Write-Your-A$$-off Day, Chicago-style, success!

Yesterday, I met up with my writing pal over at a local coffee/lunch spot with one goal in mind: sit down and work on my WIP, Through Charlotte's Eyes. Dear friends, if you're having trouble making progress in your WIP, I highly recommend finding a spot to spend most of your day to write. All in all, the 5-hour write-a-thon was a smashing success!

I finished rewriting Chapter 17 completely; added an entirely new (and lengthy) section, Chapter 18--which I'd been looking forward to writing ever since getting back from Paris weeks ago; and then started in on another new chapter. Approximately 5,000 words written/added if Liquid Story Binder is to believed.

On that note, too: Liquid Story Binder = awesome. I used the typewriter feature for most of the 5-hour writing time, meaning I couldn't go back and question what I wrote. It forced me to keep writing and keep pushing forward, which is exactly what I needed yesterday to be about.

I expect to have more of these write-your-a$$-off days in the near future. Days like those remind me why I write and what I'm working toward: not just a finished, polished novel but also making writing a full-time job.

Fellow bloggers and friends, do you write in long sessions, or short bursts? How do you keep your fingers clicking against the keyboard in order to make progress on your latest work-in-progress novel?

WIP Wednesday #3

This WIP Wednesday revolves mainly around my Write-Your-A$$-Off Saturday, because it was a glorious day! Progress was made! Not that I haven’t been writing otherwise, because I have, but in spurts. And on Saturday, I told myself that laundry, that reading, that cleaning and dishes and vacuuming, and all the other things that I do to procrastinate could wait. I walked the four blocks to Panera, found a working outlet and a corner, opened up my boyfriend’s laptop (mine is still laid up with viruses galore), and dove right in. I took a short half-hour break but otherwise I got four and a half hours of solid writing in!! I need to do this more often.

I’ll be honest here. For the most part, I write every day, but not always on my novel, and, as of late, I’ve felt like my novel progress has slowed to a crawl. Rewriting huge chunks of the novel and changing the point-of-view from 3rd to 1st has re-energized me, but I still felt like I needed to make more progress. (Unfortunately, thinking and working things through in my head, just doesn’t count). And so Write-Your-A$$-Off Day rolled around, and I thought this was the perfect time to get moving and make some real, substantial progress. And that I did!

Even though I’ve been telling myself that I need to focus on the middle and the ending of the novel, the beginning taunted me. So I spent my Saturday reworking and rewriting Chapters 1 through 3. Chapter 1 especially, because the opening scene just didn’t feel like enough of a hook, and I felt like I was giving too much away in the rest of the chapter. After over an hour of reworking Chapter 1, I ended up cutting 700 words (or nearly half of the first chapter) and the entire opening scene changed. Progress!

First person is also working out splendidly. Anne’s personality is beginning to really shine through, and I’m realizing how much more I like her now that I hear/see her more in the writing. Her motivations are also coming across more than ever before.

Also, just because I focused on the novel’s beginning on Write-Your-A$$-Off-Day doesn’t mean I’ve been ignoring the rest of my novel. I’ve been reworking Chapter 6 and 7, when Anne time-travels and spends her first extended period of time in the French Revolution and inside the head of Charlotte. I’m encountering new questions: how does Anne’s thoughts impact Charlotte? Is it really Anne’s actions? Does she feel like she’s rewriting history? All these questions – and more – are creating some interesting developments that will affect the rest of the novel. And this, if I do say so myself, is pretty exciting.

So back to it!

Life is going to be pretty busy in the next few days; for one, I’ll be up north in Michigan over Memorial Day weekend (meaning, I’ll be without email/Internet). Then again, Michigan is where I always feel the most inspired, so even while I’ll be on vacay with some friends, expect another progress report next Wednesday! Oh wait - I’m volunteer teaching next Wednesday, right after work… so, hmm, maybe next week will call for a WIP Thursday? We shall see!

If you want to join in on WIP Wednesday, check out Kate's blog here.

I'm Still Around...

... just not blogging as much, for a few reasons:

1. The Internet in my apartment has been sucking. And now my computer has a virus so I'm loathe to go on the Internet for more than a second (if at all).
2. I've been blog lazy... but I don't discriminate. I haven't been keeping up-to-date on my blog reading either.
3. But I have been writing. The more I write on the novel, the less I tend to blog. And this Saturday, I'm participating in Write Your A$$ Off Day! Although, I might have to partake in long hand, due to reason #1.

So there. I'm still around, but just not around as often as I was before.

And, oh yeah... this is blog post #100! Go me!