Two Week Review

I just talked about this topic over on the Underground Writers blog, but I’m going to go over it in more detail here. (’Cause I wanna.)

So it’s the end of my first two weeks on the new schedule, the one with me working 11:30 am to 8:00 pm and setting the mornings aside for writing. Using the handy-dandy iPhone application Write Chain, I’ve been keeping an ongoing tally of the words written per day (since I appear to be too lazy to update the actual Excel document that’s supposed to house that information) and I have hit 10,000 words during these two weeks.

That’s fantastic for me. I’m terribly pleased but realize this isn’t enough. I have had a few mornings where the output was low. To be honest, I am taking this morning off and doing more computer-puttering and blogging with the intention of writing tonight when I get home.

Things I’ve learned so far? If I get ready before I sit down to write, if I have my shower and get dressed and all that, I write a whole lot less. Once I’m ready my body goes into waiting-to-go-to-work mode and I start puttering, killing time, full stop. I got ready first that one day and my productivity dropped like a stone. I think getting dressed just signals to my brain that my time isn’t mine anymore. It’s the world’s now, on its schedule and pursuing its interests so it’s all housecoats and slippers and tea for me.

(The reverse isn’t true, though. I don’t doubt that if I got home after work and got into pajamas that I’d get anything done. It’s time for bed at that point, more so now because I come home so late. Nothing a pot of jasmine tea served at 9:30pm won’t cure, of course, as I learned the other night.)

What I have noticed, as a delicious side effect, is that I am more productive in my quiet moments at work after a morning writing session. Even the other day, when I was stuck and got no where in the morning, I ended up hand writing out a page and a half of the scene that I typed in the next morning. I’ve done phase outlining at work and significant brainstorming on the upcoming NaNoWriMo novel.

I still need to get my tail in gear. I have two and a half scenes left for the WIP. I plan to put some hours in this weekend, maybe even pull an all-nighter tonight if Todd heads out. Tomorrow is the NaNoWriMo Meet’n’Greet at the local pub, so I will be getting my drink on then.

I’m also being unfaithful. Again. I’m trying out Circus Ponies’ Notebook program to see if it would help organize my clippings and research. I will never switch from Scrivener for the actual bulk of the writing, I need Word in order to (more easily) create the manuscripts for submission, and MacJournal allows me to write and upload my blog entries while keeping a local copy, so all three are safe. But the rest of the clippings, ideas for stories and writing advice culled from the blogs I read, are becoming a bit of a mess. I do use tags (extensively) in MacJournal to help, but I’m finding now that when I go back to look for something I know should be in there it’s a bit of a trick to find it. There are some formatting issues, placement of images and that sort of thing, that this Notebook program may assist with, so I’m giving it the trial run. If I do make the leap I’ll still be using MacJournal, just not for everything.

I have approximately … *does some rough math* … 2,000 entries of all kinds, over 700 of which are for this blog in all its incarnations since its inception in 2002. Oh, dear god. No wonder I can’t find anything!

Well, enough babbling. On to less pleasant tasks, but not without my notebook. At least, the physical one.

Final Phases

I am sipping ginger-peach tea, wearing pajamas, and discussing favored styles of gun-based gameplay while Todd explores the first areas of Borderlands for the Xbox 360. The fussy dog is remembering that she actually likes her kibble and the cat is being cattish, waiting for an opportunity to sneak-snuggle. Which is about all I have the energy for these days.

I’m coming home quite tired after my new end time of 8:00pm. I managed to fumble my way through dinner, leftovers every night, partake in some limited social interaction, and then find myself in bed by 10:00pm. This would ordinarily make me quite glum, but I’m not thanks to my morning writing sessions.

I’m on to week two. Except for the 12th, where I mostly took it easy because Todd was off for the Thanksgiving holiday, I have showed up to the blank page and I have written every work day. All but two days were above 1,000 words (one was at 500 words, one at the oh-so-close-but-had-to-go 900 words). I did finish the “non-scene” and I am now at work on Chapter 30. That leaves me eight days to write the next three scenes/chapters, all of which will run longer rather than shorter. If I can keep my pace, I will hit about 8,000 words and the first draft of my second novel will be done.

