Write every day

"Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers."

Ray Bradbury

I have been a writer most of my life. Three years ago I decided to take on a challenge called Write Chain. The premise of which is to develop a daily writing habit. The participants were meant to think of each day as a chain in their writing journey. I wrote about my journey in December of 2013 when I had reached 100 days of straight writing. I am amazed, excited and humbled that I have been writing every single day for three years now. 

I will continue with my daily writing. It has become essential to me. I need to write every day almost as much as I need to breathe. I am so thankful that I found that challenge and decided to take it on. My writing has improved in ways I didn't even know it could improve. I've had a couple of short stories published and interest in my novels. I am currently finishing up a novel that I pitched the idea about to one of the well-known publishers. They liked my idea and said write the book so that is what I have been doing. I will finish writing it within the next two weeks. Then I will spend the rest of September and all of October revising said novel. I will submit it by the end of October and cross my fingers hoping for the best.

As of today, I am beginning year four of my daily writing. I'm excited to see where this year takes me on my writing journey.

Peaceful

I thought I might be stressed out trying to do both National Novel Writing Month and National Blog Posting Month at the same time. I admit that I have had my moments of stress but overall, not so much. What I am finding is that I am feeling very peaceful and accomplished about both undertakings. I haven’t missed a single day of writing (THANK YOU WriteChain!) or blogging. And, in fact, if the evening goes well I will make the fifty-thousand words for NaNoWriMo at the Write-In I am going to attend tonight. So, not only am I feeling peaceful, I am also excited! This is the fastest I have ever reached the 50k mark. I think I mentioned in a post last week that I am aiming for one-hundred thousand words this November. I reached that goal last November but was on a challenge and therefore not planned out at all. For something this enormous, I work better with a plan. By plan, I mean having a goal each day as to word count. I’ve set it up so that I would hit the 50k today, then write three-thousand, five hundred words per day for the next ten days and one-thousand, seven hundred for the last ten days of November. That will put me right at (possibly a tiny bit over) the 100k mark. I set it up this way so that by the time my kids are out of school for their Thanksgiving vacation – I will be back to an almost normal writing schedule. When they are home I like to spend as much time with them as possible. So yes, I am feeling happy and peaceful. I hope and pray this continues.

I have even been crocheting and reading still! I started a new blanket project which I will tell you about in a blog post later in the week.

How are you doing with your November goals?

Editing

Editing. For some reason this is an emotional and frustrating topic for me. I know editing is a must for me as a writer. It’s a must because I am not perfect and I make mistakes in my writing. I also have to edit because when I’m writing and don’t want to stop to research something, I will make a note to myself within the body of the story to deal with whatever it is during editing.

I’m terrible about editing, though. I will put it off and put it off. The thing is though; I’m upset with myself for letting some stories go without editing for so long. I started editing my NaNoWriMo 2013 manuscript last month. Does that tell you something about me and editing? I put it off for over nine months. Then I finally, FINALLY started editing it with the intention of finishing it during September. Did I finish editing the manuscript? Of course not! Why? WHY? I ask myself in complete frustration. Editing is a part of the process toward becoming published. I know this but I am LAZY about editing. I need to get over it and just DO IT!

I have decided to make editing a part of my daily Write Chain. In addition to my daily writing I must also edit for at least thirty minutes. I am making this commitment to myself and to my writing process. I have to implement the structure or I am going to continue to be lazy about editing. I’ll keep putting it off and that’s no longer acceptable to me. This should have help me finish editing last years NaNo manuscript before I write this year’s.

250,418

I know making the blog post is a little different but that number, 250,418, is the number of words I have written during the first half of 2014! I began this year with the goal of continuing to write every single day. My daily writing goal is one thousand words per day. I knew going along that I was over my goal on a lot of days. I am a little speechless at the number but the amount is still not my overall goal. My goal continues to be daily writing. My goal also continues to be improving myself as a fiction writer. I know that I am accomplishing the daily writing. As a matter of fact, I am up to link number 292 in my WriteChain. I also feel that I have become a better and stronger writer through my daily practice.

What's in store for the second half of this year? Of course, I will continue to write everyday. It is simply a part of who I am now. I am also going to focus on revising the most of the books I've written since beginning the WriteChain Challenge in September of 2013. I am also going to start sending out query letters again. I feel an entirely new level of confidence about my writing. I already feel successful and want to take that to a new level, as well.

Changing My Writing Habits

I always have writing on my mind. Of course when I'm writing my mind is in the story I'm telling. However, even when I'm not plugging away on my current WIP I'm thinking about writing and the process itself. In September of 2013 I decided to make a giant change to my process by taking on The Write Chain Challenge. I've mentioned it a couple of times on this blog but quite simply, it's a goal you set with yourself (whether that be a certain number of words you want to write, pages to edit or even blogging) and achieve it each day. Each day you reach your goal, you obtain a link in your virtual write chain. If you'd like to learn more about (or even join in) this fabulous challenge, you can find more information at Think Ink: Psychology for Writers or click on my Write Chain Challenge button on the right of this page. To say that this inspirational and amazing challenge has changed my writing habits in every positive way sounds dramatic and yet it's completely true. As of today I've written for 131 consecutive days. I'm forty thousand (40k!) words into my current WIP, have two others complete and a further two in process but currently on hold.

Speaking of There's Only Now (the name of my current WIP), I'm approaching the writing of this story in a whole new-for-me way. I'm writing it in sequential order. I know, that's not in the least bit shocking for a lot of people. However, for me, it is a surprise. I always start my stories at what I believe (going into the first draft) to be the beginning. Then, at some point in the story, I start going off track. If I have an idea I write it and worry about where to fit it in to the story later. This method has about a fifty percent success rate. So, at the onset of this story I decided that I would write it in sequential order, no matter what. I have to say that it has been rather liberating. When I have gotten ideas that don't fit at the moment I've made a few notes in my writing journal but then carried on from my current place. So far, not one single jotted down idea for a scene has actually come into fruition in my sequential method. It's interesting and has me wondering if the ideas will come in at some point during the first draft, a later draft or not at all. Time will tell, as they (and apparently I) say.

The next thing on my agenda to change (and hopefully improve) is the way I edit and move forward with second and third drafts. The process of editing is a post for another day, though. For now, do share with me things that you've changed for the better within your own writing. And if you're looking for a creative boost and camaraderie in the writing world - consider joining The Write Chain Challenge.