As for NaNoWriMo, I'll keep a total going on here so that I can track my progress. I'll also update my spreadsheet to see how I'm doing and see if I can meet the goals I'm setting myself. Christmas is coming so that will affect things. I just don't know how at the moment. I won't be working, but there is far more family orientated things to do. Should be interesting if nothing else.

Other things I am doing is adding the scenes into a spreadsheet, which includes a timeline, words per scene and how many scenes I need to reach my word goal. For example, I've set my total word count for the entire novel to 80000 words, which is a reasonable length. Now my first scene is 750 words long. Now if all my scenes are that length, I would need 107 scenes to reach my target.

Of course not all the scenes will be the same length and the exact word count won't be 80000 words, but it's fun to track my progress. I'll keep an update on my average scene length and how many scenes I need to reach 80000 words. I'm hoping that the 107 will come down...

Time to go back to editing.