Aha! Here's this weeks totals:
Mon: 2806
Tue: 2859
Wed: 2153
Thu: 3001
Fri: 1795 FAIL
END: 12614
As you can see, I'm failing today. At least for now. It's the end of my work day soon, and I have a horrendous headache and I'm having trouble deciding where things are going to go in the book right now, so I'm cutting myself a break. Also, I got 2K above the weekly goal, so on some level I still call it a win. Especially yesterday: Did you SEE 3001? I love it. I need more days like that.
One thing this book has me writing a lot more of is romance. When I first started this book series, I was thinking I would kinda bypass the romantic ideas. One of my closest friends, and a man who reads a book every three days, told me that there has to be two things in a good book: A girl that you always think the guy's gonna get with, and he eventually does; and a dog. I'm not so sure about the dog thing. I know he says that because he loves dogs (and I do too, let's be honest) but the first part, I somewhat agree with. I wouldn't say for EVERY book, but I think most books, particulary series where we see characters develop over a few books, there should be some element of romance.
It's important that it's not forced or overstated, hell, it might not even end up going anywhere. But love, and the inevitablility of desire is something that's present in our lives on a daily basis. It should be present in the lives of the characters as well. In my book, I have two characters who have been dancing around one another for a while now and in book three things really take off for them. There's some drama that comes from it, and obviously lots of conflict, but ultimately theirs is a love story.
I was afraid of writing it at first. I understood love, being a married man, and though I still have trouble understanding women sometimes (okay, a LOT of times) I was worried I might not come across as honest or sincere in that department. I'm happy to say I was wrong. I not only feared for no reason at all, but I was missing out on something I found myself to be competent at, which also added an element of realism and conflict to my story that I think readers will enjoy.
But I suppose we'll just have to see...
Bishop
Friday, April 25, 2014
Friday, April 18, 2014
Back from the Dead! 04/18/2014
Hello internet! Miss me?
Let's start with the counts for this week, shall we? Starting on Sunday of this week, I totaled 14,761 words into book three. Here's the breakdown:
Sun: 2079
Mon: 2545
Tue: 3038
Wed: 2962
Thu: 2054
Fri: 2083
Total: 14761
That's a good week! Things have been heating up in book 3, we just got past the first fifth or so, and I'm really enjoying where it's going. It has a long way to go--this one might actually come in at 150k or more--and I'm really enjoying writing it.
That all being said, I think I'm going to blog once a week from here on out. I'll do it on Fridays, so expect a count much like the one you just saw above every week, plus a little about how I'm doing or a writing topic I feel like getting on my soapbox about.
This week, I had a bit of writers block. Okay, it was really just a bit of writer's block in the past hour or so. I wrote my 2k and in doing so I came very close to resolving a major subplot, but once I finished I thought it over and realized it was far too early to bring that plot to a close. The book has a long way to go and it's a major arc between two of the characters, and the last thing I wanted was for it to just fall out in the first chunk of the book. So I had to stop, delete over 1500 words of text and start it over. The subplot remains intact, and is now a much more suspenseful section, and has the potential to weave throughout much of the book, or at least the first half. I'm really exhausted from the rewriting, as I had to actually brainstorm how I wanted to do it rather than just writing. I stared at a blinking cursor for over an hour trying to think of what was going to happen in place of those 1500 words. But as I said, it's over now and it's going to be worth it.
I also finished the first edit of book 2, and have sent book 1 out to some beta readers. Hoping to get feedback soon!
Bishop
Let's start with the counts for this week, shall we? Starting on Sunday of this week, I totaled 14,761 words into book three. Here's the breakdown:
Sun: 2079
Mon: 2545
Tue: 3038
Wed: 2962
Thu: 2054
Fri: 2083
Total: 14761
That's a good week! Things have been heating up in book 3, we just got past the first fifth or so, and I'm really enjoying where it's going. It has a long way to go--this one might actually come in at 150k or more--and I'm really enjoying writing it.
That all being said, I think I'm going to blog once a week from here on out. I'll do it on Fridays, so expect a count much like the one you just saw above every week, plus a little about how I'm doing or a writing topic I feel like getting on my soapbox about.
