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?

What I'm Up To

Writing on this blog seems to be inversely proportional to writing my novel as of late. I'm working on balancing this out some - as a goal mind you, not as a New Year's Resolution that I'm not good at keeping. I've got a lot on my plate lately, though, it seems. Between working more hours at my day job; working on my novel, hot dog articles, and other food pieces, as well as trying to keep some semblance of a social life, it's a difficult juggling act.

That said, I'm making some great progress on my novel. I'm still about 1/4 through the rewrite (which is what I told my twitter followers a couple weeks ago), but that's only because a week ago, I realized that some of my timeline didn't land right. I moved an important scene earlier, and that changed the build-up to it. Earlier this week, I finished those tweaks and I now feel that I can continuing pushing ahead and making more gains.

I'm not on track as I'd like to be to meet my 'finish draft 3.5 before I leave for Paris' deadline, but I still think I can meet my next goal of having a complete - almost final! - draft by April 21, 2010.

And let me tell you, I'm so glad I have this deadline. My writing partner and me set this deadline just before Christmas, and we're both trying really hard to meet it. But there's been other developments there, too. Our writing partnership has turned into a club! That's right, another writer has joined us. She's a newbie to the writing world, but she is incredibly inspiring. An idea struck her a couple weeks ago and she's been powering through the first draft of her novel. After a week of outlining, and then about two weeks worth of writing, she's officially about 17,000 words in already. See? Told ya so. Inspiring.

So, my Wednesday night Writing Club (which actually met Tuesday instead of Wednesday for this week only) is now officially a 'club' with three people. It's small, great group, and I know I wouldn't be as far along as I am now without them. And now I'm getting all cheesy, so I'll wrap things up.

I'm finishing up some revisions on Chapter 8 tonight, then it's back to Chapter 12 and continuing on to the rest of the novel this weekend.

What about you? What are your writing goals? Have you set any self-imposed deadlines?

The words I use most

I used wordle.net to find out which words I use the most in my WIP, Through Charlotte's Eyes. (I got this idea from Nathan Bransford's blog.) The bigger the word, the more often I use it.






For the most part, I'm not surprised. Names come up the most often, as does Paris. What surprised me about the names, though, was that "Grand-mere" came up more often than the two main characters, Anne and Charlotte. Then again, the WIP is now in first person, which makes the usage of their names a lot less frequent.

What I like about this word cloud is that important themes, items, symbols, etc. come up quite a bit, too: family, diary, wanted, past, time... I hope this means I'm doing something right, at least in the words I'm choosing.

Speaking of word choice, I'm definitely using "like" too often, according to this wordle. Note for revisions!

Which words do you get when you do 'wordle' your own wip? (I also did a wordle for my blog and nearly every word dealt with HIMYM. Ha!) Does this wordle make you want to know more about my WIP? Or is it just a bunch of random words that mean nothing to you? =)

WIP Wednesday #1

Before I dive into writing about my WIP, let me give credit where credit is due. I'm starting this new category of blog posts, called Work-in-Progress Wednesdays, after seeing it on Jamie's blog, and Jamie got the idea from Kate. Thanks Jamie and Kate!

My WIP status: Rewriting/revising to create my third draft. The novel is currently at 64,000 words, but I still have some major things to move around, add, remove, etc. All that fun stuff.

But, my BIGGEST WIP-related question right now is: should Through Charlotte's Eyes be in first person or third? Currently, it's in third but as I rewrite sections that voice in my head, Bob, keeps nagging me: But imagine how much more awesome that would be in FIRST person! For the life of me, I'm having the hardest time deciding...

That's where you, my lovely readers, come in! Below are two slivers of the first chapter (which might even become the opening scene). Thoughts? Reactions? Do you like one POV over the other? Or are you indifferent? Share your thoughts, please!

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3rd person:

Across the café, the man moved the newspaper from the tabletop to his lap.

Feeling the man staring at her, still, Anne sent the email to Lisa as she gulped down her coffee, despite how warm it still was. This guy had to get it through his thick skull that it was not okay to follow her.

As Anne approached him—he looked away and finally unfolded his newspaper—she realized she’d first seen him yesterday, at a bakery around the corner. Anne’s body trembled.

But the café was full of curious Parisians. She would be okay. She just had to tell him to leave her alone and that’d be that.

“Qu'est-ce que c'est ce bordel? What the hell?” Anne demanded. “Just because I’m an American doesn’t mean you can stalk me.”

The man awkwardly smiled. “I am so sorry, mademoiselle,” he laughed, causing Anne’s heart to race. His accent was slightly off—but not American. “It is just, you are so striking, and now that I finally see you up close, I am sure.”

