Recently, Dean Wesley Smith blogged about writing a 70,000 word novel in 10 days. It was fascinating to read how he did it, his attitudes toward writing, etc. A lot of it is apply butt to chair, trust the process, trust your writerly brain. Dean writes into the dark, has no idea what the ending
Write the next line Read More »
One of the things that I always find frustrating with rewrites is how to measure my effort. For example, I worked for about two hours today on the rewrite of Zydeco Queen. In terms of word count, I only added about 600 new words. If I was writing first draft, 600 words in 2 hours
I started the rewrite of “Zydeco Queen” last night. One of the things I can say about my writing is that it’s powerful. I don’t feel that while I’m writing it. But afterward, I can come back, and I can see the energy. I know it’s dynamic. Unfortunately, there’s almost none of that power in
I have a timer on the work computer (as well as the home computer.) I work for 55 minutes, then I’m supposed to take a 5 minute break. I recently made myself a standing desk for doing the day job (nothing fancy — a bunch of books on one of my end tables.) Instead of
If Only May Come Someday Read More »
I tend to approach the world with confidence. Or at least most people who know me believe that. And it’s mostly true. It isn’t that my confidence is faked — but sometimes it isn’t as complete as it appears externally. It may be squishy, easily dissolved, or even hollow in places. This weekend I received
Fake it ’til you make it Read More »
I have finished the rewrite of the three novels! or at least this rewrite w00t! Three things were key for me for this project: 1. Know thy process. By identifying what I was really afraid of, what had bogged me down before, I was able to figure out some strategies for overcoming them. 2. Come
I finished reading every chapter of the third novel out loud, as well as incorporating the changes this morning. YAY!!! I’ve already put the first novel through this process. Which means I only have the second novel to do this to. If I can continue at this pace, that is, a chapter a day, I
Uhmm — I’ve pretty much finished all the bulleted points that I had in the outline for the rewrite. I honestly didn’t think I’d get to this point until really close to the end of the 100 days. To say I’m shocked isn’t strong enough. I keep going back and looking at the list, seeing
Like a lot of other writers, I have to write. There isn’t a choice about whether I want to write or not. When I talk about that urge, I’ve always been talking about the desire to put words onto paper, to make up stories. It’s always first drafting that I’ve needed. Until now. This week