This week, I had a bit of writers block. Okay, it was really just a bit of writer's block in the past hour or so. I wrote my 2k and in doing so I came very close to resolving a major subplot, but once I finished I thought it over and realized it was far too early to bring that plot to a close. The book has a long way to go and it's a major arc between two of the characters, and the last thing I wanted was for it to just fall out in the first chunk of the book. So I had to stop, delete over 1500 words of text and start it over. The subplot remains intact, and is now a much more suspenseful section, and has the potential to weave throughout much of the book, or at least the first half. I'm really exhausted from the rewriting, as I had to actually brainstorm how I wanted to do it rather than just writing. I stared at a blinking cursor for over an hour trying to think of what was going to happen in place of those 1500 words. But as I said, it's over now and it's going to be worth it.
I also finished the first edit of book 2, and have sent book 1 out to some beta readers. Hoping to get feedback soon!
Bishop
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
A Change 04/09/14
04/09/2014
2109 words written today! Back working on the stand-alone book rather than book three. I wager I'll be swapping between the two quite a bit.
I've also been giving consideration to updating this blog once a week rather than once a day. It's not for lack of wanting to keep myself up to date on things, but for lack of things to write about everyday! In the beginning it was easier, just commenting on writing as a whole, but it's getting more difficult.
I'm trying to edit two books and write and keep this blog up, which let's be honest, not a lot of people traffic. I'm not too far from trying to find an agent or get published either, so I'm going to be busy. If I end up not going the traditional publishing route, I'll begin posting chapters here (as well as e-publishing) and that will be cool, but until that decision is fully made, I think after this week I'm going to slow down the updates. I'll still be writing 2k-a-day, and I'll report day-by-day totals at the end of the week, but then I can also consider what I want to say on the blog and give more interesting things to read.
Bishop
2109 words written today! Back working on the stand-alone book rather than book three. I wager I'll be swapping between the two quite a bit.
I've also been giving consideration to updating this blog once a week rather than once a day. It's not for lack of wanting to keep myself up to date on things, but for lack of things to write about everyday! In the beginning it was easier, just commenting on writing as a whole, but it's getting more difficult.
I'm trying to edit two books and write and keep this blog up, which let's be honest, not a lot of people traffic. I'm not too far from trying to find an agent or get published either, so I'm going to be busy. If I end up not going the traditional publishing route, I'll begin posting chapters here (as well as e-publishing) and that will be cool, but until that decision is fully made, I think after this week I'm going to slow down the updates. I'll still be writing 2k-a-day, and I'll report day-by-day totals at the end of the week, but then I can also consider what I want to say on the blog and give more interesting things to read.
Bishop
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Inaccurate Count Day 4/8/2014
4-8-14
Don't have an accurate word count today. I was working between two different stories, adding to scenes that were bare-bones before. I know I hit over 2k, because I started book 3 of the series (I know, I'm supposed to be working on the other book, rather than my series, but I couldn't resist) and the count there came up at 1944. So, I hit somewhere over 2k, probably around 2100.
Other than that, it's been a rough day and I'm not up for posting much of anything. So for now, just reporting the counts.
Bishop
Don't have an accurate word count today. I was working between two different stories, adding to scenes that were bare-bones before. I know I hit over 2k, because I started book 3 of the series (I know, I'm supposed to be working on the other book, rather than my series, but I couldn't resist) and the count there came up at 1944. So, I hit somewhere over 2k, probably around 2100.
Other than that, it's been a rough day and I'm not up for posting much of anything. So for now, just reporting the counts.
Bishop
Monday, April 7, 2014
...Aaaand we're back! 04/07/2014
04/07/2014
2184 words written today.
I worried a little about pacing today in my work. This next novel I'm writing begins somewhat more slowly than my last couple have, and I'm trying to focus on the character arcs at the expense of some plot. Everything still has plot relevence, it's just slower at putting it together.
I pride myself in my character writing, particularly dialogue, and I think it's going to work out well. There's some humor, some budding romance, and some politics built into the narrative, so it still has things to grab onto. I just sometimes worry it might be boring. But my earmark for boring is when I'm bored writing it, and I've yet to truly be bored writing this one. So I'm soldiering on!
Bishop
2184 words written today.
I worried a little about pacing today in my work. This next novel I'm writing begins somewhat more slowly than my last couple have, and I'm trying to focus on the character arcs at the expense of some plot. Everything still has plot relevence, it's just slower at putting it together.
