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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
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
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-22 02:42 pm (UTC)i checked out that community you listed but i honestly don't think i'm capable of doing it. i would love to finally finish working on my holly novel [so i can title it for one thing! haha] but honestly, i've never published anything like that and i have no contact in the business... i'm stuck after i finish it. i think that's why i procrastinate and let the writing get stagnate.
also: i am have paused reading 'red' while i am working so much but i'm itching to get back to it. i love it just as much as i remembered from the first time. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-22 03:16 pm (UTC)And thanks so much about Red. I will always adore that story--sigh--mayhap too much? Probably. (lol the guys DO inspire two of the secondary characters in WH though--that makes me grin)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-24 01:28 am (UTC)oh totally, i'd love that.
i kind of love how much you love 'red'. i adore my holly novel but it's different. i think because i'm having such internal drama with it and it spoils the love. i'll always love it because it was The First but i'm still waiting for my 'red', so to speak.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-24 01:52 am (UTC)Am all shopped out, and I hardly got anything.
Time to bathe puppy feet--I love that boy but he gets so filthy so fast!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-22 03:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-24 01:31 am (UTC)