Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Forget the Sun Metrics 03


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 830
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 32
Total words for the first draft: 2143
What I hate about my writing: It used to travel better than this.
The Good: So I'm back today after a break. I should've been back yesterday, but I ended up designing the Ver Hagan coat of arms instead.
The Bad: So I didn't get to type this weekend since I took Mom away for some R&R at IP Casino Resort in Biloxi, Mississippi. We got a non-smoking hotel room, which I spread my papers out to work in longhand. The papers never left the room and I didn't throw my clothes worn in the casino on top of them. So how come those papers REEK of cigarette smoke?

The only thing I can figure is maybe it transferred while I actually wrote from what I was wearing at the time, since you had to walk through cigarette smoke to get the restaurants. So does anyone know how I can air out papers without destroying the ink? Febreeze is out.
Fave line: "Barbara and Charles live on through you. They live through you."
What I'm looking forward to: IF my finances go well and I don't run into major issues with car or house, I'm buying a laptop so I don't have to deal with second-hand smoke through my papers.
What I'm not looking forward to: Another weekend break. I want to see my friends (and they don't smoke so the papers will smell fine at least), but I don't know how much will get done on the rough draft.

Friday, January 18, 2013

2012 My Year in Fic

Running late this year. Better late than never. I told someone that I'm considering 2012 the year I forgot everything I knew about writing. And unfortunately, I think it hit with editing and completion. I wrote 98,706 fictional words in 2012, shooting for a goal of 104,000, which is the closest I have ever come to reaching that yearly goal since I started measuring it.

Stories I finished:

"Batman: Symbol of Intuition" - 563 words. The Dark Knight Rises bit the muse hard for the second half of the year. This was actually the second TDKR fanfic I wrote, but it's first in the series.

"Batman: Partners - 9052 words. The TDKR fanfic I wrote first to fill in the holes Nolan left in on purpose. I got a few things wrong because I had only seen the movie once when I wrote it.

"Batman: Entwined Fates" - 21660 words. I finished everything with this TDKR fanfic in 2012 but getting it published, thanks to all the medical drama my family had during the holidays. But the writing was done in 2012.

Stories I didn't finish:

Stellar Gift of Death - I wrote 27,817 words in 2012 and finally finished the first draft! It's no where close to publication standard yet, but the story is out of my head at last.

"Batman: Forgiveness is for the Living" - 8439 words. Fourth in the TDKR series, but written third. However, I'm still editing it, so it falls under this category.

"Batman: Meanwhile in Gotham City" - 17,738 words. This is the last TDKR fanfic in the series, but the muse didn't leave me alone until I wrote out a master story summary for a what if idea I had. I have no idea if that will get written, so I don't want to label this as my last Batman.

Beat sheet/master story summary for Strix: Forget the Sun - 7360 words. Trying out a new outlining technique with this story. And yes, I counted these words because I included dialogue I plan to use.

Zackverse: Have Your Time: "Medical Magical Emergency" chapters - 7360 words. I needed a break and ended up writing the section of this massive crossover that takes place on the Gargoyles Earth. I also came up with the real title instead of "Epic Sequel to Tin Man: Dragons and Ninjas."

Tin Man: Prince of the Outer Zone - 863 words. I need another break and ended up typing 863 words in the third chapter of this unfinished novel.

My favorite story this year: Stellar Gift of Death. I'm just so glad to have it on this side of done after working on it off-and-on for over a decade.

Story most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: I don't really have one for this category this year. But I am amused that people are still following "Batman: Partners," even though it says "completed" on FanFiction.net.

Most fun story: "Batman:Meanwhile in Gotham City" I introduced the Penguin to the Nolanverse and found out why Jonathan Crane had cameos in the Dark Knight and the Dark Knight Rises, he's just too much fun to write. :D

Stories I wrote that I never thought I'd write: This year it's is the Batman series. The first two shocked, but I thought that was it. Then Alfred demanded his story, and I had to explain the appearance of another character in another story, and the Gordon and Blake demanded their story too. Plus the what if whose master story summary took FOREVER to write.

Hardest story to write: Stellar, and I still have work to do on it.

Biggest disappointment: That I let the Perfect Girl derail my alien language progress.

