Monday, June 24, 2013

Forget the Sun Metrics 33


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 261
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 3807
Chapter Four total: 3581
Chapter Five total: 1496
Total words for the first draft: 13,520
What I hate about my writing: Regaining momentum. I didn't mean to drop the story for three days. :p
The Good: While I'm aiming for 350 words a day, I'll take what I get.
The Bad: Have to get back on track after missing three days of writing. I didn't even pull out the manuscript, but I did have a pleasant trip with the family.
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: Strix and Ferris have come to an understanding, and Erikson and David finally have something to do.
Fave line: "Vandals? I'm hope for someone trying to cook meth in the school lab."
What I'm looking forward to: And now the characters get to meet each other. I'm estimating two more chapters before the first plot point and the start of part two.
What I'm not looking forward to: Curing sunburn again.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Forget the Sun Metrics 32


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 371
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 3807
Chapter Four total: 3581
Chapter Five total: 1235
Total words for the first draft: 13,259
What I hate about my writing: When a scene I thought she could come together easily is like pulling teeth to get onto paper instead.
The Good: I finally got through the scene.
The Bad: I had to finish it at home.
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: Strix and Ferris have come to an understanding.
Fave line: "How is it someone so good at leaving destruction in his wake has avoided a reputation?"
What I'm looking forward to: And now the characters get to meet each other. I'm estimating two more chapters before the first plot point and the start of part two.
What I'm not looking forward to: All the housework and packing left to do before the weekend trip.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Forget the Sun Metrics 31


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 368
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 3807
Chapter Four total: 3581
Chapter Five total: 864
Total words for the first draft: 12,888
What I hate about my writing: Second guessing every word I pick.
The Good: I finally remembered to break apart my chapter files last night.
The Bad: The Inner Editor is hitting everything I write.
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: Ferris meets Strix in Peg's old bedroom.
Fave line: "It's not what it looks like!"
What I'm looking forward to: And now the characters get to meet each other. I'm estimating two more chapters before the first plot point and the start of part two.
What I'm not looking forward to: All the housework and packing left to do before the weekend trip.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Forget the Sun Metrics 30


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 315
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 3807
Chapter Four total: 3581
Chapter Five total: 496
Total words for the first draft: 12,520
What I hate about my writing: Forgetting to research.
The Good: So far the new tweaks to my time management are holding up.
The Bad: I'm not checking in with my checklist like I need to, and I did throw a mini-tantrum at myself for the things on my To-Do list that must be done. Yeah, I'm still not sure where that really came from.
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: Discovered I have no idea how to break into a modern house so how can I expect Ferris to know? Oh, I have answer, Raven taught him during their adventures in Richmond. Now that means I need her previous identity name which I had put off thinking about because I probably wouldn't need it. :p
Fave line: "Tempting fate."
What I'm looking forward to: And now the characters get to meet each other. I'm estimating two more chapters before the first plot point and the start of part two.
What I'm not looking forward to: I have to get on Facebook to find a link to my nephew being cute on TV. *RETCH!* Dealing with mechanics. And my social calendar has already been declared for the rest of June's weekends vs. trip to the beach and Man of Steel eventually.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Forget the Sun Metrics 29


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 311
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 3807
Chapter Four total: 3581
Chapter Five total: 181
Total words for the first draft: 12,205
What I hate about my writing: Not writing, but I hate how I know procrastination is bad and screws me up and I do it anyway.
The Good: Words on a Monday! I have no idea how that happened.
The Bad: Weekend writing *sigh* one weekend I may actually shock myself by getting writing done. I know I should do it first thing, but it never works out that way. Though I did fix Chapter Four, which had developed a spacing hiccup thanks to how Word 2010 (at paying job) formats versus how Word 2003 (at home) formats. I swear if I keep getting irritated by this, I'll write the whole thing in Notepad. My more serious decision is to create all new chapters at home. So Chapter Five will be broke off from Chapter Four later.
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: Finished Chapter Four. Hopefully my next scene with Alexander will be less grind out the needed words. Ferris is trying out gentleman burglar for a career option. I'm not sure about introducing Sophia here, but I'm going to run with it now.
Fave line: "This is a better plan than going to see their bodies?"
What I'm looking forward to: And now the characters get to meet each other. I'm estimating two more chapters before the first plot point and the start of part two.
What I'm not looking forward to: I have to get on Facebook to find a link to my nephew being cute on TV. *RETCH!* Dealing with mechanics. And my social calendar has already been declared for the rest of June's weekends vs. trip to the beach and Man of Steel eventually.

