amwriting

A Monday Moment: Favor

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

“So, can you do me a favor?”

“A favor?” he scoffed. “You must be joking!”

I stared at him, trying so hard to keep my face as stoic as possible.

“Don’t think of it as a favor for me then. Think of it as a favor for your homeland. For your friends and family there. For you, even.” I could see his jaw jumping as he clenched and unclenched it over and over. He was angry. He had every right to be. Still, he had come to see me.

“If this has anything to do with Linus, you can save your breath. He’s not getting out any time soon. And neither are you.”

“I don’t want him to get out. I don’t care if I’m released either. But he can still do a lot from prison.”

“Not from prison in Pithea,” he countered.

“You don’t think so? Do you know anything about the operation he was running back home? About the operation he was running here?”

For as cold as he had been, his tone turned to ice when he replied, “I think I know enough.”

I lowered my gaze for a moment. I would have apologized for my part in all this, but I was pretty sure it wouldn’t have made a difference.

“I’m only saying that Linus is very connected, very smart, and very determined. I wanted him caught here in Pithea, but the truth is—”

“Wait, what?”

I looked back up at him to see narrowed eyes.

“You wanted him caught? Don’t you work for him? And you got yourself arrested too.”

“I’m well aware of that, thank you. But if you haven’t noticed, they don’t have much in the way of charges against me. My guess is the worst they’ll do is keep me here for a bit, and then send me back. I can’t go back—not after getting Linus thrown in jail.”

“I’m supposed to feel bad that they’ll hate you back home after what you’ve done?”

“They won’t just hate me.” I searched his face for the slightest hint of the compassion or kindness I once knew. “They’ll kill me.”

Prompt used: favor

Daily Writing Check-in: April 28, 2019

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Words/Time:  28 minutes of freewriting

I knew it would be difficult to find time to write this weekend. Yesterday, I managed to carve out some time in the afternoon, which was good, because I didn’t get home from a concert until around midnight.

Today, after being up super early and getting home only a couple of hours before my family we going to see Avengers: Endgame, by the time we got home from that, I was so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open. Still, I knew I had 150 minutes of writing work left to finish Camp NaNoWriMo before the end of the month, so I decided anything I could get done was better than nothing.

It seemed like a good time for freewriting, rather than trying to focus on the outline I’ve been working on, so I went back to an old word list I wrote down in my failed attempt at a bullet journal 1 1/2 years ago. I picked a word from the list and wrote 356 words. And even better, it’s not too vague, confusing, or spoiler-y to be used as a Monday Moment, an attempt at a weekly feature on my blog that has been incredibly sporadic over the last 5 months. But come Monday, there will be a Monday Moment!

Daily Writing Check-in: April 27, 2019

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Words/Time:  1 hour, 20 minutes working on the new outline of “The Seeger Book.”

I’m nearing the climax of the outline. I also added a little to the timeline for this story. And then I decided it was important to know what day of the week it should be in the story on the final day. That led me to realize that it was going to be important to know what day of the week it was during a lot of my stories, especially the ones that involve the War Games, which are played on the weekends.

“Outcast,” which ends right as “The Seeger Book” starts,” gave me a starting point, because I know what day of the week that story starts on. But rather than just count forward to find out where I’m at with this book, I decided to make my life easier in the future, and made up a calendar for this year of the series of Pithea Books. I can refer back to it any time I need to. And when working on books that take place before or after these 2, I can always use the same method to make up a calendar for those years.

I found some time in the afternoon to work, which helped a lot to increase my chances to finish Camp NaNoWriMo on time. I think I have a real shot at winning after all (I’m down to just under 3 total hours left on my goal).

Daily Writing Check-in: April 26, 2019

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Words/Time:  15 minutes working on the new outline of “The Seeger Book.”

Not exactly a stellar amount of time, but it’s better than 0. It’s important to me to not skip days any more than necessary. I didn’t get home from work tonight until about 11:45 pm, so I literally went right to my computer to work on the outline for the last 15 minutes before midnight. I may work on it more tonight to try to make up for a super short amount of time today, because I know I’ll be gone until late tomorrow too, and likely won’t have a lot of time in the afternoon to work. So we’ll see how it goes.

I still have hopes to finish Camp NaNoWriMo on time, but I will have to make the most of every free minute I have over the next 4 days.

Daily Writing Check-in: April 25, 2019

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Words/Time:  1 hour, 6 minutes working on the new outline of “The Seeger Book.”

After 2 1/2 weeks not doing any writing work, in the middle of this difficult task, and then 4 weeks working on it sporadically, I’m really glad to be making some serious progress. I also spent that 4 weeks talking with characters just trying to pin down what huge  things I knew I was missing from the story. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever figure it out, or if I’d have to make the decision to just write as much of the outline as I could, and then leave it for now.

