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Fabulous Fifty!

Fabulous Fifty Percent that is.  As of this day, I’m past the fifty percent mark with the first draft of my novel.  As I’ve estimated the novel to come in at around 85,000 words, so this puts me at the halfway mark.

On one hand, I feel bad that it’s taken this long to get here, but on the other hand, I have to celebrate this milestone.  When faced with such a big project, it’s really the only way to do it.  So today I celebrate getting to this point with this self congratulatory blog post.

I still can’t reveal anything yet about the story itself, but my characters are now in the thick of things.  I will guide them through the rest of the first draft until I arrive at the 63,750 word mark which is my next milestone to work towards.  That will be the three quarters done mark and will really be an encouraging goal to reach.  

Hopefully I’ll make better time in getting to that next goal than I feel I did for this last one.  Maybe I should make a shorter goal, say to the the nine sixteenths mark?  Well,… maybe not.  Three quarters done feels like a real goal to work towards.  And I’m determined to make it there sooner than this last goal.

Considering that I’ll have less words to complete to get to this next goal, perhaps it won’t seem so daunting.  Maybe it will come much sooner than I’ll expect.  God willing, as I’d like to start to feel the project is getting closer to completion.  I’d like to see this dream realized.  At least with a completed first draft.

August 11th, 2014:
Current Novel Word Count:   42.541 Words
Percentage towards 1st Draft Goal:  50%!!!!

Blog Drought

While California is currently having a terrible drought, I’ve also had one of my own in regards to posting to this blog.  My last post was nearly three months ago so I’m feeling rather guilty.  I guess in some way, I didn’t want to add to this blog as I didn’t think I had a lot of progress to report and that was a sense of shame for me.

As I look at my last post, I’ve only progressed another 15.6% towards completion of the first draft.  Not particularly impressive for nearly three months of time gone by, but I’ve been thrown some curve balls recently at the day job.  This has really sapped my attention and much of my time so I didn’t have a lot of extra unstressed moments to write, and when I did have time, I didn’t have much enthusiasm for it.  I can’t really say much about the distraction, but I don’t feel guilty for reacting this way.  Recently,… things appear that they may be getting better though, so I’ve been trying to step up my writing efforts. 

My next goal is to hit the 50% completed mark.  I’m fairly close to this, but still need to put in the hours.  Speaking of that, I’ve added another two cells to my writing spreadsheet.  One adds up the time I’ve spent in actual writing so far, which comes out to 81.2 hours.  If broken down into an 8 hour work day, that would be a little over 10 days. The second cell uses my average words per hour calculations based on recent writing sessions and projects that I can complete this first draft in about 21 1/2 days.  Needless to say, though, I need to pick up the pace.

I feel more confident that I’ll be able to increase my average words per hour count and get my first draft done sooner.  I’m in a very exciting part of the book which is fun to write, but also challenging as my characters are being pushed to the limit.  I’m hoping others will enjoy the story I am putting together but I have to complete it before I’ll ever be able to find out if they do.

I’m trying not to look too far ahead, but this will be only the first draft of this novel.  When this is done, after a brief celebration on my part, there will still be the second and third drafts to work on.  That won’t take as much effort, I’m hoping, as I’ll be tweaking and changing what I’ve already written, but it will still be a large block of work ahead for that stage of this project.

But for now, 50% is my goal.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  (PETA,… I’m only kidding and would never eat an elephant)  So hopefully I’ll chug along at a better pace, but I’ll try to be better about documenting it here.  I don’t want to take too much time away from the novel, but will definitely check in on the Blog.  Particularly when I hit the 50% mark!

 

July 17th, 2014:
Current Novel Word Count:  37,236 Words
Percentage towards 1st Draft Goal:  43.8%

The Writing Mode

Normally I’ve been writing these blog posts after having written a good chunk of the novel first draft so this is a first as I haven’t written anything yet today.  I’m getting closer to being about a third of the way through it (hey what’s another 5 %) but my original plan of writing methodically in the mornings hasn’t really materialized.

I’m not sure if this has more to do with my day job or my writing preferences, but since I started I’ve never actually grabbed a couple of hours in the morning to write.  I’ve mostly been grabbing blocks of times in some evenings and on the weekends as it worked out.  I just need to know I’ll have that block of time and won’t get into writing for 20 minutes and then we have to go or do something.  I have to feel I have a block of time so that I can enter a sort of “writing mode” where I won’t be mentally interupted in any great way for a period of time.

