Sweating with Sven

Still sweating along with Sven. So far, since the 70 Days of Sweat started nine days ago I've written 16,842 words, with an average of 1,684 words a day for those last nine days.

Yesterday I finished the draft of my 30,000 word novella. Now comes the hard, but fun, work.

Revision.

Personally, I love to revise. Drafting is what I can't stand. That's why I try to write my draft as fast as I can so that I can get to what, at least for me, is the real writing. Revising, rewriting, editing.

My daily word count will go down as a result, because, as I'm sure you know revision involves cutting. But, I tend to write what I call bare-bones drafts, which means I leave out a lot of the description, internal monologue, dialogue tags and such that give texture to a scene.

I layer that stuff in after my draft is done. So it's a process of both adding what needs to be added and cutting what's not needed.

Fun stuff. :)

No, really. It's really fun. Hard work, but fun.

So, that's what I'll be doing from now until November 1st. Revising the novella and continue my prepping for NaNoWriMo.

Ciao for now!

Thoth: The God of Writing

This is an image of Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing. He is credited with the invention of writing and the alphabet and was scribe to the Egyptian gods.

I'm invoking him today in order to report on my writing so far.

As of yesterday, for October I've written 38,734 words and I've written on average this month 1, 937 words a day. That's compared to my overall total for September which was 38,192 and an average of 1,539 words per day.

Yes, I'm obsessed with Excel! *grin*

Now, once I start revising many of those words will be thrown out onto the compost heap. But I've come to the realization that in order to get the words that will, with hope, stir the reader, I've got to write a lot of garbage. There's no getting around it. I've got to write and I've to write every day.

Others may not have to write every day, but I've learned it's pretty much a necessity for me now.

Someone said (can't remember who) that you've got to write a million words before you can even think you've really hit your stride as a writer. Don't know if that's true or not. But if it is I've got to write steadily for at least three years to have written a million words.

So, here I go. :)

I'm 50% done with the draft of my 30,000 word novella. Really need to pick up the pace on that in order to reach my goal of finishing the draft before NaNo starts. My prepping for my NaNo novel is proceeding apace. Again, need to get a move on that too since NaNo starts next week and don't want to be caught short.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo go to link below to see the lists of authors who will be inspiring us NaNoWrimers to write in November!

List of Authors - Pep Talks for NaNoWriMo

I'm reporting in at 70 Days of Sweat and am finding the daily posts by the sponsors to be very helpful and inspiring and reading the comments of those who are also trying to sweat along with Sven is also motivating.

The 1000 Words a Day list is still going strong and has also proved a great source of motivation for me. Thanks, guys!

Saw a new episode of Torchwood last night. (Well, new for me.) Love that show! And Captain Jack? Well, what can I say? He's hot! Was an interesting one about one of the characters having the ability to hear other people's thoughts and the implications of that.

Ciao for now.

Torchwood

Torchwood has become my new favorite show. It's a spin off of the current incarnation of Doctor Who and features as its lead a character who was introduced on Doctor Who, Captain Jack Harkness, who is a bisexual (or perhaps pansexual or omnisexual is a better term as Jack just doesn't confine himself to humans when it comes to sex) time traveller and con man from the 51st century. He's also immortal.

Jack Harkness is not his real name. He doesn't know his real name as it was wiped from his memory.

I could go on about the show but suffice to say if you like X-Files, Buffy, Doctor Who, of course, and things that go bump in the night, check it out. It's currently showing on BBC America and the DVD of the first season will be out in January.

Well, it's hump day and I'm still writing and sweating with Sven, still getting ready for NaNo and still working that nine-to-five grind.

And still having to run around like an insane person to keep up with everything.

So, as usual, gotta run!

Ciao!

Sweating Again....

I've signed up for the Seventy Days of Sweat, which starts today. When I saw that suggestions were being offered for those of us doing NaNoWrimo, and since I'm already writing on average 1,499 words a day anyway as a result of the 1,000 Words/Day List, I thought, what the heck? Why not?

Sounds like it will be fun. I tried to sweat with Sven the first time around but was unable to. But this time I'm ready!

Oh, as for Elizabeth: The Golden Age?

The critics were right this time. At least for me, it was a disappointment. All it did was make me want to watch the HBO DVD starring Helen Mirren as Elizabeth I. Highly recommend that instead of going to see this version.

Now, off to start sweating. I mean writing.

