It feels like it has been years - and it has been too long, I apologize - since I wrote a blog entry, but hopefully, as I get back into the swing of writing, I will be posting more regularly once again.
My senior year of college has begun. It's been a shaky, stressful start, but I'm making it. Last night, I worked out my semester schedule and managed to find time for editing and writing. Monday and Friday mornings will be for editing, Tuesday through Thursday for writing new projects - the sequel to Prophecy and the start of a new series of new adult books.
But as I've gone through these past three weeks of talking to people I haven't talked to since last spring and meeting freshmen and other new friends, I've answered the exact same question a hundred times - "What did you do this summer?" I feel more awkward about answering than I should; what do I have to be ashamed of? But I always answer, "well, I, uh, wrote a book... kinda," like I'm trying to brush off my greatest accomplishment to date like I worked at McDonald's (for no pay). It's been most difficult talking to my writer friends about it; it's like I'm depressing them and shoving their "failures" in their faces, which is not what I'm trying to do at all. I want my summer adventure to be inspiring for the other writers I know, for everyone who wants to do something and won't because they're too afraid or they're just procrastinating. I don't consider not finishing a novel before the age of 22 a failure by any stretch, but purposefully avoiding doing what you love because you're afraid of how people will respond to it or that for some reason you "can't" do it definitely is.
So there was my rant to kick off my post-writing portion of the blog.
I'm nearly done with my second round of edits on part one of Prophecy (if you'll remember there are six parts), and I've decided to hold off on having people read until I get through this second round. So, probably in another week or so, I'll be looking for readers to give me feedback on the book. If you're interested, drop me a line; I can't wait (except I'm totally dreading) hearing what you have to say!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Weeks Twelve and Thirteen: And... Scene
I may have "written the last line" two weeks ago, but that in way means I was finished with this project. The idea was always that in my thirteen week time limit I would complete three drafts: a first/rough draft (FMD), a working draft (WkStD), and a readable draft (no clever acronym on my harddrive).
After thirteen weeks of what seems like non-stop work, I finally have something I feel like I can show people (metaphorically speaking) and say "why, yes, I actually have done something with my life." Doing something with my life is, of course, why I went on this crazy, obsessed, compulsive, waking-up-at-six-fucking-a-m, summer-long novel-writing adventure. Not that I'm ready to die now or anything, but should I get a repeat deathly illness, maybe I won't have so much to regret.
So what does one do when they edit? Well, in my case, it was a lot of writing. So much for that last post, eh? I still consider that line the "last," but I'm sure there will be a lot more writing for this book in my future.
So... Final Stats for The Escaterra Summer Project:
440 pages; ~118,000 words
~40 pages/week (written)
~10,700 words/week (written
~37 pages/day (edited)
~9,800 words.day (edited)
So there's that. This is just the beginning really. I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please comment. I'll definitely (eventually) respond.
Thank you, you five loyal readers all of whom I know, who have supported me for the past three months and a week. I love you dearly, and I'll keep you updated, so keep reading!
After thirteen weeks of what seems like non-stop work, I finally have something I feel like I can show people (metaphorically speaking) and say "why, yes, I actually have done something with my life." Doing something with my life is, of course, why I went on this crazy, obsessed, compulsive, waking-up-at-six-fucking-a-m, summer-long novel-writing adventure. Not that I'm ready to die now or anything, but should I get a repeat deathly illness, maybe I won't have so much to regret.
So what does one do when they edit? Well, in my case, it was a lot of writing. So much for that last post, eh? I still consider that line the "last," but I'm sure there will be a lot more writing for this book in my future.
So... Final Stats for The Escaterra Summer Project:
440 pages; ~118,000 words
~40 pages/week (written)
~10,700 words/week (written
~37 pages/day (edited)
~9,800 words.day (edited)
So there's that. This is just the beginning really. I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please comment. I'll definitely (eventually) respond.
Thank you, you five loyal readers all of whom I know, who have supported me for the past three months and a week. I love you dearly, and I'll keep you updated, so keep reading!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Week Eleven: The Last Line
I wanted to finish last night, but somewhere around midnight I realized that the scene I'd saved for last was far too important to write while half-sleep and drooling on my keyboard (it was a long weekend). So, this morning, I nearly jumped out of bed at 6am, and only stopped on my way to my laptop for my contacts and a cuppa coffee - technically, I went to my computer before either of those things to try my hand at getting Pottermore early access (I was successful), but that's besides the point.
My mind's been playing tricks on me for the last several days as I've been getting close to this moment. It feels like I've slowed down and everything else has sped up. I wanted desperately to get here and also desperately never to get here. I don't know what my life is going to be like without this story kicking around in my brain needing to be written.
I started world-building a very different Escaterra from the one it is now when I was 13 years old. In late June of 2003, I felt the breath-taking end of my childhood when I came home from babysitting to find my mother in tears after receiving a phone call that my grandmother, to whom I was utterly devoted, had passed away. I flew with mom to Seattle - something I was supposed to do by myself only a few short weeks later for my annual visit to my grandmother - to help her arrange the memorial service and pack up her apartment.
Depression came easily to me in the months that followed; it a condition that runs rampant in my father's family tree, and I was no beauty, often plagued by barbs and insults from classmates about my looks and teacher's pet nature. Creating my world of fantasy was an adventurous escape, and that's what I needed most: something to make me feel alive and excited again. I eventually received the first bit of help for my depression when I was 14 at a summer camp that I will forever credit with saving my life. But long before that July day when campers and camp counselors supported me through my worst, I created my own light at the end of the tunnel - something sufferers of depression must do, but too often fail at.
As I've grown in maturity of age and writing, Escaterra has changed, my characters have changed, but what it means to me never has. Never will. I can only hope and pray and fight for the chance that one day it will mean even a little something to someone else.
Today's post is not one for weekly stats or goals or summary. I just wanted to share a little of me with you. And I'll end with the Last Line of the scene I finished this morning: "Nico didn't hesitate."
From here on, neither will I.
My mind's been playing tricks on me for the last several days as I've been getting close to this moment. It feels like I've slowed down and everything else has sped up. I wanted desperately to get here and also desperately never to get here. I don't know what my life is going to be like without this story kicking around in my brain needing to be written.
I started world-building a very different Escaterra from the one it is now when I was 13 years old. In late June of 2003, I felt the breath-taking end of my childhood when I came home from babysitting to find my mother in tears after receiving a phone call that my grandmother, to whom I was utterly devoted, had passed away. I flew with mom to Seattle - something I was supposed to do by myself only a few short weeks later for my annual visit to my grandmother - to help her arrange the memorial service and pack up her apartment.
Depression came easily to me in the months that followed; it a condition that runs rampant in my father's family tree, and I was no beauty, often plagued by barbs and insults from classmates about my looks and teacher's pet nature. Creating my world of fantasy was an adventurous escape, and that's what I needed most: something to make me feel alive and excited again. I eventually received the first bit of help for my depression when I was 14 at a summer camp that I will forever credit with saving my life. But long before that July day when campers and camp counselors supported me through my worst, I created my own light at the end of the tunnel - something sufferers of depression must do, but too often fail at.
