Tuesday's report

I forgot to write in my diary yesterday. I think I need to have it with me so I can write in it when I have the time or the inclination, rather than leaving it at home to write in it at 6pm.

However, I did write. I wrote a piece, which is part of my "novel" and I am using as a writing exercise. I'm trying a new way to create scenes. Hopefully it will work, but only time will tell. This method fits in well with my current writing style, so it's not like I have to make big changes. I will however have to go through my current draft and split it up differently and work on the individual parts. This is not a bad thing.

If I can get the individual parts to work, then I can put them back together and make the whole thing work. Well that's the plan anyway.

Yesterday

I didn't write. Well that's not entirely true. I wrote in my diary, but I didn't add to my novel.

What I did do is read about scenes. I found that I keep summarizing scenes and not actually writing them. If that makes any sense.

I summarise what the scene is about, maybe add in some dialogue, and that's it. I'm not describing the scene or moving people, not even allowing them to fidget or breathe. In fact some of my scenes are just talking heads, nothing more and I seem to be having trouble adding action or surroundings.

So I'm going to start some writing exercises in order to help with describing place and time and adding in actions. I start today. I have an hour free in which I will start.

Re-reading NaNoWriMo, I noticed that almost the entire thing is written in summary form. That is sad.

Bad end to the year

I did no writing in December 2010 due to personal reasons. Also, I was sick. Nothing went right.

Christmas was good when it finally happened as was old and new, which means New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Slowly I'm getting back into writing. Very slowly. I've been reading about writing at the moment. Today I need to start writing and I mean more than this post.

I'm thinking about writing a diary. That's something I've never done, but I know several writers who find it very useful. They begin with writing their diary entry and then find it easier to move to their work. I'm going to try this, starting tonight.

NaNoWriMo aftermath

I am so glad the NaNoWriMo is over. I will freely admit that I didn't enjoy it much this year, which came as a surprise to me. I thought I would. However I hated my story, which I think is the reason. The story was easy to write as I had a wonderful, detailed outline, but the story was boring and obvious. I chose it for that reason, so that I could finish a story from start to finish, where the plot didn't morph on the way. It's boring.

The characters, on the other hand, are interesting. They just didn't get to do anything interesting. So what I'm going to try to do is blend this year's characters with last year's plot. It may not work, but it also helps me get round a plot hole or two that I was having problems with.

And I start this weekend. Hopefully. A new outline, then new scenes, and finally a new novel.

Watch this space...

NaNoWriMo

So I finished with 51992 words according to the offical word counter. I din't blog much, because I was writing.

I wonder if next year I will take part and if I do, if I can do this without having to write so much during the last couple of days....

No progress

I'm still at just over 33000 words, which means I need to write just under 17000 words before midnight tomorrow. Definitely doable. OK, I might not finish until late tomorrow, but I will finish. I'll aim for 40000 words today and leave the last 10000 until tomorrow.

33000 words

Not too bad, not the 35000 words I was hoping for, but a lot better than I feared. And tomorrow is another day.

writing

I ended yesterday with just over 30000words. Today I've added about a thousand more and I can't think of a single thing more to write. I'm not feeling very well, but that's just an excuse. I really don't feel like writing. I was hoping to end the week with 40000 words, I'll be lucky to hit 35000 words.

Of course, this doesn't mean I won't reach the magic 50000 words. It just means I have more to do in the last remaining days. That is what I'm good at. I just wish I could be more consistent.

My spelling is improving, but I get the feeling my grammar is getting worse.

Today

Yesterday I ended up with a touch over 26000 words. I'm hoping to get to just over 30000 words today. It should be possible. In theory. Trouble is I was never very good at theory.

I have added 500 words so far today, which is progress. Let's hope it continues.

25000 words!

So I am now over the halfway mark. Less than 25000 words to write to win NaNoWriMo. I will write enough to win, but I won't be anywhere near my original target.

However I will have a good first draft, that needs expanding, re-writing and editing. In the end I will end up with a good manuscript. I have no idea if it will attract an agent, but I should get to that stage this time.

After NaNoWriMo, I will work on one chapter a week. I will, however, not start until next year, before that I'll work on the outline to another book. I need a break from this one. But this is, by far, the most advanced story I have to date. It is consistent.

