Writing Update 1/28

Ok, I've been bad. I haven't written in a day, but I've been in kind of a slump. I know--not an excuse. But sometimes we all go through slumps and I'm trying to pull out of this one. I will, I promise. My book is just frustrating me beyond all belief and it's hard to stay focused. But I'm going to continue--I just needed a break.

Writing Update Day 3

Words Written: 357
Time Spent: 10 min
Difficulties & Progress:
I wrote while I waited in the parking lot for my husband to get off of work. For some reason it was a lot easier to write sitting in the car waiting for him than it was writing at home. I chalk that up to lack of distraction in the car. I'm thinking I need to venture out to the local bookstore and/or Panera Bread to get myself to write.

I did manage to get a little further into chapter 2. However I'm considering skipping around since this scene is rather ho hum and I really want to write another scene, which doesn't come until another chapter later or so.

Goal for Tomorrow: Keep on writing. Unsure if I'll finish chapter 2 or skip ahead.

Writing Update Day 2

Words Written: 525
Time Spent: 15 min
Difficulties & Progress:
Focusing was a bit of a problem, but I did manage to get a slightly better view of my MC. I wrote it mostly before church in my notebook and it was nice to just write without abandon and not have to worry about it ever being seen by other readers' eyes. I think the only way for me to continue figuring her out is to keep writing the story.

Goal for Tomorrow: Work on the new draft and finish the second chapter.

Writing Update Day 1

Words Written: 679
Time Spent: 20 min
Difficulties:
I've been having a hard time writing first person. I'm so used to third person that my first person voice sounds...stilted. I thought I knew my character, or at least well enough to make her come across a little more real after writing the last draft, but I'm finding that's not the case at all. For some reason I'm unable to remove those barriers and it's leaving my character very 2-D and cardboard-ish.

I think I'm still trying to find her voice--and my own--which is why it's coming off this way. Still it's frustrating, and it's like pulling teeth to get the words out now. Part of me thinks I should go back to third person, but I really, really wanted to tell this story in first--I think it would be much more powerful that way.

That is, of course, if I could figure out how to do it. I guess I shouldn't beat myself up too much. I'm still learning but it's very frustrating right now.

Goal for Tomorrow: I'm thinking of working on some sort of small character sketch--something that's not part of the book itself but that will help me figure out Miyuki's voice. I need to just let go and not worry about anything and I'm thinking a character sketch/random rambling writing session is the best way to do this. So, that's my goal for tomorrow.

Introduction

Well, I was inspired to start this blog from my other writing friend Corra McFeydon over at From the desk of a writer. She's doing something similar: blogging each day to let others know about her word progress, whether that's a novel, short story, poem, etc.

So I decided to do something similar: create a blog solely for the purpose of recording my the progress on my WiPs. Each day will be a brief summary of what I wrote, the challenges I encountered and the amount of words written that day. It's also a way to hold me publicly accountable...so if I post "zero" words for the day, you all can get on my case for it. I'm going to try and update this daily for however long in order to get me in the habit of writing on a regular basis. I'll set it up as follows:

Words Written
Time Spent
Difficulties
Goal for Today

As the inaugural post, my goal for tomorrow is to have at least 500 new words written for my current WiP Lady of the Snow.

Oh, and if you haven't seen my other blog, which is essentially anything related to writing--or my life in general, it's over here: Tales from the Writing Front.