It will be two years, as of Thursday, since I started this ongoing novel dare that is my blog.
So in celebration, I am, uh, cutting back on posting. Well, you know I got to get this novel done. So for the next two weeks I'll only post four days a week -- the Sun/Wed ROW80 update posts, and Mondays and Thursdays will be regular thinky-type posts. (And Mondays will not be reserved just for covers because of this.)
- Monday: The Daring Novelist's Greatest Hits -- plus some forgotten favorites too.
- Wednesday: ROW80 check-in (plus musings on the struggles of meeting goals, etc.)
- Thursday: Blogiversary! A look back at the first two years of this blog (this might end up broken up into two -- in which case I'll post one on Friday as well.)
A Round of Words In Eighty Days Update
Wednesday Day 10 - 0 minutes. Wednesdays are my long days and I get home late. And it marked the end of a long week of disrupted schedules, and such. It will always be a low productivity day. The other thing that worked against me is that I've reached the point where I have to stop the read-thru. I try to get to the point where Wednesdays can be proofing or editing days, but I was not at that point alas.Thursday Day 11 - 107 minutes. Today was a brilliantly spiffy day. I went into my work session with a blank mind. Ready to just jump in and work on whatever presented itself to me. There is a major event at midbook -- and I have all the pieces, but they only fit together... adequately. I had a little filing to do here and there. I'd tried a few major shuffles before, but today I snagged onto the right undercurrent, the "emotional trajectory" as it were, and with a few minor adjustments, I am ready to pound to fit!
Friday Day 12 - 102 minutes. Busy day at work, had to spend a lot of time unwinding. I set a mini-goal of setting myself up for a good day on Saturday -- i.e. getting lots of edits and material in place and creating a new reading draft for the Kindle.
Saturday Day 13 - 123 minutes. Made it! Just barely. I had a full day of errands and shopping, AND I had to stop by to Occupy Lansing for a while. Also make cookies for the permanent occupiers. (To be delivered Sunday, as it was late before I got the first batch done, and I suspect I need more than one batch.)
I'm working on the hardest part of the book really (have been for the whole dare) where the B Story overtakes the A Story. I realize now that part of what I've been doing all this time is using my layering technique. Writing for one element, then writing for another, and then working them together. This is just a really big, complicated version of that.
I would like to do a clip, but there are some twists and turns, and I want to choose carefully for fear of spoilers.
See you in the funny papers.
6 comments:
happy blogiversary! and honestly, i think anyone who is doing row80 can appreciate the need to schedule yourself and cut back a little. there's work to be done!!
best,
gina
www.ginacarey.com
Happy blogaversary! It sounds like you're doing well with your goals. I'm sure you'll be even more productive now that you're cutting back on blogging.
Thanks! Blogging is a part of the process, but sometimes you have to get a rein on it.
Sounds like we're doing the same thing! I posted I was cutting back today, too. Hate to do it, but you're right--writing comes first!
Congrats on two years and knowing your limits. The best parts of ROW80 are the support and the ability to look at your life and adjust your goals.
And, yes, writing comes first. Love that you keep track by minutes. I need to try that, because wordcount isn't always reflective of how much writing work I've done.
Hope you have another excellent week, and I look forward to hearing your progress.
I also cut back because I noticed that I'd been putting off a number of posts which I'd drafted because they were.... rambling. (I mean, hey, I'm a fan of a good ramble, but these weren't the kind of thoughtful subjects to go rambling about.)
So another reason to cut back is quality of posting.
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