2014 is the Year for Finishing

2014 will be the year of finishing.

I'm not very good at New Year's resolutions. I tend to break them rather quickly. Sure, I'd love to eat better and exercise more. I'm thinking that there will be some weeks where I believe myself. 

But, this year I am focusing on finishing things. 

1. When I start a story, I will finish it, no matter how terrible.
2. I will finish a novel that I start. 
3. I will submit polished materials. 
4. I will eat better and exercise. 

Okay, well, that last one may or may not happen on a regular basis. But, I'll keep it in mind. I really mean the first things, though. 

I will finish. I will submit. I will publish. 

Daily Words

My goal is to try to put words down every day, no matter how few. Today, I got a measly 5 words on "Half Life." Although, I did do another 41 words in notes for another story. 

Okay, so it's a pathetic count, but words went on the page. 

The Best Writing Advice I've Ever Received Was From a Dead Man

There are a few pieces of writing advice that I keep around me whenever I'm writing. This is one of the best.

The inner editor is my own personal demon. He gnaws on my creative bones and sucks out the marrow. He sits back on his haunches and picks at the meat of my story. He mocks my prose. He does a very good job of trying to stop me from writing. 

I repeat this phrase all the way through a first draft. I'm a great starter, but a terrible finisher in pretty much all projects. My hard drive is littered with the bodies of formerly good ideas, shot down by the inner editor until I'm too paralyzed to start again. 

So, I recite this mantra as I write, whispered out on my creative Japa Mala. 


It seems to help. Mostly, to keep my vision looking forward. One of these days, I'll drag my inner editor into an alley and leave his body in a dumpster.

In the meantime, I would really like to find someone with cross stitching skills who could make me a nice little Hemingway with that quote up there. 

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Daily Words

Today got 753 words on "Half Life" in 15 minutes (used the Google Timer). Up to 3755 on this story.

Will probably hit my original prediction of about 5000. Most likely I'll revise it down to 3500. I think that's a good space for this one. So looking forward to revision.

In other news, waiting for any notes or material on my Shotgun Honey acceptance. Pretty excited to be accepted. It's a fun read. I'm a huge fan fiction of 1000 words or less. I like the confines of the space. When you pare a story down to 100-1000 words, you have make some really hard choices and really think about how much you can pack into a single word.

Every noun and verb really has to pull its weight. It's lean. It's snappy (thinking of Tom Hanks in That Thing You Do.)

Daily Words

Good times, bad times. 161 words on "Half Life."

Daily Words

872 words on "Half Life." Aiming to get into a groove of 1000 a day. 

Daily Words

No words on Christmas day. It was busy.

But, today, I did 249 on "Half Life." Getting there. Slowly.

Daily Words

It's Christmas Eve. Got 398 words on "Half Life." This story will probably hit between 3000 and 5000 words by the time it's finished. Then, it will mellow on the shelf until I do a second draft. 

Daily Words

Not a particularly productive day, but 463 words on "Half Life." Of course, it is the holidays. 

I'm not a big fan of of writing a first draft. I'm much more excited about the editing portion. Going through the next drafts is much more interesting to me because that's when the story really starts to look like a story.

I'm sure it's the same with art. 

It's that way with music. The hardest part of a song is getting everyone to learn their parts...it's not until later does the song actually sound like something someone wants to listen to...

Accountability

One of the toughest aspects of writing is accountability. One is only accountable to one's self. For those of us who are externally motivated, this can be a huge challenge. Intellectually, I know that I should be writing daily. It's easy doing the math, but harder to actually complete in pratice.

So, to force some accountability on myself, I'm going to log my word counts as best as I can. 

Today was a light day: 852 words on a story called "Half Life." 

Of course, this included plenty of time downloading games for by boys on their Kindles. So, lots of distractions. 

Better luck tomorrow.