Month: September 2014

Writing In 15 Minute Sessions

Lynn

I’m trying out a new writing method now that I’ve finally got back into the swing of things. I’m finding the 5 minute sessions a little annoying the last few days so I’ve reverted to 15 minute sessions. I’m trying to do 3 every hour, and hit 800 words. I haven’t done it yet, but I do think I can so I’m going to practice that for a while.

What I’m hoping to gain is the ability to write more—of course. :D Say, 5 to 7 hours a day at 800 words each… That would be a pretty nice output by anyone’s standards! I’d get 15 minutes to recharge every hour. Yep. I’m liking this idea a lot and I’m optimistic I can make it work for a while. :D

I’ll report back later today with some numbers to see if this thing’s working out.

UPDATE:  I liked it. I had trouble meeting the 800 words goal (267 per session) but I think I just need to keep practicing. All told, here are my results:

session 1 – 3 sprints – 543 words
session 2 – 3 sprints – 481 words
session 3 – 3 sprints – 423 words
session 4 – 3 sprints – 521 words

I came up 1,232 short of where I would’ve been if I’d managed the 800. Still, I did like this way of working! It was a nice change from the mad pace of the 5 minute sessions and I’m hopeful I can train my brain to hit 300 in 15 minutes. ;)

I’m calling it a success and worth further experimentation. :D

Hit a Wall…

Lynn

I started out weak today, writing only 1,601 words in about 3 hours. Hit a wall, and reacted by taking lunch and watching television. One quick episode of Bitten turned into the rest of the season, and when that was over, I migrated to catching up with season 3 of Revenge.

I have to say, I like Bitten, except when I don’t. I kinda hate the female lead. She kind of sounds like someone’s holding her nose while she talks. And I feel mean for mentioning that, but it truly is the reason that character annoys me. The voice. It’s all about the voice.

Logan is my darling on that show, although I admit to a certain appreciation of Jeremy, Nick, and Clay, in that order. Although let me be honest, I kind of thought Nick was going to turn out to be a gay werewolf and then that never happened. :D Philip was a cutie, but honestly, that story line was played up way too much for what happened in the end. I know cliffhangers and shock value are important for these kinds of shows, but yuck. I was just disappointed.

Now, the other shocking revelation? I’m sorry to say that reveal wasn’t that shocking. I have no idea what gave it away, but three episodes from the end, I started to have a strong suspicion that what was going to turn out to be true, would turn out to be true, and oh, boy, I was exactly right.

Back to Philip though. What a waste. There were so many other chances for something to have happened to make an impact and yet… there you go. Throw it in at the end to fulfill the gore quotient. I mean, she’d already made her choice! How did that accomplish anything? Here’s hoping they do a Bobby Ewing or something and have those last thirty seconds be nothing but a bad dream. Doubt I’ll get my wish, but I’m making it anyway. :)

As for Revenge, well, Emily has become quite unsympathetic to me and I often find myself rooting for Victoria as often as Emily these days. If not for Nolan and Aiden, I might be tempted to jump ship (lol) but I do like some of the characters on that show and they keep me watching even though the underlying premise is starting to wear. I want to see someone important go down! Soon! And I just googled spoilers for the rest of the season I’m watching and it looks like I might not be disappointed. Then again, I’ve now lost all interest in watching the remaining episodes, so there ya go.

I love spoilers but they do sometimes make me less interested in a show, especially if the only thing keeping me watching is my desire to know what happens next. These are the probably won’t watch these episodes a second time shows. When there’s more going for a show for me than the simple desire to just know what happens, those are the shows that I rewatch. Sometimes so many times I even lose track. The sad news is that these shows are much rarer these days. I don’t know if it’s a change in me, or a change in the shows. But I’ve seen the episodes of SGA, SG-1, Voyager, ST:TNG, Grimm, and a few others many more than once. What is it about those shows that makes them rewatchable? I have no idea. Wish I did, because then I’d write all my books that way. :D

Gah. I clearly watched entirely too much television today.

But back to the real business here and that’d be my writing. I need some good ideas to get this story moving again. Boo hoo. Why can’t I think of anything fun to throw in? This deadline is going to kill me if I don’t get moving again.

Ah well. It’s 11:51 12:28 am (where’d the time go?!) and I’ve got to come up with something or I’m decidedly not going to make my quota the next few days. That would be really, really bad news for me. :o

Book Published; Writing Next Book; Dining Room Chair

Lynn

I got my book published last week. I’ve been trying to get started again on my next book, which is already 55% written as long as I come in close to my word count goal on it.

I haven’t had much success so far, having only written about 930 words on this next one since I finished the other book. But I’m giving it a stronger push today. I did, however, have to push aside my nice cushy chair and put the spindle-back dining room chair at my desk again. It makes me sad to know that if I get too comfortable, I can’t write, but it appears to be a demonstrable fact these days. Cushy chair is good for lots of stuff, but not serious writing.

I also am revisiting my thoughts on the 5 minute sessions. I definitely think it works for me, and even though I had trouble with the last book, as I’ve re-read parts of this one (huge amounts of it written with those 5 minute sessions, and alongside other stories while I wrote on as many as 4 books in one day some days), I’m finding that it doesn’t have any of the same issues I experienced with the other book. So, I don’t think either of those methods is to blame for my feelings on the last book, or even my troubles with tying up my loose ends and my ending. And since both methods work so well for me, I’m not abandoning either strategy. (Also, this book has actually gotten me my highest average rating on one of my books on Goodreads to date, so what do those feelings actually mean?)

For the foreseeable future, I’ll be using 5 minute sessions, and I’ll work on more than one story a day if I start to slow down too much on any one story.

And now, I need to get back to writing. I’m going to do several hours of 5 minute sessions so I can up that word count. I have a deadline to meet for this new book. :D

I’m also still pushing for the elusive 200 words in 5 minutes goal. I’ve done it exactly 1 time out of 623 attempts. I know, because I’ve got a spreadsheet. ;)