NaNoWriMo: My Day 14

 

Yes, I finished yesterday but it seems wrong to not post on the last night of NaNo. I know a lot of my fellow crazies are typing away, hoping to hit 50,000 before midnight and I hope they read this tomorrow, on December 1st and are able to breathe easy because of it.

I still wrote today. It was for five minutes before I make my lunch for tomorrow, but I did it. I finished the scene I had to stop when my computer died and it felt great. I can do this, five minutes at a time, every day. I want to, so I can. This is something I love. NaNo is about establishing a habit, but the other nine months are for keeping it.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

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NaNoWriMo: My Day 13

I AM DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Done done done! I went to a Write-In today, unfortunately my first one this month, but it pushed me over the edge. I needed to do one hour and fifteen minutes of work and I managed just that before my battery (again) died. I think there’s something with a Windows 10 download that’s eating into my battery life. I’m not a fan.

I got to page 63 (from the second draft, a total of 119 pages). Yes, I’ll concede that this is only 13 pages further than I was three days ago BUT I’ve added one big scene and I’m in the middle of adding another! I love actually writing as opposed to editing and word-smithing a bit.

I’m at 52891 words (from 52962 in D2) which shows you all my progress! I’m almost back to where the original manuscript was and I’ve got a lot of things to add and parts to change based on what I’m adding. It’s a whole bunch of editing that I’m super excited about!

Really, this is my ‘winning’ post. I averaged at least 30 minutes every day. I hope to keep working on it for a while longer, powering through to the end with this round of edits. I’ve enjoyed it a lot. I’ve got another writers’ retreat coming up that will give me some time but for now, I want to catch up on my blog posts: you all are my most loyal fans right now.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

NaNoWriMo: My Days 11 and 12

I’m home from Texas! No more kids running around and no more distractions. I tried to write on the plane home but silly me forgot to charge my battery while I was at my sister-in-law’s so I only got 45 minutes in and I can’t tell you my word count. I can say I found a while scene I skipped writing and I’m having fun taking a stab at it!

More updates tomorrow as I attempt to go to my first write in and maybe finish!!!! Keeping fingers crossed. 

Until next time, write on. 

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

NaNoWriMo: My Day 10

My apologies that this is a day late and happy belated Thanksgiving! I got an hour of writing in yesterday! I’m up to page 50 of draft 2 and I’ve hit 51,034 words! I’m climbing back up. I realized one of my characters did something completely unlike him so I had to add a lot on. Yay! I won’t get anything done today but I’ll be back at it tomorrow.

Until next time, write on. 

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

NaNoWriMo: My Day 9

As expected, no progress today. I had dinner with my grandma, parents, brother and husband and that took all night. We have a 7AM flight so I’ve got to get to bed soon! More writing to come tomorrow.

Until next time, write on. 

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

WWW Wednesday, 25-November-2015

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

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Currently reading:  I hit 80% in Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I find the parts with Luisa more interesting so I’m glad to be back to that.
Nothing with I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai.
I’m still working through Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I’m about 25% of the way in so doing well enough. I hope to finish it this month, but that might not happen.
Nothing with Animal Farm by George Orwell. Another book on standby.
I’m really enjoying All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It’s a great story and the audio on this one is incredible.

Recently finished: None this week! Too much NaNo time, not enough reading time!

Reading Next: No change here, either. Next is Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven which is tempting me on the side of my bed, waiting for me.
The other is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Again, sitting there and trying to push me through S&S every day.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

NaNoWriMo: My Day 8

Back on the horse. I got a whole hour in today so that makes up for missing yesterday. In addition to sticking with my goal, I’m trying to see how I can fit writing into my daily life to try and form a better habit of it. Two birds, one stone.

I got to page 43 (from the second draft, a total of 119 pages) so I’m 10 pages farther than before! There was also a lot of future planning and moving of scenes today so it feels like a ton more than that. I’ll hit a point soon where I’m adding big plot points and scenes so I guess my progress will ‘slow down’ by this metric, but the word count will hopefully show my progress.

I’m at 50586 words (from 52962 in D2), adding a whopping 39 to my total! Considering how much I had to cut and re-write to move one scene, I’m pretty happy with that. I’ve been cutting out a lot of my ‘showing’ as well. Hoping to make the big jump to where D2 was and surpass it before the end of the month!

It’s likely I won’t get much done tomorrow on Thanksgiving-Eve. My grandmother and brother are in town so we’re going to dinner and I then have to pack for my big Texas trip. That gives me a plane ride to write, though! I’m looking forward to it; the hubby knows not to talk to me while we’re in the air so I can get a bunch done and have time for the nieces and nephew while we’re there.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

NaNoWriMo: My Day 7

No writing today. Oh well! I plan on catching up tomorrow. And the reason I didn’t write today?

Tomas Tatar and Mike Green

Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek’s lockers

 

 

You’d think I live at the arena this month, but I promise this is atypical. It was a season ticket holders event and I was able to get six tickets from my dad. Thanks, Dad! We had a good time, but that equated to no writing. There’s always tomorrow.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

NaNoWriMo: My Day 6

Two days in a row! Look at me fly. I got at least a half hour in today, but it was so disjointed that I’ll only count 30 minutes. I’m heading over to a friend’s house for a Friendsgiving event and I’ve got a turkey in the oven so I’m a bit preoccupied.

I got to page 33 (from the second draft, a total of 119 pages) which, yes is another 9 pages. I’ll be honest and say I had to cut two scenes together because of the big change I made yesterday so I did a lot more cutting than writing. I think I’ve got it to work now. The scene I took out was one of two from a third character’s POV and I’m glad to lose it. I’m at 50547 words (from 52962), almost 2,000 fewer than yesterday. I wasn’t kidding about cutting a lot! As I said yesterday, there are a few scenes I still plan to add so it shouldn’t make the overall novel shorter, but it feels like I’m going backward.

 

Still so much to go! I’m loving the chance to revisit this story with so much more wiring under my belt. I think I can make good things from it with time and work. Let’s do this, week 2!

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

NaNoWriMo: My Day 5

Another day of success! Another day of writing, this time 45 minutes! I was able to re-write a very critical scene, my inciting incident. I decided to change the setting to something I think is a little more believable. It involved a lot of changes, but I think the changes in the rest of the book will be minimal compared with this scene. There’s one part at the end I’m not sure what to do with, but that’s for later, am I right?

I got to page 24 (from the second draft, a total of 119 pages) which means I got through a whole 6 pages! I’m up to 52186 words (from 52962). This is actually 2 words less than yesterday, but there was a lot of ‘telling’ being taken out as I did the edit. I plan to add in a few scenes later that will push that word count back up and well beyond D2 levels. I can’t wait to add them.

 

It’s hard to kill what I have. But to make a better novel, I have to do it. That’s why I save my drafts. If I decide to move the location back to where I had it, I still have the story written with that location. It could make life a lot easier in the future. For now, It makes me feel good to know it’s still there, somewhere.

That’s my first week completed! I got 2 hours and 45 minutes in, covering 24 pages in 5 days. It’s not breakneck speed, but it’s great progress. I’m excited for week 2!

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!