As I've grown in maturity of age and writing, Escaterra has changed, my characters have changed, but what it means to me never has. Never will. I can only hope and pray and fight for the chance that one day it will mean even a little something to someone else.
Today's post is not one for weekly stats or goals or summary. I just wanted to share a little of me with you. And I'll end with the Last Line of the scene I finished this morning: "Nico didn't hesitate."
From here on, neither will I.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Week Ten: Nearly There
Holy shit.
So last week I began renewed with a sense of hope and optimism. And it didn't fade - by Friday I was maxing out at a 15 page day.
I also wrote what will be the last scene of the book. Contrary to the happy-go-lucky feeling I had while writing, the ending is much darker than I originally anticipated and leaves it much more ambiguous as to whether or not the goal is actually accomplished the way the protagonists think it is. Of course in Farrell-dream-world where it rains cookies and ponies are common household pets, this novel is just the beginning of a series, so that kind of ending makes sense, since it leaves a good jumping place for the next book's plot to begin; however, I am trying to allow for the book to be a stand-alone, so that just makes it a slightly downer ending. That does fit with the tone of the book, though, so I'm not too distraut. It was strange writing the last scene. I've never written a last scene of a novel before. Short stories, absolutely - mostly because my short stories have one scene, which makes writing the last scene far less monumental. I don't know what I'm going to do when I write the other last scene, not chronologically within the novel but that I will write for this draft.
Technically that should be happening either this coming Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, by the way. I say "technically" because I'm babysitting for my adorkable nephew again on Thursday and Friday. For those days, I'll be skipping ahead to my agenda for Week Twelve: I've divided the manuscript into 6 neat chunks and will be editing one chunk a day. So, Thursday and Friday, I'll have a hardcopy of the first chunk (I doubt I could get to the second one) that I'll edit betwixt moments of helping him stand, playing with him, feeding him, changing him, calling him adorakable, etc and while he plays/naps.
My nephew's mother is completely fantastic, in case I haven't mentioned. I don't want to say too much until things are more certain, but she's a graphic designer/web designer/book illustrator, and she's trying to get me an intro to an editor she's doing some design for. I adore this woman. She called me about it last Thursday, and it's very exciting because it's... real. I don't know how else to describe it. With the book coming to a close, the prospect of meeting an editor just mkaes everything I've been doing for the past ten weeks now, and will be doing for the next three weeks, feel just utterly real.
So last week I began renewed with a sense of hope and optimism. And it didn't fade - by Friday I was maxing out at a 15 page day.
I also wrote what will be the last scene of the book. Contrary to the happy-go-lucky feeling I had while writing, the ending is much darker than I originally anticipated and leaves it much more ambiguous as to whether or not the goal is actually accomplished the way the protagonists think it is. Of course in Farrell-dream-world where it rains cookies and ponies are common household pets, this novel is just the beginning of a series, so that kind of ending makes sense, since it leaves a good jumping place for the next book's plot to begin; however, I am trying to allow for the book to be a stand-alone, so that just makes it a slightly downer ending. That does fit with the tone of the book, though, so I'm not too distraut. It was strange writing the last scene. I've never written a last scene of a novel before. Short stories, absolutely - mostly because my short stories have one scene, which makes writing the last scene far less monumental. I don't know what I'm going to do when I write the other last scene, not chronologically within the novel but that I will write for this draft.
Technically that should be happening either this coming Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, by the way. I say "technically" because I'm babysitting for my adorkable nephew again on Thursday and Friday. For those days, I'll be skipping ahead to my agenda for Week Twelve: I've divided the manuscript into 6 neat chunks and will be editing one chunk a day. So, Thursday and Friday, I'll have a hardcopy of the first chunk (I doubt I could get to the second one) that I'll edit betwixt moments of helping him stand, playing with him, feeding him, changing him, calling him adorakable, etc and while he plays/naps.
My nephew's mother is completely fantastic, in case I haven't mentioned. I don't want to say too much until things are more certain, but she's a graphic designer/web designer/book illustrator, and she's trying to get me an intro to an editor she's doing some design for. I adore this woman. She called me about it last Thursday, and it's very exciting because it's... real. I don't know how else to describe it. With the book coming to a close, the prospect of meeting an editor just mkaes everything I've been doing for the past ten weeks now, and will be doing for the next three weeks, feel just utterly real.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Weeks Eight and Nine: Burn Out, Baby, and Break Through
OK, I'm back. I recognize the irony of posting an update about wanting to post more just before disappearing from posting for two weeks.
Toward the middle of Week Eight, I started to fail miserably in getting through my days. By the end of the week, I was completely burnt out. I finished Saturday with some pages, and on Monday of Week Nine I wrote about 3 pages. Then, Tuesday came. Even if I wanted to write I wouldn't have had a chance. It was a baby-day. And by that I mean, it was an "Auntie-Farrell-is-a-jungle-gym-day." And by that I mean, my close friends have one of the cutest babies ever, and I babysat him from 7 am to 5:30 pm on Tuesday. He's a 9 month old in the learning-to-stand phase. Lifting baby > lifting weights. It was a fabulous mini-vacation. I wrote again on Thursday. Once again, not very many pages. Then, Thursday night. Harry Potter.
Harry Potter has always been near and dear to my heart, and I know this is a writing blog that I have dedicated to my writing and not other people's, but that means I need to talk about Harry Potter. Watching Deathly Hallows Part 2 Thursday night/Friday morning (and again on Saturday morning) reminded me of everything I love about writing, and how I started in the first place. I celebrated the release (yes, celebrated) with my best friend since junior high, Chelsea Bailey, whom I met because we were both re-reading Harry Potter in anticipation for the next book release. I never wrote when I was young. I wrote for class, and I didn't hate it. But it wasn't until I was reading Harry Potter as a pre-teen that I ever considered writing. Like many pre-teen fans of the Harry Potter series, I began writing fanfiction, which was utterly, devestatingly terrible. But for the first time I considered the possbility that I could be a writer, and here we are a decade later, and oh hey, I'm writing a novel. Hanging out with Chelsea and re-entering the world that introduced me to the love of writing gave me a much needed boost this past weekend. So, I'm heading into my next week with renewed optimism for this novel.
I've reworked my calendar and I think I should still be able to get through everything in time. I have about 80 to 100 pages (I think) of scenes left. The next two weeks will be for writing; the two weeks after that will be for hard-copy editing.
Quote of the Week: Fight
It's been a struggle these past two weeks is all I'm trying to say. And there are plenty of fight scenes to choose from, but Bar room brawls are iconic.
"There were two kinds of nights at the Dyre Den. Nights when Ala’omond was there. And nights when Ala’omond wasn’t.
Nico had chosen the second: the patrons threw fists, spells, mugs, stools, and whole bodies across the tavern’s main room."
