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. š
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?
