Thanks, guys. I'm pretty excited myself.

My goal for this month is to figure out my goal for next month and try to be prepared for it. How's that for vague?

I originally wanted to do the 100 Things challenge, but I'm woefully unequipped. I'm still not really sure where I'm going with it. I want to do character profiles, but I don't even know where to start.

On the other hand, my plan for a short story series about a superhero is progressing nicely. Very nicely indeed. I'll probably be ready to start writing that in a week or two, but I could make myself hold off until November and do it then instead. I'd know I was prepared then and things might progress nicely indeed.

*loves everyone's progress and goals*

OK....

: dieshappy I...can't believe it. I just finished the last todo item on The Two Fathers.
*stares at list of green checked-off items in disbelief*

Now all that's left is another read through of the book to catch inconsistencies and...think of it....
*whispers* I'll be done with the plot-complete draft. *dies in relief*



(And I made my deadline! *squeaks* One postponement, but still...

*showers Andrew in jumbo cupcakes *

*swims in the cupcakes*

YUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*looks forward to reading TTF again*

:dieshappier: Thanks, y'all!

@Mark: Oh, you'll get to read it You'll read it so much that you'll get tired of it

eru

Yay, Andrew!

*scatters cookies left and right with a smattering of dark chocolate M&Ms*

*catches M&M's* Yum

eru

Awesome! I'm so happy for you!

:dieshappiest: I doubt that.

Heh. We'll see

By the way, just finished tweaking the last scene in TTF - I'm done! (Good thing, too, because I won't be on the computer tomorrow so today's the last day I have to work on it ) Now to go over to the :gulp: fireside and ask for some test readers

eru

Yay, Andrew! *throws glitter*

I'm so happy/proud/thrilled! *throws more cupcakes* You pushed yourself and did it well. Go Andrew!

Okay! I finally have a novel goal of my own to share.

As most of you know, I have an ancient fantasy epic that's been clouding my brain (and file folders) for years - Peter's Angel.

I need to get this finished. At this point, finishing the novel is all that's important.

The only way to get it finished is to work on it... but I can't crash it out. So I'm setting a lighter goal that will keep me working steadily without forcing me to crunch it.

For now, my goal is to get 5k of this novel in working order a week. I've got a lot of material to salvage from half-drafts, some of which needs tweaking, plus new material to write. Each week I will get 5k words edited/drafted into a clean master file.

I met my goal last week and so far have 8.5k total this week. I may work ahead this week since it's going well. It's both a relief and excitement for me to see it come together in something readable!

*likes that goal*

*likes Phili's goal*

Thank you, gentlemen, very much. I'm up to 20k edited today, and that involved some newly drafted material, so we're making good progress. I don't expect to keep up this pace long-term, but I'll get ahead while I can. But, I must say, the sheer length of this book alarms me. I think we might be looking at the 100k range.

I figured it might be.

I was thinking more the 80k range originally... but at this point I really doubt we'd get south of that.

An excerpt from today's work:

Dramatic. And good.

Very good.

Excellent, Philli! *throws glitter around thread* So, when you are done with this novel you'll most certainly need test readers, right? *nod nod*

Keep us posted on how things go!

eru

*prefers longer books, as evidenced by her own *

I'm hoping to achieve my goal, still, but these three scenes left to write are sooo not my forte.

I am leaving on my book weekend tough, the 21st through the 23rd. So I will get a lot of stuff done for the first book, just not the second.

Thanks, gentlemen. There are a lot of passages like that in the book... emotional exposition kind of stuff. That's one of the more memorable ones.

I will, Andrew. However, first order is finishing the book - after that, I will decide whether I have the guts to show it to the world, or whether I'm just letting a few select friends read it before I order a print copy for myself and archive it forever. I probably will take a shot at publishing, just because it's a well-written book (I hope!), but honestly I'm nervous about sharing this work. Philli nervous about sharing work - who knew, right? Why? Because it has passages like this...



