How about a “Write 500 words a day” thread?

[snowqu33n]

I’ve previously benefited from MUNOWRIMO thread and I am working on another novel, but I want to stay consistent.
Any writers out there? Novelists, non-fiction writers, poets, or people who need to get their shit together to meet a deadline?
The goal is consistency, an achievable amount every day.
You can post your daily goal and how you are doing with it.
You can tell us the type of writing you’re working on, or just your daily word count.
Anybody interested?

Hello, all. Hope the writing's going well.

I've done no personal writing for weeks. I've two uni assignments due on Tuesday and then I'm done until September so that'll give me a good few months to work on personal stuff.

Though for one of the assignments due on Tuesday, I have to submit the first 2k words of a novel. I've had this idea for a novel for years and thought this assignment was a perfect opportunity to get started on it so I now have my first 2k words of my novel!

I've heard about Medium. Our tutors encourage us to use this but I haven't looked into it really. Is it good for fiction or better for nonfiction?

Hello writers!

450 or so words today, inching back to productivity!

Great news that you’ve got 2,000 words of your novel, @anerki10 ! You’ll be on a roll after that.

I feel like once I get a day or two of writing anything it gets some momentum going.

@anerki10 That's so exciting getting your first 2000 words of a novel done and dusted, especially when it's an idea you've been sitting on for a while. Did it get submitted ok? I guess you're all done until September now 😊 It'll be lovely having that creative freedom🖋 📚

@snowqu33n Yes I also find that working on something daily keeps the momentum going. Unfortunately I've been so busy with work and my daughters that I haven't had chance to start any new writing. I did manage to finish off a short story. I'm pleased about that because I have form for starting something and then leaving it unfinished. I have managed to stop doing that lately but this one almost slipped through the net. Congrats on your word count. Keep going! 👏

How is everyone else doing? I'm treading water at the moment, not quite sure where I want to go next. I have my historical fiction novel to finish editing, a second historical fiction novel I need to work on and finish off and no new ideas for short stories or poetry so I guess it's all pointing to the novels at the minute. I went to see Titanic the Musical yesterday and that very much inspired me to revisit the past.

Hi, writers! I’ve been struggling for a while to keep up a daily habit.
It’s more like twice a week now! I keep thinking that I’ll do a sprint on a day when things aren’t as busy but on those days I’ve been tired.
It’s not as easy as people think 😆
Oh, well, just have to keep trying.

Hi @snowqu33n Well you know what they say, slow and steady wins the race. I much prefer taking my time on these things. Talking of which, I've done some editing on my novel. There are only a couple of new scenes I need to add now. Both are written, I just have to slot them in and make them blend in. Apart from that, I've started to send out my short stories to a few literary magazines. I've also received some rejections from previous queries. They were nice rejections though with positive feedback and the suggestion that I send more work to them in the future so that was really encouraging. I have a list of work I've sent and to where. I have a separate list of work to be sent and where I might send it to. It's all about trying to find the right fit. I actually enjoy doing this and love a good list! I've had no new ideas for stories so it keeps me busy in the meantime.

How is everyone else getting along?

Slow and steady is the way - or, consistency is key. It’s the same with almost any goal in life, whether it’s a fitness or financial or physical health improvement. It’s all about habits. Take the smallest step you can commit to each day, or each specified day or week or month, and build on it slowly.

You sound like you’re in such a good place right now Bella! It’s only a matter of time before your work appears in one of the literary magazines. The feedback to submit more work in the future must be extremely encouraging? Please keep us updated!

Now I’m getting paid to write extremely dull articles the challenge is figuring out how and when to write for myself. I don’t even feel like doing it anymore. I just want to switch off completely when I’m not working but I’m keeping up with the morning pages every day, Domestika courses two or three times a week and I also aim to publish something on Medium every time I have something published at work which is once or twice a week. I miss the mental escape of retreating to the world of The Novel, but it’s so helpful to have a day job where I really have to improve my writing quality daily and boost my other language skills in general. It won’t do my creative writing any harm in the long run.

May I join? I am currently editing my first draft of my WIP and it is taking a long time. I am trying to be methodical but keep getting distracted by wanting to move to the next step.

Hi, can I join? I’ve self published two memoirs but am now starting on fiction, 1000 words in (an idea I’ve had for a while but just starting putting some words down). I’m disabled and spend most of my time lying down flat so that makes things a bit harder. I wrote the first two books on my phone, with my thumbs but I’m trying out a bed desk to see if I can make it work

Absolutely @Guillebeaux It's all about one step at a time. I'm exactly the same at work, very methodical. I had some feedback from a competition I entered. It was very constructive, some things stung a little but they were right. I let it knock my confidence for a day or two but have now taken stock and remembered to focus on the positives too. I've only written one short story recently. It's very short at 498 words but has scope to be longer. It's very much a rough draft at the moment and was written from a prompt line.