Toward the middle of Week Eight, I started to fail miserably in getting through my days. By the end of the week, I was completely burnt out. I finished Saturday with some pages, and on Monday of Week Nine I wrote about 3 pages. Then, Tuesday came. Even if I wanted to write I wouldn't have had a chance. It was a baby-day. And by that I mean, it was an "Auntie-Farrell-is-a-jungle-gym-day." And by that I mean, my close friends have one of the cutest babies ever, and I babysat him from 7 am to 5:30 pm on Tuesday. He's a 9 month old in the learning-to-stand phase. Lifting baby > lifting weights. It was a fabulous mini-vacation. I wrote again on Thursday. Once again, not very many pages. Then, Thursday night. Harry Potter.
Harry Potter has always been near and dear to my heart, and I know this is a writing blog that I have dedicated to my writing and not other people's, but that means I need to talk about Harry Potter. Watching Deathly Hallows Part 2 Thursday night/Friday morning (and again on Saturday morning) reminded me of everything I love about writing, and how I started in the first place. I celebrated the release (yes, celebrated) with my best friend since junior high, Chelsea Bailey, whom I met because we were both re-reading Harry Potter in anticipation for the next book release. I never wrote when I was young. I wrote for class, and I didn't hate it. But it wasn't until I was reading Harry Potter as a pre-teen that I ever considered writing. Like many pre-teen fans of the Harry Potter series, I began writing fanfiction, which was utterly, devestatingly terrible. But for the first time I considered the possbility that I could be a writer, and here we are a decade later, and oh hey, I'm writing a novel. Hanging out with Chelsea and re-entering the world that introduced me to the love of writing gave me a much needed boost this past weekend. So, I'm heading into my next week with renewed optimism for this novel.
I've reworked my calendar and I think I should still be able to get through everything in time. I have about 80 to 100 pages (I think) of scenes left. The next two weeks will be for writing; the two weeks after that will be for hard-copy editing.
Quote of the Week: Fight
It's been a struggle these past two weeks is all I'm trying to say. And there are plenty of fight scenes to choose from, but Bar room brawls are iconic.
"There were two kinds of nights at the Dyre Den. Nights when Ala’omond was there. And nights when Ala’omond wasn’t.
Nico had chosen the second: the patrons threw fists, spells, mugs, stools, and whole bodies across the tavern’s main room."
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
More Involved
As I said in my post-week wrap up yesterday, I wanted to post this last night; however, I got a little excited over Independence Day (hope yours was a blast, if you're in the US - apparently there are people from Germany and Italy reading) and learning to make chocolates. So, I'm writing today instead.
With the novel becoming more and more complete by the day, and my becoming more and more anxious about it by the day, I want to make this blog more involved than just the post week wrap ups. I haven't really filled you in on anything to do with the novel since the very first post, so now every week in addition to my wrap up, I'll be giving you some information on the world, characters, and the like as I hammer out the details myself.
As always, I truly appreciate all comments and posts to facebook and twitter.
To begin, just a refresher on the plot of the novel:
Prophecy (working title) follows the stories of three mages, Nico, Contierra, and D'rina, as the world around them - almost literally - falls apart and they make the choices that will either save or destroy it.
Although the plot makes it an epic fantasy, its a combination of the individual character archs merging that bring that scale into focus, with Nico's being the largest individual storyline in scope.
More to come as the days (38!) go on.
With the novel becoming more and more complete by the day, and my becoming more and more anxious about it by the day, I want to make this blog more involved than just the post week wrap ups. I haven't really filled you in on anything to do with the novel since the very first post, so now every week in addition to my wrap up, I'll be giving you some information on the world, characters, and the like as I hammer out the details myself.
As always, I truly appreciate all comments and posts to facebook and twitter.
To begin, just a refresher on the plot of the novel:
Prophecy (working title) follows the stories of three mages, Nico, Contierra, and D'rina, as the world around them - almost literally - falls apart and they make the choices that will either save or destroy it.
Although the plot makes it an epic fantasy, its a combination of the individual character archs merging that bring that scale into focus, with Nico's being the largest individual storyline in scope.
More to come as the days (38!) go on.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Week Seven: Structurally Stifling
So I've talked a lot about my difficulties going back and forth between too much freedom that I didn't know what to do and too much planning that I didn't have creative freedom. Last week started off all right, but by Wednesday, I was fighting to write just a few pages. Being past the halfway point if obviously fantastic, but now I am at the crunch so I have to write certain scenes on certain days and that's not usually how I operate. I finally realized what was happening on Friday and switched to a different POV to keep things from getting stiffling. That seemed to work pretty weel. So I've worked out a basic schedule for the next six weeks that keeps me switch perspectives every couple of days; that way, even though I'm under the clock, I'll keeping everything fresh.
Obviously, since everything fell apart my Weekly Stats are dismal 40 pages for the week - as if I skipped an entire day of writing. Saturdays have now been added to my weeks. I won't be working a full 9-5 on the weekends, but in addition to writing, I need to start editing what I've already written. Some of that is going to have to happen on the weekends.
Later today - maybe during lunch, I'm going to post another update, so watch for that. Until then, this is it for now. Sorry it's so short. It's really crunch time now.
Obviously, since everything fell apart my Weekly Stats are dismal 40 pages for the week - as if I skipped an entire day of writing. Saturdays have now been added to my weeks. I won't be working a full 9-5 on the weekends, but in addition to writing, I need to start editing what I've already written. Some of that is going to have to happen on the weekends.
Later today - maybe during lunch, I'm going to post another update, so watch for that. Until then, this is it for now. Sorry it's so short. It's really crunch time now.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Week Six: Momentum
If you missed my previous post, I have written what I estimate to be half (248 pages) the length of the novel based on how I've broken down the plot/scene outline.
This past week started as a great week. I was totally psyched about meeting my goal to reach the halfway point. Monday alone I wrote 14 solid pages. But by Friday, I was crawling to 7 pages. I tried working on Saturday and couldn't concentrate more than an hour when I expected (and needed) to work, editing the first half and writing a fight scene, all day. I can blame Saturday's problems partially on my environment. I'm particular about where I can work, and I had to move to the public library on Saturday and there are just so many books there...
All told:
Week Total Hours: 37
Total Hours for Writing Novel: 30
Total Pages Written: 49 (1 less than goal)
Total Hours for Editing Novel: 2
Total Pages Editted: 2.25
Pages Per Hour (Writing): 1.63
Pages Per Hour (Editing): 1.125
Due to my early week surge, my pages per hour for writing is about where it should be, but if I'm only "editing" at 1 and an eighth page an hour (editing here pretty much meaning copy-paste - possibly selectively - from one document to another), it's going to take me a very, very long time to finish this... My 13 week goal, which we are heading into the seventh week of (scary!), includes my very, very rough first draft, an equally rough "working" draft which might contain a couple variations of the same scene from which to choose, and a tidier third draft from which to jump into future/final drafts. I have seven weeks to complete two and a half approximately 496 page drafts. Exciting.
Mostly what I need to focus on now is not losing momentum. It's already started, as evidenced by this past week's slow decline.
No Quote of the Week this week, sorry to say. This is coming up a little late as it is, and I need to post now, instead of searching for something fun. Look out later this week for a new weekly topic I'll be posting!