Far cry from the tame, morally-upright characters in Red Rain, yes? *sighs*

Anyway, I wrote a bit more last night (that passage was part of it). I'm not sure how many words I gained, since the scene wasn't complete - I'm only pasting a scene into my master file when it's complete. But I hope to work on piecing this particular passage together today. I've got a lot of material for it, but there's a lot of switching POV so it needs some finessing.

I keep thinking of you when I realize just how long this work is going to be, Airianna. I know what you mean about scenes that need to be written but don't "click" like the rest of the book - it can be really hard to slog through them. But progress on book 1 is good, since that one comes first and all.

Progress is progress, Airianna.

I think Peter's Angel is going to very special, Philadelphia.

That's one way to put it... Thanks, Jonathan.

What exactly does that entail?

@both Kaitlyn and Philli Progress is always good.

Well, you can read about it here!

Thanks.

@Philli: *alternates between and * But...but...it needs to be read! I already like it just from reading what you've posted 'round the forums Just keep slogging away at it and then we'll read it later...err...cross that bridge when we come to it

eru

*huge grin* I think I can manage that, sir. And thank you.

*sits in thread and waits for precious...I mean book*

eru

Here I was figuring Blue Fire was going to be your precious!

Well that too of course! Can't I have more than one?

Well I suppose! Except that means I have to write them!

I regret that I have to break my previous goal. Progress for my primary language has been non-existent.

I will make another one in the next week, but first I want to finish some new Bryan Davis books so I can know that they won't interrupt my new goal.

*awaits new goal*

Great jobs on your goals, guys!

Okay, so, I've sorted out my new goal. I'm going to be cautious about setting any deadline until I know a little more about what I should expect from the coming months, but this is what I have so far.

Completely plot my novel, inside and out, over the next week or so, and during the down times I have at the recording studio. (Though I'll be designing a CD cover during most of that time.) Then once NaNo hits, write as much as I possibly can. 50,000 words minimum for the month, of course. Then, hopefully, finish it in December. Probably during New Year's Weekend. But later if need be.

And if that goes well, here's more speculation:

Read through the book, make notes. Then plot out the book two, write it. Read through it, making notes. Repeat with the third book. Then do necessary world-building. (I'll be doing that after I finish the first drafts for all three books, and applying my changes to the final drafts. I work better that way. ) Then edit like the wind.

That is a very solid timeline, RedWing. I'm so excited for you! How long do you expect these books to be, roughly?

Good goals, RedWing.

I'm starting a really small goal. Partially because I haven't finished the Bryan Davis books yet, partially because today I just got two big Tolkien books, and partially because I'm not brave enough to post a bigger goal.

I am going to write at least one word (though hopefully more) for Murel's next chronicle every day until it's done.

That is hilarious! But a very wonderful goal. If you touch it every day, you'll keep it in mind. Go Mark! *fortifies with cupcakes*

I'm up to almost 25k edited on Peter's Angel. I hope that's about 1/4 of the book, but it might only be 1/5... Either way, that's good progress for the first two weeks.

You can do it, Mark! If not, we'll cut the goal to a half-word a day and then I'll make you do it!

@Philli: Looks good Keep pluggin' away!

eru

Thanks so much, Andrew.

Keep writing, Mark, even if it is one word at a time.

I'm glad you're making rapid progress, Aubrey. And that scene fragment is very good.

*grins* Thanks.

Thankee, Jonathan. That was one of those scenes I wrote at random on a burst of inspiration, so it came rather organically. Hence, it's one of the better moments... and it's actually a very important plot point in disguise.

Up to 27,431 words edited on the master file! I had more earlier, but I decided a scene didn't work where it was, so I cut and pasted it to the random drafts file until I could fix it and put it in its proper place. I've been working on the beginning (first three chapters) and it's really snapping together. While I knew what had to happen during this section, it was always a blank spot in my head... a place where I didn't have any inspiration for what epic scenes I would use to get the point across. Yesterday and today God gave me the words for some scenes. The one I wrote this morning fixed a minor logic problem I had, so I'm very encouraged. It works quite well, but it's dark.