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Wednesday Check in

“There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
Somerset Maugham

The Dreaded Middle is approaching - how is everyone faring?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Check-In, Sven. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

32 Responses to “Wednesday Check in”

  1. Kim Knox Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 6:19 am

    I was naughty and had an idea for an anthology that’s taking submissions by mid May. So Fracture is dribbling along and this new story has 5k since Monday. *squee*

    That takes my Sven count to: 41 367.

  2. Jaci Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 7:33 am

    Back in the swing of writing again now that I got all the other projects out of the way. 7800 words the first two days this week! :-)

  3. Amy Ruttan Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 7:44 am

    3,774 since my last check in. It’s not a lot but it’s something in the midst of my dreaded hayfever.

  4. deniz Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 7:50 am

    I have big things planned for this weekend, I swear I’m at 60,000 and need to edit and cut and add and should be at roughly 80,000 by the end. Eep!

  5. Zoe Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 8:29 am

    I’ve been in the Dreaded Middle for weeks; things are finally starting to look up. I’m two-thirds of the way through the story, and my enthusiasm may actually be starting to pick up again.

  6. Portia Da Costa Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 8:31 am

    Amazingly, I’ve managed to start writing again. Working on a short… It’s not inspired stuff, but at least it’s work that can be edited.

    I’ve failed so abysmally in the last couple of weeks that I’m not going to talk about numbers, but just to be writing *some* words at all is rather pleasing after such a drought.

  7. Heather Harper Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 9:06 am

    Trying to do a fast draft starting yesterday. Received some very good time management tips. Now I just have to use them. ;)

  8. Sarai Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:01 am

    I was finally able to sit down and write last night for a couple of hours and cranked out 6,000 bringing the total up to 26,000 for the re-write. On Sunday figured out where my main story was going so plan to work on it tonight!

  9. Mechele Armstrong Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:18 am

    Edits, RT preparation, school functions, kidlet injuries and kidlet sickies have taken their toll on my writing. Uggh.

    I’m at about 2500 for the week and 38750 for Sven. I hope to do better after RT *sigh*.

  10. Jerri Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 11:23 am

    Still moving forward, though I really wanted to cave today. Total since I started, 42,434 words.

  11. Karen Erickson Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 12:35 pm

    I’ve written 7561 words since Sunday. Moving along ok. :)

  12. Xidu Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    It’s been slow going this week with work and general ennui about writing. I’ve got revisions/edits to work on for the rest of the week then I’m going to retire a troublesome WiP for a while and get to work on another. I passed 51k yesterday but can’t be more precise than that LOL.

  13. Amanda Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    Ride on, cowboy!!! So far this week I’m up 3481 words, but I’m still writing today. Thanks to Mr. Seeley Booth (played by David Boreanaz) for the extra inspiration over night. I got over my imaginary hump which was the sparring scene and took out a part that was too early to save for later. We’ll see what the week can do.

  14. Jess Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 2:31 pm

    I haven’t written since my last check-in - but I *did* find a job. I’ll be working 20-35 hours at Barnes and Noble, which is such a relief to finally have a job and I love it there; I’ve worked at the same store in the past. Maybe now I can actually get some writing done instead of stressing and spending five hours on craigslist.

  15. Shiloh Walker Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    Best week I’ve had in a while, even though I spent some time at the doc’s today because the monster has strep…again… Including today’s WC, I’ve done 10k since last check in on Sunday.

    Keep going everybody!

  16. Xidu Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    Jess, congratulations on getting a job!!! :D Hope you can concentrate with all those yummy books around you!

  17. Kathleen Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    What do you mean APPROACHING. It’s HERE honey. Once I finish the scene I’m in the midst of, I have no idea what happens next! I am no where near going to make my words this week while I”m on vacation. But I will consider myself lucky if I figure out the next chunk of my plot.

  18. Sandie Hudson Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    The last three days have been an improvement on last week as a whole. I’ve written 3,569 words, so I’m heading in the right direction again. I Hope.

    Catch up with you all on Sunday.

    Hugs
    Sandie

  19. Brandi Bradley Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

    It seems I have fallen off the efficiency wagon. I have not worked anymore on my project, but I’m in the middle of a rewrite for a book I finished in February.

