Tag Archives: Writing fiction

I write fiction—it’s how I earn my living—and I like to ramble. Just so you know. Nearly everything I do these days relates in some way to writing and publishing, so most of my posts are here.

The new plan for 2,400 words a day

I don’t think I went into this in my last post, but I have recently made a small change to my 2,000 words a day plan. I’m aiming for 2,400 words a day instead. Not because I want to actually average 2,400 words a day, because that has not changed. A 2,000 words a dayContinue reading “The new plan for 2,400 words a day”

Pushing for a finish today; must write faster!

I haven’t finished my current book in progress despite having been trying to finish it for a couple of weeks now. Today I’m pushing for a finish, although I know it’s going to be tricky. I don’t have a clue where the story is going to come together, only a vague notion that something is goingContinue reading “Pushing for a finish today; must write faster!”

Not going to give up without a fight

I’m trying to come up with my goal for today. I think I’m done with the catch-up attempt for hours because I’m further behind now than I was when I started yesterday. On the other hand, this morning, I’ve already written for 13 minutes and put down 87 words of stuff. It’s a start. I’mContinue reading “Not going to give up without a fight”

It’s catch-up day redux! Goal: 6.7 hours of writing

Since I didn’t succeed yesterday in catching up, I’ve decided to give it one more go. Today I will try to accumulate 6.7 hours of writing. That’ll give me today’s three hours, plus catch me up with Saturday’s and Sunday’s three hours each. Whew. I’m only doing this because I need some way to decideContinue reading “It’s catch-up day redux! Goal: 6.7 hours of writing”

It’s catch-up day! Goal: 7.484 hours of writing

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m trying to write for three hours today, catch up yesterday’s three hours, and finish Saturday’s three hours. That means I’m trying to accumulate 7.484 hours of timed writing today. Progress— 1:18 pm: finished a session of 61 minutes, wrote 135 words. 3:13 pm: ended a short sessionContinue reading “It’s catch-up day! Goal: 7.484 hours of writing”

Self-discipline is a skill: skills take practice and practice takes time

I did not reach any of my goals yesterday. (1557 words, 3 hours writing, finish editing chapters 15 and 16.) I wrote for 2.633 hours and added 122 words to chapter 15. I didn’t take drastic measures with those chapters as I said I would because things were actually going well with the story. IContinue reading “Self-discipline is a skill: skills take practice and practice takes time”

Progress and a brilliant idea I should have had sooner

I did run out of time yesterday and didn’t make it through all the chapters of my book. Well, sort of. I stopped the editing at chapter 12, but then I sent the file to my tablet and read through the rest of it and realized most of it’s solid. Just a few bits IContinue reading “Progress and a brilliant idea I should have had sooner”

Read another book and learned something about writing

I didn’t write anything yesterday, after a really late start to the day, reading half a book, then going off to do stuff that has to be done when you’re running a household. But reading that book yesterday and today—which I really enjoyed, by the way—taught me something I know but seem unable to learn.Continue reading “Read another book and learned something about writing”

Practicing longer session lengths today

Writing longer is a problem I need to tackle. So today I am writing in one hour blocks. Practice is the key to improvement, right? So practice I will! Also, I might reach a higher wph with a shorter session but I have a real problem doing a great many sessions. At least with theContinue reading “Practicing longer session lengths today”

Today’s goal: 3 hours and 1,557 words

So today I’m going back to talking about goals. Mostly because I’m tired of trying to find ways to phrase things so that I don’t use the word goal. It’s just a word, and giving it too much power probably isn’t helping me. I honestly don’t care if I reach it every day. It’s justContinue reading “Today’s goal: 3 hours and 1,557 words”

Revisiting yesterday’s plan—but not

I’m going to keep an open mind with today’s writing, because it’s possible I might want to try again for a record setting day, despite the fact that I have the AC guy coming to repair my unit. (Which is now working again, but which I just know will quit the moment I cancel him,Continue reading “Revisiting yesterday’s plan—but not”

Had a plan; how about this summary instead?

On Tuesday the 11th, I decided to set a daily minimum word count and start writing 1,557 words every day. I began following that rule on the 12th. Overall, this is one experiment that seems to be working out well. Here are my word counts for the last 7 days, beginning with July 12. 1,667Continue reading “Had a plan; how about this summary instead?”