Setting a daily/weekly word limit worked and I have knocked out about 3,000 words a month.  It seems it’s better for me to have a low limit I can easily beat as opposed to an aspirational target which I can only reach occasionally. 

I stopped at 50,000.  I have the story basically complete including the ending, but because i write in very short bursts there are a lot of small gaps and a couple of clunky parts.  I have also concentrated on the story and dialog, and left out most of the descriptions.  I figure that fixing all that will bring me up to the 60,000 words. 

So at present I am doing a general plot review.  I’m using a hard copy so I can flick back and forward.  It seems to be working and I may be done by December.  It’s will be an odd length so I don’t think I’ll submit it anywhere, but I may put it up on podiobooks.com.  My sons are quite keen to get experience audio production so this could be a project we can all work on.

I’m up to 36,000 words.  I’ve checked my daily progress on yWriter and this time last year I had 18,000.  At this rate I’m looking at another 3 years to a first draft of 90,000.

The PC slate is working well on the train, but to get the best from yWriter I find I need to be on my desktop.  I need to have 2 monitors so I can bounce from the chapter I’m writing to my notes and to other scenes.

Here’s a bit of a break down of my output.

• 20,00 to 25,000 took about 2 months.
• 25 to 30,000 took nearly 6 months.
• 30 to 35,000 took a month  and half
• My biggest day was 1300 words, but the next biggest was 600 words.
• My daily range when (when I actually start) is 100 to 250 – this is mainly on the train to and from work.

Given this will most likely be another ‘trunk’ novel I’m thinking I might lower my target to 60,000.   I need to go through the process of polishing and completing an entire project.  I don’t want to get into the same cycle of endlessly scratching for more words and fiddling about.  I know 60,000 is in writing no-man’s land, too long to be a novella and too short to be a novel, but I think that might be how long the story is.

If I’m happy with it, and I get good feedback, I might dump it in the seething epub ocean so friends and family can access it.  If I’m really happy with it I might do the Podiobook thing, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I’m going to try for a minimum of 150 words a day for at least 5 days of the week, that potentially gives me 3000 words a month and potentially gets me to 60,000 words by November/December.

So let’s be realistically optimistic and aim for a first draft by the end of January.

I have abandoned the iPad (for writing).  I picked up a Samsung Series 7 Slate.  Core i5 runing Windows 7.  The interface isn’t as slick as the iPad but I don’t have to fiddle around with a cobbled collection of apps that don’t work as well as one application on a PC.

I can now use Y writer on the train and at home.   I have all the Ywriter files in Dropbox and it’s working well.

I have slowly crept up to 30,000 words and I’m thinking I might aim at making the story a novella rather than hunt around for extra sub plots.  I suspect when I get the main arc done and start revisions they will make themselves known.

I finished my outline and created notional chapter headings using yWriter.   When I was happy that the structure was pretty right  I exported the lot and loaded it into Evernote.  I have loaded Evernote on my computer and I use this when writing at home.  It syncs up with my iPad which I use on the train.

It’s a clunky way to get started but it seems to be working well now.

On the train (where I get a lot of writting done) I use Evernote on my iPad, but at home I use Ywriter (free- thank you Simon Hayes who has a YA Spacejock book out).

I got the structure right but transferring files and managing versions became a pain.  I started looking for a different solution, then kind of just stopped.

What I am waiting for is a good cheap Win 7 tablet to replace the iPad

But ends are always a struggle.  I can get them into trouble, but how do I get them out of it.  How does my hapless main character get strong enough to win without changing into something he’s not.

Today it came to me.  I was looking at the main character and I thinking about his arc, and I suddenly realised that the main joke in his back story provided the answer.  I have no idea how that happened. 

I suppose that’s the trick, finding the balance between following process and trusting imagination.

Anyway back to the process.

Not an amusing list and possibly only helpful to me, but there you go.

I will constuct a list of podcast episodes I used to help me plan out the story.  “Cameron’s online guide to not f**king up before you start.” 

cheers.

I started using Ywriter to try to organize all the dud sub plots and orphaned jokes. Instead of pulling it together I started doing a whole new series of ‘what it’s. What if I gave the secondary character his own sub plot, what if the hero used a slingshot to win the final battle, what if the dog was psychic, what if…WTF.

The whole thing needs to be re-plotted and rewritten. It has become a writing exercise. A 10 year, 120,000 word writing exercise.

So it’s time to send it to the trunk and trot out the next story.

This time I’m plotting the whole thing out. I’m going to have a plan for the boring bits that I don’t want to write, and the jokes will align with the plot (rather than the other way around). I want to get the whole thing done in 12 months. I’ve had my play, it’s time to have a serious crack at it. I’m not expecting to produce anything publishable, just something structured and competent – and finished.

I don’t think the million words are supposed to be all rewrites of the one story. Most published writers knock out 3 or 4 (or 5) unpublished novels before they get it right.

So, time to start number 2.

I like the post but I think Mur misses the essential precursor phase – Elephant Turds and Rabbit Turds.

The Elephant Turd phase is where a writer takes 15 years to produce their magnum opus, and it’s just a huge turd.

If you have had multiple stories knocked back by everyone including free online magazines, you are in the Rabbit Turd phase.

Like all turds, both of these are not for consumption. They do however, if used correctly, make great fertilizer for future growth.  The trick is to know the difference before you stuff it in an envelope to a publisher.

Does it exist?  What do you do about it?  Writing your way out of it?   This sometimes overlaps with the issue of finding/making time to write.

I personally find the quickest way to writer’s block is having an enjoyable life.  When I go home and I want to spend time with my family, my job stimulates me to the point that sometimes I sneak into my study in the evening to check my email.

When I sit down to write it can be an effort, I’m not sure where I was up to, the ideas don’t seem to flow, and you know, I don’t care because I’m having a good life.

I’m a dilettante writer, there’s no publisher knocking at my door.  My artistic emo soul isn’t being tortured by my lack of muse.

So if you find youself blocked, maybe you should look around and thank the fates for blessing you with so many distractions.

Now, go clean up the shed, it’s good for your soul.