Making Progress

I scrapped my first draft of my novel earlier this month.  I had over 56,000 words written.  I know, I know, it was a crazy decision, and I've battled with it this entire month.

However, I am happy to report that I am currently well over 26,000 words.  That's right.  26,000 words in one month.  I know, it isn't much.  It certainly isn't anything I would have done back in November for NaNoWriMo (where we have 30 days to write 50,000 words).  But I am proud of these 26,000 words.  They were hard to write.  I had to fight for most of them.  But it will definitely be worth it.

Benefits to scrapping the original piece?  Well, for one thing, there are less characters in this second version.  Before, there were too many minor characters floating around, trying to tell their own story through my main character's point of view.  Not only did it get way too confusing, it was incredibly difficult to give everyone a voice.  Now, however, things are much nicer.  I'm also liking this plot a bit better.  For all intents and purposes it is the same plot, only with some minor changes.  For example, in the original novel, my main character was married.  That bothered me almost from the start.  Now, in this second version, the character is merely engaged. That opened up a whole new world of choices for my characters to make, and so far I have been happy with every choice they've made.

So, here's to hitting my 56,000 words shortly.  After all, my husband has convinced me to actually publish something, and I'm honestly kind of excited about that.

Struggling

Ok, this is getting a little ridiculous.

I've been sitting in front of my computer screen for over an hour, and have manage to barely write 1000 words.  It is definitely a slow night here.

Maybe it's the snow.  It's snowing outside, you know.  I have a hard time focusing when the weather is bad.  I'd much rather be curled up with a good book or good movie.  Sadly, I am determined not to do either until I get at least my 50,000 words back.  I'm currently around 11,500.  Not. Even. Close.

I'm starting to have those "WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?!?!" moments.

And then I remember how truly, utterly awful that first version was, and I have an "Oh, yeah, that's right," moment.

And then I go and do something stupid, like create another character that plays a major role later on (we'll see.....still figuring that whole tangent out.)  I'm sure that's contributing to my whole total of 1000 words tonight.

Well, I guess I'll quit delaying the struggle and get back to my remaining 2000 words.  I set a goal to write 3000 words tonight.  hahahaha yeah...right.  we'll see.

Paying Off

My decision to scrap all 50,000+ words from my first draft of my latest project has actually paid off.  Yes, that's right!

The original project feeling a little fragmented, and it got kind of weird 1/3 of the way in.  I tried to re-work it.  Trust me.  But there was just no really feasible way to un-weird the whole thing.  That's when I decided to rewrite it all.

It's been tough, let me tell you, but I am sticking with more-or-less the same plot line.  I'm using a lot of the same characters, but paring down the list a little bit.

I'm really excited about the new direction this piece is taking (I know I've said that before, but please note that it's 3 AM and I'm incredibly tired at the moment.)

So, the question now is:  Where do I take it from here?  Do I make it a 3-parter like the first draft was supposed to be?  Or do I just write the story, with the option for books 2 & 3 at some point in the future?

Please vote in the comments below (yes, you!  All 2 of you who read this blog! haha)

I made a crazy decision

So, after two months of battling with about 1/3 of my novel written, I decided to scrap it.

Yes, you read that right.  I scrapped it.

Well, not completely.  I'm using it as a loose reference for the re-write I'm working on.

It got weird.  I couldn't successfully write the weird out, no matter how hard I tried (and believe me, I've been trying for 2 months), so the only other viable option I could see was to re-write it.

I'm actually happy with my re-write so far.  Yeah, I only have 3,601 words written.  Nothing like the 56,484 words I had before, but I am definitely happier with this.

It's not as fragmented, I think.  It definitely is going to make a lot more sense, too, and I'm changing the plot up slightly so that it's a little more believable.

So, wish me luck as I attempt to catch up to where I was!

FOCUS!

Guys, I'm in serious need of some focus here.

I can't seem to work on one project at a time.

I'm not sure if I've told anyone, but at any given time I have bits and pieces of characters, plot lines, dialogue, etc. for over 12 different projects floating through my brain.  It's getting kind of crowded up there.

I try to focus on one project at a time, but I'm seriously lacking focus.

Example:  I have a 3 part series I'm working on.  I wrote 3/4 of the first part for NaNoWriMo.  I thought it was done, but upon revisiting it in December, decided that it needed a little more.  Before I had decided it needed more, though, I had started on part 2 (which is now in the second rewrite stage).  I have bits and pieces of the plot for part 3 floating in my brain.  I want to finish parts 1 and 2 so badly, but I can't seem to focus long enough to get anything done . . .

 . . . because . . .

 . . . I have the first third of my very own (and very first, I might add) sci-fi/thriller completely written.  And I'm happy with it.  Well, with all but the first two pages, which I am currently trying to fix.

And on top of that, I have an entire series based on a family and their "experiences" in the works.  I've been working on it since 2006.  Pathetic, but I haven't gotten much written.  I'm on the third rewrite of the first book, while simultaneously writing book 2 and the second rewrite of book 3.  All 3 interlink a lot, so it's rather important to me that things are all correct.  I'm a little OCD that way.

So, now that it's a new year, I'm making a goal.  I'm going to finish something.  I don't care which project gets finished.  I just want one of them out of my head!!  Honestly, it's a miracle that with all these characters and personalities floating in and out up there that I'm not having issues with multiple personalities! haha

So, my word for the year?  FOCUS

Yep, that's right.  FOCUS

FOCUS


FOCUS

(maybe if I type it enough I'll be able to?)

Taking a Step Back

I've been making really great progress on Project 1 & 2 (that's what I call them at least).  My biggest issue right now is that with Project 1, I keep second guessing myself.  I wonder if I should have put more (or less) detail in certain places?  If there needs to be a chapter added here or there?  What about these minor characters - what drives them to act the way they do? Do I need to explain that in as great of detail as the major characters?  You know, things like that.  It's really impeding the progress I was making on Project 2.  Well, that and the fact that I scrapped almost 9800 words to start over, and am only at about 2000 right now.  :(

So what am I going to do?  I still feel the urge to write.  I need to write.  It helps relieve some of my stress, especially this time of year with the holidays coming up next week.

My solution?  I'm going to revisit an old friend.  It doesn't have an official title yet (although one is in the works, don't worry!), but I just call it "13".  I have 103 typed pages (single spaced. I can't stand to read double spaced when I'm working on a project, but it is handy when I've printed it and am proofing a hard copy), and just under 44000 words.  It took me several weeks to get it to that point, and I'm really proud of what I have written, but I got lost about 43,000 words, and found myself kind of wandering around with my plot. I set it aside and worked on other projects.  Now that I've had a few months away from it, I'm ready to dive in.

Of course, I'm slightly terrified that I'll start reading what I've written and decide that half of it is crap and it needs to be scrapped.  But, now that I think about it, I've learned a lot about my characters in the months off (even though I'm not actively working on a project, the characters are always there in the back of my mind, bugging me), and I'm not too worried about rewriting sections of the story.

So, wish me luck!

New Directions

After writing just over 9700 words on Project 2, I have decided to scrap most of it and start over, taking the whole project in a totally different direction.

It's both a good and a bad thing.  Good in that I think this project will now go the direction I ultimately want it to go. Bad in that I have just lost 9700 words and 2 days worth of work.

I am really hoping that this all turns out in my favor.  So far, it seems to be.  I just hope that it will continue on that way.