My post NaNo world has been much of the same, just with a slightly lower intensity. I’m at about 3700 words for the month on my NaNo project, I still have no idea how this first book is going to wrap up, but it’s fun working my way through it. I do need to transfer what I’ve got into Scrivener, but I don’t think that’s too much of a priority for this coming week.
I will still be working on the NaNo book, this is now a primary focus for me, but I still have to get the vampire book ready to be published on my Ko-Fi page. I could do it monthly, but I’d like to get it all done and dusted and scheduled for one story a month on my Welcome To My Nightmare tier. I’m trying to be better organised, and having this scheduled will be one thing I won’t have to worry about.
That’s what I’m going to be working on alongside with the NaNo project for the next couple of weeks.
I wrote 50082 words for this years NaNoWriMo, hitting the target at about 9:40 last night.
This years NaNoWriMo got off to a slow start for me, I didn’t get caught up until the 23rd of the month, then I had a couple of days ahead of the goal, then a couple of days behind and then I brought it home on the last day.
It was a month where I was feeling like I was chasing the goal each day. My lowest word daily count was 247, while my highest was 4026.
The month started off with a busy schedule at the day job which didn’t leave me much time for wrangling the words. I’d write before work, then during my breaks and then get stuck in after I got home. Most of the time when I was writing at work I’d not really be able to get really in-depth with the work, but I did manage to get some words down. These feel more like I was thrashing out a synopsis of the scene/chapter I was working on. I’ve now got a lot of little synopsis to build from.
Other scenes I’ve managed to build a pretty solid part of the story which won’t need much tidying up when the time comes.
Where I’m at now is I’ve got a lot scenes scattered throughout the document and I’ve got to start figuring out how to connect them all. I don’t think it’s as bad as I might be fearing, but there is a bigger problem I’ve come up against. Originally I saw this as a three book arc, but was worried I wouldn’t have enough to fill three books. Now that I’ve started it, I think I’ve potentially got a lot more than three books worth of story to tell. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me with this one.
This story, working title ‘War Child’ has been one I’ve been wanting to tell for quite some time, but have been intimidated by it. I feared I wasn’t capable yet to do it justice. But after some encouragement from friends and peers I decided to dive in head first. I’m so glad I did. This is going to be one where I think I am going to be pushed as a writer. I’ve spent so much of the last year trying to get stories finished and ready to either self-publish or submit I’ve forgotten what it’s like to begin crafting a new world.
Away from the writing part of NaNo I didn’t get much chance to host or even attend write-ins. Between the manic work schedule at the start of the month and a slow cash flow it just wasn’t on the cards. The one I did manage to host turned into a solo session. Which was okay, I got words down. It’d have been nice to get a few faces there though, hopefully next year I’ll be in a better position to be the ML I really want to be. I don’t feel like I’ve had the chance to step up how I want to. Between Covid and non-writing matters that have cropped up I’ve not really been able to dedicate the required time and effort to it that I’d have liked.
What’s next? I’m going to continue with War Child, but I also need to get The vampire book ready as I’ll be releasing that via the Welcome To My Nightmare tier on Ko-Fi. So I need to pull my finger out and get that final pass of edits done!
Good morning! I have sucked at blogging this month. I was planning to blog every two to three days but I’ve had a lot going on this month. Especially at the start of the month. I got behind quite early on and I’m almost back on course. I’ve managed to keep it about 5000 behind target and now I’m about 2000 words off.
I’m at 36007 words and think I can hit the target. I know I’ve got days where I won’t be writing, or if I am it’ll only be a few words. But there’s still a lot of time for me to get the words done. If I keep this momentum going then I’ll easily be able to make the 50k.
I’m not worried about that, what is on my mind at the moment is how many moving parts this story has. I knew it was going to be complicated when I started. I’ve always felt not ready to handle it. I have a hand written draft of fair chunk of this story somewhere but I knew it wasn’t what I envisioned. I didn’t exactly know what it needed to be, I just knew I wasn’t ready to write it. But, then I thought I wasn’t ready to write it twenty-three days ago and I’m thirty-six thousand words into it now, and there’s so much more I need to write that I planned for this book. I mean, a lot. I’ve barely scratched the surface with so much of it and I’m looking at it and thinking this is going to be either a really big book or I’m going to have to rethink my initial plan of this being a three book series. I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough material for a three book series, but depending on how this story goes will mean I need to rethink the entire series. I might even just write the whole thing out from A to Z and then break it down where it works the best.
But that’s something I need to think through, I might reach out to a couple of more experienced writers and see what they think.