I’m at 68,700 words right now — a little short for a novel, but part of the trend I’m noticing in my work. When I write short stories, I write long and always need to cut back. When I write novel-length stuff, I tend to write lean, and need to go back and build up muscle on top of the skeleton of the story. I don’t know if that’s normal (or even a productive) way to be writing, but it’s starting to concern me. The last novel-length project was at the 85,000 mark and the current WIP may hit 75,000 words — both a little low for a proper novel.

But here’s where the Phase Outlining may be changing that.

When I started the current WIP, I had preliminary scenes drafted by hand that I typed up and then used as my guide points to create the basic outline. And I mean basic, like A visits B for the first time and learns C, but there’s a twist, D! Every time I sat down to write the next scene, a lot of keyboard time was spent trying to figure out the details of how all that happens. Since I’d had success in the beginning with drafting first longhand and then adding to it when I typed it up, I thought that was the way to go. And that worked, mostly. (I have about a third or more of the novel written out by hand, actually.) Even then, though, I’d get stuck every so often and spin my wheels. To get over that, or really, just to warm up my fingers, I started every hand-written page with mini entries: Where were we? and What’s next? I’d summarize what just happened and then brainstorm the details of what was to come.

And this helped. A lot. I was making real progress again.

Then it got too busy at work to write anything coherent. As soon as that happened, my progress at the keyboard back home ground to a halt. I wasn’t writing at all, even on my days off, and I was starting to feel miserable. I also felt that as close as I was to the end of the book, I wasn’t able to picture it in my head, not all the details and events that flesh out the story.

So I tried Phase Outlining. Not the whole rest of the novel, just the scene/chapter up ahead. I sit down and Phase Outline by hand the whole of the next chapter, all the main points, and any notes along the way, and then I use it as my guide when I sit down at the keyboard. And it’s something I can do while I’m at work, no matter how busy it is. It’s helped so much in the last two weeks. I sit down, I know exactly what I am going to write, and I find I’m writing more in each scene because I already have the skeleton to build on.

Would I phase outline the whole book before starting? Now that I don’t know. Not for NaNoWriMo. I’ll probably use it to outline the scenes ahead, but not too far ahead. I would really like to get the draft finished before the end of the week if possible so I can spend a couple of mornings working on the prep work for NaNoWriMo before November 1st.

Maybe I can sneak in a Sunday morning or something.

Progress on the Non-Scene

It’s coming along nicely.

Granted, it’s weighing in at over 2,800 words — all of which cannot be in the book. It’s amusing mostly, only a little annoying. But I’m not really surprised. I’m writing from the point of view of the “villain”, not that he sees himself as that, and it’s in third person restricted, a viewpoint that comes naturally to me. I can slip in whatever he may or may not be thinking at the time. I can describe the world through his eyes, his views, his biases. It’s fun. Not that I’m not enjoying writing the main character’s 1st person point of view, it’s just easier to be just off the shoulder instead of right inside.

Besides the non-scene, the new writing schedule is working out fantastically. The least I’ve written is 500 words so far, but the other two days I hit over 1,000. So long as I can handle the ongoing weirdness at work, the next seven weeks (soon to be six weeks) will be productive.

And, hey, it’s the writing group night! Time for cheese and tea and … oh yeah, writing!

Friendly Math; New Problems

In lounge wear at the moment, on my first morning of the new schedule. I should be upstairs in my office, clicking away at the keyboard on Chapter 30 (which I did, incidentally, phase outline last night). But I’m cheating. Slightly. It’s Canadian Thanksgiving today, and for most folks, it’s a day off work. Felt a little guilty about heading upstairs while he’s home, so I am downstairs on the couch with the headphones.

I have 14 work days, not counting today, before NaNoWriMo. Rough work on the NaNo novel will be done at work during downtime between calls while the mornings will be focused on finishing the draft of the WIP. I’m going to start slow, expecting about 1,000 words per session from myself and ratcheting it up as I get closer to the end of the month. That’s a cushion of 14,000 words in which to finish the novel. Plenty. As long as I keep plugging forward, I should be done well before then.

