GET YOUR WORDS OUT... the game plan for 300,000 words in a year

[paragraphs]

Word Count:

I calculate that to accomplish my goal of 300,000 words by December 31, 2009, I will need to write 6,000 words a week. I will not set down 'so many words a day' because my brain doesn't work that way. Instead, I will set down 'a chapter a week.' The two years I wrote well over 400,000 each, I wrote from 8-10k a week. Random checking of several chapters of Red put each chapter in that general vicinity. I know there were weeks I skipped, and at the end, I took a month or so off before getting back to it again (because I'd written myself into a wall by making my POV character unconscious! OH NOES!!!!). It took me 9 months to write Red, which was almost 300,000 by itself. Therefore, I know that a goal of 6,000 words/a chapter a week is absolutely doable.

There will be two weeks that I will not be writing--when I am visiting Nick. I will not take my laptop. No need and I refuse to tote one around. Besides, I'll be staying in Kiel at his flat and he'll have the burnt-one back and I can use that. So for those two weeks, well, I will just have to make them up on down the road somewhere.

The Stories:

1. Wolfhunter (working title). Contemporary fantasy. Can't call it urban, frankly, because it is not set in an urban environment but in the mountains of Colorado. (Second choice for location--Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory...a friend lives there, could provide a great deal of marvelous info...the photos from her home are just absolutely stunning. But, unlike Durango area, I've never been there, and it is unlikely I will ever get there. So, maybe. Quite possibly will end up creating fictional town anyway...) I am 11,000 into the story at this point. Probably will add to the count before hitting January 1, and that is fine...will count from that point forward. Goal: 120,000 words

2. Vampire kit (working title). This idea refuses to leave me alone, so I am succumbing to it. Still no plot, but am reading The Vampire Omnibus which is helping me prepare. I do know the basic premise, but beyond that, I don't know. This may be a sequel to 1. Probably smart to do that. My first inclination was to set in the 1850's, but I am wary of writing a historical. I think it far smarter to continue with these characters. Goal: 120,000 words

3. _________. Undecided. Lee's story? Maybe. Depends, I think, on what happens with WU which my editor has now, and the story I am buffing up a bit. If both sell, then yes, likely 3. will be Lee's story. If something goes awry, and 1. and 2. come through as solid stories that I am happy with, 3. may be a third installment, storyline unknown. Regardless, 120,000 words.

That's a hell of a lot of writing. But, for me, these stories are must-do's. I am so disappointed in what I've accomplished--or rather not--these last few years. I had reached the point of not being sure I even wanted to continue writing. My skills have deteriorated. It is hard, very hard to stomach this truth, but it should be no surprise, either. I am rusty, horribly rusty. I have lost a lot of quickness and drive. Cleverness is dulled, and my passion for writing is tainted by a cynicism that, if I let it, could completely destroy any chance I might have to bring my writing and creativity up to par once again.

GWYO is the chance to get back on track. A solid year of solid writing...by the end of it, maybe, just maybe, I'll feel like a writer again, that my work is worth sending out again. My goal would be for 2010 to be the year of the agent hunt--to have 2-3 in one series would be ideal indeed.

To fail to reach my goal will be a clear sign to me that I should perhaps consider other things besides writing.

C

Comments

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Let me ask you one question: why do you want to write a specific number of words? I find, every time, that if my process isn't working, I don't get the words - and sometimes, in order to get a working process, I need to slow down. That's part of learning, I think.

I should perhaps consider other things besides writing

You should. You should consider doing things that you enjoy, doing things that feed your imagination, doing things that let you look at the world in a different manner and that give your backbrain more to work with.

I find that instead of slowing me down, they give me more to work with, and many activities - exercising, taking a camera for a walk, for instance - allow plenty of time for plotnoodling and playing out scenes, so I return to the computer and write them up faster.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

It is a crazy challenge here on LJ, getyourwordsout that inspired the word count. 6k a week is not hard IF I have the right story. I have the right story. (See comment to Pir8 above :).

And don't worry--I do things I enjoy. But...I am very much alone here in FW, my b/f and partner cruentum lives in Germany, was here much of this last year (heaven!) but is now back home working on his thesis and doing this challenge too...I don't like doing things alone quite so much as I did before. But I have my puppies, and I have a friend I go to movies with...and a long commute--lol that's where I do most of my thinking.

Dang it, I am late getting ready, speaking of commuting. This is going to be a dull, dull week. Argh. Thanks for the comments -- :)