I hope all of you are doing well. I don’t say this enough but I appreciate every view, like and comment. I write this blog for myself. It’s something I enjoy a lot and knowing people read my ramblings means a lot to me.
Right, I’m off to get some words written. Have an awesome day, folks!
We’re well past the NaNoWriMo halfway mark now, and I’m at 23246 words. So, about 5000 words behind. Quite happy about that. I feel like I’m staying in sight of the goal while still building a story. I think I’m going to end up with a lot of fragments of scenes when the month is over, but that’s a foundation to build from.
Strangely I feel like I’m stepping up a level with this one. It has a lot of moving parts and I think I’ve got a good handle on them all.
I’ve written a little differently today. I’ve knocked out about 1700 words but done it while laying on my bed with movies going in the background. Both movies are ones I’ve seen a lot and have been helpful because I can drop into them when I need a mental breather and don’t end up getting sucked into a social media blackhole. Which happens a lot when I sit at my desk and try and write after a work shift.
It’s a hard life isn’t it? 🙄Tired human 🥱
I also had a couple of hours between work and starting to write to relax a bit. Going straight from work to writing can sometimes prove difficult. Kind of like I’m putting too much pressure on myself, but putting that mental break in there seems to be working okay.
Today I wrote 3870 words in about seven hours. I’m not caught up, but I’m at 20503 words. I’m not trying to get caught up, I’m just trying to get some consistency, and discipline. I wrote 3870 words today doing 20 minute sprints. I NEED to sit my butt in the chair and bloody well write!
Anyway, enough kicking myself in the arse. I’ve had a slow start to NaNoWriMo this year. I’ve had a lot of work commitments as well as family ones that are obviously the priority. I’ve written every day though, and this story that I’m working on that I’ve always felt like I’m not ready to tackle is feeling like it’s coming together. I’ve realised there’s a lot more moving parts in it than I’d originally envisioned and I think this is going to turn into a bigger tale than I was expecting. It’s been hard, and it’s very disjointed but I keep telling myself that it’s all going to be sorted in edit. I’m still not a hundred percent sure I’m going to be able to pull it off, but I’m going to ignore those doubts and keep going.
Right, I’m off for the night. Have an awesome one, folks!
A slow start to this years NaNo as I was asked to work today. I’m at 1025 words for the day. I’m not thinking too much about the word counts at the moment. I’m just going to write each day, and try and get a draft completed.
Good evening, folks! How are we all doing tonight?
I’m not likely to get the vampire book done by midnight tomorrow, but is it really the end of the world? I can multitask, especially in those early days of NaNo. The initial excitement of the month kicking off, that energy we all have as we jump off the start line like it’s a marathon and we’re sprinting over the start instead of taking a nice gentle pace from the gun.
I’m not going to try and get ahead early on like I normally do. Most years I prepare for the worst of loosing lots of days midway or at the end of the month, but this year I’m going to look at focusing on a steady pace and getting a good foundation of this story down. I’m going to try and push myself out of my comfort zone with this one. It’s one I’ve been wanting to write for a while, have even tried a couple of times, but haven’t felt competent as a writer to do this story justice. I’m not knocking my own abilities as a writer, I feel this story I’m going to need to dig deep, and go for a different energy to what I normally write.
Can I do it? can I make this work in the way that I want it to? Ask me in two weeks.
A random picture of the river Medway in Maidstone from Friday
Just a quick little progress up date here. I’m a little behind in general but I’m rolling along at a decent pace despite that. I’ve edited a short story today. The next stage of this one is to print it out and do a red pen pass on it. I’ve done another 25 pages of corrections on the vampire book (25 yesterday as well). There are more little corrections than I was expecting, mostly grammar and spelling to be honest.
I’ve got a little planning of my NaNo project done, but I’m not nearly as far along as I’d like. I’m not too worried as I normally end up winging it during NaNo anyway.
That’s all for now. I’ve had some nice consistency this last couple of weeks and I can see the progress I’m making.
Good evening, folks! How are we all doing this evening?
I’ve written 331 words today. Um, still feel like I’m hitting my head against a brick wall but I’m quite proud of the fact that despite how hard it has been at times to write this month, I’ve still managed to get some words out.
I think some of it is my creative well needs to be refilled. I’ve recently watched Nobody Sleeps In The Woods Tonight, and it’s sequel. The first one was very good, but I wasn’t as keen on the second one. It didn’t feel as sinister as the first one. For me it focused on explaining things a little too much, and made it not as engaging as the first one was.
Speaking of movies, I’m going to pop into Grand Theft Auto V Online for half an hour and then find something to watch.
Peter Germany's World 