Back On Track

The last couple of months have been insane. I moved, had employment changes and am currently still in the midst of all this uncertainity.

Needless to say this has had an effect on my writing. I must say I admire those writers who seem to be able to soldier through and do their writing no matter what happens.

Sometimes I can do that and sometimes I can't.

For example, I'm no longer going to participate in the Seventy Days of Sweat. This really wasn't a good time for me to sign up for it. Usually my life isn't as hectic and insane as it's been these last few months and I'm working like crazy to achieve some kind of normalcy.

Now, that doesn't mean I'm stopping work on my writing project. No way! It just means I won't be trying to finish it in September. I'm pushing the finish date out until November.

I also have two other projects I'm going to be working on additon to that one. I have to be realistic, not only regarding how much writing I can get done but when I can write.

Thus the picture of the calendar. I was never one for using dayplanners or trying to organzie my time but it would be useful and helpful if I can at least try to schedule my writing time.

Working full-time is a reality I won't be able to ignore, if ever. So I have to determine when and where is the best time to write in order to accomplish my goals.

So, as for Sven, thanks for at least getting me started. And good luck to everyone still sweating along with the Nordic god. *grin*

Ciao!

Slow But Steady

Yeah, I know. My numbers so far for the Seventy Days are not that impressive. Not as impressive as some folks.

But I'm fine with that.

You see, I've done this kind of thing before. A little something called NaNoWriMo. It's held every November and the object is to write 50,000 words in a month.

Twice I've succeeded in writing those 50,000 words and twice I've wound up with a big file full of words. Just words.

I know I'm not going to reach 70,000 words by September 20th. And that's cool with me. If I only wind up with 20,000 words I'll be a happy camper. Because my hope is that it will be 20,000 words that I can finally use. 20,000 good words.

Now, I know that part of this challenge is to help us non-contracted writers to get a feel of what it's like to have to write to a contract. And I'm totally with that. It's a good experience.

But I've also struggled with writing a novel for the past three years and I'm determined this time to finally get one done. So for now, since I'm not writing to a contract, I'm not going to put pressure on myself by pretending I am writing to one.

To be honest, I have enough pressure in my life. I'm unemployed, I'm struggling to find work and I'm fighting to keep the wolves from the door. I really don't need any more pressure in my life, thank you very much.

So, maybe I'm not going to sweat like a fiend for this challenge but I am going to write. Every day. And I'm going to enjoy it and, with hope, by the time I'm done I'll have something I can finally feel good about submitting.

This is a race against myself. And for now, my motto is slow but steady.

Happy writing!

Bad Boys

Okay, I have to admit. I have this thing for broody, bad boys. Not that, in real life, I'd want to hang out with them, but in a romance they're so much fun to read.

I've been watching Angel on DVD because, of course, when the show was on I didn't watch it because I was, you know, like totally clueless And yep, I also didn't watch Buffy either, but I intend on fixing that by getting the DVDs from the library.

Thank the Muses for DVDs and free libraries!

Okay, techincally speaking I suppose Angel isn't really a bad boy. Or he's more like a bad boy gone good but still possessing those bad boy attributes. Like the dark clothing and the brooding good looks.

The reason I'm bringing up the topic of Bad Boys is that the hero for my 70 Days project. Rhade, is a bad boy. I'm just trying to decide how bad I want him to be.

Personally, I'd like to push him as far as the envelope will let me push it out. And then, once he meets the heroine, bring him back like a rubber band that snap backs after having been pulled too far.

Not wimp him out. Just soften him up. That's what I like about bad boys when I read about them in stories. They're so very, very bad to the bone and then, wham, the heroine shows up and those bad boy bones start to melt.

Well, I'll see how bad my bad boy gets. I am a prepper when it comes to writing, meaning I put in a bit of prep work before actually drafting my stories, but I also discover my characters as I write about them too. That's part of the fun.

Happy writing!

The Order of the Phoenix

Things are a little better on the homefront. Not a-okay and certainly not perfect, but somewhat better. Or at least I hope it will be. I didn't want to give the impression it was something dire. It was just one of those you-never-stop-being-someone's-mother-no-matter-how-old-you-or-your-children-get kind of things.

Since I must get to my writing ASAP, just a brief post to relay the above news and to say that I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and it's very good. Actually, I'd venture to say it's better than the book. The movie is leaner than the book by far and, yes, they did change a few things, but those were things that had to be changed in order to make the movie run tighter.