This past week started as a great week. I was totally psyched about meeting my goal to reach the halfway point. Monday alone I wrote 14 solid pages. But by Friday, I was crawling to 7 pages. I tried working on Saturday and couldn't concentrate more than an hour when I expected (and needed) to work, editing the first half and writing a fight scene, all day. I can blame Saturday's problems partially on my environment. I'm particular about where I can work, and I had to move to the public library on Saturday and there are just so many books there...
All told:
Week Total Hours: 37
Total Hours for Writing Novel: 30
Total Pages Written: 49 (1 less than goal)
Total Hours for Editing Novel: 2
Total Pages Editted: 2.25
Pages Per Hour (Writing): 1.63
Pages Per Hour (Editing): 1.125
Due to my early week surge, my pages per hour for writing is about where it should be, but if I'm only "editing" at 1 and an eighth page an hour (editing here pretty much meaning copy-paste - possibly selectively - from one document to another), it's going to take me a very, very long time to finish this... My 13 week goal, which we are heading into the seventh week of (scary!), includes my very, very rough first draft, an equally rough "working" draft which might contain a couple variations of the same scene from which to choose, and a tidier third draft from which to jump into future/final drafts. I have seven weeks to complete two and a half approximately 496 page drafts. Exciting.
Mostly what I need to focus on now is not losing momentum. It's already started, as evidenced by this past week's slow decline.
No Quote of the Week this week, sorry to say. This is coming up a little late as it is, and I need to post now, instead of searching for something fun. Look out later this week for a new weekly topic I'll be posting!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
HALFWAY THERE!
It's happened. I've broken down the book into 6 major/equal parts, and I just finished the 3rd, which means I'm halfway there at 5.5 weeks into my 13 week project!
This half is 248 pages exactly (for the moment). I'll be spending my Saturday going through my first edits of this draft - mostly just working on transitioning from scene to scene. For the rest of the week, I'm full steam ahead for the second half -except for writing this blog post rather than continuing on the scene I've started because I'm to eager to concentrate. I also maybe shouldn't have pushed myself with that second pot of coffee.
I have written 248 pages and ~72,000 words in approximately 35 days (give or take for sick/make-up days) and 5.5 weeks, which means: (numbers are rounded)
Per week my average page count is: 45.1
Per week my average word count is: 13,091
Per day my average page count is: 7.1
Per day my average word count is: 2,057
Unfortunately, that means I'm writing under-goal, since I'm trying to write at 10 pages per day. But I won't get too weepy about it: I'm kicking ass!
At the rate I'm going, I think I will have written all the scenes I need written by halfway through the 12th week, and I'll edit for the last week and a half instead of write. If I can step up my game and get to writing at or above my goal like I was in the first couple weeks, I should be done in the 10th or 11th week, and I'll have 2 or 3 weeks to edit.
Of course, after that, I don't plan on considering the novel "done" in any way. I'm tentatively calling my end product my Final Rough Draft. I'm sure it will go through several edits after, but I want something complete ad cohesive at the end of these 13 weeks. When we get closer to the end, I'll discuss my plans for the future of this blog.
As always, I appreciate your support! Sending you love!
This half is 248 pages exactly (for the moment). I'll be spending my Saturday going through my first edits of this draft - mostly just working on transitioning from scene to scene. For the rest of the week, I'm full steam ahead for the second half -except for writing this blog post rather than continuing on the scene I've started because I'm to eager to concentrate. I also maybe shouldn't have pushed myself with that second pot of coffee.
I have written 248 pages and ~72,000 words in approximately 35 days (give or take for sick/make-up days) and 5.5 weeks, which means: (numbers are rounded)
Per week my average page count is: 45.1
Per week my average word count is: 13,091
Per day my average page count is: 7.1
Per day my average word count is: 2,057
Unfortunately, that means I'm writing under-goal, since I'm trying to write at 10 pages per day. But I won't get too weepy about it: I'm kicking ass!
At the rate I'm going, I think I will have written all the scenes I need written by halfway through the 12th week, and I'll edit for the last week and a half instead of write. If I can step up my game and get to writing at or above my goal like I was in the first couple weeks, I should be done in the 10th or 11th week, and I'll have 2 or 3 weeks to edit.
Of course, after that, I don't plan on considering the novel "done" in any way. I'm tentatively calling my end product my Final Rough Draft. I'm sure it will go through several edits after, but I want something complete ad cohesive at the end of these 13 weeks. When we get closer to the end, I'll discuss my plans for the future of this blog.
As always, I appreciate your support! Sending you love!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Week Five: Utter Failure
Just thinking about my weekly stats makes my head hurt. I was well under my 50 page goal. Granted, it's not really my fault when my head decides it wants to mimic the pain from a torture scene in 24, but I'm still bummed about it.
Still, I'm extraordinarily close to the halfway point in the novel. My projection for it is Wednesday the 22nd, and I plan on writing through the evening until I get there. After today I'll probably have about 30 more pages to write, based on the scenes I know need to happen and how long they tend to be.
Once I get to the halfway point, I'm going to start giving more information about the novel itself. I don't think I've given a summary since week one. I'm thinking about doing mid-week Character Spotlights; how does that sound to you? I've also been working on another related project that I plan to premiere in a sister blog by the end of the summer.
I'm still lacking in the Facebook area. It's awful. I feel so disconnected from my friends not in my immediate physical space. Also, I can't share this blog there, so I appreciate your efforts to do so!
Quote of the Week: Fail
I didn't write for two days, so there really wasn't much from which to choose. I know I said I'd try for two this week, but c'mon. Three days worth of material. Plus, this is a long quote.
This quote is actually of a win for the main character, Nico, but a fail for the one she's dealing with.
"“You think you can kill me?” Nico asked
“Did you happen to notice how many people were in the room out there?”
54 patrons: half Prienvian, quarter Dwarven, and the rest a mix of Elven, Human and Hakathan. Plus the Prienvian barkeep. Nico liked challenges. Kept fight in the blood. “Nope.”
“Over fifty. And they’re all waiting for me to give them a signal.” The petite criminal giggled again. “So, let’s not be silly and do something you’ll regret in your afterlife.”
“Oh, I never allow myself to do something I’ll regret.”"
PS. Sorry this is late getting up again this week. I woke up late and didn't want to start writing late.
PPS. Great start to this week, by the way. :-)
Still, I'm extraordinarily close to the halfway point in the novel. My projection for it is Wednesday the 22nd, and I plan on writing through the evening until I get there. After today I'll probably have about 30 more pages to write, based on the scenes I know need to happen and how long they tend to be.
Once I get to the halfway point, I'm going to start giving more information about the novel itself. I don't think I've given a summary since week one. I'm thinking about doing mid-week Character Spotlights; how does that sound to you? I've also been working on another related project that I plan to premiere in a sister blog by the end of the summer.
I'm still lacking in the Facebook area. It's awful. I feel so disconnected from my friends not in my immediate physical space. Also, I can't share this blog there, so I appreciate your efforts to do so!
Quote of the Week: Fail
I didn't write for two days, so there really wasn't much from which to choose. I know I said I'd try for two this week, but c'mon. Three days worth of material. Plus, this is a long quote.
This quote is actually of a win for the main character, Nico, but a fail for the one she's dealing with.
