Pen and Paper

As I explained in my blog post on 3/30/15, I have established this page as a place to keep myself accountable in perusing my creative efforts effectively – rather than circling around them. The goals will be short-term and established based on what I believe is doable during a particular period.

April 22, 2015:

I did manage to average 500 w/p/d while at home down south last week. And I began those reference lists; they still need work. Got the quarterly taxes done but the 2014 income tax pile still sits on the dining room table. Did not start the exterior painting – too rainy.

After my podcast-marathon drive north again, I’ve spent the last four mornings trying to turn a snarled mess of ideas into sequential scenes for a section of my rough draft. This morning I moved on to the next tangled mass to do the same with it. Inch by brutal inch.

I’m not keeping word counts for this process because there is so much cutting and pasting and rearranging and brain-storming that word count is not the goal. The goal is seeing the story blob take narrative form.

I think I see a shadow of its future self.

April 10, 2015:

My short-term goal was accomplished! I averaged 1500 words/day for the  target period. See updated blog post here.

Next short-term goal = 500 words/day plus creating some reference lists to have at hand as I drive this nasty rough draft forward.

I’m not even attempting to write on my long travel days but I do get ten+ hours of continuous podcast listening. I have caught up on my two mainstays so I found a new source: Writers On Writing. Wonderful interviews – kept me engaged the whole trip and there is a backlog for future marathons.

Better get back to it!

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March 30, 2015:

Tomorrow I drive north – 10.5 hours on I95. I typically spend this time catching up on writing-related podcasts.

My usual sources are:

I Should Be Writing – The Podcast for Wannabe Fiction Writers – by Mur Lafferty

Writing Excuses – Fifteen minutes long, because you’re in a hurry, and we’re not that smart – by Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler & Dan Wells

As of Wednesday, I will be back to helping my parents prepare for a major move south but will designate the hours before 9:30am to my writing. I’ve completed the research I need to move on to the next chunk of scenes – so I’m out of excuses. I’m not sure how long I will be there on this trip – 7 to 10 days? But I’m setting a goal of 1500 words per day while there. That is completely doable in the mornings and evenings.

I’ll let you know how it goes.