It’s a pretty big win, amongst the difficulties I’m having with work, to have made the progress I made today. The outline is starting to really come together. I’ve realized that it’s necessary to include in the outline the things that are going on behind the scenes, that won’t be in the book, so I know how the timing works, and since realizing that, it’s making a lot more sense too.

I’ll need to work for a minimum of 50 minutes per day to finish Camp NaNoWriMo on time. Even now, in this final week, I can’t seem to avoid taking days off. And Saturday and Sunday I’m going to be very busy. Tomorrow will be difficult to find time too, since I’ll be home from work late, and my writing time is always in the evening. I am happy to be back on course to getting this outline done, so if I don’t finish Camp, this month will still be a win.

Daily Writing Check-in: April 23, 2019

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Words/Time:  54 minutes doing preliminary work for finishing the new outline of “The Seeger Book.”

I finished the character interview with one of the antagonists of the book. I worked on that interview for 8 days in the end, (actual days working on it, not counting days off), and at times felt like I was just stalling, because it was easier than getting back to the outline. I don’t really know why I thought that, though, because every day that I worked on this conversation, insights came out. Maybe some days the insights were small, but it was always productive.

I honestly don’t know how I got by for so long in my writing life without talking to my characters…

Tomorrow it will be back to the actual outline, which will likely still involve some questions that I need to brainstorm answers to, but I am a lot closer than I was. It will also involve going back and reading parts of the 20-page conversation many times, reminding myself of what I came up with. I’m looking forward to it!

007

The 20 pages were written in the smaller book in this picture, so it’s probably not quite as long as it sounds.

I’m down to needing to write 46 minutes per day to finish Camp NaNoWriMo on time. I am optimistic about finishing, but not necessarily confident.

Daily Writing Check-in: April 22, 2019

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Words/Time:  49 minutes doing preliminary work for finishing the new outline of “The Seeger Book.”

I’m nearing the end of the character interview, and am still shocked by the fact that it is, by far, the longest one I’ve done. I went into this thinking that it might stall out and get me nowhere. I just don’t think I realized how completely empty the underlying conspiracy that drives this plot was though. Now that I have talked to one of the main antagonists of the book (and up until this character interview, I thought this person was The Main Antagonist of the book), I’m actually uncovering the complexity of the plot. I think I might just be ready to go back to the outline soon, and actually finish this writing goal.

I’m up to needing to write 47 minutes per day to finish Camp NaNoWriMo on time because I skipped yesterday. It’s no fun if it’s easy to win, right?

Daily Writing Check-in: April 20, 2019

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Words/Time:  45 minutes doing preliminary work for finishing the new outline of “The Seeger Book.”

I was starting to think this character interview is just a stalling tactic. But what I’m actually realizing is that I am writing an outline for the story in a way. This is a side to the story that the reader won’t see much of. Just the parts that push through to the protagonist’s side. But it’s going to be really helpful to have all of this down when it’s time for me to go back to the actual outline. The sequence of events is coming out really clearly (I think).

I’m pretty happy to have worked another solid chunk of time that will keep me on track to finishing Camp NaNoWriMo with just a few more words per day as my goal. Monday is coming, and more work that has been my main reason for skipping so many days this month, but we’ll see how it goes.

Daily Writing Check-in: April 19, 2019

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Words/Time:  43 minutes doing preliminary work for finishing the new outline of “The Seeger Book.”

I’m still working through this character interview with the book’s antagonist. In the past, I have not been above pulling a ret-con in my conversations when my thoughts on something change part way through the conversation. But this one has been long enough, several things have changed, including some comments at the beginning of the conversation. As long as I don’t let it confuse me later when I re-read this, it’s okay.

But then there was one whole section that I realized needed to be different than we’d discussed, and different enough that I had to go back and make some changes. It’s a good thing I use erasable pens. I’m very excited that I’m really starting to get an understanding of the underlying forces at work in this story. I think the empty late-middle of the story is finally starting to get filled in with actual tellable story now too.

I’m hoping to still hit my Camp NaNoWriMo goal by the end of the month. That’s why I wrote exactly 43 minutes today (the amount the site says I have to write every day in order to win). We’ll see how well I continue to do with that.

Daily Writing Check-in: April 18, 2019

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Words/Time:  44 minutes doing preliminary work for finishing the new outline of “The Seeger Book.”

I don’t have a lot to say about today’s work. I continued my conversation with the antagonist of the book, which I think is now the longest character interview I’ve ever had. And it’s not over yet–I’m really starting to get more of a handle on this story, thanks to this conversation, so I’m not stopping ’til I’m satisfied.

According to the Camp NaNoWriMo site, I only have to work 43 minutes per day in order to still meet my goal this month. But that’s if I do it every day. And I’ve been struggling with working on writing every day. Because I work every day, and it’s soul-sucking work.