"“You think you can kill me?” Nico asked
“Did you happen to notice how many people were in the room out there?”
54 patrons: half Prienvian, quarter Dwarven, and the rest a mix of Elven, Human and Hakathan. Plus the Prienvian barkeep. Nico liked challenges. Kept fight in the blood. “Nope.”
“Over fifty. And they’re all waiting for me to give them a signal.” The petite criminal giggled again. “So, let’s not be silly and do something you’ll regret in your afterlife.”
“Oh, I never allow myself to do something I’ll regret.”"
PS. Sorry this is late getting up again this week. I woke up late and didn't want to start writing late.
PPS. Great start to this week, by the way. :-)
Monday, June 13, 2011
Week Four: Crisis and Frustration
I did it. Over 200 pages written in four weeks. I think I previously posted that this would make me ahead of schedule, but it actually puts me right on schedule if my goal is to write 10 pages a day, which it is. Still, I am pretty proud of myself, and I expect that I will be half way through the novel by the end of this coming week or middle of next. I might even add a Saturday writing session this week to make sure that is met.
Well, this past week has seen a lot of frustration for me. I had to take my planning to the next level and brainstorm specific scenes. This wasn't a problem in and of itself, but it was a solution to the problem that I had no idea where I was taking a particular character, and it certainly wasn't a perfect solution. The most painful source of frustration for me this past week, however, had nothing to do with the book. Three of my accounts have been hacked, including Facebook, and I have been locked out entirely from all of them. I've spent days, including several hours I should have been writing, trying to recover them. No luck thus far.
When I was writing this blog this morning, I wrote about how although I've been mostly meeting my daily goal, I am failing to keep to my schedule of free writing from 9-9:30 and from 1-1:30 and novel writing from 9:30-12 and 1:30-4ish. One of the things I cited was that I'm often too energetic or too exhausted and I get distracted by the need to exercise or take a nap. I did free write before my morning session, and it certainly had the effect I want for it: clearing my mind of other stories by writing them down before I begin my novel writing. Of course, I proceeded to take a nap my entire afternoon session. I probably wouldn't have if I remembered to turn my phone off silence so I could hear the alarm I set for myself. I do want to cut down on napping in general, but it's extraordinarily difficult to have any success writing or even look at the computer screen when I have a soul-splitting migraine. I guess I'll just have to find a balance with that.
Just a reminder that you can Comment without having a Blogger account, Follow the blog through your Blogger account, Subscribe by email or RSS feed, and Share the posts on Facebook or Twitter (which I would be quite grateful for since I can't post on Facebook for at least a couple weeks). Also, I'm on Twitter: @BookwyrmFCP.
Sadly no Quote of the Week this time around; I was having difficulty with finding a good quote earlier today and right now I'm still reeling from my migraine. Maybe I'll post two next time.
Well, this past week has seen a lot of frustration for me. I had to take my planning to the next level and brainstorm specific scenes. This wasn't a problem in and of itself, but it was a solution to the problem that I had no idea where I was taking a particular character, and it certainly wasn't a perfect solution. The most painful source of frustration for me this past week, however, had nothing to do with the book. Three of my accounts have been hacked, including Facebook, and I have been locked out entirely from all of them. I've spent days, including several hours I should have been writing, trying to recover them. No luck thus far.
When I was writing this blog this morning, I wrote about how although I've been mostly meeting my daily goal, I am failing to keep to my schedule of free writing from 9-9:30 and from 1-1:30 and novel writing from 9:30-12 and 1:30-4ish. One of the things I cited was that I'm often too energetic or too exhausted and I get distracted by the need to exercise or take a nap. I did free write before my morning session, and it certainly had the effect I want for it: clearing my mind of other stories by writing them down before I begin my novel writing. Of course, I proceeded to take a nap my entire afternoon session. I probably wouldn't have if I remembered to turn my phone off silence so I could hear the alarm I set for myself. I do want to cut down on napping in general, but it's extraordinarily difficult to have any success writing or even look at the computer screen when I have a soul-splitting migraine. I guess I'll just have to find a balance with that.
Just a reminder that you can Comment without having a Blogger account, Follow the blog through your Blogger account, Subscribe by email or RSS feed, and Share the posts on Facebook or Twitter (which I would be quite grateful for since I can't post on Facebook for at least a couple weeks). Also, I'm on Twitter: @BookwyrmFCP.
Sadly no Quote of the Week this time around; I was having difficulty with finding a good quote earlier today and right now I'm still reeling from my migraine. Maybe I'll post two next time.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Planning Continued
After a fairly unsuccessful day yesterday of trying to write scenes for this week's character, I decided to take some time this morning planning out possible scenes. As I've written previously, I'm approaching planning cautiously, but this morning's session seemed to really work -
I've got a general idea for a dozen plus scenes, and my writing today definitely showed me that the planning was not going to interfere with spontaneous creation when a new scene cropped up, bridging the planned scenes. Plus, despite the time I took out to plan during the morning session, I still exceeded my writing goal and broke the halfway mark on my 11th page.
This was a short update, I know, but I haven't much to say other than that I am proud of the results.
As a final piece of this update, I encourage you to comment if you have any response to this blog. Because when someone has commented in the past, it brightens my day a little. Since someone has asked me if being logged in is necessary, you do not have to be a member of Blogger to comment - Google accounts, Open IDs, Livejournal, and AIM s/ns are all ways to sign in for commenting - but I don't allow anonymous comments in order to cut back on spambots. You can also follow the blog through your Google account, RSS feed or email.
I hope to hear your thoughts soon!
I've got a general idea for a dozen plus scenes, and my writing today definitely showed me that the planning was not going to interfere with spontaneous creation when a new scene cropped up, bridging the planned scenes. Plus, despite the time I took out to plan during the morning session, I still exceeded my writing goal and broke the halfway mark on my 11th page.
This was a short update, I know, but I haven't much to say other than that I am proud of the results.
As a final piece of this update, I encourage you to comment if you have any response to this blog. Because when someone has commented in the past, it brightens my day a little. Since someone has asked me if being logged in is necessary, you do not have to be a member of Blogger to comment - Google accounts, Open IDs, Livejournal, and AIM s/ns are all ways to sign in for commenting - but I don't allow anonymous comments in order to cut back on spambots. You can also follow the blog through your Google account, RSS feed or email.
I hope to hear your thoughts soon!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Week Three: Planning
One of these days I'll get better at planning when I'm going to write these blog posts. Until then, I'll be concentrating all my planning energy on the novel.
I am planner. I can schedule and plan things to death, but I tend to get caught up in the planning too much to actually execute the results. So, when I decided to write this summer, I vowed to do as little planning as possible and only write until I couldn't go anymore. As I've previously said, I've been planning this in my head for years, so despite my lack of planning in writing, I've known what I've wanted to write. However, for the past two weeks, I have been working with three characters all in different places in the world, doing different things. This week, I hit the time in the novel when their paths first cross. Now, instead of planning about what will happen five chapters from now, I'm having to work out the logistics of perspective and the characters' individual storylines intersecting.