  20. Thomma Lyn Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 7:13 pm

    Oh dear — after 240 pages and almost 60,000 words, I hit a huge wall in my WIP: discovered inconsistencies in my world-building elements. I came upon a solution — a revelatory solution that is simple and elegant. But the problem is that the solution requires almost a complete rewrite of what I’d already written. Some can be salvaged, but not much.

    So… *sigh*, I won’t be upping word count for the near future — instead, I’m hard at work restructuring, then I’ll be rewriting. It’ll take probably the rest of the Sweat Challenge for me to catch up, word count wise, to where I was.

    But despite the setback, I’m feeling good about the prognosis of my WIP — it’s setbacks like these that can help a writer really hone in on her story.

  21. Darillian (J. Carter) Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 7:37 pm

    I have been taking this last several days to edit and rewrite the first few chapters of my WIP to fit into 20 pages for a contest. I worked on the synopsis the last few days after getting to the required 20 pages and well written and making sense. I’m feeling pretty good about it, actually. I think it really tightened up the story, and though I will probably add a few things back in eventually, I will keep the main set up the same as I have changed it to. I ended up cutting an entire chapter. So, since Sunday I did the synopsis, whish will be revamped and edited and all in the next couple days until it is the way I want it. Since Sunday, 2089 words of synopsis. Once I get that nicely done, I send it all off, and cross my fingers that I’m early enough to be included in the running - and that it’s good enough to eompete. *eeeeee*

    Then I’ll start working of the new stuff again. I am quite please with the creatures and worlds I am creating, though. :)

    I am wya behind everyone i word count for the challenge, though. I think I’ll keep to my pace and be happy with it, for now.

  22. Jen P Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 8:14 pm

    It’s been going amazingly well! I’ve been writing longhand, and, on Friday, I plan to type everything up and get a word count.

    Good luck, Darillian! :-D

  23. Maria Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 8:30 pm

    My pace finally picked up yesterday and today. I’m still switching back and forth between WIPs though. I hate doing that, lol. I hope to settle on one soon…

  24. Erin Kendall Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 9:14 pm

    Did not write much this week so far b/c of a nasty bout of the flu, but I’m slowly inching up there. 34,657 to date.

    Cheers,
    EK

  25. Joely Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 9:57 pm

    I broke 35K tonight, but still a very long ways to go. I was hoping to finish the first draft for Sven but I might not make it.

  26. Nayad Monroe Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:14 pm

    I’m up to 33,300 today, and since I’m writing short stories, I’m not having as hard a time with being in the middle as I would if this were a novel. My worst problem now is trying to squeeze in time to revise some of the stories I wrote last month, but I’m not complaining. :)

  27. Jennette Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:22 pm

    Just hit 43k, so still on schedule. But ugh, it seems to be getting harder each week. Or maybe it’s just the dreaded middle?

  28. Diana Pharaoh Francis Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:39 pm

    Making some progress, though not as much as I want. Up to about 43K. Things have been slow for this week. Today was better. Hopefully I’ll get back on track. I’m not unhappy about my progress, just wishing it was more.

    Di

  29. Leah Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 11:59 am

    Kinda late! But I am now 4 pp into chapter 8 and have outlined the rest of it, so I expect it to go fast.

  30. Lauren Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 8:46 pm

    My parents are here, my kids are on vacation and I’m trying to keep my mind together until I leave for RT! But I got a lot done last night and I’m managing to hit my word count each day, thank goodness.!

  31. Merry Says:
    April 11th, 2008 at 2:52 am

    Late check in for me.
    Did edits on a piece that came out in the Nothing But Red anthology on Monday.
    Re-wrote start of short story and then I’ve managed to do more on that.
    Did brief outline for another short story/ novelette to work on later.

    That’s about it. Not a lot as far as word count goes. I admit, I’m probably procrastinating somewhat because I’ve have 20K to type up from longhand notes and I’ve been avoiding that slightly by working on new stuff. I’m away this weekend and will have no access to a pc so it’ll be longhand again. But, when I get back, I will crack on and put that novella to bed. ::Promise::

  32. Diane J Standiford Says:
    April 11th, 2008 at 3:33 am

    I did so lttle, taxes, death, missing Alzheimer’s mom, exhausting week.it up…

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