For anyone else who wants to start/progress/finish writing a book in 2011

[artifarti]

As the title says really!

Me: After several years of dithering with short stories, I committed myself to Nanowrimo last month and managed to bash out a 50,000 first draft of an idea I've had for ages. There is some excrutiating crap in there but also the bare bones of a plot and some interesting characters. So I'd really like to spend 2011 trying to develop it into something better.

But I need some company so that we can mutually kick each other's arses when the temptation to watch Holby City is proving too great. Anyone else?

arti sorry about your news
great to hear from you though. take care, and stay on the thread!

Hello all, hope you had a good Easter break - I was lucky enough to have the full four days off, as did DH, so it was really relaxing. Anyway, no writing got done at all apart from notes so tomorrow I will resume: edit Chapter 11 and then begin planning out all of the chapters in Part 3 (likely to be 5 chapters) - that should be enough for this week. Will check in tomorrow night to see how much I've achieved...

Just clocking in again. I finished a total edit of Chapter 11 which means end of Part 2. DD is in bed now so am beginning to map out all the scenes and chapters for Part 3. Hopefully will have that all mapped out by Friday .

Nevermind, I like talking to myself .

Have finished planning each scene for Part 3 now - around 30 scenes in total over 5 chapters.

Loads of work to get finished before the long weekend so won't be able to actually start writing until next Tuesday. See you then! Hopefully will then be able to get back into my 1000-word swing.

You've been very industrious, BsshBossh! As for me, I seem to have taken a rather long Easter holiday

Thanks all.

Still writing! Got a bit disillusioned again but persevered and am really enjoying playing with the language and rhymes.

BsshBossh - you are a machine! Well done.

Thanks. I'm finding it highly motivating by pledging myself in public (on this forum) to specific word counts or actions. Whenever I think, "Sod it, I'm too tired" or "I've got too many other things to do" I think about what I've pledged to do on here and then feel embarrassed so I then crack on.

After so many months of stalling, I've found my rhythm. I really want to finish this book by the summer.

I can understand that. When I did NaNoWriMo last November - to write 50,000 words in one month - it really worked when I had to log on and update my wee counter every day and I managed the target in the end. It's great when you find that rhythm - hoping that mine is making a slow comeback!

I've been checking into this thread, BsshBossh - just reading though, as haven't done much writing so don't feel I have much to say! I've definitely done a bit more since joining this forum though - it does shame me into pulling my socks up and getting on with it. You sound so motivated though, with all your plans and details for each chapter. I've got sketchy plans for each chapter and a good overall structure mapped out, but the nitty gritty of writing each sentence (and making it sound good and not cheesy) can get me down a bit. I find this a weird contradiction...desperate to write but frustrated with it too. Guess I just have to crack on so that the story moves on and I can keep finding interesting ground in it.

Yes, I am a planner - in most areas of my life. I brainstorm my characters, plots, themes and sub-plots in the planning stages so that when I actually sit down and write I know what I will be writing about. Having said this, once I start to write, things change: occasionally dramatically, frequently subtly. So my detailed outline is not cast in stone. I simply find it less daunting to write when I know what the scene or even chapter I have to write is about.

"frequently subtly" - you know what I mean!

Yes, you are right. Having no idea where something that I start on is going makes me slam down the lid of my laptop and go off to make a cup of tea! Have been brainstorming characters this morning and have a clearer mind about it now. Right, time for my twenty minutes of writing while baby is asleep!

So makemineamojito, did you write?

I've been scribbling a little since I posted last, but am bogged down with essays and revision (about to finish my second Open Uni course towards my degree) so am feeling guilty when I read/write anything that isn't psychology related! Thing is, I'd like nothing more than to be writing creatively for my degree, to the point where I'm considering swapping to an English Lit/Creative Writing degree. I can use my previous course points towards it so I wouldn't lose anything too drastic... just a little nervous to make the jump. Why do we make the things we love so difficult to attain?!

Everyone would be doing it if it was easy Cat.

dandy that's fabulous news, well done! you have been busy
I'm starting next one tomorrow after a week or so off, and hoping to do a nano-like month in may. I found working at a fairly intense pace early on was good, as otherwise I tend to fiddle around and procrastinate
have you been asked to submit? or is the june deadline self imposed? it seems realistic, anyway, given that you are halfway there ... lovely to hear from you

Fabulous news DandyLioness regarding the play.

Has an agent or publisher requested the novel's synopsis and 3 chapters or are you submitting on spec?

Whoops, just saw that I asked the same question as ninah!

Dandy that's fantastic news! Congrats about getting your play in the showcase, and with being asked to submit your novel synopsis and chapters. I have my fingers crossed it all goes well for you!

I really need to get myself out of the short-story mindset and into something a little longer. I've taken part in NaNoWriMo for the last couple of years, but I tended to just write, and write, and write... never dared go back and actually put in any structure! NaNoWriMo is a law unto itself, as much as I love it. It's like being in a little bubble where there are no rules other than WRITE!

Speaking of which, I'm away to write some more, see where my brain takes me.

Good luck everyone!

Well done about the play, that's amazing! How did you get on with the last book - I remember you were talking to an agent about it, I think.

CatPower - yes, NaNoWriMo...I'm like you - managed the full 50,000 words last year but have no real clue about going back and sorting it out.

I have the manuscript back, there's loads to do so I may be busy for a little while. She's recommended that I add more detail to some of the scenes, turns out I'd actually edited most of them out because I didn't want to overwhelm the reader with useless dribble! Luckily I saved and kept all of the versions so I can just paste them back in.

Well done Dandy, it sounds like you're doing really well.

Hope everyone else is well.

Hi - yes, Bssh, I did some writing! About 500 words, which was good for me. Have to do a bit of in-depth research before I write one chunk of the story, so need to get that info sorted in my head before I can do much more. A job for this week!

Dandy - congratulations - nice to get some endorsement from others, hey? I submitted a short story to the Guardian competition last year but got nowhere...must have been a lot of entrants though so not feeling too put off, especially as it was the first writing I had done in quite a while.

As an aside - does NaNoWriMo stand for something longer? (Sorry if I've missed something here!)

1002. Blood. Out. Of. Stone. NaNoWriMo is national novel writing month. In November. Have a google! supreme internet nagging

Ah ha! I thought it was the title of the book that artifarti was writing! Thanks...have googled and will now have a good read...