Write a scene where two people are walking down the road to this lake. Don’t forget description: sight, sound, smell, feel, taste.
inspiration
Weekly Writing Prompt
Write a one page story about the blue watering can.
Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #25
Well, I’m not going to post my word count table this week, because I’m feeling pretty horrible about it. Overall, I’m still 18,000 words behind my target. The good news is that I haven’t fallen any further behind this week. I’ve come to realize a few things about achieving a daily writing target:
- Writing multiple times in a day helps me reach my 1,000 words/day goal. I find in one “sitting” I can easily write 600 words. Which translates to needing a minimum of 2 writing sessions in a day (preferably morning and night).
- Focusing on how behind I am only makes me not feel like writing. It is much easier if I remind myself that I’ve already written well over 200,000 words since September 1, 2017! Go me!
- Trying to catch up (write 18,000 words) in one day or one weekend is an unachievable goal with how my life is currently set up (day job, kids, etc.). It works much better if I just tell myself to keep pushing for another couple minutes after I reach my 1,000 word goal. This often gets me to 1,100 or even 1,600 words in a sitting. Which means that I’m slowly catching up, bit by bit.
So, that’s what I’ve learned this week, and that’s what I’m focusing on. I’m still distracted by my Kindle Scout Campaign for Under Jupiter. I’ve got 4 Days left and I haven’t made it onto the Hot and Trending list for even a single house. Please help me out by nominating if you haven’t done so already. This is your shot at getting my book for free, and I will be eternally grateful. Just go here.
Other good news is that I’ve finally broken through my writer’s block and found an idea that I love. I’m going to share some details as I work on it. It’s kept my word count high this week, and so far the story is lovely and so fun to write. I can’t wait to share more details with you.
Also, I’ve been doing a bit of gardening (and less going to the gym, but I figure all that squatting time counts for something, right?). Here’s some pictures of my flower boxes.
Have a great week!
JEH
Weekly Writing Prompt
Write a 500 word story about this picture.
Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #23
Wow, it’s been almost a month since I’ve given and update on my writing goals! I started this massive goal in September, with a huge kick start thanks to the 3-Day Novel Writing Contest. But this past month has been so crazy with preparing Under Jupiter for submission to Kindle Scout that I’ve fallen pretty far behind in my goal. Here’s a look at my tracking sheet for the past couple of weeks:
As you can see, I’m over 12,000 words behind! The good news is that I’m finishing up Under Jupiter over the next 3-4 days, and then I can get back to drafting for a while. I’m looking forward to some new projects. The last stages of rewriting and editing are all consuming for me. I don’t like to be taken away from the story, or distracted, since it pulls from my ability to concentrate on the continuity of the story. The closer I get to finishing, the more consumed I become.
But I still took time last weekend to go on a mini-road trip to the most creepy, crooked wood I’ve seen. We drove up to The Crooked Bush, Saskatchewan. Here are a couple pictures, which don’t do it justice by far.
It’s great fodder for a future story. I’ll have to see if anything comes of it.
JEH
Weekly Writing Prompt
Write one paragraph describing the scene. Then in walk two characters. Who are they? Write some dialogue as your characters try to sink their ball. Write for ten minutes.
JEH
Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #22
It’s been almost two weeks since I updated. During that time I’ve been working fairly diligently on two of my main projects, Under Jupiter and MF. And tonight I passed 200,000 words!!!!!
PARTY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Obviously this nice round number feels pretty big. I started this goal in September of 2016, and a lot of time has passes since then, and obviously I’ve written a lot of words. But sometimes I wonder just where all of those words have gone, because I feel like I have so many unfinished projects that I must still be an undergrad. Seriously. It feels like it is taking forever to finish things. I think part of that is the fact that I’m often working on more than one book at a time. Like right now I’m doing rewrites of Under Jupiter and doing a first draft of MF. Also, I have about an hour a day (if I’m lucky) to get all my words and rewriting in. And that’s if I’m not so tired that I just pass out the moment the house is quiet. I do wish that I would have been tracking daily the project I was working on, that would really help me understand where all the words have gone.
But I made it! Deep breath. To Two Hundred Thousand Words. Which means I can totally do this. I can totally do this. And come September. I will have finished things. And they will be wonderful.
JEH
