Sunday, August 24, 2008

TIME FOR A NEW PLAN

Now that I have an actual, sort of, part-time, part-time job, I hope to work on the book again. I always say it, but if I keep chipping away at it a few pages at a time, eventually, hopefully, maybe I'll finally make it to the end of the book.

On another note, NaNoWriMo approaches yet again, and I am facing a big decision: To finish last year's book, or to begin another?

I think I will draft a second book, and see where my interests lie in a month or two.

Friday, August 15, 2008

I AM EDITING MY LIFE

I have too much stuff.

GOAL: Organize my life.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

AH, BUT I HAVE BEEN NEGLECTING MY DUTIES

I got sick. I feel entitled to a few days off.

In that time, I realized that I'm not enjoying writing the novel right now, so I'm taking some time off from it. It doesn't feel fresh anymore, and I need to find my own voice before I write myself into the ground again.

I'm going to start at the beginning--I'm exploring the short story.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW...

No, I didn't write yesterday. On the blog or for real. Yesterday was so depressing, I could hardly do much else but read all day. Plus, I'm reading a great book right now:Child 44.

I did write notes for the first four chapters while I was at the career center.

But, yeah... I've been bad. I'll catch up today.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

MY DAY OFF

I wrote 36 words today (mostly so I could not be accused of skiving off). But those 36 words opened the door to an entire sequence between the email and the interview, so now I have two more sections to complete to get to the end of the chapter. I just need to decide what happens in that day. The interview should be easy to write. I like how the first chapter is shaping up to be a 20-25 page setup for the rest of the book. That way I can present a lot of necessary information and personality before everything goes to hell.

It is important to present Kate as an easy going, somewhat lazy, likable character at the beginning of the book so the reader can fully appreciate the downward spiral still to come. It is much more dramatic a change in personality moving from the college Kate to the overworked, sleep-deprived, angst-ridden Kate in the job.

I will not pretend like I've written enough to merit a word count today.

I did, however, go for a walk. It was very nice. And hopefully I will go for another tomorrow.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

A SUCCESSFUL DAY

I am slightly behind where I would like to be, but I accomplished a great deal today. I finally started to get really excited about working on the book again. I think the lack of interest was a result of the fervent procrastination. I still haven't written my way to the end of the first chapter, but I'm alright with the chapters being fewer and longer.

Kate has emailed her future boss an inquiry about the job, and after receiving an encouraging response, she is making plans for her interview. I still have a bit of ground to cover and a few subplots to set up before the end of the chapter (not to mention I need to have her write an email to her parents) but I have about 14 pages written now after day two, so it is coming along well at the moment (knock on wood).

Daily: 2,332
Overall: 3,574

Friday, August 1, 2008

RIGHT ON TARGET... SORT OF

My daily word count goal is 2,600 for the month, and today I took what I had already written for chapter one and edited. Very little actual writing. However, I didn't finish editing the entire section. So while I have about 2,600 words written of the rewrite, I am only going to count the 1,400 I really worked on today.

Every time I rewrite something it gets better, but it's hard to see the big picture from here. I'm trying to make the plot of the second draft tight enough that it will mostly be a style rewrite on the third go around. Yes, I'm being a realist. I expect a third rewrite.

My problem right now is that I have little to no direction, so tomorrow I will finish chapter one, in which Kate goes to visit her unhelpful advisor, finds a notice on the bulletin board on the way out, sends in her resume, and gets a job in the box office of a local theater.

Chapter two will begin one year later, in the apartment from hell.

Daily: 1,418
Overall: 1,418