A Novel in 4 Days – Hold me Accountable!

Joynell Schultz

Since last summer, I’ve been struggling to write Book 2 in my Angels of Sojourn series. This novel was supposed to be my July Camp NaNoWriMo project, but then June 29th happened.

I had the novel all outlined and waiting for me to write it…then a tree limb fell on my father, uprooting my and my family’s life. In subsequent months, we moved home to run the family zoo. My weeks were filled with sixty or more hours of work (balancing two jobs, four hours apart for a while), packing, finishing a house so it could be sold, moving the kids schools, etc. etc. etc. — not to mention nursing my father’s skull fracture back to health. Needless to say, this project (Fur & Feathers) did not get written.

Now, six months later, I’m still struggling with the story. I’ve been slowly jotting down words, one scene at a time, and am 20K into the novel. I’ve put it aside to do other, shorter projects (Hexes & Ohs and Darklight & Daydreams) and am feeling quite guilty the story’s not written yet. All my pre-accident writing routines and techniques have not been working for me.

So…I’m trying something new. Something I’ve seen writers on forums and Facebook groups do. Something I thought was impossible…

Since I only have 40K yet to write, I’m going to block off my calendar for four days this next week. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday (I have those days off, just by a miracle!) and I’m going to finish the novel! 10K a day until an official first draft.

What I need from you is to hold me accountable. I’ll be posting every day on my progress.

Here’s my plan:

PREPARE!

  • 1/19 (Test Day) I have most the day off, but have things to do with my kids. My goal is to spend the day writing. I want to see how many words I can write in an hour. (Update: I did this. It’s 2000 words per hours. That means I need to spend 5 hours per day writing to hit my goal of 10K per day.)
  • 1/20 (Organization Day) Get all my outlines and paperwork in one spot.
  • 1/21 (Rest Day) No writing. Answer all emails/social media, because it’s going off tomorrow!

LET THE WRITING BEGIN!

  • 1/22 Goal: 10K
  • 1/23 Goal: 10K
  • 1/24 Goal: 10K
  • 1/25 Goal: 10K

NOVEL IS FINISHED!

  • 1/26 (Celebrate! No writing)
  • 1/27 Let the editing begin! Still gloat that I finished it all by February. 🙂

I am disconnecting from the internet on the 22nd-25th, except to update this blog and a post on KBoards.

My writing days are mostly consecutive, but if this works, moving forward, I think I’d prefer a day or two between each mega writing day…Like two weekends in a row.

And I warned my family it’s coming. That I’ll be absent.

So…Technically a novel is 40K. So, if this works, I could block off four days per month and whip out a short novel per month. Wouldn’t that be fantastic?

Ready…Set…Write!

(Jump ahead to Day 1, Day 2 & Day 3)

29 Comments

    1. If you pull some 10K days in a row, please let me know how they go. I love hearing about other writers who challenged themselves. So far, the story is coming together and today, I can see the end.

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    1. I’ve never done a 10K day before…at least not that I tracked, so this is all new for me. In the back of my mind, I didn’t think I could do it, but I proved yesterday that I could. Thanks for the support!

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  3. Excited to see how this works out for you. I have so many projects languishing that to block off say, two weekends (4 days total) to do nothing but write, might just be the ticket. Meanwhile, add my cyber voice to those cheering you on!

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    1. Thanks for cheering me on! I’m two days in and feel a break is needed between big writing days for plotting and development. Although, with a break in between, it may be harder to actually finish. I’ll let you know when I’m done. Thanks again!

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  6. Pingback: A Word Every Sixth of a Second | The Diligent Dilettante

  9. On one of my Nanowrimos, I had done 39,000 words by the 29th. The next day my daughter went into labour with her third child. I live in New Zealand, she lives in Australia. I could not afford the phone bill if I called her every time I wanted to so I sat at the computer and wrote. I did over 11000 words in one day, became a winner and got the worse case of RSI. I needed operations on both wrists to fix, I couldn’t extend my right arm without pain shooting right up to the shoulder. Be aware you may have physical problems afterwards but go for it. You can do it.

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    1. Funny, I’ve NEVER been able to win at NaNoWriMo. I spread the words out after a month, and just give up ten days in or so. Maybe 2018 will be my year. I hope your wrists are better now. This is a great warning to be careful on overuse injuries and the importance of good ergonomics.

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  11. Get your stuff together, girl. You already make me look bad, with all that you accomplish, so you better put the hammer down this week and knock this out of the park. I’m hard on your heels. The foster baby is gone (please don’t ask me about that just yet, cue tears, lots of them), so I can get more writing done now. Can’t wait to see how this turns out, superstar.

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    1. Thank you Jay! You’re always one of my biggest supporters and I really appreciate it. I needed the words of encouragement today (issues with trying to come up with a new cover for Blood & Holy Water that are discouraging along with a bit of writer’s block,) so it’s nice to read this. 🙂

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  12. Pingback: A Novel in 4 Days – Day #1! | Joynell Schultz
  13. Pingback: A Novel in 4 Days – Day #2 — Urgh! | Joynell Schultz
  14. Pingback: A Novel in 4 Days – Day #3 — The End! | Joynell Schultz

  15. I have ZERO credentials to criticize you, and yes technically a novel is 40,000 or more words. But the average minimum length in your (and my) genres is 80,000-100,000 words at least. Is there a market risk for writing and publishing really short novels like that? I’m just curious

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    1. I agree 40K is short for a novel. My first drafts are more like skeletons and I flesh them out as I review it the second and third time. I’m about to publish this story and it’s about 70K. (I know many people are wordy in their first drafts and have to cut to shrink the word count. That’s never been my problem.)

      Just a side note: I have a 30K stand-alone novella that earns as much as some of my novels. (Majority from KU page reads.)

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      1. That was going to be my second question. I know lately more and more people are publishing novellas (I myself have thought about doing so before too) I just didn’t know the earning potential. Thanks!

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