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Debra finished the first draft of her WIP.
Yep, that's right. So far my 'attempt' (See my A post for more background information!) to finish a Christmas novella and get it submitted before the March 13 deadline is going well. Extremely well.
Yesterday I finished the first draft. It took me 18 days and turned out to be 13,512 words and 69 pages. I was faithful and wrote everyday. I won't say my writing was consistent (my daily word counts varied greatly), but I got the job done. As I went, I did a running total of my words and how many I added each day. The highest number I did in a day was 2,268, which happened to be a cold/snow day off from school I wasn't expecting. My lowest day was 398 words.
Not only was keeping a daily count of page numbers and progress new for me, I wrote this story in completely different way than my previous ones. For one, other than a few sentences at the very end which I did out of order, I started at page one and kept on, writing the story in chronological order. Most of the time, if I get an idea for a scene, even if it's not at a point in the story I'm at, I write it so I don't forget. This time was a lot more linear.
Another different thing was I didn't go back and do a lot of editing each day. Here and there I did some minor tweaking, but most of the time I used my allotted writing time to keep on moving forward with the story. I also left a few yellow highlighted spots, where I know I need to go back and fix or look for a different word or phrase.
Plus, this time around, I had a definite writing routine and time of day scheduled to write. (For the most part. Days off and weekends were a bit different.) Each night after my shower, I'd sit down at the computer and write. I didn't use that time for anything else: e-mail, blogs, Facebook. It was designated writing time, and I used it as such. Last Saturday I was a bit 'stuck' at one point in the story, so I hopped in the shower. Call it 'muscle memory' or a version of Pavlov's Theory, but it worked. The ideas started flowing, and I was able to finish the scene.
Now, of course, I'll be using my designated writing time for editing and revising. I am curious to read the story from beginning to end, because a lot of the scenes I haven't gone back and looked at since I wrote them. My next step will be to print out the mss and do a read-through.
All in all, I'm excited about my progress, my new routine, and my new procedures. Will they carry over to my next project? Only time will tell. But so far they are working like a charm on this one.
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
This is how I used to work, Debra, and I think it is the best way. I tend to keep reading over my work as I write these days and it doesn't help. You've encouraged me to revert back to my old ways.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely new for me, and since it worked well so far on this current mss, I'm hoping it will become the new norm. I used to get bogged down in going back that it took forever to go forward with the story.
DeleteYay! and I agree with Margaret that your writing routine is inspirational. I, too, have ah-ha moments in the shower. Also washing dishes. Must be something about water and flow.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's the flowing water that gets the ideas flowing! :)
DeleteWell done, Debra! I also read back over my work while I'm writing the story, even though I know I'll do a thorough edit (or several!) once I get to the end. It's probably counter-productive, but I can't get out of the habit!
ReplyDeleteI'd always done it to get myself back into the story...at least that was the excuse.
DeleteWho knows, maybe I'll find a ton of disconnects during edits.
Sounds like how I write when I'm participating in my chapter's version of NaNoWriMo. It does require a lot of editing afterwards, but it definitely encourages momentum. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteJen, this did have a very NaNoWriMo feeling to it.
ReplyDeleteEditing will start tonight, so we'll see how that goes...