Writing to an end

Well I have done some major revisions for my book over the last few days.  It was tough because I had to cut large chunks that I felt were not really heading in the right direction.  Sometimes you have to force yourself to take a good hard look at where you want to go, (with your book, or anything for that matter) and rethink what you have done, or are planning to do.  I think it was the right decision.  I ended up cutting three large chapters and setting them aside for book two, if I go that route.  They are safely stored for future use.  I spent several hours this morning working out the details of how I want this thing to end.  It became a lot easier without having to tie in the three chapters that I cut.  The book I am writing is a fantasy novel and I should have heeded something I once read that stated that one shouldn't try to write an Epic Fantasy on your first try.   I now have chapter outlines for the last six chapters and have worked out a few of the details that have been nagging at me for the longest time.  It feels great to have a roadmap again. 
At about two thirds of the way in I found myself kind of becoming wishy washy of where I wanted it to go.  I think the biggest lesson I have learned from this for the next book, is keep my eye on the prize, meaning keep the story on track to have it arrive where I want it to.  My guess is that I might have the first draft done by the end of February as long as time allows. 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!  Here's hoping for a bright and peaceful 2013. 
A lot has happened in 2012 and I guess I thought I would have a final draft ready by this point.  Alas, this is not the case.  I am at the 104000 word mark give or take.  I am still writing about once per week, but I have resolved to bump that back up to 3-4 days.  I want to put a big push on and finish this first draft soon.  I have also rethought some things and am no longer planning on self-publishing.  I see so many people doing it but I am not sure how successful they are.  I think I will try to get an agent once I have a fairly polished product.  I would love to set a finish date but they seem to come and go far too quickly, so I will instead say I will finish as soon as I can.  Have a great year.

Been a long time

Well it has been way too long since I have posted here.  The summer was great.  Spent lots of time with my family at the cottage.  My writing took a serious hit however.  As I broke the normal work routine and basically lived at the cottage for 3 months, I found myself not beeing able to make the time to write.  Fortunately the kids have gone back to school and I am slowly but surely finding time to write.  I am around the 90000 word mark and expect to finish around 130000...I hope.  I know the rewrite is going to be tough.  I already have tons of key plot twists to straighten out, not to mention two or three massive information dumps to spread out somehow.  I still feel pretty good about the project as a whole.  A few friends and family have beta read what I have so far and seem to like it.  I mean they would tell me if it sucked ...right?   Hopefully I will have a finished product by January or February.  Then the real fun/work comes, so I am told.  Happy writing.

So I started jogging last week.  It was time.  I have never successfully jogged more than a click or two in my life, until last week.  My wife taught me not to jog too fast.  No wonder I couldn't do it, I was tired out after a few minutes.  Now when I jog it is barely faster than my fastest walk but I don't stop.  I did 4 km today.

I do have to say that I find one thing troubling so far.  I have often heard that when you go for a run, you feel 'so much better' when you are done.  That is definitely not my case.  I feel worse all day long.  Ok I guess I have to give it more than a few days.  I'll let you know next week....as long as the running doesn't kill me first.

Writing routine

I've discovered that I need to have a writing routine.  We went to our cottage for three days last weekend, where I thought I would have time to write more, but low and behold, I only wrote 300 words all weekend.  I think I am a creature of habit and not being in my normal zone threw me off, even though I had less to do.  I guess I'll have to establish a cottage routine.

Working at working

I've been getting about 2300 words per day this week.  I have lots more time to write now that I cut back my 'other job' hours.  So it turns out that the old axiom 'you need to write to learn how to write', is true.  In my case at least.  Who would have thunk it?  I'm 57000 words in to my book and as I look back at my writing in early chapters compared to now, there has been a marked improvement in my writing.  That's good in the sense that I am improving, but bad in the sense that I now have to do more rewriting than I planned for.  Oh well. Its all part of the Journey.  Is there anyone else writing their first novel out there who wants to connect?  If you don't want to publicly send me an e-mail:  john.ava@eastlink.ca.

Plugging Away

When I first started my book I thought that I wanted it to be about 150000 words long. That's about 50000 words longer than what is recommended for first time writers.  I hit the 50000 word mark last week and felt a lot of satisfaction from doing so.  After spending several hours this week taking a hard look at my plot and outline I decided I could do better and re-wrote a lot of it as well as the scene descriptions.  I am much happier with the result now and think I can get it closer to 100000 words which is a bonus. 

It sure seems a long time ago that I started writing this even though it was only in January.  I have had a zillion self-doubts as I am sure every writer has when they first start out.  Here is a list of some of the things I worry about, for the heck of it:

1. My story will have poor grammar and seem too simple.
2. The prose is too simple.
3. It will be uninteresting to readers.
4. My characters are too flat and readers won't care about them.
5. My concept is just a re-telling of a story common to the genre (fantasy)
6. My attempt at not having over-the -top characters will disappoint readers.
7. I often think that it lacks that certain 'oomf' to get a 'wow' from readers

Here is how I try to overcome these doubts:

1. I walk about an hour a day with my kindle talking to me through my earphones.  Nearly always it is an e-book about writing or publishing or how I wrote my first book, type stuff.  I have never been much of one for motivational talks and the like but man does this keep me fired up.
2. The books/websites etc that I see almost daily now, repeatedly tell me its OK to have those doubts and that everyone else does as well.
3. I tell myself that knowing my weaknesses is the hardest part of solving them.  The rest is just hard work, which I am not afraid of.
4. I have researched enough to know that I will be re-writing, re-writing, re-writing lots and lots, and I have resigned myself to..., nay, I am looking forward to being at that point.
5. I have decided that I will get a content editor and copy editor come hell or high water. 
6. I have decided to self publish and know I will have to put a great team in place to do so. 

All of these things combined will help me polish the book to a standard that I will be happy with.

Anyway I'd appreciate any input from other writers out there.  I am an information sponge at this point.
Have a great day
John