What I realized last night, though, while phase outlining the next scenes, is that I was having trouble picturing the order of events exactly. It’s a reaction to events that happened when the P.O.V. character was somewhere else entirely. This has been a problem looming for a while and one I haven’t found a satisfactory solution to yet. The novel is entirely 1st person. My M.C. cannot be there, but what happens sets the final scenes of the book in action. So I’m trying to write the scenes around that time frame and I’m realizing that I am going to have to write a scene that can’t possibly be in the book so that I can write the rest of it.

Which is a new problem for me, but not a bad problem to have.

Recovering After Risotto

In which I describe the last three days.

And plan the fourth.

Thursday

The writing meeting that night was small, only the three of us, but for me productive. Once all my victuals had been consumed, I slipped on the head phones and got down to business, cranking out over 1,400 words and finishing off the chapter. My writing buddies didn’t fair so well, but had a good time. Great practice for NaNoWriMo, too.

I’ve noticed a pattern emerging for my really good writing sessions. In the beginning, it’s tough of course. It takes a while the chase out the “no” voices and to just trust the flow. I feel it, and can sometimes see it afterwards when I’m reading back what I’ve written, when I switch from trying to write to just writing. I’m stop being self-conscious about it. And then the roll keeps on rolling, until I hit around 1,000 words or so. By then I’m getting all bouncy but at the same time a voice comes back, whispering, “You’ve done enough now. End it here for tonight.”

When it happened on Thursday, I was so close to the end of the chapter. I started to get fidgety and nearly did stop, but pushed through to finish. Happy I did, too, because finishing the chapter felt better than the little high I get from the flow. Part of that bad habit of procrastination, of imagining the work being done during some perfect later session. Definitely a habit to break. And I think I’m making progress!

Friday

A terrible day at work, one that started out well and then after an afternoon of computer troubles and frustrations I came home fired up and in need of comfort. Half a bottle of white wine and some killer chorizo and pancetta risotto later, I was rather pleased with the universe. That was, until, about 2:30 in the morning when I became violently ill. There was no writing done that night.

But before the day got really bad, I’d meant to work on phase-outlining Chapter 30. Left my notes at home, though, so I ended up starting to brainstorm the NaNoWriMo project. Poor modern werewolf story — shelved again! Instead of it, I’m playing with some gothic-medieval-werewolf-romance-thing. It’s all very, very rough right now. I have the barest hint of a character, I have the big pieces of the setting, and not much else. But it’s tugging at my brain louder than the others so it wins based on tenacity alone.

Saturday

Spent far too long at work debating whether or not to go home. No writing. A few pages read here and there. Dragged myself home, dragged myself through the motions of cooking a pork tenderloin and, so far, so good, I’ve kept it down. Still not feeling fantastic, but I expect sleep will help with that.

Looking Forward

Tomorrow is the Canadian Thanksgiving Sunday, which I have off from work. I won’t be making all of dinner, but I am whipping up a peach and blackberry pie to go along with the turkey trimmings served Chez Parents. Besides pie, though, I will be settling in to do a little writing-related office work. There are stories to print out for critiques, NaNoWriMo flyers to print out for bulletin boards around downtown, photocopies of some of my favorite writers to do some studying from, a phase-outline for Chapter 30 and more planning work for the NaNo project.

Here’s hoping I can keep this pork stir fry down.

Playing with Numbers

Things are about to get interesting.

At least, for me personally. (I don’t doubt it will be as boring as cleaning out your tea-maker to read, but hey!)

I am a day short of doing a nine-day stretch on the phones and a shift change. After several of us affected pointed out that nine days straight of talking to customers might be a stress situation we could do without, most of us (I’m assuming) got a day off in there. The Sunday, no less, of the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday. So I have three days of my old schedule, a day off that will be mostly taken up with pie-making, paint-ball, and turkey, in that order, and then five days at my shiny new 11:30 am to 8:00 pm shift with weekends off. (!!!)

Now, the down-side is that I won’t be cooking for the majority of the week. And I can’t live off of cold sandwiches for dinner. It’s going to be … complicated … trying to manage what I eat and when. The upside is weekends off, meaning that we can properly clean the house together and even go on the odd road-trip. Luxury!

