Introduction to the Accountability Post 2021 Week 04
Is it true that some phenomena reacts to being observed? As in, an indeterminate quantum state only becomes “real” if it’s observed? Because I swear, the more closely I measure my time, the less of it I have! Between a full time job, my family commitments, trying to write a series of novels, and 8 seasonal anime reviews (3 of them collaborations), I don’t got a lot of slack in my schedule.
I feel like if I sneeze, I’ll be three days behind.
When I started writing the first paragraph, I felt like I was grousing. In retrospect, I’m lucky as hell, ain’t I? I get to spend my time on important things (my family and my career) while having time for the writing. So, as tough as it is to find time to write these novels, I need to be in the mindset that this is all good.
So, how’d I do this week? Well, have a look:
Two weeks straight where I wrote 3 days? Be still my heart…
In 2021 Week 3’s update, the word count stood at 19,831. That means this week, I wrote 7,433 words. Last week, I left off on chapter 18. On Sunday, I finished chapter 23.
Next Goals after This Accountability Post 2021 Week 04
This week, the character Jack Booth surprised me with how vivid he became in my mind. He’s having an absolute blast in his new assignment on the EU Parliament’s ECON committee.
And to think, six months ago, I didn’t even know what the ECON committee was, much less that it had a position called Rapporteur.
It feels like progress is glacial! Yet, a few months ago, I had zero words written in the rough draft. It’s amazing the says my mind tries to demotivate me!
I wonder how much of the draft I’m sort of showing in the screen cap above will make it to the final draft?
The goal for now is to keep on keeping on. I didn’t find any way to shoe-horn in more writing sessions into my week, but I’m going to keep my eyes open. And for the record? The new MacBook Pro with the M1 processor rocks.
I’ve started thinking about what I do once I finish the first draft. Do I hire a developmental editor? Buy more of Nick Stephenson’s courses? I went through one, and it was fantastic — but that was a year or more ago. Well, first things first. I need to focus on getting the first draft done.
Feedback Welcome!
Do you have any super secret techniques to squeeze more writing out of a given unit of time? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!
Just caught up on a bunch of these posts and it’s awesome to see that you are moving things forward. I think you were right to move your writing station to its own area. Any obstacle to doing what you want will still be an obstacle, no matter how big or small. You want to make the process as easy as possible.
With that in mind, I find that I write faster when I have the next ten chapters mapped out. It’s not a detailed map mind you, just a paragraph saying what might happen. I can always change it as I get to it, but having it there seems to free up my mind to just get on with it.
My one tip for once you’ve finished your first draft is that you should let it sit for a period of time long enough for it to fade from your mind. Then, before you do any editing, read the whole thing through. You can make notes separately on stuff to fix, but reading through the entire thing will give you a better picture of what you want/need to change without doing things multiple times.
I meant to respond to this a week ago! Sorry about that.
The dedicated writing station is really paying off — you’re right about the obstacles!
“I find that I write faster when I have the next ten chapters mapped out”
So, you don’t map out the whole plot? Or, do you map out the plot in general, but the next 10 chapters in particular? Right now, just accidentally, I’ve mapped out the whole plot in general, and I have about the first 1/2 of the book mapped out in some detail. I’m going to see how that works.
“My one tip for once you’ve finished your first draft is that you should let it sit for a period of time long enough for it to fade from your mind.”
I’ve been writing since I was in sixth grade (well, the story I wrote in fifth grade doesn’t count), so that’s a little over 50 years. Based on all that experience, I can say this: Your tip is spot on! If I can remember even faintly what I meant in a given sentence or paragraph, then I can’t effectively edit. I can’t see the text as a reader would see it.
The full read-through is a good idea, too.
Have you ever tried reading it out loud? I find that helps sometime, but I’m not sure it helps enough to justify the expenditure. A novel takes a bucket of time to read!
Make that 46 years. Math and I don’t get along.