Movies are not novels. Let me repeat that. Movies are not novels. You cannot take a novel, and certainly not a novel as thick as HP & TOTP and translate it, page by page, into a movie.

Movies, IMHO, are more like short stories than novels. A movie has to get across a lot of information in the span of about two hours. And keep the audience from squirming in their seats while doing so. You can't have afford to have tangents in a movie, or extra characters, or meandering subplots.

I totally understood why the screenwriter and the director chose to make the changes they did. And I had no problems with them.

With each each movie in the series, there's no doubt the storyline has grown darker. But more is at stake now. Not just the wizarding world or the world of the Muggles, but Harry's soul is also in danger. He and Lord Voldermort now have a stronger connection than ever and it's now a question as to whether Harry will be able to defeat Lord Voldermort without becoming another Lord Voldermort.

Yes, secondary characters are given short shrift in the movie but the focus is where is should be. On Harry. And Daniel Radcliffe does a wonderful job portraying Harry's roller coaster ride of emotions.

I highly recommend it.

As for writing, goal is to get my submission out for my 13,000 word story today and to start on my 70 Days of Sweat project.

Happy writing!

The Finish Line

It's done. I finished my 13,000 word story. Okay, actually it's about 84 words over 13,000 but since I still have to go through and do my last major edit I can get rid of those 84 words fairly easy.

I'm just glad it's finished. It was, as usual, the last scene between the hero and heroine that was giving me the willies. But, as with anything, at some point you just have to stop knawing your fingernails and just get in there and write that darn scene or scenes.

So just some final cosmetic editing and I'll submit it sometime this weekend. I'm also doing my rather hurried prep-work for my project for the 70 Days, which I will officially start on Friday the 13th.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is out today! My son saw it yesterday at an employee's showing and he said it's pretty good. I plan to see it sometime later today.

Speaking of I heard that J.K. Rowling has hinted that she may return to the world of Hogwarts, after stating she had no intention of writing any more Harry Potter books. Or at least to the wizarding world that Hogwarts is part of

I'm not surprised.

I couldn't imagine that she wouldn't want to keep writing in that amazing universe she's created. And I'm sure----not to sound mercenary or anything----that she's had quite a lot of money dangled in front of her (as if she really needs it because last I heard she's worth more than $450 million dollars) to keep writing the HP books.

Just to give you some perspective on her suceess. The print run for the first Harry Potter book was 50,000 copies. The print run for the last book that is coming out next week is 12 million copies.

12 million copies! Mind-boggling, isn't it.

I've Already Encountered a Knot

Okay, if you've noticed, I've yet to post a word count for the 70-Days. That's because---and this is the reason I hesistated to sign up for the challenge----I was already working on a 13,000 word long, short story that I want to get submitted ASAP.

I can't really use this current story for the 70-Days as it can't be longer than 13,000 words, but I really want to get it done before I devote myself to the 70-Days.

So, I'm not going to offiically start until Friday, the 13th, which I believe is the last official day for the sign-up.

I hope that's not breaking the rules or anything but I really must get this current project finished and submitted. I've been working on it too long and the deadline for it is looming.

But I'm pleased to see that so many are already making incredible progress.

Write on!

More on Seventy Days of Sweat

Since I'm really chuffed to do these Seventy Days of Sweat, I'm thinking that one way to keep myself on track is to get back to posting every day on my blog.

Finding the time to post to my blog every day is always a challenge but if I tie in the idea of making a post every day to my blog with the goal of getting my writing done for the challenge, then, just as I'll have to make time to write, I'll also have to find the time to post to the blog.

If I post nothing more than my word count. Can't say it will be every day. But we'll see.

So, no word count yet, but I'll confess to being a bit of a pre-planner and I need a couple of days to pull everything together since I'm starting something completely new. I have notes but they are in boxes somewhere as I moved just a week ago. And, I'm also looking for work so that will cut into my time.

But I do believe that the time can be found. I know for a fact that I waste a LOT of time on non-writing related things. I'm basically very lazy. Yeah, I'll admit it. Very lazy.

But I also love to write and once I get into it I'm gone. It's just the getting into it. *grin*

That's why I decided to go ahead and jump into this. My writing pals have been egging me to finally step up to the plate and write a novel-length manuscript. And I agree. It's time.

So, I'm swinging my bat and, with hope. although I may not hit one out of the park my first time out, maybe I'll at least make it to first base.