Month: August 2017

Pulp Speed Writing Day 14

Day 14 started off great, I got up and got a jump on my writing before the rest of the family awakened. I got in 2,507 words, which sadly, is the best I’ve done all week. It didn’t meet my goal of hitting 4k for the day, which means I didn’t exceed the prior week’s writing.

I did have a nice fire pit though (hot dogs and s’mores… mmmm).

Stats for Week 2 –

  • Word count: 9,502
  • Average Word Count per Day: 1,357
  • Current Work in Progress Word Count: 64,117 (actually usable: 48,850)

Accumulated Stats –

  • Word Count: 20,449
  • Average Word Count per Day: 1,461
  • Current Writing Streak: 14 days

I kind of like doing the accumulated stats. Maybe I’ll do that daily…

Fun Fact: A quick Google search says it takes an average of 66 days to form a habit (older research says 21 days).

Day 15 brings a solar eclipse. I’ll get my writing accomplished in the afternoon.

 

 

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Why I Outline

On yesterday’s blog post, my friend Virginia at RosePoint Publishing made a comment about outlining or not (Plotting or Pantsing), so I thought I’d expand my thoughts into a post.

So obviously, I believe in outlining. I am of the school of thought that the more prepared I am the less likely I will encounter writer’s blocks, and the more likely I will have a sense of what I accomplish when I sit down to write.

The more I write/create, the more it affirms my need for an outline. My current book that I’m working on was outlined, and yet I’ve still had to back and write more outlines for all of my ideas. That’s part of the need, as well. If I don’t write down my new ideas and put them cohesively where they need to go in the story, the ideas will slip away like ephemeral wisps. 😛

Outlining should, in theory, also require less revising than a book that is pantsed. Or so others say.  I believe you, others!

But with that being said, I do think I’ll write at least one story without an outline just to see what happens, and to say I did. I haven’t written without an outline since before I began taking my writing seriously.

Short stories are an exception. That’s because I usually have a concrete idea in place, and I don’t spend more than a day or two before I have it all out).

Part of the fun of no outline is the discovery of the story, similar to being a reader. Stephen King says he doesn’t outline, and he’s one of my heroes. Dean Wesley Smith has a book called Writing into the Dark that is about abandoning the outline. I might read that first.

 

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Pulp Speed Writing Day 13

Day 13 of the next few decades produced another 872 words. The book now is over 46,000 official words, and with so much to go, I’m thinking 60k minimum.

Day 14’s goal is to shoot for 4k. That will put me over last week’s writing, though still only around 11k for the week.

Looking ahead at week 3, time looks positive for writing. I’ll have time on Monday, despite the eclipse, and the rest of the week through Friday looks open. And if that’s the case, I’ll hopefully get the book to the revision stage early in the week.

And move on to other stuff.

I hate to guess, because I’ve made so many changes to this book already. Before I start my next project, I’m going to outline the Hell out of it and hopefully prove I learned something from writing this one.

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Pulp Writing Speed Day 12

For Day 12 I reclaimed an older chapter and made it work with the book the way it now is. I added 614 new words of rewriting/editing/writing 1,460.

I do have a few more chapters that I will probably be able to bring back into the fold, but most of the stuff coming up is going to be new, to meet my current vision.

Historically Saturdays give me very little time to write, so I’m not even going to plan on Day 13 being anything near amazing, but I’ll show up. 🙂

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Pulp Writing Speed Day 11

Day 11’s word count was 1,526, which is acceptable, for this week’s pace.

When starting writing as a hobby, and writing every day, set a realistic goal. If only 500 is achievable, hit that.

Work your way to higher counts weekly, and challenge yourself.

I’m pushing for a weekly average, as each day has its own unique challenges.

Last week, since I averaged around 1,500 words, I’m making it the baseline. This week has to exceed it. I want to write an average of 5k a day. I know I’m not anywhere close to that yet, but I know it’s achievable. I’ve hit it quite a few times. But it’s never become a habit. Hopefully, it will be in a month or two.

