Half Way Done with Draft One

3 days before Christmas, 4 days before my birthday and I have exciting news. Just over a month and a half of writing every day and I have completed 23 chapters of my epic fantasy novel! Dragons, magic, deadly creatures, and [something else], I can't wait to see how the next 23 chapters turn out.

I have hit a snag when it comes to the major relationship. I am changing the pacing from long-term to slow(ish) burn. This requires me to change the mindsets/actions of my main characters. And that means draft #2 will have a lot of rewriting. The restructuring of the romance subplot for the novel alone will be massive. It is tricky to continue writing after making the decision, but I know the abrupt change will help the process in the long run.

Everything else is running smoothly and I continue to hit my daily word count goal of 2,000 words. I hope everyone wraps up the end of the year on a good note with plenty of fun memories.

Happy Holidays!

Read More »

How I Track My Progress

I remember a neat tool Mrs. Johnson gave me in Pre-calculus my junior year of high school. At the start of the year, she handed us a sheet of paper with several columns labeled things like assignment name, points earned, and total points. It was a way for us to track our grade throughout the year. The OCD in me loved it and I used my own grade tracker throughout college.

Before I started writing and after I set my goals, I wasn't sure how to track my progress. And then I remembered Mrs. Johnson's Pre-Calc class.

And thankfully, I know how to use Microsoft Excel.

You might be able to find word count trackers online for NaNoWrMo (National Novel Writing Month) that you can edit to suit your needs, but I'll walk you through the bare minimum that I use.

In my Excel sheet, I have SIX columns: Date, Daily Goal, Daily Total, Running Total, % Complete, and Notes. I filled in the DATE and DAILY GOAL columns right away since I planned to write every day as well as my [projected word count]. The NOTES column is where I leave little updates such as when a chapter is completed. The remaining three columns are the most important and a little technical.

Once you fill in your Daily Goal and dates, all you have to do is add your daily total and running total cells as you write.

To calculate the % Completed, I used a simple formula: the running total / my projected word count. If you are savvy with Excel, all you have to do is select the running total cell and divide it by the cell of your choice. The formula will appear in the formula bar under the tool ribbon.

I decided to track my progress by chapter as well [see Progress Bar on the right side of blog]. Since I'm a plotter, I mapped out my novel by chapter thus I know how many chapters I have left to write and am able to track my chapter completion. It helps me see how far I've progress in the story overall, like a virtual bookmark.

Keeping track of your progress is great accountability when setting a goal. It also helps create a habit of writing daily. If you choose to track your progress, remember not to get caught up in it. Don't let it discourage you if you don't reach a certain goal. Life gets in the way sometimes. There are plenty of writers out there who would binge write and go days without writing a word. Tracking should just be another tool in your tool box.

Read More »

One Month Check In

One month ago, I embarked on a new journey, one I thought of attempting for years. Now, after thirty days I can say with confidence: man, this is tough!

Writing is one of those things you don't realize is so hard until you try it yourself. The hardest part for me thus far is finding a rhythm to write. I'm trying to establish better habits such as waking up earlier and working out (more on my writing routine later). The biggest problem I've found is the three days I work second shift. Those days I have to be extra motivated to complete everything I need to do before leaving for work. My job allows me time to write, but it's never predictable so I try to get as much writing done before I leave.

As of today, I've completed 13 of the planned 46 chapters and my total word count is over 60,000 words. Each your heart out NaNoWrMo!

I'm learning a lot about my writing style and how to stay consistant with it, but it is my first novel. I still have plenty to learn. I already know my first edit will involve plenty of rewriting. Geez, ten chapters in, I changed my main character's personality along with various other details.

I hope to share my editing process in the future as well as my worlding building techniques. Hint: it involves lots of index cards, post it notes, and journals!

Until then, have a good day and keep writing!

Read More »