Aye, aye!

How'd y'all do? I'll have you all know that Jonathan met his goal... which was getting The Resurrectionist ready for test readers and sending me a summary so my dad could approve it for me to read. It's done. That file will be mine, ALL MINE!

Ahem. Anyway. Me? I got the script job, plugged through two months of very intense (but paying) work, and didn't make much progress with anything else. So. I now have a month to polish Red Rain and get it ready for publication. After which I will tackle another project full force - probably Faded.

Excellent. And also excellent.

Me, I don't do good with deadlines. Because I have a tendency to abandon them for months at a time while ignoring my characters problems... which really is the solution to the problem as lazy a method as that seems.

So, novel goals for me... work on City of Lies every day until I get another final draft done or I get permanently stuck, whichever comes first.

And... write Lighting Ranger Part Three. (Which really is a simple matter of picking up a pen, that book writes itself.)

CITY OF LIES!

Y'all, I need some motivation; well, a lot. I've been dinking around some in Enderion (and the subforum is finally updated), but in terms of working on the actual book, I've really stalled.

I have an idea of what revising needs to be done - I need to stop procrastinating and do it. Key words being 'stop procrastinating'

eru

Explain to me why you haven't stopped procrastinating.

I'm serious. Give the me the reasons. Explain to yourself why you haven't done it.

*waits patiently*

Um, OK...

I haven't been writing because I've been trying to focus on web design, and I've also been reading a lot. I'm also feeling like the entire draft is really disjointed and I'm hiding from it

Why, exactly? So I can see how silly my reasons are?

eru

No. So you can.

I can't make you write the book. No one on this forum can make you write the book. We can help, but ultimately you are the ONLY one who can make yourself write the book.

My screenwriting mentor has been talking a lot about this lately... I'm going to see if some of his posts make sense out of context. Remind me if I don't get back to you - I have to edit Red Rain first.

But for starters, I'll tell you what he has written on one of the posties he has stuck above his desk...

FEAR IS THE ENEMY.

Think about that.

*thinks about that*

Hm. Why do I feel like I am trying to run a marathon or something and Philli is a crazed coach screaming at me from the sidelines?

*goes off to write*

eru

Because that's exactly how it is?

Writing a book is an endurance event. And most people need someone on the sidelines to encourage them to keep going. I know I do. That's one of the reasons I love HW!

All right, Andrew, here you go.

If you want the prep talks from my screenwriting mentor, try these posts. Just replace "film" with "novel."
http://www.christianfilmmakers.org/foru ... 20/#115540
http://www.christianfilmmakers.org/foru ... 20/#116392
http://www.christianfilmmakers.org/foru ... 45/#116152

And if you want to see the sole most important trick for getting a novel or movie made, start here and read the next handful of posts:
http://www.christianfilmmakers.org/foru ... d/9497/P40

And then these:
http://www.christianfilmmakers.org/foru ... 50/#115669
http://www.christianfilmmakers.org/foru ... 50/#115670

I'm Aubrey Hansen on there, just as a reminder

Then tell me why your novel hasn't been written.

*goes to read*

eru

Hm. That gives me a lot to think about, despite the conversion from film-making Hrm. . .so....setting a deadline? That's good, right?

OK. October 1st I'll let the finished draft out of my sight for beta readers From then on I'll make no plot changes, either. Beta reading and edits will go until December 5th and from there it's time to start looking for an agent

This deadline stuff is for-real...

eru

If my screenwriting mentor were here, he'd be praising you along the lines of:

http://www.christianfilmmakers.org/foru ... 44/#116155

(He wrote that to someone else who read the thread I linked to and then set deadlines for his own project.)

As for me... SQUEE! I'm so happy for you, Andrew. Can I be one of your test-readers? Please?

Sure Thanks for giving me the swift kick in the pants to get me started Of course you may test read Once I'm done, of course.

eru

Don't thank me! It's just my job. I am eagerly looking forward to reading it! I'll be waiting on Oct.1st...

I will be ready! *gulps* I hope....

eru

You'll be ready if you want to be.

Do you want to be?

Right! So...

*is mildly nervous*

I'm going to make myself post my goal here. Because that way, if I fail, people will know I failed, and would be embarrassing.

I'm getting really tired of a certain novel I've been working on - one that I love quite a bit - for quite some time. Almost...oh, five years. It's called The Overlands, and it's the first book in a Trilogy.

My goal is to finish the first draft by November 31st. That means I have possibly over 100,000 words to write before then.