Honestly, August is almost over, so I’m going to accept my measly 1.5k daily for now, and work toward 2k. With that time I’ll finish my WIP, and maybe be able to write faster books going forward.

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Pulp Writing Speed Day 10

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Isn’t it kind’a funny that I keep calling it pulp writing speed? Because I haven’t achieved it yet. I should be hitting over 1k in 30 minutes, but I’m only in the 900’s.

Anyway, my writing day was interrupted, which is quite common. Still, I focused on writing new early chapters in the book to more realize some of the other characters.

Yesterday’s writing was 1,666 words. That’s about an acceptable NaNoWriMo pace, but way too short still. Though I’m trying to jump into a good speed, I still have to get back into the habit of more writing, and start pushing myself for higher output.

All work is still on my secret WIP. Funny that I thought I could announce it last weekend. Just looking at my outline tells me that I’ve created a lot more work. Writing is easily going into next week (especially with my current slow pace).

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Pulp Speed Writing Day 9

Day 9 had a word count of 1,375, not too bad for not having time to write. That brings my book’s word count to 40,818. I have another 17,000 words I’m likely not using. That might be a good excuse for a book of short stories. I have some unused material from my Hungry Gods series that’s just sitting around.

I have another 17,000 words I’m likely not using. That might be a good excuse for a book of short stories. I have some unused material from my Hungry Gods series that’s just sitting around.

Anyway, Day 10’s not going to write itself. Gotta go…

 

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Pulp Speed Writing Day 8

Day 8 was an example of not being in the mood to write, but showing up to do something anyway. I had to use a timer to make that happen, but it worked.

I ended up outlining for awhile, deciding what I want to do with all my new story arcs. After that, I had about 30 minutes of writing time which got me a total 942 new words.

Day 9 will be the same. I have a few new twists for the climax that I’ll outline, and then I’ll go back and maybe add another 942 words. Day 9, however, is almost over, and it’s one of those days where I feel like crap.  Too much sun and too much heat.

Last week I averaged 1,542 words per day. This week I want my average to end higher than that. Most of the total word count will be accomplished on Day 10.

Two more of my secondary characters are going to get story arc’s now. The odds of seeing the completion of the 1st draft by the end of my Week 2 isn’t looking good. End of August, maybe?

 

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Pulp Speed Writing Day 7

I decided on Day 7 to finish Spilling Blood Season 3‘s layout for the paperback. And I did! Yay me!

Then I turned my attention to my Work in Progress.

It was my intention to finish it on Day 7, but I instead introduced 3 new characters. Complete with story arcs.

But it is making the ending far more lively. I’m thinking the book is going to be around 55k to 60k now.

So anyway, back to the day’s accomplishments…

Day 7: 

  • SBS3‘s paperback layout is finished.
  • I wrote 2,616 new words to my WIP. No polishing/editing/revising of previously written material.

Week 1:

Word Count: 10,947.

 

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Pulp Speed Writing Day 6

I had a limited window yesterday to write, and wasted some of that thinking about a couple of plot holes that needed to be turned into story arcs. They’re not really plot holes, but I have a few secondary protagonists and antagonists that need more time in the sun.

Though this is making a longer book, it also increases the amount of time I need to finish the book. I guess I should be happy writing a book focusing just on one or two characters, but for now, I’m going to follow where it takes me.

Which means I don’t see myself finishing it on Day 7.

I think my battle plan is going to still to focus all my energies on finishing this book, maybe wrapping it up by Wednesday. I have a few hours Sunday and Monday, but Tuesday is not going to be accommodating.

I may or may not finish the Spilling Blood Season 3 paperback layout on Day 7. I guess I should give it a half hour…

So yesterday I didn’t do any revising or editing, in my short window, I instead tried to squeeze in some word count by writing the story arcs mentioned above. In the half an hour I had, I wrote 734 words.

 

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