If I were someday blessed to be a professional writer, it would be much easier to block off writing time and seclude myself for what would then be my full time job.  Writing would have it’s own set time to be done with no other competing occupation.  That would seem a dream job to me, although I’d miss the interaction with others, but it’s not a realistic dream job unless you have some measure of success as a writer.  But to have that, you have to write, so time for me to stop pontificating about writing my novel and get back to it.  I’ll put myself in writing mode right now as I think I have a little block of time ahead.

April 19th, 2014:
Current Novel Word Count:  23,990 Words
Percentage towards 1st Draft Goal:  28.2%

Progress

While my writing sessions have been a bit limited lately, I’m still showing some respectable progress as I close in on an estimate of 25% done with the first draft.  Well,.. 24.7% to be exact.  The spreadsheet has helped to keep me on track and has been surprisingly encouraging.  (See my last blog post on details)

As the numbers go higher, the end goals seems more attainable.  I really have to concentrate more on making time to write, but my day job work schedule has been somewhat sporadic.  I could work there less, not putting in so much unpaid overtime, but I’m the boss and have a responsibility to make sure things get done, so that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

The story I’m working on is getting into some interesting parts to write, so it’s been challenging and fun at the same time.  For this particular tale, the farther I go into the novel, the more complex the interactions become between the characters.  The story also escalates in to more spectacular details which I hope will work well once it all comes together.

That hope that your story will be fun, entertaining and exciting is what both drives me, and frightens me.  I’m hoping everyone else will enjoy the story as much as I do, but that’s really the big unknown when writing.  From everything I’ve heard, you just have to approach the first draft and make it the best you can, allowing your imagination to go wherever it wants, and that’s what I’m attempting to do.  Only time will tell if I’ve succeeded. 

As I get into the sections of the novel that are really stretching boundaries, I’ll need to stay vigilant to allow myself the freedom to be creative.  In my last session I actually changed part of my outline for an additional scene I needed to add and thus strayed from the original plan, but I know it will work.  I just need to keep at it. 

April 6th, 2014:
Current Novel Word Count: 20,999 Words (Should have written 1 more word!)
Percentage towards 1st Draft Goal: 24.7%

The Sheet Never Lies

One of the writing tips I’d read about previously was to keep track of my writing activities so that I could gauge not only how the overall project was going, but also how productive I was being.  So I have set up a spreadsheet to do just this and the results are very interesting.

I put a notes section in there so that I could quantify the conditions in which I’ve been writing and to no surprise, I’m more productive without any other distractions. When I’m writing with something else going on in the background, my word count per hour is not as high.  True that I can tune out the background noise, but I haven’t really been able to schedule secluded writing time only yet.  I have found time in couch potato mode, though, which has given me some good progress on the novel.  I guess that’s a sad commentary in and of itself, but that unproductive time is being transformed, so that makes me feel a little better about it.

Now to the results.  Although I was hoping it would show my average word count per hour would be somewhere around a thousand words, it’s actually been in the 450 to 760 word range.  The spreadsheet has been a good tool as it shows me as well, at this rate how many hours I have ahead to get to my 85,000 word novel goal.  Given the results, it’s also showing me that I’d be more productive, most likely, writing in a quiet time with no distractions.  That alone may prove to be the best observational value of the spreadsheet, if it proves to be true.

So based on the spreadsheet, I’ll make this a goal to grab that quiet time to write and with God’s help and my trusty spreadsheet as well, I’ll be able to hopefully reach my goal sooner.  It’s also helped, oddly enough, to encourage me, as I made a formula to tell me what percentage of the overall goal I’ve reached so far.  Currently it shows me as 16.8% complete towards my first draft novel goal.  I have 70,705 words to go.  That might not sound too encouraging to you, but I know where I was before, so for me, it’s quite encouraging.

So for you other aspiring novelist out there, I will attest to this being a good motivator as well as a general tool to help you gauge your normal productivity. It’s even funny how I seemed to have developed a competition with myself to be more productive in my writing time.  I’m happy when I see my numbers at a greater level and the percentage done is a wonderful thing to see climb higher.  Here’s hoping I’ll have much better progress to report next time.

March 9th, 2014:
Current Novel Word Count:  14,295 Words
Percentage towards 1st Draft Goal:  16.8%

Procrastination or Real Life Getting in the Way?