Friday, June 14, 2013

2013 Fiction Word Count Week 23


Progress Bar from Writertopia

Forget the Sun Metrics 28


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 328
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 3807
Chapter Four total: 3451
Total words for the first draft: 11,894
What I hate about my writing: Everything seems to be slowed down terribly for my leads.
The Good: It ended up being more words that I thought it was.
The Bad: Here's something really annoying. I wanted a diary entry I had written for the hypertext version. I did the read-through of the entire hypertext version and filled out the matrix. I didn't put down filenames because the print outs cut off the filename before completing it. I did find the file I was looking for after opening up five wrong ones.
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: Didn't finish the chapter because writing Alexander sucks really hard.
Fave line: "They're faces on a wall; I don't know them! I don't owe them or some rich, dumb bitch anything."
What I'm looking forward to: And now the characters get to meet each other. I'm estimating two more chapters before the first plot point and the start of part two.
What I'm not looking forward to: I have to get on Facebook to find a link to my nephew being cute on TV. *RETCH!* Dealing with mechanics. And my social calendar has already been declared for the rest of June's weekends vs. trip to the beach and Man of Steel eventually.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Forget the Sun Metrics 27


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 624
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 3807
Chapter Four total: 3123
Total words for the first draft: 11,566
What I hate about my writing: Wondering if vivid nightmares are a side effect of feeling good about progress.
The Good: The tweak to my time management seems to be working. The true test will be next week as I add back in my daily chore checklist. Yeah, I have been letting a lot slide by but look words!
The Bad: This is probably the last free weekend I have this month and I have to get my car's AC fixed.
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: Finished David and his partner's scene and now have to finish the Alexander scene that I inadvertently started last chapter.
Fave line: "And get all my teeth knocked out when it doesn't go through?"
What I'm looking forward to: And now the characters get to meet each other. I'm estimating two more chapters before the first plot point and the start of part two.
What I'm not looking forward to: I have to get on Facebook to find a link to my nephew being cute on TV. *RETCH!* Dealing with mechanics. And my social calendar has already been declared for the rest of June's weekends vs. trip to the beach and Man of Steel eventually.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Forget the Sun Metrics 26


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 782
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 3807
Chapter Four total: 2499
Total words for the first draft: 10,942
What I hate about my writing: I'm scooting along with these scenes pretty quickly. Makes me worry about the scenes I was hung up on.
The Good: I think I had a time management brainwave yesterday. Either it was or the sun fried my brain.
The Bad: Fire drill about 9 a.m. because it would be too hot if it was any later. It was STILL too hot for a stupid fire drill.
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: David and Erikson's witty banter, they cross paths with Ferris, and now I need to tie the two together.
Fave line: "Why not? Your ass is already there most of the day. Clothes to cover your ass should be too."
What I'm looking forward to: And now the characters get to meet each other.
What I'm not looking forward to: I have to get on Facebook to find a link to my nephew being cute on TV. *RETCH!*

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Forget the Sun Metrics 25


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 864
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 3807
Chapter Four total: 1717
Total words for the first draft: 10,160
What I hate about my writing: Monday. Let's just consider Mondays the one day off for the week and concentrate on truing the weekends into good writing days.
The Good: I took a lazy weekend and only accomplished laundry and giving Mustard a flea bath. I'd rather work daily, there's no real reason why I can't work daily… there it is. Mentally, I'm still calling writing work and the sink full of dishes waiting for when I get home is why acknowledging anything as work is a bad idea.
The Bad: The exception of this is Mondays, while not a bad Monday, still the whole routine resumption is just ugh and nothing gets done.
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: Finished Raven and Strix's scene. There's a killer vampire on the loose in Haganville.
Fave line: "You're not the boss of me, Strix."
What I'm looking forward to: Introduction of my last pivotal good guy character, otherwise known as David.
What I'm not looking forward to: I have to get on Facebook to find a link to my nephew being cute on TV. *RETCH!*