But the real upside, the one I’m actually excited about?

I have weekday mornings to write, uninterrupted, for the next month and a half. If I can get myself organized and ready by 8:30 am, I can write from then to 11:00 am and then be out the door and at work for 11:30 am. And with NaNoWriMo right around the corner, this is perfect.

I have three weeks on this schedule before November 1st rolls around. I’ve also had allowances made for my weekly writing group meeting every Thursday. While I won’t make it out to most of the weekday NaNo events, I can make the weekend ones. So that’s three weeks of, let’s say, 2 hours a day, five days a week to get Spirit Cat/Last Witch finished — that’s 30 hours of writing, not including any time I write on weekends or at the weekly meetings. I’m going to play with the math, today, plan out what I think the last bits of the book will take, and then figure out my schedule.

And as for NaNoWriMo, that would be 40 hours, not including weekends. That will be trickier, but I can squeeze more time for it; it’s NaNoWriMo after all, and Todd won’t begrudge me that.

As for me, time to scoot! I do have to work today, but tonight, writing and cheese and tea and good talk.

Playing with Numbers

Things are about to get interesting.

At least, for me personally. (I don’t doubt it will be as boring as cleaning out your tea-maker to read, but hey!)

I am a day short of doing a nine-day stretch on the phones and a shift change. After several of us affected pointed out that nine days straight of talking to customers might be a stress situation we could do without, most of us (I’m assuming) got a day off in there. The Sunday, no less, of the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday. So I have three days of my old schedule, a day off that will be mostly taken up with pie-making, paint-ball, and turkey, in that order, and then five days at my shiny new 11:30 am to 8:00 pm shift with weekends off. (!!!)

Now, the down-side is that I won’t be cooking for the majority of the week. And I can’t live off of cold sandwiches for dinner. It’s going to be … complicated … trying to manage what I eat and when. The upside is weekends off, meaning that we can properly clean the house together and even go on the odd road-trip. Luxury!

But the real upside, the one I’m actually excited about?

I have weekday mornings to write, uninterrupted, for the next month and a half. If I can get myself organized and ready by 8:30 am, I can write from then to 11:00 am and then be out the door and at work for 11:30 am. And with NaNoWriMo right around the corner, this is perfect.

I have three weeks on this schedule before November 1st rolls around. I’ve also had allowances made for my weekly writing group meeting every Thursday. While I won’t make it out to most of the weekday NaNo events, I can make the weekend ones. So that’s three weeks of, let’s say, 2 hours a day, five days a week to get Spirit Cat/Last Witch finished — that’s 30 hours of writing, not including any time I write on weekends or at the weekly meetings. I’m going to play with the math, today, plan out what I think the last bits of the book will take, and then figure out my schedule.

And as for NaNoWriMo, that would be 40 hours, not including weekends. That will be trickier, but I can squeeze more time for it; it’s NaNoWriMo after all, and Todd won’t begrudge me that.

As for me, time to scoot! I do have to work today, but tonight, writing and cheese and tea and good talk.

A Drop In The Bucket, Or Box.

After this morning’s brouhaha with Dropbox, it appears to be working smoothly now. I added another scene today to the novel, some 1,028 words, and Dropbox was happily updating in the background. This is good. My only wish now is that I could figure out some way of moving the location of the MacJournal data into Dropbox so I could have a backup of it, which includes my blog and all of the cool things that I find on the web, like writing advice or news articles that spark story ideas. I am sure there is a way to change the location. I just can’t be so thoughtless as to blunder my way through in finding it. There’s a lot in there, more than what Scrivener currently holds, and losing it would be just as big a blow.

Also pulled out my old Excel word count sheet, created a blank year template for next year and updated it with some current data. Feel kind of bad that there are three months between the beginning of the year and now which are totally blank even though I was writing, just a little.

One of the things I’ve noticed lately is that I’m tending to write more when I sit down and do it than I used to. I’m easily getting 1,000 words out without any teeth grinding or hair pulling, or, frankly, worrying if I am going to even make it to 1,000 words. Bit of a watershed for me, and even managed to do it on a work-night last Saturday.

