August 2015 Motivational Thread

My writing month ends today, so I'll do my update

Final wordage: 13,000 (though not including revisions and editing, except where I added to the overall wordcount)

Finished items:

1 x 1000 word Flash for the August contest on Eavesdropping
1x 4000 word Short for the July/August contest on A New Reality
1x 7300 word story submitted to the Anthology.

Best. Month. Ever.

Just need to work out how to carry this momentum over to September.
 
Michael Coorlim said:
Spent yesterday applying fresh edits to the first book I published. Going back three, almost four years, reading what I'd written... well. All I'll say is that I've come a long way, and the temptation to do a complete rewrite was strong.
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Good work, Michael! I get surprised too when I look back at my old work and see how far I've come. It's a great feeling! :)

I finished writing chapter 2 of book 2, and now I'm working on the outline for chapter 4----as I need to skip chapter 3 for the moment. This weekend I'm planning to revise my query letter and complete that chapter 4 outline.
 
JonLaidlow said:
My writing month ends today, so I'll do my update

Final wordage: 13,000 (though not including revisions and editing, except where I added to the overall wordcount)

Finished items:

1 x 1000 word Flash for the August contest on Eavesdropping
1x 4000 word Short for the July/August contest on A New Reality
1x 7300 word story submitted to the Anthology.

Best. Month. Ever.

Just need to work out how to carry this momentum over to September.
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Wohoo! Go, Jon! It sounds like you've had a great month!
 
kmtolan said:
Get Chapter's nine through twelve (final) of Siren's Song completed, God and Windows 10 upgrade willing (g).
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Midway through Chapter 13 (up to 43k words now in final draft). Windows 10 on all household machines. Press to MECO! (grin).
 
I'll give a final account later tonight but, so far, I've only looked at my previous query letter for my Halloween story from back before it became a novel. It feels more like a skeleton or an example of what I should be writing for the book I have now, rather than something I can just make small edits to. So while I will really make an effort today to do more than just read it, I think I will still be holding it over for September's goals.

On a positive note, I did work out a scene last night that I've been stuck on for several days. So now it's on to outlining Chapter 5, which I began in this morning's writing session. It is going well, but all the beginning of the chapters seem to go well while the second half bogs me down for days while I work out what they are about and what really happens. I don't think chapter 5 will be any different...
 
Well, it took me a couple of weeks, but last night I finally got back to writing. I wrecked my goals for the month, and this was probably the worst 90-day stretch of writing in the past 3-4 years for me, but last night I discovered part of the reason I seemed to be on hold.

The Norse werewolf book isn't ready to be rewritten yet. I'm not ready for it, and it took nights of looking at the Scrivener project, wondering just what exactly I should be doing, where that finally clicked. I think I had spent so much time on other projects, that when I finally started looking at Strife again, I had no idea where to even start. So I'm going to start a new project, while re-reading the first draft of Strife, plus all my plotting notes.

I've been on a military sci-fi reading kick lately, and my most recently completed MilSF short story was so much fun to write that I'm going to write a longer piece in that world. I've already got the basic plot for a novella, and last night I wrote an intro to set the mood.

It feels good to be back in business.
 
kmtolan said:
Is there any chance you could center on a single project rather than keep making new ones? Might boost your productivity, though possibly drive your inner new-idea-guy nuts.
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Absolutely. My Norse novel got derailed by a project late last year that turned into my serial, Ash & Flame. That project was done to help my small-press publisher (which I was a part of at the time) with some visibility. Looking back, I should have kept my mouth shut and just focused on the novel, which likely would have in the polish stages right now, if not published.

So, yes, you're absolutely correct. I've been pretty good about focusing on one project, but A&F, while a good learning process, sort of wrecked that. I'm trying to get back on track now by focusing on just writing this MilSF piece, and that will give me time to re-read the Norse novel and get back in that flow after the MilSF piece is done.

It makes sense in my head, anyway. :)
 
Andrew Leon Hudson said:
I'm back off to Blighty to catch up with friends and family, take a five day road trip to see some Scottish castles with the g/f, and celebrate (touch wood) my Grandad's 100th Birthday. Lots of driving, probably not so much writing...
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Holiday was fun, birthday celebrations too, and I even got some writing in - unbelievable. Since I'll be reading anthology submissions for the start of September I'm happy about that, and despite the big gap I wrapped the month at 12,222 words.
 
Andrew Leon Hudson said:
Holiday was fun, birthday celebrations too, and I even got some writing in - unbelievable. Since I'll be reading anthology submissions for the start of September I'm happy about that, and despite the big gap I wrapped the month at 12,222 words.
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Happy Birthday, Andrew!
 
I finally finished killing off Rodriquez and sent off my "official" submission for the anthology. I was looking forward to tackling my kickass tooth fairy next month but the current Crossed Genre theme is nonsense. That fair cries for a short story in my Watches and Waistcoats world. When will I learn to disregard the deadlines that are approaching in favour of those that are far enough away for me to write without stress?
 
RedMage said:
My goals for August are:
  • Write a basic submission package for Halloween Book 1---query letter, short synopsis, full summary
  • Write the first chapter of Jack Frost novel, see if it catches
  • Write first scene of novella, see if it catches or if more planning is needed
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Nope! I didn't end up doing a single one of those. I did find a short synopsis for Halloween Book 1 that I wrote last Fall---it's all of 2 paragraphs, pretty much what you'd find on the back of a paperback. That's given me some ideas for how I need to convert the query letter I wrote for the novella version of the book into one for the novel. So I will be holding that submission package over until next month and try to do it then.

Those other two goals, the Jack Frost novel and the novella....whatever!

So who's up for September?
 
*skulks in*

Month was a total failure. I wrote 314 words, all of them into a revision, plus some story reviews. The rest of my life was so melodramatic and insane that, someday, I will sell the movie rights; but at the moment it is simply distracting. I am not getting much done creatively, but I am still alive, married, and employed, and right now I consider that a great victory. :/

Onward...
 
CharlotteAshley said:
*skulks in*

Month was a total failure. I wrote 314 words, all of them into a revision, plus some story reviews. The rest of my life was so melodramatic and insane that, someday, I will sell the movie rights; but at the moment it is simply distracting. I am not getting much done creatively, but I am still alive, married, and employed, and right now I consider that a great victory. :/

Onward...
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Hi, Charlotte, it's good to hear from you. I'm sorry to hear about your writing, Charlotte, but family is very important. I hope things get better for you and your husband.
 
Forgotten where I was at the start of the month, but Condemned ended it at 72,000 words after I did another revision pass and moved a couple of thousand into the sequel. The rest is roughed out, I just need to write it.
 
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