Marathon writing day

by with No Comment Meg & MattProgressStories

Thanks to inspiration that struck on the drive down to the Boyfriend’s, I ended up writing 2,595 words today.

According to the Excel spreadsheet I’ve been keeping, that’s almost the most words I’ve written in a single day. (Only one day is higher, with 2702.)

Now I’m that much closer to finished with this manuscript. Maybe I’ll even be able to finish before the month is out.

I still have at least a couple of scenes to write before I get to the dreaded Black Moment … and then I’ll have to make them miserable for a while. (I’m really not good at that part. I hate making my characters suffer … probably why I struggle with conflict so much, but that’s another story. I’ll get to that post soon, I promise.)

In the home stretch

by with One Comment Meg & MattStories

Getting in the habit of writing is really helping.

I got another 1,000 words written today, bringing my total on Meg & Matt’s story to 44,090 — many of them written since Jan. 17.

That leaves a minimum of 11,000 words — max 16,000 — to finish this story. It’s definitely a category romance.

It means I’m in the home stretch with this one. Wonder if I’ll have the first draft finished by this time next month. If I can write even 500 words a day, it’d take about 20 days to get to 55K.

Perhaps I should make that a goal. Of course, if I final in the Golden Heart, I’ll lose a few days to chaos — at least that’s what I hear. I’d love a chance to experience it for myself!

Plugging away

by with 2 Comments Blind Date BrideMeg & MattProgressQuery LettersStories

First off, I want to thank my regular readers. Apparently there are two of you out there. My blog had two hits for each of the last two days, even though I didn’t post a thing.

Maybe I’m wrong, but it makes me think there are some people out there who actually look forward to what I have to say. I’ll try not to disappoint.

On Monday, I started taking a synopsis-writing class via RWA Online. On Wednesday, I completed my first class assignment: Writing a query letter. I wrote one for “Blind Date Bride” and am reasonably happy with it. I haven’t turned in my homework to get any other comments yet, though. Guess I need to get on the ball, since we just got assignment No. 2.

Of course, the time I spent on my query took time away from the WIP. I’ve only written a couple thousand words on Meg & Matt’s story in the last few days.

I guess it’s still 2,300 words more than I had a couple of days ago. I had some fun today, writing a scene where the ballplayer confronts his woman’s ex (the baby’s daddy). I enjoyed making the ex a real creep. Here’s the part where Matt sees him for the first time.

The guy was wearing an oversized cowboy hat and shiny red shirt. His lip was curled into a sneer. Matt hated him on sight. What the hell could Meg have seen in a guy like this?

His mother’s soft voice popped into his head, admonishing him not to judge the book by its cover.

Matt sighed. His mom was right. This ex of Meg’s could have a scintillating personality. He’d reserve judgment until he’d actually talked to the bozo.

Of course, talking to him doesn’t change Matt’s opinion. But it was a fun scene to write.

Quick update

by with No Comment Meg & MattProgressStories

Not much new to report here, but I thought I’d give you a quick update on my progress.

I wrote 401 words on Meg & Matt’s story today, bringing my total since I started tracking on Jan. 17 to 19,855. That’s nearly 20K — one-fifth of my 100K-word goal.

Still mulling a title for Meg & Matt. “Beauty and the Ballplayer” seems to be the clear favorite amongst those of you who’ve weighed in.

I’m working this weekend, and want to get in at least one decent workout for the week. But I’ll be trying to sneak in some writing, too. It shouldn’t be all that hard. I’m kind of on a roll — I know exactly where things have to go. It’s just a matter of getting down the words to get them there.

Slowly but surely

by with No Comment Meg & MattProgressStories

It’s been a slow couple of days on the writing front. I managed to squeeze out about 200 words Monday and 400 Tuesday.

Today would have been better, had I not spent most of the day in my La-Z-Boy with a migraine-like headache. My head hurt so badly that I couldn’t even eat the lunch I made. I took a few bites and decided I hurt too much to eat.

I hurt too much to even move. I sat in the chair, half dozing and half listening to “The Doctors” and then “Oprah” while I wished I had the energy to get up and grab some Tylenol … or even reach for the bottle of water I had beside the chair … or grab a blanket off the couch to help me stop shivering.

I must have slept, because the next thing I remember, I was awake — and hungry. Unfortunately, I still didn’t feel quite well enough to do more than waste time farting around online. (I find it the best way to procrastinate. Don’t we all?)

Luckily, I buckled down at around 10:30 and cranked out a page and a half or so on Meg and Matt’s story.

General consensus so far is everyone likes “Beauty and the Ballplayer” better than “The Baby and the Ballplayer.” I think I’ve finally found my title. Woo-hoo! That’s cause for celebration. 😀

On procrastination: What’s your favorite way to avoid writing?

I’d have to say mine is either playing Bejeweled or checking out my favorite blogs. Writing blog posts is another way I procrastinate. I have three … four if you count the one over at SparkPeople. This one, of course, is my writing blog, but I have two weight-loss blogs plus SparkPeople.

Making progress

by with 2 Comments Meg & MattProgressStories

Even though I had to work at the “day job” (which is really an afternoon/evening job),  this has been a productive weekend.

Today, I wrote more than 2,000 words on Meg and Matt’s story. Yesterday, I went to plot group and had fun chatting about Meg, Matt, Brad, Erin, and Kari and Damien. There were only two of us there, so we covered a lot of ground.

