Connor's Writing Log

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Maddie

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
Jul 10, 2006
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that dollhouse at the end of the street
Redesigning Eva currently stands at 10178 words. Been feeling incredibly inspired and energetic lately. I may get back to it today.

I am sooo happy for you Connor, and very impressed, because you have to really spend a lot of time in your head to create the kind of clever story that your are writing, a psychological thriller of a very surprising and unique kind as only you can tell it. I'm following and looking forward to it! :smile2:
 

Connor B

Well-Known Member
May 24, 2015
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I am sooo happy for you Connor, and very impressed, because you have to really spend a lot of time in your head to create the kind of clever story that your are writing, a psychological thriller of a very surprising and unique kind as only you can tell it. I'm following and looking forward to it! :smile2:
Thank you for your support, Maddie ! I'm currently 11279 words in, churned out close to a thousand words today, and I'm not through yet. The big surprise I hinted at was that I would have the entire novel finished before the day is up, at 50,000 words. I doubt I can pull it off, but I always had a tendency towards the grandiose. Still, I'm making great progress.
 

Mr Nobody

Well-Known Member
Jul 9, 2008
3,306
9,050
Walsall, England
OK. I'm going to say it's great that you give yourself some ambitious goals. On the other hand, you need to learn to make them more realistic.
I mean, your 'big surprise' was that you'd be able to say it was all done at 50k words in the same day as you posted about being 11,279 in, having already got a thousand down. That 39-40k difference from starting that day's work to the targeted end was (is, and would be) immense, and probably impossible.
Going back to what I said before re: speeds, 100 wpm equates to 6,000 wph, so 39k words is 6.5 hours' work even assuming you can keep up a constant 100 wpm rate as you're thinking of what to write and how to assemble it.
If you (or anyone else) can do that, chapeau. Personally, it gives me a headache just to think of it (not to mention sympathetic cramps in my fingers, hands and wrists).

But then, anyway, we come to the reality: two weeks later, and you'd produced another 721 words. (I won't say 'only', because progress is progress and in that context 'only' can be a hell of a destructive word, when in fact any progress is good because it means you're winning.)
The question I'm going to ask here is, did you find your will to write dwindling once you realised you weren't going to live up to the ambition?
Other questions then follow, e.g. If so, did it create a longer lasting negativity re: your writing that then, consciously or sub-consciously, kept you away from your desk? Again if so, how long did this last?

Point is, as I said at the top, your day-to-day goals have to be smaller. Yes, they might seem unambitious by comparison - and they'll certainly lack grandiosity - but there's something to be said for setting yourself a daily goal of 2,000, 1,000 or even 500 words and consistently hitting it. Or, if you want to take the pressure right off and find you work better this way, don't set a hard goal at all; just make sure you sit down to write and whatever you produce, you produce. Could be 2,000 words, could be two lines. It'd still be better than nothing and/or running yourself into a brick wall.
Another way to look at writing a novel is to equate it to running a marathon. If, at the start, you think of the full 26 miles, then think of the other 13 once you hit halfway, and so on, you're going to get demoralised by the sheer scale of the task; you're going to think it's too hard, you're going to focus on how tired you already are. Likewise, if you start and only concentrate on the slap-slap-slap of your feet on the tarmac, forgetting about distance, you risk getting very bored, very quickly. The trick is to set smaller goals - that mile took six minutes; let's see about doing the next one in 5 mins 50, or at least maintaining the pace - because it gives you something tangible to focus on and a sense of achievement once you've done it (or determination to do better in the next mile if you've narrowly failed).
 

Connor B

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May 24, 2015
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Well, I finished the fourth chapter of RE today. Currently, I'm at 13577 words. I am definitely going to be picking up speed soon. My new class at college ends pretty early in the morning, so I'll have plenty of time during the day to churn words out. I performed a little exercise yesterday, where I was free associating. I managed to get five hundred words down in one sitting without breaking a sweat.
 

Connor B

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May 24, 2015
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Haven't updated in a while. Had to get a new computer a few days ago, as the old one was approaching death's door. I'll be writing tomorrow, and I'll post the current status of Redesigning Eva sometime that afternoon.
 

Connor B

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May 24, 2015
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Status of Redesigning Eva as of a few minutes ago: 18396 words. Just finished the sixth chapter, now for the seventh. The big event of the first act, the redesigning, occurs in chapter eight. What I have to do in chapter seven is have an incident that would get the titular protagonist to reach her breaking point and accept the Faustian offer. I am currently taking a break, and will post more updates this afternoon.
 

Connor B

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May 24, 2015
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Okay, so nothing else has come to me today. Still, I'm so glad I've made it this far, and I'm just getting started.
 
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Connor B

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May 24, 2015
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Beginning seventh chapter of Redesigning Eva shortly. I have also been approached by a friend to provide my thoughts on his unfinished script, as well as a local author asking the same for his just-published novel. I think 2018 is going to be a good year.
 
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