This is what led to my "first manuscript draft," which I wrote about in the mid-week update. I combined all the scenes I've written over the past weeks in chronological order into one document. This has led me to develop an entirely new structure for the novel that I hadn't been planning on, and with a structure, I now have a much better idea of when and where certain characters need to be interacting and in whose perspective all the scenes should be, even though I don't have a list of all the scenes I'll be writing - just the absolutely necessary ones.
Since this is following a post with all my stats, etc, I don't have much to write this time around. The plan for the following week is to stay with one particular character the entire time. She took a turn for crazyville on Friday when a sub-sub-plot quickly became her main characterization/character motivation. I have no idea where this is going, which is exciting and, I guess, means I'm doing a good job at only planning what I absolutely have to.
Quote of the Week: Starting Point
As I've blogged before, this undertaking might be the most insane thing I've ever committed to. And now that I've begun a bit of planning, it seems both slightly more and slightly less of an ordeal. In this, a hunter, D'rina, has left her comfort zone to research a peculiar incident she witnessed while hunting. She is now utterly surrounded by research materials.
"D’rina had no idea where to start. The undertaking suddenly overwhelmed and crashed down on her. She should have kept to hunting what could be stalked.
She grabbed the scroll from the top of the closest stack to her. [...]
As she unrolled the scroll and began to read, D’rina hoped the librarian didn’t mind that she might be there for forever."
I am planner. I can schedule and plan things to death, but I tend to get caught up in the planning too much to actually execute the results. So, when I decided to write this summer, I vowed to do as little planning as possible and only write until I couldn't go anymore. As I've previously said, I've been planning this in my head for years, so despite my lack of planning in writing, I've known what I've wanted to write. However, for the past two weeks, I have been working with three characters all in different places in the world, doing different things. This week, I hit the time in the novel when their paths first cross. Now, instead of planning about what will happen five chapters from now, I'm having to work out the logistics of perspective and the characters' individual storylines intersecting.
This is what led to my "first manuscript draft," which I wrote about in the mid-week update. I combined all the scenes I've written over the past weeks in chronological order into one document. This has led me to develop an entirely new structure for the novel that I hadn't been planning on, and with a structure, I now have a much better idea of when and where certain characters need to be interacting and in whose perspective all the scenes should be, even though I don't have a list of all the scenes I'll be writing - just the absolutely necessary ones.
Since this is following a post with all my stats, etc, I don't have much to write this time around. The plan for the following week is to stay with one particular character the entire time. She took a turn for crazyville on Friday when a sub-sub-plot quickly became her main characterization/character motivation. I have no idea where this is going, which is exciting and, I guess, means I'm doing a good job at only planning what I absolutely have to.
Quote of the Week: Starting Point
As I've blogged before, this undertaking might be the most insane thing I've ever committed to. And now that I've begun a bit of planning, it seems both slightly more and slightly less of an ordeal. In this, a hunter, D'rina, has left her comfort zone to research a peculiar incident she witnessed while hunting. She is now utterly surrounded by research materials.
"D’rina had no idea where to start. The undertaking suddenly overwhelmed and crashed down on her. She should have kept to hunting what could be stalked.
She grabbed the scroll from the top of the closest stack to her. [...]
As she unrolled the scroll and began to read, D’rina hoped the librarian didn’t mind that she might be there for forever."
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Mid-Week Update
It's not technically the "middle" of the week when I'm posting on a Thursday, but it's not my usual post-week wrap-up, so I'm sticking with that sentiment for the term.
It's almost the end of my third week of writing. Un-frikkin-believable. I'll write much more here over the weekend when I have the time, but for now, I just wanted to update everyone on some amazing progress that I catalogued today.
Technically, I work 35 hour weeks. 32 of those are meant to be strictly writing, 27 strictly writing my novel. That's how my daily schedule reads. So, today should mark 378 hours of writing Prophecy. Considering these are best laid plans... Well, you read my post last week and know the trouble I've been having focusing and the like.
Today during my editing session, I compiled everything I have written thus far in those 370-ish hours. You see, I open a fresh Word Doc daily to write, and I save each day's work separately that way. Today I put together my first manuscript draft, splicing together the character perspectives I've been writing in.
150 pages.
This is actually right on-track. My goal is to write 10 pages a day, 50 pages a week. What it's actually coming out to is closer to 11 pages per day (though some days, like yesterday, I've written nearly 15).
Weeks Completed: (almost) 3
Weeks Remaining: 10 (plus a day)
Total Number of Hours Spent Writing Novel: somewhere between 365 and 378
Total Number of Pages: 150 (almost exactly)
To borrow a phrase: So excite!
It's almost the end of my third week of writing. Un-frikkin-believable. I'll write much more here over the weekend when I have the time, but for now, I just wanted to update everyone on some amazing progress that I catalogued today.
Technically, I work 35 hour weeks. 32 of those are meant to be strictly writing, 27 strictly writing my novel. That's how my daily schedule reads. So, today should mark 378 hours of writing Prophecy. Considering these are best laid plans... Well, you read my post last week and know the trouble I've been having focusing and the like.
Today during my editing session, I compiled everything I have written thus far in those 370-ish hours. You see, I open a fresh Word Doc daily to write, and I save each day's work separately that way. Today I put together my first manuscript draft, splicing together the character perspectives I've been writing in.
150 pages.
This is actually right on-track. My goal is to write 10 pages a day, 50 pages a week. What it's actually coming out to is closer to 11 pages per day (though some days, like yesterday, I've written nearly 15).
Weeks Completed: (almost) 3
Weeks Remaining: 10 (plus a day)
Total Number of Hours Spent Writing Novel: somewhere between 365 and 378
Total Number of Pages: 150 (almost exactly)
To borrow a phrase: So excite!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Week Two: Health and Wellness
This blog is coming out late today, as you can see. I wanted to spend some time on Saturday writing it; instead, I had an extra day of writing. With my Saturday session, I wrote 48 pages, 2 under my writing goal.
Now, I'm not beating myself up over 2 pages, but neither am I letting it slide. I know myself, shortcuts and slides will be my downfall. Let this blog and all those (2) of you who read it be my accountability.
The reason I fell short and needed an extra day of writing this week was that I took Thursday as a sick day. I slept off a migraine in the morning and went to the doctor in the afternoon. I wrote about two pages that day. I've been feeling sick the past couple weeks, and this is something that's happened to me a couple times before. It's like I'm in a car getting motion sick while sitting in my desk chair. Obviously, while writing, I do a lot of sitting in my desk chair and therefore a lot of getting sick. The doctor seems to have found the issue and I'm on yet more medication (I already have plenty for chronic migraines), and the meds are so far working.
Incidentally, illness is what cemented this project in my mind as a requirement for the summer. I'm not the healthiest person in the world. I have chronic migraines, get a cold at the slightest pressure or temperature change, and can injure myself in mind-blowingly astounding ways. But hospitals were never my thing. I had to go once for stitches when I was 8 and once for a panic attack and migraine when I was 19. In comparison to my brother who went to the hospital for a new injury sustained while doing something "daring" and stupid what seemed like every other week when we were kids, I was a pretty safe from hospital stays.