Anyway. There it is.

Halp?

*showers RedWing with cupcakes* I love it!

So first things first. Where does the novel stand, right now? What stage is it at?

I've written the first 5,000 words or so already. It's also in the planning stages... (I do the writing and planning stages at the same time, sorta...)

*noms a cupcake* ^.^

So I figured if I write 1,020 words a day I'll reach my goal. *crosses fingers*

The Overlands is about a disinherited prince and a "cursed" girl discovering each other's worlds - his is underneath hers. (Hench the term "Overlands." Also "Underlands.") And about how his is dying, and he is trying to get to hers, and both of them trying to keep the monstrous destroyers the killed the Underlands out of the Overlands.

It's a lot more complicated then that, but that's it in a nutshell.

Main characters are Breyanna D'har, the cursed girl, and Xennon the Nameless, the disinherited prince. Major supporting characters are Leth and Thalian, rebel leaders in the Underlands.

Sounds like a good goal. Get to work.

That does sound like a great goal. Keep pressing forward!

And the story sounds interesting, too.

I expect regular updates, 'kay? *has cupcakes waiting*

I'll give updates every time I hit the 10,000 word milestones.

Fantastic! Go, RedWing, go!

Yay! Go RedWing!

@Philadelphia: Oh, I want to. Now I'm pumped up

eru

*gives Andrew cupcakes to sustain his energy*

I'm trying to decide on a goal for my next novel, Faded. My preference is to finish a rough draft before setting a formal release date, so I need to figure out a goal for the rough draft...

Thanks.

I'll expect regular updates for you, Andrew. And Phili, once you set a goal.

(Oh, and if you'll look at my siggy every now and then, I'll be updating my wordcount occasionally.)

I can oblige. Nice to know about the signature!

Regular updates? OK I've read through my novel and identified what needs to change. Brainstorming with my buddy Sui, I now know how to change what I identified Now all that's left to do is write those changes

UPDATE: Worked four hours in the car today. About half of my major changes are now implemented in rough draft form

eru

That is awesome! You've got it all under control!

I'm glad I was able to help.

More than you know, Mark! BTW, we still need to get together and discuss Zaciré's "job" in Sannahet

eru

Yay Andrew! Great job!

Okay, I'm going to dive into editing my NaNo 2010 novel, which was 50,020 words at the end of November.

I'm looking for readers, but my goal is to do about 5 chapters a week, editing typos, grammar errors, strengthening plots, etc.

~Elly

*pokes nose in* Goals! *hugs goals and schedules and deadlines and rewards* Yes, rewards. Rewards tend to to ride piggy-back on the last three.

I think I'll set a goal for the month of September.

My Goal:
Completely rework one We Will Survive: the characters are detached from the plot (which needs elongating and reining in at the same time), and it's just not singing to me anymore. I really need to start from the ground up to fix everything.
My Status:
Having a hard time letting go of everything I've put into this.
My Battle Plan:
~Try out a very interesting, very handy plotting technique: http://novelwritingschool.com/free-plot-outline/ It looks like it will work like a dream.
~Create index cards for scenes

This week's goal is to find out just who my characters are.

Droid has returned! Excellent goals, m'dear.

*is happy for Elly*

Wow, so glad to see people have kept this thread alive. I'm really upset when threads I'm subscribed to stop sending me email updates. I wish I knew why that happens.

Anyway. I've been crazy busy. I've mixed updates with blog posts on my website. Go check out my Ragged Edge Recap video if you want to see me in a surreal writer's state of mind post getting a ton of helpful advice and pumped to get started implementing said advice.

So, I made a goal around Aug 1 when I realized that I wouldn't be satisfied forcing changes into a mediocre 1st draft. I rewrote the beginning, and then kept going, saying I want to be a 1k a day writer and so far this month I'm at 29,744 words which is 1,062 words a day average! That includes editing and rewriting, but I kept track of new words added so that I wouldn't say "I can't keep track of a word count. I'm editing." That attitude keeps me from being on a productivity goal. There were days when I had 262 words, 61 words, and even one day of 0 words (sad), but I made up for them with creatively energized days. I like the average of 1k as a goal because it allows for days to take a step back and outline or read what you've already written. You can get by on a low count that day, but you know it comes at a price of writing more later, so you try not to make a habit.

