It that time of the week again, that time that some people dread. It is time to report what one has done in writing for the week. Others, it is a non-event, but hopefully one will post anyway to brag or inspire others to work equally hard.
As to what is writing, all new writing is writing. Editing, is also writing even if it is the work of others. Critiquing is writing also. Writing assignments, technical writing, blogging, article writing, world and character creation is also writing. Bulletin board posts and E-mails can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertain to writing or story. Of course, other things can be considered writing, and many of us might not look at some of these things as writing. If you have to ask if it is writing, our answer is yes.
As to writing, I can honestly say yes, I did write. I am in the process of editing, improving, solving questions on my first Spirit of vengeance story, trying to make it publishable. My main project was to add detail that explained what was going on and why. I have also added scenes and then removed others, including new scenes I added when I realized it was either not going to work, or to make it work was going to take a tremendous amount of effort. It appears that each work I do, or each pass of a work I do, pushes my skills above what it was before. I guess this is a sign that I need more experience in writing *even though I have been writing in some form or another for a decade) since everything I am doing appears to be an improvement over what I did before. I do know that my final editing skills are woefully inadequate when it comes to the final sentence structure. One thing I do know, is that this Spirit story is not what I started with. My original concept was a super hero that had no qualms of collateral damage. That is not the story I have now. The reason my character got into the situation and basic plot remains, but at least at this moment, the original concept is fading away. I somehow added five pages to my piece this week which is a real surprise. I am working on page 38 of 41 and hope to not add too many pages to it from here. I do have word limits to watch for.
On the story idea front, I have 34 story ideas in the compost pile. I have come up with new ideas, but not enough to keep me from digging into the pile a little bit. Twice this weekend, I came up with an idea, and then forgot what it was before I could write it down, only to be able to drag it back to mind and get it noted. I had one really good idea that I lost entirely. I hate that the most.
On the personal front, two weeks ago, my brother melted some aluminum and gave me a couple pieces of it. Last weekend, My nephew and I made the piece of aluminum, which was cooled in a muffin pan, into a nice clean disk. This weekend, I saw an advertizement for a tool for woodworking and decided to try making my own version if it. I was able to plan out and create a tool using the equipment I had, that did a similar job as the one offered in the magazine. It was a whole lot of fun. I have learned there is an advantage to be able to make one's owns tools, is that one knows how to fix it, how to change it to do the work needed, and how to make it better. I have purchased tools and have been afraid to do something with them because I was afraid to damage them. On the other hand, because I have made a tool, I know how to fix them or because I can make it again, I am willing to change them for what is needed. Of course I will figure out how to use this knowledge in stories some time or another.
As to the question of the day, I can honestly say,
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Very much so, yes. I'm doing NaNo for the first time, and so you can imagine I have been very busy writing. The novel is (tentatively) titled The Dark Mirror, and I have been pounding away every day since Tuesday (Nov 1) at this. I've managed to beat pace every day, some by only a couple hundred words, most by more than that, and have amassed a total of 13,190 words on the manuscript so far, as of the end of Sunday. I'm almost done the third chapter (I write long chapters it seems), which should be completed tonight. I'm very proud of myself and only hope I can sustain this pace.
One of the really interesting things for me is that this is the first time I'm working with a complete, beginning to end outline for a novel, and I have to say, it's helping, a lot. I don't have to think about how I want to get them from A to B to C. It's in my outline. All I have to worry about are the specifics of the prose, the portrayals, thing like that. It's fabulous. And having a goal staring me in the face is getting me to sit down and write every day like nothing has before, even on the days where I get home from work and feel like crap. I just make a hot chocolate and sit down at the keyboard and let my book take me away from it all.
So yes, definitely wrote, am continuing to write, will be posting next week to that effect too.
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I took up revisions to the second story of my backlog of drafts...but at a slower pace than that of the first backlog story, having returned to work-that-pays-me-money. Six hundred words Saturday, five hundred words Sunday, nothing Monday. Since it's about six thousand words, at that pace I should complete the new version in two or three weeks.
If previous patterns hold up, I expect word of the first story from market shortly---you guys can guess where I submitted...
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My Nano Novel "Break Out". Almost finished with chapter two and probably almost finished with chapter one.
Might be almost done with a story I was working on Nov 1. Yeah might be, I don't know how to end it. My MC might start a new business--make lots of money, he might go one and learn another lesson, he might just go on as it or he might just give away his idea. There are probably other endings.
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I've been doing a rewrite of my incomplete western fantasy novel Showdown at Cibola, working through it and making sure all that is complete makes sense. Once that is done, I will finish it.
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Hey smaug I thought of doing one of those. I might be interested in reading the first chapter at least. Not at the moment of course but after Nov. Or when you get it ready.
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Hmm, hate to use this for this statement but speaking of western fantasies, I saw an interesting book at B&N today, almost bought it but have too many now.
I think it was a Urban fantasy-western-steampunk story. It wasn't yours smaug?
Three brothers fighting evil creatures one is named Colt can you guess the other two?
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