Writers' Chasm

I made it! I'm tired and behind on my homework and sleep-deprived and I'm not sure what to do with this bit of free time that I now have, but I've had it! I hit 50k on Tuesday. For now, Hacker (that's the nickname for my WIP) is going to be trunked. It needs a complete rewrite, but that's okay. Final word count: 50,520  First line: I remember the murder very clearly.  Last line: Everything's not back to normal, but everything is okay.   I'm really excited about this one and its characters. It's just going to take a lot of time. For now, I get to concentrate on getting caught up on homework and finals that are only a week away.  Did you do NaNo this year? How did you do?

Total Word Count: 40,284 Mon: 0 Tues: 0 Wed: 4,154 Thurs: 0 Fri: 2,981 Sat: 2,152 Sun: 0 It was a very up and down week writing-wise for me. Monday was an extremely stressful day for a lot of reasons. Tuesday I spent most of the day in a car traveling from uni to home (and then spent most of the day Sunday making the same trek in the opposite direction). And Thursday was Thanksgiving so I think that one speaks for itself. Other than that, though, it was a solid writing week. It occurred to me on Friday that all I needed to finish up that last leg of the story is one great writing spree. How is everyone doing? It's the last week of NaNo! That means it's time to buckle down and blast out those final words.

Total Word Count: 30,997 words Mon: 2,605 Tues: 1,192 Wed: 2,744 Thurs: 0 Fri:  2,095 Sat: 3,860 Sun: 0 It was a good weekend in writing. I've been trying to get ahead again so that I don't feel too pressured while I'm getting ready to go home and hanging out with my family over the holidays. This is the first time I'll see them since I got up here in August, so I don't anticipate having too much time for writing this week. Tip: Prioritize and give yourself permission if you need a day to catch up on other things. A few of my 0-word days were the result of my attempt to finish most of my homework in one day so that I could concentrate on writing later. Even if you're normally a pantser, consider trying outlining if you're struggling to decide what to write. I have three points of view, so I outline chapters ahead so I know what's going to happen with each point of view. It helps to eliminate writers' block because I don't have to re...

Total Word Count: 18,501 words Mon: 5,017 Tues: 1,777 Wed: 2,036 Thurs: 0 Fri: 2,127 Sat: 0 Sun: 0 I've been in a big slump. I have a rough idea of things that I want to happen, but no idea on how to make them happen. I've been busy with a lot of schoolwork, reading, and friends. Hopefully getting back into a class schedule through this week will help me get over my sparse weekend. This Week in Tweets: Starbucks. Gingerbread latte (may be my new favorite). Two hours until my next class. Time to write! #amwriting #NaNo Just hit 10k! Maybe I should do caffeine-fueled writing sprints in Starbucks more often... #NaNo Note to self: Telling friends that "my characters aren't talking to me" might make them find me insane. I'm ahead in #NaNo, but behind on homework. Shows where my priorities are, doesn't it? #muststudy #wanttowrite Word count for today: 0. I did, however, get quite a bit of homework done. Tip: At the end of every writing ...

Word Count Total: 7,492 words Day 1: 4,180 words Day 2: 1,304 words Day 3: 2,008 words Day 4:       0 words Tweets from This Week:  Wrote almost 500 words at breakfast! I was planning to write at lunch but then I remembered I have a lab report due tomorrow... I need to get one of those screensavers like #Castle has that says "You should be writing" scrolling across the screen… It's really frustrating when my killer can't decide who to target next. #NaNo #murdermystery Time to watch the end of Avengers and write. Word count today is 0 and that needs to change. I'm to the point in my #NaNo where I'm staring at the screen asking "What happens next?" Tips:  1. Write whenever you can, wherever you can. Even if it's just for a few minutes, just get the words down. 2. If your target word count for the day is too daunting, write in short sprints. My target for each day is 2,000 words so when I'm struggling I do sprints of 250 words...

November is only a few days away and that means it's almost NaNoWriMo time! I might be insane but I'm going to really go for it this year. My name on the site is Horserider if anyone would like to add me. I'll also be blogging my progress and NaNo tips every Monday from now until the end of November. To kick off the posts, here are some tips on things to get done before November 1st rolls around. 1. Figure out the idea  There's nothing worse than scrambling for an idea on November 1st. Figure out what you're going to write about and get a rough plot worked out in your head at least. Last year I started with a sweet contemporary love story that morphed into urban fantasy 5k in because I decided that it "wasn't exciting enough." This is the same NaNo when I didn't even hit 5k. That's why this year I have the basic plot already worked out. 2. Prepare the documents Open a document on your computer and do any preparations required so you won...