The weekend

I reached 23000 words over the weekend. Not exactly brilliant, only an extra 500 words. But we are now into the home straight, so I know I'll start writing more.

Only 8 days to go and 27000 words, that should be no problem. It should take 6 days, so time to spare. Now it is time to write.

yesterday, Tuesday 16th

I wrote 1400 words, bring my total to 21700 words. So I'm still behind the NaNoWriMo average total for the given date. I'm not feeling well today, but I'll see how I do.

Some how I see myself writing the last 25000 words in the last weekend, and making it just in time. Sigh.

Writing

I'm finding it increasing difficult to write each day. I keep trying and I fail miserably. That doesn't mean I don't want to write or that I have nothing to write, but I just don't want it to become routine.

I don't know if that makes any sense. It makes sense in my head. I know I'll win NaNoWriMo - barring accidents of course - but it won't be until the final week. Then the deadline will be looming and the adrenalin will be flowing and I will end up writing 10000 words a day. It's the way I always win.

What worries me is will I be able to write away from NaNoWriMo. I didn't do so well last year, but part of that was a lack of an outline, meaning I got lost in an ever changing story. I've started the outline for that and I do intend to do the re-writing. I'm just worried I won't have the discipline to write consistently. Maybe I was never meant to do that.

Having the outline definitely helps. It's the best thing I ever did. This years NaNoWriMo is much more consistent than previous years. However it is nowhere near ready to submit. I'm skipping over chunks of the story by putting in a "telling" section. These need to be changed into "showing" scenes. I may even go back and start writing these before the end of November, as long as I've reached the end of course.

I may even need to do that to reach the 50000 words.....

Update

I wrote a total of 1100 words over the weekend. Not good, but at least I wrote something. This week I'm hoping to write 20000 words, with a target of writing 5000 words a day for 4 days out of the 7. I should be able to do this because I have done it before. It simply means I have to write. That means not writing here, or surfing the web or wasting time.

I'm very good at wasting time. Time to start writing.

no more words

OK, so that's not strictly true, but...

I didn't write a single word for NaNoWriMo yesterday and only 200 the day before. That is not good. I would love to use the weekend to catch up, but I somehow get the feeling that it won't happen. Life continues as does NaNoWriMo.

I'm not worried because I know I will make it to 50000 words before the deadline. Even if I have to write the remaining 33000 words in the last couple of days. I know this because this is how I normally write and win NaNoWriMo.

The trouble with that is that NaNoWriMo only happens once a year and so I have no push to write the rest of the time. There are so many other things to do. I do write, but only a little and very infrequently. I need to change my priorities. But will I?

10th November

I wrote a grand total of 200 words. Pathetic, but never mind maybe I'll do better today.

yesterday's progress

I wrote 3200 words yesterday. Bringing my total up to 16700 words. I even remembered to put the total in on the NaNoWriMo website. It went very well yesterday. I wrote until the battery in my netbook died. That's the first time this year that I've found it so easy to write.

Let's hope today goes as well.

Today's tally

I've just reached a total of 13500 words, so I am back on track to hit 50000 words on 30th November at 1667 words per day. I've added 2750 words so far today and I'm not done yet, but I probably won't update again this evening. That's a pretty good total and I did it easily, though I did have fewer interruptions today.

Tomorrow will definitely be different and I will have to make an effort to update at least NaNoWriMo in the evening, so that the graph looks reasonable. I can always write a new blog entry the following day.

Things are looking up.

The weekend

I wrote a grand total of 250 words over the weekend. I didn't bother to update NaNoWriMo or here. I'll add those to today's total. Assuming, of course, that I actually add to my total today.

OK, I know I will add to my total. I'm not quite that bad yet, but I definitely write better when the deadline is looming. I should say I write more. There's no proof that it is better.

Progress today

Do far I'm at 10500 words. By far the most I've written in one day in this year's NaNoWriMo. OK so it is only day five, but still it is much better than some of the other days.

My biggest challenge over the weekend will be keeping the NaNoWriMo website updated with my word count. I rarely go online at the weekends, but I have to make a special effort this month.