With Pat’s help, I even came up with a tentative title for Meg and Matt. I’m leaning toward either “Beauty and the Ballplayer” or “The Baby and the Ballplayer.”

Either one might work. Matt, of course, is the ballplayer. That’d make Meg the beauty, though she hardly considers herself one. He does, though, so that counts for something. “The Baby and the Ballplayer” lays out both characters’ initial secrets, though. (She doesn’t know he’s an athlete and he doesn’t know she’s pregnant.)

When not writing, I’ve been playing with the “chart wizard” in Excel, which has led me to some startling realizations.

  • Since I started charting words written on Jan. 17, I’ve put out 18,451 of them. That’s 35 days (I think), giving me an average of about 527 words a day. Not prolific, by any means, but it’s a start.
  • My highest-output days are about 2,000 words. Some days it’s all I can do to squeeze out 200.
  • My goal of 100K words by the end of November is about 18 1/2 percent complete. I can do it!
  • Meg & Matt’s story is now up to 29,819 words. If I’m shooting to make it a category romance, which I think I am, that means I’m a wee bit past the halfway point. That’s exciting.

I take that back about 527 words a day not being prolific. I just did the math. If I averaged 500 words a day, that’d be 182,500 in a year. That’s approximately TWO single-title books or THREE category romances of 60K apiece. Wow!

Of course, I know I can’t keep writing at that pace. There’ll be more slow days … days when I do more editing than writing … days when I end up not writing anything at all. (I can already count 13 since I started keeping track.)

Even if I end up averaging just 200 a day, that’s 73K in a year. And considering I’m going to do the NaNo again, I’ll get 50K just in November (I hope. I plan to actually finish NaNo this year!)

I’m really not much of a statistics junkie … but cool charts could just help change my mind. 😉

Better than I thought

by with 2 Comments Blind Date BrideProgressStories

I was all set to complain about how doing rewrites is much slower work — until I realized I wrote 900+ words today.

That’s right. All I had to do was launch into a new sex scene — one of those “more almost-sex, less food” scenes Kelly suggested — and bingo! Those 900 words practically wrote themselves.

I do, however, find myself wondering why I seem to do my best sex-scene writing in the Barnes & Noble cafe. You wouldn’t think the crowds and noise would be conducive, but I have no trouble shutting everything out so my characters can get busy.

Today’s racy scene, the first time Kari and Damien finally get to finish what they’d started, even Meg & Matt’s first big moment were written at the cafe.

I’m not sure what, if anything, that says about me. Perhaps I’m an exhibitionist at heart? 😉

Anyway, my second draft of “Blind Date Bride” is coming along quite nicely. As I’ve added things and taken others away, it has grown to nearly 95,000 words and 354 typed, double-spaced pages.

Just think: A few short months ago, I was struggling to hit 90K. I’m glad those days are behind me — at least for this manuscript.

Quickly checking in

by with No Comment Blind Date BrideMeg & MattStories

This is going to be a quick check-in because I’m still coming down with a cold and feel miserable. I can’t breathe normally and my throat is developing a tickle. I detest being sick!

I met Kelly at Barnes & Noble this afternoon to hand off “Blind Date Bride.”

While I was there, I decided to stay and write for a while before I headed in to work. I added about 500 more words to Meg & Matt’s still-untitled story. (Must work on that!)

Busy few days

by with No Comment Meg & MattProgressStories

Unfortunately, all my time hasn’t been spent making writing my day job.

I have, however, managed to get a few things done.

  • On Sunday, I wrote another 1,000+ words on Meg and Matt’s story, bringing my total since Jan. 17 to 7,389.
  • Monday, I spent rereading/editing “Blind Date Bride.” After getting through the whole thing, it’s now ready for me to print out a few of the pages again — the ones with a ton of changes — and pass it on to one of my NARWA sisters who offered to read it.

Well, I guess that’s it. Tuesday, I worked and ran errands all day, so nothing got done. And today I’ve been doing the same thing. Ugh.

Not as impressive as it sounded in my mind. Oh well. At least I’ve accomplished something.

A successful writing week

by with 2 Comments Blind Date BrideMeg & MattOSNBProgressStories

Last Saturday, we had our NARWA meeting and I was inspired to launch “Operation Treat Writing Like a Day Job.”

Today I capped off my operation, which admittedly isn’t as amusing as “Operation Snag Mike Brad,” with another good day. I wrote 1,421 words on Meg & Matt’s story (still untitled) in two writing sessions — one at Starbucks and one at the house.

That brings the week’s total word count to 6,209. I’m 6 percent finished with NARWA’s 100K word count challenge. Can I get a woo-hoo?

I’d have stayed at Starbucks longer, but I was falling asleep in my chair. I left because I kept thinking about how embarrassed I’d be to wake up drooling. Well, that and the fact that I couldn’t stay awake long enough to concentrate … I really like my writing time at the Bucks, and I don’t want to do anything to embarrass myself so I can’t show my face there again.

Once I got home — and helped shovel off our deck (again!) — I was awake enough to start writing again. Now, about 400 words later, I’m ready to nod off again.

So even though it’s very early for me (only 10 p.m.), I think I’m heading off to bed.  The operation continues tomorrow with the start of Week 2 … perhaps it’s time to do a little more editing on “Blind Date Bride.” And Monday, I’ll ship off a couple more query letters.