I managed good word counts on my first NaNoWriMo, but hadn’t been able to match it since. In fact, I thought maybe I couldn’t — not long term, not while I was working full time. It may also be because I can see the ending in sight for the novel, but then again when I end up working on some sort of writing exercise, I suddenly find myself lost in the flow and cranking out words I didn’t even know I had. This is good. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to be quitting my job or choosing deliberately not to work any time soon. Gotta stop day-dreaming about that and just get down to producing, ya know?

And tomorrow, our first critique session! I can’t wait to get my story back all marked up, chewed on and crumpled up. I hope they mangle it like a hungry dog. Hopefully they will find my critiques useful. It should prove interesting. We’re also heading back to the La Fromagerie (first time in about a month) so I’ll get to nibble on some really good cheese and have a nice pot of tea instead of pre-fabbed sandwiches and a calorie-laiden chai tea latte.

New Blogging Venture

Spent the evening after dinner going through my collection of saved RSS feed articles of interest. I’m supposed to be keeping up on these so that they don’t build up into hour-long chores but I’m having the same amount of success with that venture as I am with the other self-appointed tasks that I try to keep up on.

Like blogging. *cough cough cough* Anyways …

But there has been some movement in the writing. While the Sudbury Hypergraphic Society meetings continue to be helpful, a few of us felt like we wanted to meet more frequently. So we’ve started what we’re calling the Off Week Meetings, a writing-only event, and we’ve even started our own blog on WordPress, which can be found here. The entries there will be short and to the point, word count updates mostly and an opportunity to cheer each other on. We thought that this may help make us all feel more accountable to someone else besides ourselves.

And since the first meeting of the Off Week group, I’ve been writing nearly every day. Not tons, that’s for sure, but more and more regularly than I can say I have been in the last few months. Back into my regular writing-while-its-quiet-between-calls plan, which, with work as busy as it’s been lately, has not been happening. Still, progress. I am pleased.

I’m counting the days to World Con, though. Work has become a torture.

That One Thing

Finally! After working on the manuscript build, typing in all those notes and starting to plan out the new, unwritten sections, I found something I’ve misplaced for months now. And I can’t even describe it. Sitting here, trying to think of the right metaphor and finding everything that my mind offers up to be utterly inadequate. Wait, hold on. Okay.

The stage may be utterly dark before the play begins but it is strangely alive at the edges of your senses. Even in the dark you can see the hint of color in the stage and props, get a sense of the shapes and places of the actors on stage as their whispers and nervous, last minute movements tease your ears. And then the spotlight, solitary and brilliant, lights up a point on the stage and the audience stills as you do and you focus on it, whatever it is, before the light softens and others come on, bringing the whole scene to life before your eyes. It all starts with that first spotlight — whether it’s a telephone off the hook or a crumpled bed, a polished skull in someone’s hand or a loaded gun on the mantle — that leads you into the rest of the scene, provides the doorway into the story.

I came close recently, writing a scene fragment that takes place ahead in the story after the funeral, but it wasn’t the next link in the narrative where I left off. And I’d sort have been dancing around it, nervous I guess that I’d feel like I’d not be able to reconnect to the story since it’s been so many months since I last made regular progress on the word count. But the spotlight came on when I was writing my notes for the build, that set piece, that posture, that look, and suddenly I’m back in the world of the story.

Lily’s sitting on a bench in the courtyard of the University, holding an umbrella and wearing sunglasses while it rains. She’s stalking someone, come to see their handiwork first hand, and she’s angry that her friend, her mentor, wouldn’t come.

So I wrote yesterday and today. Granted, today’s words were shit, but they at least got some of the ideas down. When I type them in tomorrow they will be better, and they will grow.

I think that tomorrow I’m going to split up the work, alternate between raw words and manuscript building. I’ll type in the new material on the current scene, get going and keep going as long as the words flow, then go back to the build and start plotting, and when I get stuck there pop back. Maybe if I weave it back and forth I can keep my monkey-brain satisfied and keep the distractions at bay.