Yay! My journal posting schedule is back on track after last week’s WordPress editor issues. As you can probably guess, with the tech issues, things didn’t go quite as planned.
Review 24th – 30th June 2021
My Writing Goals for Last Week
- Complete Editorial Pass #7 (of 7): Odds and Ends (Sparking Story Drafts) for Running The Asset*.
- Action Steps (AS) 41b
*You may or may not have noticed that Working The Asset is now Running The Asset. The more I thought of the premise, a spy handling a civilian asset, the more I realised that “running” was a far better word. Also, I did a Google search on the original title and it spat out loads of accounting websites–so not the vibe I’m going for. 😁
Did I Achieve My Goal?
Nope.
How Not?
Much of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were lost to dealing with getting the backend of the site back to normal. For some reason, even though I tried to work on action step 41 B, the website seemed to be far more pressing.
By Friday, I had an inkling of why anything but the task at hand was more important. I couldn’t stomach sitting there redoing all of the cards non-storp for the final time. It wasn’t that the final version was lacklustre or the same old content; it wasn’t. It was that once I’d finished a scene card, I was desperate to write it — not go straight into the next card.
I argued with myself that following the action steps had gotten me this far and that it’d be insane to abandon the method for no good reason. But, I decided to persevere.
Halfway through Saturday, I finally understood the problem. I have a set way of writing scenes. It evolved over several months of doing Genre Scribes.
The way it works for me is to make a scene outline by hand. About an hour or so later I write the scene as fast as I can longhand and then transfer it into Scrivener in a more coherent form.
Basic scene outline for Genre Scribes: Torch
Working through Sparkling Story Drafts, my scene outline requirements have become more sophisticated, but the method/mechanics are exactly the same.
Reaction scene outline for Running The Asset (setting and stage business details are on the back)
Knowing that the complete outline is sound, though each seen card is a bit messy and a tad jumbled, I decided to do the final action step as and when I get to the remaining scenes.
By the end of Sunday, I had the first 1221 words of Running the Asset in Scrivener. And on Monday — a very short fractured work morning — I added another 277 words. I now have 1498 words — the first scene is done, and the second is underway.
At the beginning of June, I shared my goals for the month. My over-the-top goal was to have all the editorial edits completed and the first 10K words done. In my head, if I’d accomplished half of that, I’d have been happy. So, having the first 1498 words down is a huge win!
June’s Kanban Board
For July, my goal is simple, add another 23K words to the manuscript.
July’s Kanban Board
This Week’s Goal
- Write 5000 words for Running The Asset
This will be a day’s work to many writers, but I don’t want to pile too much on and have a CRPS flare up and fall way behind. If I find this to be a breeze, then I will re-evaluate.
Schedule
| Thursday | July goals, Kanban board, blog post |
| Friday | Write 1000 words |
| Saturday | Write 1000 words |
| Sunday | Write 1000 words |
| Monday | Write 1000 words |
| Tuesday | Write 1000 words |
| Wednesday | Day off–bike ride |
On each of my writing days, I’ll try to share wee word count status updates.
Until next time, thanks for stopping by, and take care.
Susan
Defo like the new title, Susan. It immediately conjures up that ‘spy vibe’. I really get your way of scene writing with those example. It makes perfect sense. I ask those questions after I’ve done the first draft, but then I write like a Cape Buffalo (charge first, ask questions later). 1000 words a day is a good, steady pace and it seems a realistic goal. Go for it!!
Thank you, Chris! It’s so good to hear how other writers go about scene planning.
I love your analogy!
Thanks for the vote of confidence and the encouragement. 🤩
How’s your writing going?
Only a pleasure re encouragement, Susan! I’m getting on pretty well, thanks. I’m on the home straight and should complete the first draft by mid-August. Then there comes the read through and rejig: completion date unknown.
Well done, you! You’re really going great guns now. I’m so impressed with your ability to not only draft a novel but to continually post new fiction for your site. You’re an inspiration, Chris! 🤩
That’s so nice of you to say, Susan. Thank you 🙂 Losing most of my clients last year and taking early retirement certainly has its perks time-wise.
Sorry about losing your clients. I’ve heard of a lot people losing clients last year. You’re doing the right thing by putting your time into creating more books.
Far more enjoyable!