As for the status of my draft. I'm in chapter 12, but the funny part, is I'm at the equivalent of chapter 22 in my first draft. In pages, I cut around 85 pages so far. That's over 55,000 words! Now, I might add some back of subplots shifted in, and a bit longer on the ending, maybe even some more focus on emotional conflict (as mentioned in my video). I came at this draft with 115,000 words to sift through, and by rewriting the first 25,000, I've added style and craft learned over the past year, as well as chucking my darlings out the window if they were simply action and not crucial to the point of the story.

My goal is to have this ready for beta readers by Nov.1. Then polish it up and get it ready to send out by Jan. 1.

Hopefully I'll stay notified of future posts so I can hear how everyone else is doing. I'm really excited about the goals and progress for you guys! Keep it up!

*claps for Tim* Your posts are always inspiring, and they always glorify God, sir.

Not to be outdone by Philly. . . *does chicken dance for Tim* That's how I was a couple months ago: trying to to edit a manuscript that just needed to be mostly rewritten. Unfortunately, when I realized that, I got tendinitis in both my arm which is only letting up now, so. . . I'm that month of awesome wordcount behind you. Haha. Keep it up!

Thanks girls!

Kathrine, have you considered dictation? There is a program "dragon" something that transcribes your recorded voice. If the tendinitis gets too bad, that could be a life saver. Then you could be like Kevin J Anderson and write books while hiking mountains. Of course he outlines, so it isn't like he's making it up as he goes, which takes some of the pressure off I'm sure.

Yes, I'm super excited. I realized my book went from 115k to 85k, which is no easy task, and is much better now for it. Now, do I try and edit the existing, or hold it on the side and rewrite to make it fresh, using the first draft as a backdrop? I'm thinking I'll do a little of both.

Tim, sometimes when I revise, I start with a fresh file, but I copy and edit scenes from previous drafts as applicable.

I've heard about those dictation programs, but we don't have everything necessary for that. I'm also suspicious of how well it works: How does it handle homophones and alternate spellings? Made-up names and words? A cyberfriend from NaNoWriMo once told me about a time she and her sister spent an afternoon saying a sentence, then reading out loud what the program actually wrote, and then reading out loud what the program wrote that time. . . So I got the impression those programs are less then reliable. At any rate, the tendinitis is getting better. Hence my writing a post here at all.

I've never met a good diction program, but I know they exist. I imagine you could spell out words if you needed too; there would be specific commands that it would recognize to change modes, etc. It's definitely something worth looking into. I used to think a lot about writing books by recording it, and then transcribing it later.

How's everybody doing?

I'm writing a scene list for Peter's Angel. It involves a lot of sitting and thinking, but it will make drafting much more efficient.

This is going to be a long book...

Yesterday I did a scene breakdown ala the 10k a day blog (here). But I've been sparse for time and only written like 1500 words since then. The good news is I've plotted out the next few chapters. The bad news is, as I mentioned earlier with the trimming, if I keep up at this pace my book is only going to be 60-75k (the latter assuming I'll keep most of what I have in the first draft. Hopefully I will since I like the end the best.)

I was really discouraged last night after outlining the scenes all day because it was really hard for me and I don't want to put the effort in doing this for the rest of the book and series because I like to just write. The problem there is I have two novel 1st drafts and both need rewritten (working on 2nd). This tells me I either need to find a new way to write books (ala scene breakdowns) or labor through learning the way that is most comfortable, which as of now is writing, then rewriting with 1st draft as my "outline".

Inspiring me today was Keven Newsome of the New Authors Fellowship asking me for my author bio, back cover blurb and cover concept art. The back cover blurb helped me see what I need to focus on as I go forward and I was a little taken back by the request for cover art. See, I don't want to self publish, so I've always assumed the publisher would take care of the cover art. But thinking about what I want today was fun, and he just sent me an image that would be awesome as a cover. In case I didn't mention, I'm starting my role as Feature Author next week, so I'll be blogging once a week for them.

It was a little discouraging when he asked for my portfolio info, and all I could put was council member of holy worlds and team pyp. He emailed me back and asked if I'd had any short stories or articles published. I had to email back. No, but I've got 4 rejection letters

So, that's where I'm at. Stay tuned for my blog post as I reflect on what I'm learning from 10k a day. We'll see how it looks after a few more days.

*always enjoys Tim's updates* That's a great opportunity, Tim! If I'm remembering the correct book of yours, there were a lot of images on that page that would make neat starting points for your cover.

Day 1 and so far I've done. . . nothing. I've been busy, OK?

Does Tim always have such interesting updates, people?