The Outline done three weeks ago, I’d actually started into the novel a tad on that same day, knocking out about a thousand words, but that only gets me to 1/85th of the way to my ultimate goal.  After that I was going to set up a schedule to write, but some things happened that caused me to go in other directions for a bit.  A website I’d created in 1997 needed to be revamped as the old content system I’d used was prone to hacking and my Internet Presence Provider was going to delete it if I didn’t update it.  So I’ve been working on that and it’s now done. 

Additional issues at my day job have caused me to work some 12 and 13 hour days, so any writing during this current period is probably out of the question, but this should change in a few days.  I’m dealing with these issues at my daytime job and praying for my friend from work dealing with her loss which puts all minor troubles into proper perspective.  Given these happenings, I’m having to write off this coming week for any scheduled writing, unless I happen to do some this weekend.

I,… like most other writers; I’m sure, realize that procrastination is my worst enemy.  I suppose there was about of week of that involved after completing my outline, until these other things came up.  But at this point, I’ll plan on getting on my new track next week, when things should calm down at work and I can get back to my normal 9 1/2 hour workday there.  I’ll need to get my schedule set next week, though, as that appears to be the key to make writing a habit and allow me to work through the creation of my first novel, one chunk at a time.  Only about 84,000 more words to go.  Wish me luck and say a prayer for me.

January 25th, 2014:
Finished Novel Outline:  13,429 Words
Current Novel Word Count:  1,030 Words

Stick a Fork In It! – Outline Done

Tonight I’ve finally finished my Novel Outline.  I have the basic plot and guideline from which to work from.  I’m sure I’ll be changing things as I go along, but I think the Outline will keep me on track with my basic idea, yet still allow me to stray from it as I need to.

Now comes both the scary and fun part,.. the actual writing of my first novel.  I’ll admit that the Outline was kind of an obstacle at times, as it seemed to be a convenient procrastination crutch, but now I’m ready to begin.  Now the struggle to produce over 85,000 pages of fiction that people will want to read begins.

At this point, looking out over the vast ocean of unwritten novels, I have no idea if what I produce will be worthy to print.  That’s certainly my desire, but the proof is in the pudding, as they say.  I’ll pray before each session, and invite your prayers for my efforts as well.  Here’s hoping that my wild dream will be worthy for the ages.  Worthy for those looking to get lost in a story.  And it begins on this day.

January 4th, 2014:
Finished Novel Outline:  13,429 Words
Current Novel Word Count:  27 Words (Title Page)

September 8th, 2013: Starting

Starting with my Idea:

I’ve written before, having completed three spec 1 hour Television Series scripts, three spec movie screenplays, two freelance articles for a now defunked startup Gadget Magazine and one paid, non-union indie production screenplay that I don’t think ever actually got made into a picture once the co-producer died.  This is over my lifetime, so not really the best example of a productive writing model, but I’ve now made a decision that I will write a novel while staying true to my beliefs.

This is a turning point for me as my previous interests had been in the Hollywood entertainment industry so when my life was changed by faith in God, it didn’t hold the same appeal.  I also didn’t want to promote my previous works as well.  Having no work to really promote, my writing aspirations seemed to be on ice.

In the back of my mind, though, through the years, was the idea of writing a novel.  This has now come front and center and I’ve begun the process with the intention of completing this as my goal.  This started with a process I’ve done before, but I have since validated as a method other writers have used as well.  I’ve been envisioning my story for the last few weeks, seeing each scene and allowing myself to ask the “what ifs” that send the story in an entirely different direction. 

Having now come up with the basic story I’d like to tell, I’m writing an outline that I’m trying to keep brief, just so that I can pick up and continue with the original idea if I find myself stalled.  Once the basic outline is completed, I’ll begin the writing process, holding the story loosely and allowing myself to create new ideas on the fly. 

I’m anxious to get started, but still feel that I need the Outline to be finished first, so I’m working on this now.  Others use extremely brief outlines to start their novel, others include so much detail, that it’s practically a novel in itself.  I’m of the camp that lands somewhere in between the two philosophies.  I want enough detail so that I know where I had envisioned going (even if I decide to disregard that later) but not so much detail that I end up writing the first draft twice.

So here I go, into my hopefully brief outline to capture my story thoughts.  Wish me good providence and say a prayer for my success, if you think about it.