I pride myself in my character writing, particularly dialogue, and I think it's going to work out well. There's some humor, some budding romance, and some politics built into the narrative, so it still has things to grab onto. I just sometimes worry it might be boring. But my earmark for boring is when I'm bored writing it, and I've yet to truly be bored writing this one. So I'm soldiering on!
Bishop
Thursday, April 3, 2014
The End 04/03/2014
04/03/2014
Completion. Today I wrote 1895 words, which you might notice
is under 2000, but fear not. That’s because I’m celebrating. Book 2 is done.
Well, rough draft is done. But still. Massive victory dance time!
I honestly haven’t feel this good… since book 1 had the
words “the end” typed into it. I know there’s probably not a lot of people watching
this blog often, but to those of you who do read, thanks for sticking with me
these past couple dozen entries to the end. It’s certainly not the end of the
blog, nonono, this is just a milestone!
I’m taking tomorrow off from blogging, I think, in order to
get a head start on editing book 1 (the third edit really needs to get done) and
I’m going to pick up writing again on Monday with my newest book idea. If you
don’t already know, book 1 and 2 are a series, and this new idea is not part of
the series (though it’s set in the same universe) and so book 3 will be a long
time coming. Until then, though, new challenges await!
Thanks for reading!
Bishop
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Changes by Chapter 04/02/2014
04/02/2014
2042 words written, and I'm well into the last chapter.
It's been very busy at work and every free moment was spent writing, so I don't have much to say, but I will say a little about how things change when you reach the end of the story. I keep up on my progress using Microsoft excel, and have a spreadsheet for each of my ongoing projects. One tab is a chapter-by-chapter overly with chapter names and the status of the chapter (rough draft, first edit, etc.), and another tab has a counter for how many words I write and how many are left before I hit my goal point for that book. Other tabs include characters, places, timelines, and so forth. It helps me keep the story straight. By far, though, the most important one is the first tab, the chapter tab.
Here, I have all of my chapters, named and marked in green for finished, yellow for in progress, or red for no progress in columns for rough draft, first edit, second edit, and beta edit. Currently, book 1 is in beta edit on chapter 7. But the most important is the last column, marked "changes to make by chapter." There, I mark things that I changed in my head as I wrote and that I need to go back and change. The most recent example is how I modified the name of a technology in my story, and needed to place a reminder in each of the chapters that I remembered where I had used that tech. It makes the first edit much cleaner, and I can make sure that I'm being consistent with my concepts and ideas throughout the work.
Bishop
2042 words written, and I'm well into the last chapter.
It's been very busy at work and every free moment was spent writing, so I don't have much to say, but I will say a little about how things change when you reach the end of the story. I keep up on my progress using Microsoft excel, and have a spreadsheet for each of my ongoing projects. One tab is a chapter-by-chapter overly with chapter names and the status of the chapter (rough draft, first edit, etc.), and another tab has a counter for how many words I write and how many are left before I hit my goal point for that book. Other tabs include characters, places, timelines, and so forth. It helps me keep the story straight. By far, though, the most important one is the first tab, the chapter tab.
Here, I have all of my chapters, named and marked in green for finished, yellow for in progress, or red for no progress in columns for rough draft, first edit, second edit, and beta edit. Currently, book 1 is in beta edit on chapter 7. But the most important is the last column, marked "changes to make by chapter." There, I mark things that I changed in my head as I wrote and that I need to go back and change. The most recent example is how I modified the name of a technology in my story, and needed to place a reminder in each of the chapters that I remembered where I had used that tech. It makes the first edit much cleaner, and I can make sure that I'm being consistent with my concepts and ideas throughout the work.
Bishop
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
April Fool's Day 04/01/2014
04/01/2014
2029 words written today!
I have no April fool's joke, sorry!
That being said... I'm writing the end to the second to last chapter tonight when I get home from work and will most likely finish the book by tomorrow or at latest, Thursday. As a result, I'm concentrating mostly on the work and have nothing to post here today. Sorry! I'll continue to keep up to date on my progress and keep writing.
All in all, this was a really disappointing post, wasn't it?
Bishop
2029 words written today!
I have no April fool's joke, sorry!
That being said... I'm writing the end to the second to last chapter tonight when I get home from work and will most likely finish the book by tomorrow or at latest, Thursday. As a result, I'm concentrating mostly on the work and have nothing to post here today. Sorry! I'll continue to keep up to date on my progress and keep writing.
All in all, this was a really disappointing post, wasn't it?
Bishop
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