“No,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Don’t bother with the lines. I’m not interested. Got it?” She buttoned the top button of her pea coat as she turned to go.

“You misunderstand,” he called after her.

Despite the man's subdued demeanor, Anne walked away. Wind blew her hair into her eyes and mouth. She wiped at them both. She stopped an intersection, looking left, then right. He didn’t seem crazy—just odd, especially with his comment. What kind of strange pick-up line was that supposed to be? She slowly felt calmer, feeling like she’d done the right thing confronting him. He wasn’t anyone to be scared of.

“Anne Marie?” The man caught up to her.

Anne spun around. Her heart was suddenly pounding full throttle again, nervousness, like blood, surging through her veins. He knew her name. He was really stalking her. There could be no other explanation.


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1st person:

Across the café, he nervously moved the newspaper from the tabletop to his lap.

I clicked send on the email to Lisa and gulped down my coffee, ignoring how warm it still was. I had to get it through this dude's thick skull that it was not okay to keep staring at me, or to follow me from one cafe to the next.

As I sauntered over, clutching my tote bag to my side, he looked away and finally unfolded his newspaper, and I almost stopped. I'd seen him before, the day before at the bakery where I bought a croissant. I trembled - but forced myself to keep walking.

The café was full of curious Parisians, staring at me, this naive, American girl, approaching some man I didn't know. Hadn't I learned this was exactly what not to do, when I grew up in Chicago? I took a deep breath. This was different. This was Paris, and I could handle my own. I would just tell him to leave me alone and that’d be that. Simple.

“Qu'est-ce que c'est ce bordel? What the hell?” I demanded. “Just because I’m an American doesn’t mean you can stalk me.”

The man awkwardly smiled. “I am so sorry, mademoiselle,” he laughed, causing my heart to jump and miss a beat. His accent was slightly off—but not American. “It is just, you are so striking, and now that I finally see you up close, I am sure.”

“No,” I groaned.“Don’t bother with the lines. I’m not interested. Got it?” I buttoned the top button of my pea coat and turned to go, thinking that was it, thinking that was all he needed to hear.

But then his low voice called out to me, beseeching, “You misunderstand.”

I continued walking away anyways, refusing to honor his stalkerish ways with one more word. The wind blew my hair into my eyes and mouth. I wiped at them both. I paused at an intersection, looking left, then right. He didn’t seem crazy—just odd, especially with his comment; what kind of strange line was that supposed to be? Definitely unlike anything I'd heard before. I slowly felt calmer, reassured by the feeling that I'd done the right thing in confronting him. He wasn’t anyone to be scared of.

“Anne Marie?” His voice, no longer carried by the wind, came from only a few steps behind me.

I spun around. My heart suddenly pounded full throttle again; nervousness, like blood, surged through my veins.

He knew my name. He really was stalking me. What other explanation could there be?

Practice, Practice, Practice

My French was definitely affected by missing last week's class, due to that weird bout of pain I was in. Words that I used to know eluded me, and so, again, frustration with learning the language resumed.

We did A LOT of talking yesterday, mainly by breaking off into pairs and creating a "conversation" or "exchange" that we had to present to the class. The conversation had to be full of questions, talking about who we were, and where things were around Paris.

The girl I worked with, by far, understands the language a lot more than me, and she was really helpful in teaching me a few more words that she'd picked up on her own. Even though I stumbled through a good chunk of the convo (my nervousness about speaking in front of a classroom - whatever happened to my days of debate?!? - contributed to words flying away from me), the conversation went well. We even threw a joke or two in; my partner was an actress, and I said goodbye with "See you in your next film!" How I said that in French, again, escapes me, other than "A bientot!" (See you soon). Another reminder I need to practice even more.

Next week is the last class, which I can't believe, considering how quickly these past two months have flown. We'll be taking a test over everything we've learned; it'll be both a verbal and written test. Yikes! Definitely need to study more.

I also have to decide if I'm going to hand over more money for the next class. The class has been super-beneficial for me, not only in the way the material and class is structured, but also in providing me with an opportunity to converse and practice the language, which is obviously key to learning any language.

BUT, $260 - or thereabouts - is A LOT of money to me... money that I need for my trip. I'm heavily leaning towards buying the $20 "Teach Yourself French" books and then just practicing with my sister as well as with my friends who are fluent. I'll definitely need to create a regiment for myself in this case, just as I do with my writing, so that I can keep practicing, practicing, practicing, and not lose everything I've learned in the past 9 weeks of French!

On a total writerly side note, you can find the first 100 words of my WIP by clicking here.
Giveagirlapen.com is an AMAZING Website, and a great resource for any writer, male or female. Check it out!