When I do get sick, I prefer not to go to see doctors. I know that a fever, nausea, and achiness are the flu and that I should take Tylenol, drink plenty of fluids, and sleep. I don't need to go to a doctor who will stick me with needles and tell me the exact same thing. Unless I need a note for missing classes. So, when I woke up one Tuesday morning in late April with the sudden urge to vomit up everything in my body, including my organs, and had a strangely high fever, I just assumed it was the flu - you know, one of those 24 hour stomach bugs that you used to feign having to get out of a test but still be able to go out on the weekend? I threw up and went back to bed, and my roommate went to classes, probably thinking my inferior gentile self couldn't handle the awesomeness that was our Seder food and especially wine from the night before.
But that night when she got home, she was a dutiful roommate and checked my temperature, it was 102.5. We went to the hospital. After a couple hours of waiting, some IV fluid, and a test or two, Rachel and I returned home with a diagnosed of flu and minor infection. Take Tylenol and a prescribed antibiotic. I spent the next day in bed, with my roommate and another friend dutifully watching over me, making sure I was taking the Tylenol that wasn't lowering my fever and drinking fluids that I was barely keeping down. I'd filled my hospital quota for the next decade; Rachel hadn't. After taking my temperature again that night (103.3), she dragged me out of bed - I could barely move my muscles were so sore - and got me back to the hospital. With explicit instructions from my mother for Rachel to glower at the hospital staff until I was given everything I could possibly need, I was treated like I was dying. As it turns out, I was. I spent the next few of days in the PCU and another couple in general care. At first I was too sick to really understand exactly how serious it all was. Then I was too doped.
I guess one of the morals of this story is to see a frikkin' doctor when you get sick, which I have taken to heart, as evidenced by my doctor's appointment on Thursday. But in terms of this project, I also learned another lesson from the experience:
On an intellectual level, at some point, I realized that this could have been it for me. It took a while for it to fully sink in. You know how people say that you should live life to its fullest because tomorrow you could get hit by a bus or something? When you actually get hit by that bus and survive, things come into a different perspective. I have 21 years of really fabulous test scores and GPAs. I wanted more. I get to live the rest of my life with the threat of a recurrence, but far more importantly, I get to live, and I am going to make my life worth that. Which means it's time to get serious about what actually matters to me.
That's what this summer, this project, is about.
Quote of the Week: Memory (Reminder: These are very rough drafts. Apologies.)
In this quote, the healer Contierra from last week's quote is reflecting on the fulfilling 500 year life of an important man she's treating and her own memory of him. This was written on May 27th:
"Contierra tried to imagine him as young Cazchdani man named Abner at about her age, but she couldn’t. She could, however, picture him quite clearly as a bumbling sideshow magician at her hometown’s annual Summer Festival, as he had once posed for some reason she had never learned. She wondered if anyone else could – it was doubtful. She knew that in his lifetime, he had forged many important relationships, but having known him in that way made her feel special. That was how she met him."
Now, I'm not beating myself up over 2 pages, but neither am I letting it slide. I know myself, shortcuts and slides will be my downfall. Let this blog and all those (2) of you who read it be my accountability.
The reason I fell short and needed an extra day of writing this week was that I took Thursday as a sick day. I slept off a migraine in the morning and went to the doctor in the afternoon. I wrote about two pages that day. I've been feeling sick the past couple weeks, and this is something that's happened to me a couple times before. It's like I'm in a car getting motion sick while sitting in my desk chair. Obviously, while writing, I do a lot of sitting in my desk chair and therefore a lot of getting sick. The doctor seems to have found the issue and I'm on yet more medication (I already have plenty for chronic migraines), and the meds are so far working.
Incidentally, illness is what cemented this project in my mind as a requirement for the summer. I'm not the healthiest person in the world. I have chronic migraines, get a cold at the slightest pressure or temperature change, and can injure myself in mind-blowingly astounding ways. But hospitals were never my thing. I had to go once for stitches when I was 8 and once for a panic attack and migraine when I was 19. In comparison to my brother who went to the hospital for a new injury sustained while doing something "daring" and stupid what seemed like every other week when we were kids, I was a pretty safe from hospital stays.
When I do get sick, I prefer not to go to see doctors. I know that a fever, nausea, and achiness are the flu and that I should take Tylenol, drink plenty of fluids, and sleep. I don't need to go to a doctor who will stick me with needles and tell me the exact same thing. Unless I need a note for missing classes. So, when I woke up one Tuesday morning in late April with the sudden urge to vomit up everything in my body, including my organs, and had a strangely high fever, I just assumed it was the flu - you know, one of those 24 hour stomach bugs that you used to feign having to get out of a test but still be able to go out on the weekend? I threw up and went back to bed, and my roommate went to classes, probably thinking my inferior gentile self couldn't handle the awesomeness that was our Seder food and especially wine from the night before.
But that night when she got home, she was a dutiful roommate and checked my temperature, it was 102.5. We went to the hospital. After a couple hours of waiting, some IV fluid, and a test or two, Rachel and I returned home with a diagnosed of flu and minor infection. Take Tylenol and a prescribed antibiotic. I spent the next day in bed, with my roommate and another friend dutifully watching over me, making sure I was taking the Tylenol that wasn't lowering my fever and drinking fluids that I was barely keeping down. I'd filled my hospital quota for the next decade; Rachel hadn't. After taking my temperature again that night (103.3), she dragged me out of bed - I could barely move my muscles were so sore - and got me back to the hospital. With explicit instructions from my mother for Rachel to glower at the hospital staff until I was given everything I could possibly need, I was treated like I was dying. As it turns out, I was. I spent the next few of days in the PCU and another couple in general care. At first I was too sick to really understand exactly how serious it all was. Then I was too doped.
I guess one of the morals of this story is to see a frikkin' doctor when you get sick, which I have taken to heart, as evidenced by my doctor's appointment on Thursday. But in terms of this project, I also learned another lesson from the experience:
On an intellectual level, at some point, I realized that this could have been it for me. It took a while for it to fully sink in. You know how people say that you should live life to its fullest because tomorrow you could get hit by a bus or something? When you actually get hit by that bus and survive, things come into a different perspective. I have 21 years of really fabulous test scores and GPAs. I wanted more. I get to live the rest of my life with the threat of a recurrence, but far more importantly, I get to live, and I am going to make my life worth that. Which means it's time to get serious about what actually matters to me.
That's what this summer, this project, is about.
Quote of the Week: Memory (Reminder: These are very rough drafts. Apologies.)
In this quote, the healer Contierra from last week's quote is reflecting on the fulfilling 500 year life of an important man she's treating and her own memory of him. This was written on May 27th:
"Contierra tried to imagine him as young Cazchdani man named Abner at about her age, but she couldn’t. She could, however, picture him quite clearly as a bumbling sideshow magician at her hometown’s annual Summer Festival, as he had once posed for some reason she had never learned. She wondered if anyone else could – it was doubtful. She knew that in his lifetime, he had forged many important relationships, but having known him in that way made her feel special. That was how she met him."
