Weekly Writing Progress Report - M4 Week 3

Hi All--

Whoo! Getting a tad bit better at posting my reports earlier in the week. Maybe next week I'll actually post it on a Monday for once! Nonetheless, hoorah for week three being over, because it was a tough one. Now, onto the stats!

Week 3
Project: M4 Fantasy
First Draft

Word count this week: 11,794
Total word count to date: 30,028

 

This week in writing:

 

During my first two weeks, I was unable to get to that 10,000 word average per week so this week I knew was going to be heavy catch-up time. To get to the 30,000 mark I really had to up my daily word count to 2,000 words at times. As you can tell I got pretty burnt out by the end of the week and only wrote 374 words to get to 30,000. In order to put in more writing time I sacrificed gym time all week to fit in those words after work. As a result, I was totally winded yesterday when I resumed my workout :P

 

To give you an idea of what I looked like this week, Blaire has graciously volunteered to demonstrate (because face it, I'm sure you're all sick of my selfies ;)).

Droopy eyes, wanting to face plant into my keyboard, and sleep. Yeah, that sums it up. Thanks Blaire.

What I learned this week:

•  Pounding out words is affected by your state of mind - I found that if I wasn't mentally prepared and immersed in the story then there was no way I was getting any work done. Before sitting down for a writing session, outline your goals and know what direction you are heading with the story. Then turn off distractions, visualize, and paint it with words. For example my awful 374 and 448 word day, I did not want to write at all. And I forced myself to just sit and get whatever words out yet that low word count took almost two hours. In contrast, my 2,687 word day only took 2.5 hours because I was focused and sat down to do two power hours of writing (with a 10 minute break in between) and then went back later at night for another half hour.
• Middles are where it starts to get sloppy - I have an outline, but man is it kind of difficult to build that bridge to get to the other side. As I closed out on finishing the beginning (1st act) I really had to think about how I wanted to set up my middle. I had to make a big giant leap with one scene, but I'm hoping it'll work to amp up the tension for the middle.
• When you think and write about it everyday it seeps into your dreams - Holding myself accountable for this first draft is really good for my progress. Down side, it's like all I think about that I even dream about it. But the dreams are too absurd to really put into the story. So in order to give a little distance to see the story clearly, I recommend distracting yourself too when it isn't writing time. For me that was TV time and reading. Any 'Revenge fans' out there? What a great way to end the Finale! So looking forward to the season finale of 'Reign'!
• Surround yourself with encouragement - When I was starting to get tired and burnt out, I listened to writing podcasts and then went out to meet up with a writing friend this past Friday. When other people are doing the same thing and reaching for their dreams, it inspires you to keep going.

How has writing been for you this past week? Comment below! Happy writing :)