Write a book this year

[GlumyGloomer]

I started back around February I think, and hoping to finish the first draft before the end of the year.
Anyone else fancy a chat/support thread?

Oh, reached 35k now

Wind woke me up this morning, so am not full of get up and go yet!

I'm about 10k into Bastard Sanctuary but I need to step back I think, I'm doing the writing-reactively thing where I write the next thing and the next thing and the next thing but not necessarily with any overview of where it's going.
And bread diversion, of course, which is great but is not necessarily literary....

Hope other folks are feeling more productive today - I blame the weather!

I've set myself a target to get all the domestic crap out of the way by 11 so I can write until school pick up time. Bliss!

Glumy I do have favourites, but generally I like the characters, even if they're nasty they normally have something that's fun.
My favourite ever was a scientist who most of the time is messing around but when he's needed he suddenly becomes really calm and sensible and knows his subject. He is definitely not based on one of my uncles.

Margaret has anyone noticed, if anyone who's read it known your uncle?
I've had a couple of people try to second-guess who my MC is - and have been entirely wrong, I might add hahaha.

He's my uncle as I knew him growing up, so when I was around 4yo and he was 20! He's a bit different now he's a respected professor.

I think dm might guess, but she hasn't read it, and to my dc he's old so wouldn't guess!
I didn't set out to make it like him, the character just evolved.

I don't think any of my other characters are quite so direct, most I can recognise parts of different people in them.

Afternoon, all! Glad to see some of you are making progress. I haven't made much this week due to renovations at home but plan to make up for lost time over the weekend. Hoping to reach 20k by the end of the weekend.

Thanks for the welcome @GlumyGloomer - I am writing romantic fiction which has actually really surprised me, I thought my first book whenever I got round to writing it would be more literary fiction or something a bit more "serious" but this is the story that is wanting to be written so I am going with it.

My procrastination levels are truly shocking however and you'd think I actually hated writing.

I often write into the dark but this time I am really trying to plot it out but I am getting bogged down by some ridiculous details so I'm not sure which method is best sometimes!

About 600 words today. It's a bit of an angsty scene, which I wasn't feeling to start with, but it was ok once I got into it. Wednesday is nearly over, only 2 more school days to go and then it's half term, when the really fun stuff happens.

Only 1 more glumy- it’s Thursday! So even better.

A few chapters from my other POV edited today and the start of a plan for the next set.

Wednesday in my story, Baru You've reminded me though that it's set around now, just before the summer half term. They're just coming down off a heatwave, couldn't feel more different to the weather outside if it tried.

Thank goodness it wasn't only Wednesday...I got a bit confused there too @GlumyGloomer and @BaruFisher. Almost the weekend. Though to be fair, I find writing easier to fit in during the week.

Just checking in with a word count for the last 2 week. Managed 2321 last week (got a clear run of writing every single day) and 1718 this week which I'm more than happy with given the monster snot-fest in the 10mo's nose, and the associated sleep disruptions!

Was it you Baru who said they were working on 'Prose is pawn, plot is king' for this draft? I'd definitely agree that's the approach I'm taking. Not by choice I might add - I'd love it if I was turning out beautiful prose too and scenes that felt more complete. But I think, for me, to keep momentum up in the small amounts of time I'm allocating, just getting the story down feels good enough for now. I can see I will probably need to go back and rewrite every scene, working out the angle for each, adding the description which brings it to life etc, but I think trying to do both those things at once just kept leaving me not knowing which way to turn, and so I ultimately stalled and did nothing, so this approach is still the most productive for me.
22630 words total now.
Hope everyone has had a good week .!

Yes that was me Tricky but I stole it from Hugh Howey who has a great article on his website about writing first drafts. Good going with the word count.

I’ve edited a couple more chapters. Three more to go before I start work on my next section.

I'm getting absolutely nothing done this weekend, combination of sleep deprivation and still feeling line I need a plan now but I have no spare brain capacity to write one.

Just hunted out the Hugh Howey article you were talking about Baru. You were right, it's great (here, in case anyone else is interested: hughhowey.com/writing-insights-part-two-the-rough-draft/). I haven't come across his blog before (but loved the Wool trilogy!), but I'm definitely going to go back and read some more.
It made me feel much better about my current approach!
Glumy thoroughly sympathise with the issues of sleep deprivation. Sounds like some R&R could be the right thing right now. Hope the sleep is better this week.

I need to get back on the writing horse. My last novel was published right when the pandemic hit, and things were so crazy at work I had no time to write. I've since left my agent and need to finish a new MS so I can query, but I just have NO motivation. It all seems so hard.

I have two half-finished manuscripts. When I think about the stories I can picture the next scenes in my head and I get all excited to write them, but when I sit at the computer all the motivation leaves me. Hand-writing doesn't work either.

I wonder about committing to something really small, like 200 words a day. I've never been a believer in daily word counts or in forcing it when the motivation isn't there, but I need to do SOMETHING... or admit that I'm no longer a writer.

Can you dictate something HeyDemon? Just talking at the screen and then making it into something, or not, later?

That's a great idea MrsRussell. Do you have any recommendations for speech-to-text software?

I'm not sure there isn't a "voice typing" facility in Google Docs that does it - just as a try out? (I'm very keen on not spending money!)
For me it's just anything that gets me out of the routine of "must...write...words" - what worked for me recently was chatting to my mate in Ohio who writes completely different books to me, and he came at my plot hitch from an angle I'd never even thought about.

I write in Google Docs so I'll try it out!

I have great critique partners, one in my genre and two in another. I love brainstorming with them and talking about plot; it gets me all fired up. But then when I open up the document, it's like a switch turns off and all the excitement drains out of me.

I managed to get about 750 words written over the weekend - long hand so they need typing up but I'm still pleased. Dd had a birthday party so I managed 1 1/2 hrs sat in a coffee shop in silence - it was HEAVEN!! 😂

I managed to get my editing finished over the weekend despite visiting family (early starts before they got up) so I’m quite pleased with that.
This week will be mainly planning.

Well done, Baru!

Well done Baru!
I've got the first 5 chapters of Bastard Sanctuary written, and am idly poking the one I'm contracted to write.
Yes, DH is away all day, can you tell?

I have an actual plot outline! Huzzah!

This is the furthest I have ever got in the planning stages, however now comes the hard bit to actually write it down!

Concentration/energy is a bit hit and miss as I'm pregnant, so unsure if this is the worst and craziest time to try and write something but.... hey ho, let's have a go eh?