I've got 1942 words from today, for a total of 9017. Good god, that's almost 10k since Thursday. Holy shit.

Just FYI for anyone who may be reading this - I've decided to post my NaNo novel on this comm, though the entries will be f'locked. If you want in, just join. (Memberships are screened, due to paranoia and nosiness)

Thanks!!

Made quota again today - 1876. I think that's probably going to be about average for me, most days this month.

( cut for excerpt )

So yay! I made the quota again today. 1898, making the total 5199. Sure, I could have gone for one more word to make it an even 5200, but then I'd have to add to it to even up today's total, and then the total total would have been uneven ...

I'm just really happy I made quota again.

Camilla had the awful thing happen to her, and we've now been introduced to the verging-on-cracked antagonist.

Yay!!!!

1043. Not bad, considering that was stolen over lunch and in between projects.

I got 3301 words in today, and I'm feeling pretty good so far about where it's going. I hope it says that way - I guess I'll find out.

The next scene involves War doing something pretty awful to Camilla Sykes. But what can I do, he's War. He sees a need, and takes action. Compassion is not a deterrent for this particular Horseman.

I'm also finding I'm obsessed with War's normal-looking yet terrifying smile. Yay.

And I'm really excited. I got to meet a lot of the local writers around town, and I may even get to join a local, year-round writing group. I think this is going to be lots of fun.

Of course, I *have* to keep saying that to myself right now. Mid-November, I'll probably want to flush the entire idea down the toilet.

But I'm going to work hard at it, even so.

I'm doing it! I signed up, and I'm telling everyone I can think of that I'm doing it so I won't wimp out in the middle of the second week. Holy crap, I'm excited, and freaked out. Yay for getting my gumption up to try this!!

I started a new project today, since I am apparently insane.

( Daughter of Air )

And for shop talk - I know a couple of people whose father is a best-selling author. Not knowing the actual author very well, I chickened out of asking his advice on the publishing industry, but I did talk to his kids, who are both very much involved in the writing, editing and publishing process. Both are writers themselves.

They've said they'll look at my project when it's finished and give me their opinion, maybe some help getting started when the time comes. E. also said that one of the best ways to edit is to put the draft away for a month once it's finished, and then come back and read it again. She says she always finds huge things she wants to fix when she does that.

It's made me think about the writing/publishing industry, and how it seems like it's all about who you know, as well as the quality of your work. Sometimes *just* who you know, since I know plenty of good writers who are having trouble getting published.

I'm going to leave that on the boiler for a while, and keep writing regardless. If nothing else, I'm happy with the progress I'm making, and that's really good enough. Not everything, but enough.

I've got nearly 25k of words on my novel.

Woo-hoo!

I know that this is much closer to novella than novel at this point, but the way I write seems to lead to a text-skeleton that needs much, much fleshing out. Therefore, I'm guessing this is about a quarter to a third of the eventual target.

Wow, that was a little daunting.

At any rate, I'll be writing more tonight, I think. I want to get to the end so I can start filling out my little anorexic baby.

I'm happy with my progress so far on my novel. I rejoined novel_in_90, and I did quota on the 1st and nearly 1000 words on the 2nd (today), so that seems to be working so far. I think I'm getting better at doing a little bit every day.

I'm also doing a fanfic challenge, called [Bad username: fanficwriters_anon], so I've got 500 words or more due by the end of the month. It looks like fun.

As requested:

( prepare for some RL girlslash )

Feedback and constructive criticism are welcomed.

novel_in_90 is restarting tomorrow on another three month oddysey of at least 750 words a day, every day. I'm trying it again.

I'm really good about the quota and posting my results every day for about a week, then I give up for one reason or another. While I recognise that this is likely to happen again, hope springs eternal. I can has optimism?

At any rate, I'll post here about how that's going. If I fail miserably, I'll post about that too.

I'm also thinking about doing NaNoWriMo, so if I do decide for that, I'll only do NI90 for two months on my current project and then jump whole hog into "novella in one month" mode with a new idea.

Why yes, I may indeed be insane. But then, I live in the frozen north, where we have nothing to do for half the year (unless one happens to like sub-zero activities, which I definitely don't).

Good luck, self!

The past week has been really hard on the writing front. I think it's because I have a mother of all colds. (Not the mother, but still ...)

How do people get the motivation to write when it's just not there? Today it's cold medicine giving me a fluffy head, some other day I'd be too tired, or cranky, or just uninspired. So how do professional writers do this? Everyone has off days, but you still have to go to work, and I imagine writing is the same way.

So - would it make sense to have another project to work on? Maybe work on a file of ideas? Write fluffy pr0n fanfic? It's frustrating to have a really good streak and then end up on the beach of wordlessness.

I broke 17,000 words! Yay!!

It's been quite a trip to this point, but I'm starting to feel like I'm getting somewhere. Once I get all the way to the end, then the nearly endless quibling over word choice and imagery happens, and my beta kicks my rear into gear so I can fill in the boring (to me) plot and dialog holes to make it a real novel, rather than just an exercize.

I. Am. Excited.

... at least until I hit the end of the novel. Or I'll never finish.

I have this tendency to get a ways into a writing project, and then go back to revise what I wrote, over and over and over. Until I get tired of the project and distract myself with something new and shiny.

I do not want to do this with my current project. I think it has the potential to be good, but if I never finish it, just tweak what I have so far, it'll never get anywhere.

This is going to be a challenge for me. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to the right words, and I could go through what I wrote forever. It's hard to know that something behind me could stand to be fixed, and still leave it alone until I'm done. I feel as though I'll forget what I wanted to fix. It's almost a panicky thing.

This was inspired by a book on plot and structure in writing. The author is a serious whip-cracker about doing before tweaking.

I like this book a lot so far; I may have to check out the rest of the series.

Following is the opening scene in my novel. I like it, but it still feels kinda clunky to me, or unfinished, or something

( The Clouded Ruins of a God )

Any advice or suggestions are welcome!

Is it bad that I write at work?

I've started using Google Docs as a back-up for all my writing, and I'm finally writing large chuncks of good work. At work.

I seem to have difficulty writing after work; I need to eat and decompress and spend time with my girlfriend. And then it's suddenly 10 pm and I just can't think creatively anymore. (This happens when you get up regularly at 5 am to work out.)

So I write at work, when I have an idea, when I don't have an active project (most of the time, sometimes I'm really bad and put something off), all day long. And this got me from 3000 words to over 12k in the past few weeks. I find it hard to feel bad about that, but I'm not sure I feel ok about being paid my salary as a marketing manager while I write a novel. That I hope to sell someday.

I suppose that as long as I keep getting stuff done at work, and my supervisor is happy, I should just count my blessings. ;)

This may actually end up as part of an autobiography some day. At the moment, it's just this particular bit.

( the Duluth scene )

There's more, but also lots of revision that needs to be done.

The working title is The Clouded Ruins of a God, which is a quote from an essay on Milton's Paradise Lost by William Hazlit. That particular author has so many title-worthy quotes, I could use his work exclusively if I wrote a novel a week for the rest of my life.

This is a fantasy novel, set in a mildly post-apocolyptic world.

( Snippet )

Hi there!

I'm planning on using this community as a place to post and discuss my original fiction. We'll see how that works. If nothing else, it'll be a place to rant about why I can't write on a particular day. ;)