Friday, June 07, 2013

Forget the Sun Metrics 24


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 288
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 3807
Chapter Four total: 853
Total words for the first draft: 9296
What I hate about my writing: Writing to replace what I had to chop out, and makes for math issues.
The Good 06/05/2013: Have I finally figured out the answer to my TiddlyWiki not saving problem? I DID! Turns out Firefox needs the TiddlyFox extension after build 15.0; now I need to remember to fix the home computer. I have floor plan for Raven and David's apartment.
The Good 06/06/2013: Okay, I have figured out (thanks to Wikipedia and a reference book from home) what is where in the medical examiner's office building. I'm waiting to see if I'll need to draw a more accurate floor plan (which I probably will when I get to an action scene set in this location).
The Good 06/07/2013: Yeah, I actually got to WORDS today. So I finally tweaked the opening scene that was problematic because of location description and pushed a little past that. Not much because I got distracted on how drujs' abilities actually work. My first thought was visual like auras, and decided against it because of glamour. Now I'm thinking about sense of smell instead and boy, I like that.
The Bad 06/05/2013: Now that the TiddlyWiki is fixed, I spent too much time today on making new ones. Granted it's a much better idea to put the writing advice I find into a wiki rather than lose it to the mess my bookmark folder is in or keep it in a tab on the browser forever. Aside from that, my Google-Fu failed me in finding floor plans for a medical examiner's office. The set I was initially building in my head was a one-story building that the front desk wasn't too far from places other characters would congregate except for the autopsy room and cold storage for the bodies. I'm not thinking large enough for the scope of the job in Haganville, but making the facility larger ruins planned character interactions.
The Bad 06/06/2013: Now I have to rewrite what I wrote two days ago.
The Bad 06/07/2013: I lost 283 words in the scene I had to redo, and technically wrote 571 words today, but I can't count what was counted two days ago. :p
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: Finally fixed the scene and know where the bodies are kept in the basement for the next scene.
Fave line: "I hate puzzle pieces."
What I'm looking forward to: Strix's introduction and Raven's reaction.
What I'm not looking forward to: Crap, it's a chore filled weekend this weekend.

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Forget the Sun Metrics 23


Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 688
Chapter One total: 2111
Chapter Two total: 2525
Chapter Three total: 3807
Chapter Four total: 565
Total words for the first draft: 9008
What I hate about my writing: Having to reboot my head.
The Good: The start of a brand new month meant I had to sit down with myself and figure out what the hell was wrong with me and the goals I keep making and breaking. That led to me discovering that I see my writing urge as a dangerous and hungry tiger and that I hadn't been giving the tiger playthings for this story. Since it's late and I don't want to dig out the notes I made yesterday, the metaphor basically means I've been spending too much of my daydreaming time with Batman and none at all with my vampires and dhampirs and drujs. Why did I need to? I already worked out the beat sheet. Boot to head that NOT spending the daydreaming time means I feel like writing this story is something I HAVE to do and it gets shelves in the same loathing but necessary place that washing the dishes lives in. (And we all know how much fun I find in washing the dishes.) Luckily, once I get started actually writing, I'm not blocked. This block is in feeling that I have to force myself to focus on this story. I've taken deadline pressure off (not that I ever really felt it this year) and I'm all about finding my dreaming way into this story, so I feel like I can't not write it.

Techniques that help: Reading over the entire beat sheet, not just the scene I'm working on or what scene is coming next. Looking over character's tiddlers. Creating location maps.
The Bad: I'm undecided about including a quote from a work I've never written in Chapter Three. Forgetting that I needed to look up medical examiner information in my reference books at home. Having to stop and figure out the location's layout.
What I Accomplished in the Narrative Today: Finished Chapter Three and now started Chapter Four with Raven's introduction.
Fave line: "I'd rather be awake when the monsters are out."
What I'm looking forward to: Raven meeting Strix and both of them know what the other is.
What I'm not looking forward to: Figuring out how to work harder on the weekends.