Have you managed to get back to any writing? Sometimes a break is good. I know what you mean about life/work getting in the way and just not feeling like you want to pick up a pen. I've been so busy in work lately, I haven't even found the time to read. A copy of Romeo and Juliet is on my bedside table crying out for attention! It's great that your day job sharpens your writing. Some of the best novelists were journalists in a previous life. Which Domestika courses are you doing at the moment?

Hello and welcome @LuciferRising and @Costacoffeeplease How are you both? It's lovely to see you here. @LuciferRising I'm editing a novel too, very, very slowly. I'm with you on the distraction thing. Somehow these shiny new ideas keep getting in the way. @Costacoffeeplease congratulations on the two self published memoirs. Were they on two different aspects of your life? I'm sure those techniques you learned will come in useful for writing fiction. Is the bed desk working? I write a lot on my phone too. Most of my recent stories started life on notes.

Thank you. No both books are about the same general period of my life. I only intended to write one, but to my surprise I had lots of requests for an update, so I started a sequel, not sure if I had enough material for another book, but both are virtually the same number of words.

The bed desk is working to an extent but it’s such a faff to set up and then I feel sort of trapped under it. Maybe I just need to get used to it.

@Costacoffeeplease That's quite an achievement having requests for a second book. Well done on that. You obviously had people invested in the story enough to want more of it. Would you consider writing other memoirs on different aspects of your life? I love reading creative non-fiction. I have little experience of writing it. In fact, I think Ive only ever written two short stories and that was for uni. It's something I'd like to try again.

Thank you. I think there were a couple of specific points that people wanted to follow up on, but I was amazed that I had so many requests for a sequel. My situation is one that lots of people would like to be in, so they were invested in that, plus something life changing happened to me, so that also generated a lot of the requests. I’m now getting asked for a third book 😄 which isn’t really feasible at the moment.

I have thought of writing about a different time in my life but again I’m not sure I have enough material - maybe I could do some short stories instead

Following this thread for motivation. Thanks all!

@Costacoffeeplease That's so interesting. I'm intrigued! Maybe a short story will turn into a third memoir. My historical fiction novel started life as a short story. Are your memoirs traditionally published or self-published? Would you consider entering them into a competition? I'm working on a collection of short stories and would love to find a competition I could enter them into as I know it's difficult to find an agent or publisher for short story collections.

Hello and welcome @easyandbreezy Good to know you're motivated by this thread 😊 What are you writing/thinking of writing at the moment?

I’m self published. No, I don’t think I’d enter them into a competition. The second one is really just an update to the first and I don’t think it has quite the same appeal, but I wrote it purely for the audience that had asked for an update on our situation. I’ve had quite a lot of comments like ‘it ended too soon, I wanted to know more’ so it’s almost a personal reply to those people.

There is a fb page that publicises competitions and submissions, I can’t think of the exact name but you could probably find it on a search.

I knew it would be almost impossible to find an agent, I’m very impatient and I also like to be in control, so self publishing works for me.

This is very inspiring. It must be so rewarding having that sort of feedback and audience. It sounds like they were very invested which just goes to show how you pulled them in and kept them there. A great skill to have, especially when it comes to transferring those skills to fiction. How is your new writing coming along? Yesterday I created a short story that is very much a rough draft as it's too short at 638 words. I've made some notes in the margins (it's handwritten) of where I want to improve and what I need to flesh out. One of the pieces of feedback I recently had from a novel competition was about making my character's inner thoughts and needs more apparent. I think I might do a little character study for the short story I'm working on. Thank you for the competition and submission recommendations. I've subscribed to Mslexia and they list these as well. Very helpful for my writing journey.

It is, but sadly the less complimentary reviews seem to weigh more than the nice ones. But I am very grateful for all the lovely comments and reviews, I get a little warm glow every time I read one.

600+ words is a good start though. What are you aiming for 1000, 1500?

How did you self publish?

Via kdp on amazon

Yes I think we tend to remember the less positive feedback over everything else. I'm glad you reread the compliments. I have some positive feedback on a competition entry and often come back to it if I feel my confidence is dipping. We need these little boosts from time to time.

I'm aiming for 1500 words on my short story. Hopefully I can manage this when I flesh my characters and scenes out.

I’m sure you will, you’re almost half way there!

How to get Published is one of the fb groups that post about submissions and competitions - also agents looking for new writers

Thank you for that. I'm at the stage now where I'd love to get my writing out there.

I’ll start 500 words from Monday. Will also start my diet too! Two things I want to achieve before I die write my novels and lose weight and I fail at both everyday.