500 Words Challenge

Daily Challenge Check-in: October 26, 2015

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Words/Time: 48 minutes revising “Pithea.” I’m working on the falling action after the climax. I can’t believe I’m almost done with this draft.

I did nothing over the weekend, and I don’t feel a bit bad about it. I was gone almost the entire weekend (just barely managing to sleep Saturday night). My sister and her family, who live in the DR, were in the states for two weeks. Saturday we had a big family game night, and yesterday, my sisters and I (4 of us total) spent most of the day just talking and playing a few games. My sister’s family leaves tomorrow to return to the DR, so it was really nice to have that time to spend together. Now it’s time to get as much revision done this week as I can, while also knuckling down to work on the outline for my NaNoNovel.

Daily Challenge Check-in: October 22, 2015

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Words/Time: 30 minutes working on prep for my 2015 NaNoNovel. This was spent mostly trying to boil the plot I have in mind down into a few paragraphs that I can share here and on the NaNo site. You wouldn’t think that would be so difficult, but it’s not easy trying to figure out what the main plot thread is in a story you haven’t written. (In my case, it’s not always easy figuring out the main plot thread in one I have written.) Also, trying to boil it down to a short, succinct synopsis with no extras, even when those extras maybe feel like they’re integral to the story, can take some thinking.

While I was working on that, I had to adjust my timeline a bit to clear up some events I’d muddied. I think I’m finally ready to start my outline.

Daily Challenge Check-in: October 21, 2015

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Words/Time: 1 hour working on prep for my 2015 NaNoNovel. I’ve been brainstorming a subplot to fill out the middle of the novel and trying to figure out timelines. I added a bunch of events and notes to my file in Aeon, and wrote out clues and other mystery-related notes in a journal trying to visualize how the mystery part needed to play out. I’m getting more excited about the idea now that it’s starting to feel like a full story, not just an opening and climax. I think I can finally work on a full synopsis to post here and on my NaNo profile.

Daily Challenge Check-in: October 20, 2015

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Words/Time: 2242 words revising “Pithea” with two of my sisters over Skype. Also known as the 59th meeting of the Tri-County Sisterhood of the Traveling Book. We got through 7 1/3 pages of double-spaced text. Only reading 5-10 pages at a time, a week apart, has caused problems in the past when the other two in my editing group forget something that would otherwise be more easily remembered by someone reading a book normally. Tonight it was more obvious, though, as a mental map of an underground cave system was impossible to keep from last week to this week, and one of my sisters needed extra clarification about where the characters were in this cave and where other things were.  That did bring to light a few areas where wording wasn’t as clear as it could have been to make sure readers weren’t confused, though, so it worked out for the best.

Daily Challenge Check-in: October 18, 2015

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Words/Time: 27 minutes working on prep for my 2015 NaNoNovel. I’ve started laying out the sequence of events that I know, which is mostly the very beginning, and a few sporadic things that I don’t know when will happen, or even in what order. As I’ve started to look harder at this plot, I’ve realized I don’t have much of a plot. I have a feeling I’ll have a sketchier outline this year than I have the last few years. It worries me a bit, but if all else fails, I can just write about normal rendezvous life and events if I can’t pin down the mystery plot for a while. At least I’ll be getting words out.

Daily Challenge Check-in: October 16, 2015

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Words/Time: 38 minutes revising “Pithea.” I spent some time researching different species of bears to decide if one of them would suit the animal that I created when I thought the world would be completely fantasy. I’ve since decided it would take place right here on Earth, but probably close to 2000 years in the future. The rest of the time was normal revision, no huge fixes today. I finished at the end of the climax. As much as I worry about how this novel will be received when it’s finally ready to submit to publishers, one of my main concerns right now is the story structure. It’s told in 4 parts, each of which is like its own contained story with a beginning, middle, climax, and end. The climaxes aren’t always terribly exciting, though the final one is definitely the most suspenseful.  Anyway, it feels like a bit of a mess, and I’m not sure it can be made more structured without the story just falling to pieces. So it’s possible this novel’s only real future will be in self-publishing.

Daily Challenge Check-in: October 15, 2015

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Words/Time: 23 minutes revising “Pithea.” I made some fixes for an issue that was brought up during my editing group meeting yesterday, and got through a few pages of revision. I’ve been so focused on NaNoWriMo coming up, both planning the story I’m going to write for it and making blog posts about how to prep, my revision work has been neglected. I should really make sure to get as much of that done in the next few weeks as I can. There are so few pages left on this draft, which will probably be the most intensive one!

Daily Challenge Check-in: October 14, 2015

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Words/Time: 46 minutes and 1593 words, the latter of which was revising “Pithea” with two of my sisters over Skype. Also known as the 58th meeting of the Tri-County Sisterhood of the Traveling Book. We got through just over 5 pages of double-spaced text. We’re struggling to even find time for the meetings these days, as things are really busy for all of us right now. It wouldn’t be so bad–I wouldn’t even mind taking some weeks off until some of the craziness passes. But we’re so close to the end of the story, I want to try to squeeze in at least an hour each week. The amount we got through today was pretty much on par with what I’d expect for a shorter meeting, so I’m happy with it.

The time was spent early this morning (before I went to bed) working on the plot of my novel for NaNoWriMo. I spent a lot of that time researching. Most of it, in fact. Maybe all of it. I started looking for information on what red-hot metal would do if stabbed into a body (not a pleasant or easy topic to look up) and ended up looking at Hollywood misconceptions about how blades are made.