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Monday, September 19, 2011

Working all Night, or Hardly Working


Doesn't Custard look so worn out from all the hard work at the computer?

I decided to post my progression on the four big novels I've been trying to work on. So, I will post the total words I have typed up without editing for each today.

Prequel to Atlantean series;
Current working title, non-creatively, Before Atlantis;
Word count: 34,766

Atlantean series, Book Three;
No working title;
Word count: 21,840

Historical Christian Romance;
Current working title, From Night to Dawn;
Word count: 15,149 (this is actually going through a complete rewrite)

Paranormal Investigator novel;
No working title;
Word count: 11,088

I need to make some goals. Unfortunately, because I'm still a pen and paper type writer, I go very slowly. I first write on paper my scenes, then I type them into Word and edit as I go. I still have to edit when I'm done and I am not printing and reading as may be an easier method, so I miss things often and have to edit again.

Not only that, but the scenes I am typing may not be in that portion of the book when I'm done. I have a tendency to write a scene here and a scene there that really isn't making much sense for the overall timeline; its just what I feel inspired to write at that time. Eventually things do piece themselves together - or get thrown out.

Happy Reading!

4 comments:

Angela Wallace said...

Your kitty is so cute. Hey, have you done Row80? I found it really helpful for setting measurable goals. Here's the link explaining it in more detail: http://aroundofwordsin80days.wordpress.com/

I love pen and paper for plotting and outlining. In the end, it looks very chaotic but makes perfect sense to me. Until I'm done with the book. I looked back on some and couldn't make sense of my notes, lol.

Sia said...

Thank you, Angela! He is a sweetie. Cuddles with me all the time. If I'm at the computer, he has to be right there beside me.

Thanks for the suggestion and I will definitely look into it. Do you include blogging as part of your measurable goals or just novel writing?

I'm glad I'm not the only one using pen and paper. I've heard someone tell me about Stephen King's method and its mind-boggling how much he puts into it. He uses a whole wall to outline his characters, plot, and timeline. I just don't have the time to commit to that much planning. I like the idea of Row80. It sounds more reasonable for those of us writing in our spare time instead of full-time.

Angela Wallace said...

I loved that about Row80. When I started the last round, I had a major certification test I was studying for, so I made my goals small. Once the test was over, I upped them.

I only set goals for my WIP, but I saw many others set goals for blogging, for outlining, even for exercising.

A whole wall, huh? I've seen in movies authors use laundry lines and hang each printed page up. No idea how that is useful, lol.

Sia said...

LOL! That sounds like a couple of characters I recently saw in Megamind. Doesn't seem to be effective to me, either. I need to start using the computer more and the pen less just to cut out the extra time involved.

Thanks for stopping by!