Monday, May 23, 2011
Week One: An Exercise in Will Power
Total: 35 hours. (The following are approximates)
Writing Warm Ups: 4 hours, 45 minutes
Daily After-Writing Edits: 2 hours, 25 minutes
Enthusiastically Novel-Writing: 24 hours, 28 minutes
Staring at a Blinking Cursor: 2 hours, 13 minutes
Drooling, Staring off into Space, and Imagining Myself Enthusiastically Novel-Writing: 1 hour, 9 minutes
Writing Warm-Ups produced two letters (one mailed, one not), two poems, five short story beginnings, and two diary entries.
However, the Escaterra Project is about writing a novel. 58 pages, 16,986 words.
I've been talking about writing this novel for a long time. Years. Obviously, talking isn't writing, and for years, I have always found excuses to not write and instead think and plan and world-build. This summer, I've decided, will change all of that. From 9am to 5pm, but a lunch break at noon, Monday through Friday, I am working on The Escaterra Project, an effort to write the entire novel in the twelve weeks I have between junior and senior years of college. I can spend 35 hours on the computer every week without a problem. I could be a professional internet time-waster, but for 7 hours everyday, my internet is turned off, and the only program open on my laptop is a fresh Word Document. When I started on Monday, I was slightly terrified about how well it would work, "best laid plans" and all that. I powered through and above are the results.
Going into this summer, I had no intention of blogging. I've tried to start blogs before, but never got so much as 1 post done. By Thursday, I had made so many Facebook status updates about it that I decided I might as well try. I'll be updating at least weekly, sometime between Friday evening after 5pm and Monday morning before 9am. I'm not sure yet exactly what I'll be writing about beyond the general premise of documenting my writing process over the summer. I'll write a little about me; I'll write a little about my novel.
Now, for the little about my novel...
The working title is Prophecy. Because, oh hey, it involves a prophecy, as fantasy novels often do. Clever, right? Escaterra is the name of the world in which it takes place.
The Gods must choose their champions to save the world from certain destruction. They could select anyone to save the world from the apocalypse. They could choose Ariy'Ala'omand, the warrior prince of Hakatha already dedicated to the cause. Or Ashalana, the queen's friend and confidant, whose envious and corrupt rivals in court have her sent on a far off mission. Or the nameless woman of the secret band of exiled politcal adversaries and criminals who plans to lead them from their wilderness hide-out to rebellion at the city gates. Even the crazy old woman outside the walls of Souzarzum or the much-despised, apathetic Sorcerer could become saviors. But the Gods instead will choose a pirate, an apothecary and a recluse. They just don't know it yet.
In the coming weeks, I'll be filling you in on more (as it actually gets written).
Quote of the Week: Will Save (Note: apologies, these will be very rough. I will choose them for the theme, not because they are magnificent examples of prose.)
For those who don't know, I'm a huge fan of tabletop games. For those of you who don't know much about tabletop games, here's a lesson for you: Will Saves "reflect your resistance to mental influence" (PHB 3.5, 136). Someone trying to intimidate you? Roll a Will Save.
This past week has just been one major Will Save for me against the intimidation of the project I was taking on. So, here is an example of a successful Will Save I wrote on May 18th:
"Even if Contierra had access to a weapon, she wouldn’t know how to use it against them; she was terrified of all manner of beast, and had she a choice, Contierra would live a much more luxurious life in which she was required to do none of her own work. But Contierra ci’Mublim sáh’Hailiphusahabiro imci’Niha had defied her father and lord, had successfully stared down a land pirate twice in her life, had lived through the worst attack in the living memory of Hakathans, and had just willingly hung off cliff for three hours – a simple man with a crossbow was not all that intimidating."
Writing Warm Ups: 4 hours, 45 minutes
Daily After-Writing Edits: 2 hours, 25 minutes
Enthusiastically Novel-Writing: 24 hours, 28 minutes
Staring at a Blinking Cursor: 2 hours, 13 minutes
Drooling, Staring off into Space, and Imagining Myself Enthusiastically Novel-Writing: 1 hour, 9 minutes
Writing Warm-Ups produced two letters (one mailed, one not), two poems, five short story beginnings, and two diary entries.
However, the Escaterra Project is about writing a novel. 58 pages, 16,986 words.
I've been talking about writing this novel for a long time. Years. Obviously, talking isn't writing, and for years, I have always found excuses to not write and instead think and plan and world-build. This summer, I've decided, will change all of that. From 9am to 5pm, but a lunch break at noon, Monday through Friday, I am working on The Escaterra Project, an effort to write the entire novel in the twelve weeks I have between junior and senior years of college. I can spend 35 hours on the computer every week without a problem. I could be a professional internet time-waster, but for 7 hours everyday, my internet is turned off, and the only program open on my laptop is a fresh Word Document. When I started on Monday, I was slightly terrified about how well it would work, "best laid plans" and all that. I powered through and above are the results.
Going into this summer, I had no intention of blogging. I've tried to start blogs before, but never got so much as 1 post done. By Thursday, I had made so many Facebook status updates about it that I decided I might as well try. I'll be updating at least weekly, sometime between Friday evening after 5pm and Monday morning before 9am. I'm not sure yet exactly what I'll be writing about beyond the general premise of documenting my writing process over the summer. I'll write a little about me; I'll write a little about my novel.
Now, for the little about my novel...
The working title is Prophecy. Because, oh hey, it involves a prophecy, as fantasy novels often do. Clever, right? Escaterra is the name of the world in which it takes place.
The Gods must choose their champions to save the world from certain destruction. They could select anyone to save the world from the apocalypse. They could choose Ariy'Ala'omand, the warrior prince of Hakatha already dedicated to the cause. Or Ashalana, the queen's friend and confidant, whose envious and corrupt rivals in court have her sent on a far off mission. Or the nameless woman of the secret band of exiled politcal adversaries and criminals who plans to lead them from their wilderness hide-out to rebellion at the city gates. Even the crazy old woman outside the walls of Souzarzum or the much-despised, apathetic Sorcerer could become saviors. But the Gods instead will choose a pirate, an apothecary and a recluse. They just don't know it yet.
In the coming weeks, I'll be filling you in on more (as it actually gets written).
Quote of the Week: Will Save (Note: apologies, these will be very rough. I will choose them for the theme, not because they are magnificent examples of prose.)
For those who don't know, I'm a huge fan of tabletop games. For those of you who don't know much about tabletop games, here's a lesson for you: Will Saves "reflect your resistance to mental influence" (PHB 3.5, 136). Someone trying to intimidate you? Roll a Will Save.
This past week has just been one major Will Save for me against the intimidation of the project I was taking on. So, here is an example of a successful Will Save I wrote on May 18th:
"Even if Contierra had access to a weapon, she wouldn’t know how to use it against them; she was terrified of all manner of beast, and had she a choice, Contierra would live a much more luxurious life in which she was required to do none of her own work. But Contierra ci’Mublim sáh’Hailiphusahabiro imci’Niha had defied her father and lord, had successfully stared down a land pirate twice in her life, had lived through the worst attack in the living memory of Hakathans, and had just willingly hung off cliff for three hours – a simple man with a crossbow was not all that intimidating."
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