31 October 2018

#WIPWednesday

I added just shy of 3,000 words to my new novel project.

I did not write every day this week. I know. That didn't last long. My kids had a day and a half off school and I have yet to figure out how to focus on writing while they are home. I need to work on that before winter break.

I also had a day where I only added 13 words to the novel, though I did finish writing, editing, and submitting an 1,100-word essay for consideration. It felt good to get that out.

The piece I mentioned last #WIPWednesday was featured on Love What Matters on Friday. This was the third piece I had republished on their site. They have an audience over 7 million, so it is terrific exposure; each time I have gained new fans.

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow, that's National Novel Writing Month, and while I do hope to write as much as I can in November, I am not officially participating. Lots of luck to my writer friends who are trying to reach that 50,000-word goal!

24 October 2018

#WIPWednesday

The first 5,262 words of my new novel project are written! While I doubt very many of those words will ever see a final draft, I do feel like I am off to a good start.

My biggest accomplishment this week was that I actually, for the first time ever, wrote every day (well, every weekday, as intended). This is a huge step in the right direction for me. Even though I had a couple of days when other obligations left little time for writing, I made sure to sit down and squeeze in a few hundred words.

My biggest challenge so far has been not to get sucked into researching when I should be writing. With the sci-fi aspect of the book, I am finding that every few words I come to a point where I need a new name for some concept. At first, I was jumping on the internet, researching root words and languages every sentence or so. I realized pretty quickly that was not going to work. It disrupted the flow too much. So, now this rough draft is full of place holders – people, places, things, concepts, all identified with random letters and dashes. Seems like I will need to set aside specific research time to start filling in these blanks.

In other WIP news this week, I jotted down a couple of ideas for personal essays but I have not devoted any time to writing them, yet. I received a rejection to have one of my personal essays republished but was shown interest in another. And my children's book manuscript is currently still out for consideration with four publishers.

17 October 2018

#WIPWednesday

Remember that story idea I dreamt up, probably as a coping mechanism to distract myself from current events? Well. I decided, even though the genre is well outside my writing comfort zone, I want to give it a shot.

This means my family history memoir is going to be pushed to the back-burner. Actually, let’s be honest, it had already been pushed to the back-burner, not because I had another big project to work on but because I wasn’t making it a priority. I still have a desire to tell that story. I will get it written, one day.

But, this new utopian world has captured my passion – I find the story occupying my thoughts day and night. For weeks, I have imagined, brainstormed, and researched. I have pages of notes.

Now, I am taking the next step.

I created a new project file to begin drafting and I even set goals for myself to see the project though (hopefully in a timely manner). Though I am not sharing those goals here for fear of feeling like a failure if I fall short.

The top of my weekly To Do List now reads: WRITE EVERY DAY. You’d think, as a writer, this would be a given, but you’d be surprised how often writing is pushed so far down my list that it doesn’t happen at all. I can’t keep allowing that to happen. I need to make writing a priority if I want to accomplish my goals.

I have also decided to start a weekly #WIPWednesday post to share what I have been up to with all my current works-in-progress, as well as to keep myself accountable.

Not only accountable, but encouraged, as well.

I easily get overwhelmed. I fixate on how much I have to do until it seems a huge and impossible undertaking. This is true of everything in my life, not just writing. I don't recognize how much progress I am making unless I take a moment to inventory my accomplishments.

A weekly check-in should keep me on track.

I know where I want this to end up, but I have no idea what the journey will be like to get there. I do hope you'll follow along with me as I find my way.