Biggest surprise: For writing that many words, I didn't end up with more in the finished column.

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would, less, or about what you predicted? More words but less stories, and I'm still not sure how that happened.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? I'm still working on beating my submission fears to a bloody pulp without much success.

Did you meet last years' goals?

Fiction Writing

  • Specific: Finish Stellar Gift of Death - ACCOMPLISHED!
    • Edit "Words of Parting" - No
    • Edit "Blue Man on the Porch" - No
    • World building for the steampunk mystery - No
    • World building for Piper of Shadows universe - No
    • World building for Zy's universe - a little, not as much as I would have liked
    • Edit Forget the Sun for Mez's 2012 project. - I ended up with a new version's master story summary.
    • Write 2000 words a week and pick out a new project once Stellar is finished. - Yeah, I got no where near this amount of productivity a week.
  • Measurable: Post the weekly total at DUF using the Writertopia progress bar. - I kind of kept up with that.
  • Action-oriented: Dedicate at least 30 minutes on a writing project every day. - Didn't keep up with that.
  • Realistic: Write what I feel like I can't not write. - I stuck to this.
  • Trackable: Each story has a marathon tracker of its own, and metrics are posted every day at DUF. - This was a good idea and I'll keep it up
Submitting more stories
  • Specific: Submit to three markets. - LOL! That so didn't happen!
  • Measurable: Enter submissions into Sonar 3 - Since A didn't happen, B couldn't follow.
  • Action-oriented: Look for 12 markets. - Nope.
  • Realistic: Look for email markets. - Nada.
  • Trackable: Note how anxious I am about the submission in Sonar3. - Again never did it so I didn't have to.

Do you have any goals for the coming year? Short and sweet: indie-publish an ebook. I don't know if it will be Stellar Gift of Death or Strix: Forget the Sun that I've started writing, but that is the one official goal for 2013.

Unofficially, I have lots of projects to finish, but I don't want to put any pressure on myself that will make Perfect Girl flip out and ignore all of it. And I keep accumulating fun writing time as reward for getting chores done that I don't use. I need to build using it into my schedule somewhere.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Forget the Sun Metrics 02


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words:849
Chapter One total:1313
Total words for the first draft: 1313
What I hate about my writing: Oops, got a little one sided today. Planned on working on Atsejhkigom and forgot about it completely.
The Good: I squeezed a whole hour of writing at the paying job.
The Bad: Some time was lost to research.
Fave line: "I suspect there's more to Mom and Dad's deaths, and Robert agreed with me. I hope to God we're wrong and the police find the bastards who did this, but until we know, we must protect ourselves. Is that enough to gain your cooperation, Margaret Jane?"
What I'm looking forward to:Robert and Peg's reunion.
What I'm not looking forward to: Friday, it's crammed already. I have a meeting with the CCFairy and then have to hurry home to get me and Mom to Mississippi in time for the comedy show I want to see and she got the tickets for. And I haven't packed yet for the weekend.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Forget the Sun Metrics 01


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 464
Chapter One total: 464
Total words for the first draft: 464
What I hate about my writing: I thought I had written more in the rough draft. *Blinks* Wow, that scene has really stuck with me over the years if I thought I had already written it.
The Good: I got started on this novel!
The Bad: I've got a long way to go on this novel.
Fave line: "You're not confused; you're sulking."
What I'm looking forward to: Peg sees her mother for the first time.
What I'm not looking forward to: For the excitement to wear off.

Kthidlotee is finished!

How does the third language I started end up the first one finished? And by finished, I mean I made it through Holly Lisle's Create a Language Clinic and have a broad enough base that if the story needs more I can expand what I have done.

It shouldn't have taken as long as it did. Perfect Girl freaked out with "what if you get it wrong!" wails as soon as I started on Atsejhkigom. Getting positive feedback on using it in "Words of Parting" helped quiet her down a little. Or at least made her switch to if-I-don't-do-it-I-won't-feel-anxious! tactic.

I'm not letting that or the fact that she'll start the same screaming about alien species work ruin my sense of accomplishment today. I finished Kthidlotee!

Now it's time to finish Atsejhkigom. I already have chapters 1 - 8 done in it, so it shouldn't take as long.