Write Tip: It's a Process - New Goals!

I teach a high school writing class. Have had some of the brightest writers involved, but every year, I have to teach them the Writing Process. We spend a while discussing Planning tricks, ways to get their thoughts in order and collect some topics for their writing. They find out quickly that turning in a Draft is unacceptable. (I have a pretty high standard.) After only a few classes, they start taking advantage of sending their work to me for notes on Revision. I'll usually give them some Edit notes as well before they turn in their Final Work.

My students have figured it out. They now completely realize the benefits of each step in the process.

I've learned the benefits, too.

News and Update for ROW 80 - Special Words

THE END

Typing never felt so good! Getting into the last third of my novel stuck spurs in me an inch deep. I barely made myself stop when I dozed over my keyboard. 

Sleep is highly overrated!

My intensity made my schedule imperative. There's a lot more to my life than writing in any given day! (Teaching, homeschooling–no, not always the same thing–house decorating, meal planning, not to mention

Journaling the Journey - ROW 80 Update

My ROW 80 goals have taken on some major changes. My original goal was to write 1300 words per day, Monday through Friday with the hopes of finishing my WIP by the end of December. Quickly, my goal changed to 1500 words, then 1800 words as I calculated what I needed to end in time. As I clocked in more and more words, I changed my goal, antsy to reach the conclusion faster.

My current goal is 2300 words per day, Monday through Friday. I allowed that my blogs are included in this, but I'm keeping that to a minimum. Now instead of finishing at the end of December, I hope to

Weekender - Faith Readers' Daily

 

I'm so pumped about catching up with my ROW80 goals by the end of the week! What a blessing! Dealing with my rabbit trails (that's what they called ADD when I was going to school) I get easily distracted by all sorts of things - music, dogs, people passing by, but most of all the little numbers that bounce up at the top of my 6-8 internet tabs.

Come back Thursday and I'll let you in on the secret of how I worked through my problem! And I'll let you know how my ideas are working! 

For today's update, I've topped 40,000 words. (I know I could just write 40k, but all those zeros look so cool!) I've stepped up my goal a little. I'd like to be done with this novel by the end of this month. I did 40k in 32 days. I only have 25 days left so I'll have to do some hightailed writing, but I think I can make it, or darn close. My current goal is 1,500 per day, so I'm going to boost that to 2,000 and hope I can make it. 

Putting it Together

They look like they're a little bummed though - or maybe that's their game faces?

In keeping with my recent articles about goal-setting and winning, I'm going to draw them together today.

Did I mention that the Angel volleyball season is over. Can I just say:

YEA!

Thanks, had to get that out of my system! Sixty-nine matches, seven tournaments, two months and over 8000 pictures. Yep, I'm good for another year.

But I want to share just a little about my precious redhead's team. Most of these girls played together last year. 

The team as a whole never

ROW80 Update - What Distracts You?

Right now, I'm listening to my very old beagle bark at a squirrel that hopped  across the treetops about twenty minutes ago. My dog, Marcie, has a great sniffer, even at her age, and all the barking is sure giving her plenty of exercise.

I think I heard the squirrel laughing.

Silly things like this happen everyday. If it isn't this dog, it's the other one, an overgrown puppy, coming in to hoist himself up on my lap and lick my face. Or it's my girls laughing or singing in the den. That sound will charm my socks off.

Last night as I was writing, it was the

Writer Tips - What to Do When I Get Dry?

I've got blog ideas coming out the wazoo. I've had such fun investigating baseball, compiling grammar rules, and waxing rhetorical on all sorts of topics.

Trouble is, this time my ROW 80 goal doesn't include my blogs. (I've written 3,171 words on just my blogs in the last two days!) When it comes to my suspense novel, though, I'm sunburned. Entering the fourth chapter, I find I'm bogging down a bit.

Much of the excitement lies ahead and part of the excitement has past. This section has some key clues,

but my writing crawl-speed turned into a camo-crawl and then a full stop. Uninspired, I seriously considered tossing the whole story.

I could do that, but what would I learn? Instead, I think I'd like to flex the muscles of all that I've been learning. I need to get my elements so firmly in my mind that when I get back to the drafting the tension can't help but be on every page because there is so much going on.

I started the initiative last night, brainstorming with my Precious Redhead until almost 1AM. The exercise was enlightening! I realized that my story line isn't messed up, and my two protagonists are strong with deep character arcs.

Then there's my antagonist. He's sort of ... um ... missing. It's one thing for readers to be in the dark about an antagonist in a suspense, but the writer should probably know all about him. And I knew nothing about him.

Aha! I found my problem. Without a strong antagonist chart, I have no conflict with the protags, no goals or expectations for the antag, no story. I guess I just thought he would develop as I wrote, but he didn't. I'm not a seat-of-the-pants writer, duh, so I don't know why I thought it would just happen for me.

But after a day of solid focus on my antag, I not only know who he (generic "he") is, but I know what he does, and why he does it. I know how he gets himself connected and in his spiral into conflict with my main character. Almost without effort, my story has muscle, and plenty of tension.

All that is to say, I haven't added anything to my ROW80 goals since Sunday, but have added a ton of work on my story. I think the words will start to flow much easier now!

Where are you in your current projects? (Writing or Otherwise?)

Round of Words in 80 Days

I know, it sounds crazy. How can making a word count goal actually produce halfway-decent writing? Just because the number of words increases doesn't mean that they are really worthy of any notice.

I admit, when I started the ROW80 program back in July, I was more than a little skeptical. But I knew