J. Mark Miller | A Writer's Fantasy |

I’ve already made mention of how good I think James Scott Bell’s The Art of War for Writers is, but I’d like to put one of its recommendations into practice. To do so, I’m putting this up for public record.

Chapter 4 of the book talks about discipline as the first step toward victory. One area of discipline is to set writing goals and stick to them. I’ve already discovered this for myself, but in terms of writing there is a further piece of advice which Bell learned from Anthony Trollope.

Write a quota of words every week.

Rather than shoehorning a daily writing goal into a schedule which doesn’t always work out as planned, set a weekly quota based on six days of writing per week. That way, if writing one day goes awry, you can make it up on another day, plus have an extra day for making it up if absolutely necessary.

I still keep a daily record of the number of words I write, but my goal has shifted to a weekly rather than daily quota. Here are the quotas I’m setting for myself, broken up into two separate sets of circumstances.

While Working on Revisions:

• Weekly word quota: 8,000 words (average 1,333 words per day, six days a week)
• Weekly revision quota: 6 chapters (average 1 chapter per day, six days a week)
• Weekly reading quota: 6 chapters (average 1 chapter per day, six days a week; these are writing improvement books, not reading for pleasure)
• Weekly blogging quota: 3 posts per week minimum

While Not Working on Revisions:

• Weekly word quota: 9,000 words (average 1,500 words per day, six days a week)
• Weekly revision quota: 6 chapters (average 1 chapter per day, six days a week)
• Weekly reading quota: 6 chapters (average 1 chapter per day, six days a week)
• Weekly blogging quota: 3 posts per week minimum

Observations

1. The pace of writing new content is only slightly reduced during revision work times. I’ll admit the revision/editing process is one I’ve not fully experienced before, so I may have to come back and adjust some quotas there. I finished my first novel just before NaNoWriMo started, and I set it aside until I finished my second novel just over this last weekend. I now have two 150,000+ word novels ready for revisions.
2. I won’t beat myself up if I don’t reach the daily average. I used to feel bad about not making the daily goal, but since switching to this method, I’m finding myself surpassing the weekly quota by one to two thousands words fairly easily.
3. I wonder if this method will work during NaNoWriMo? At first glance, it looks like it would, making the weekly goal 11,667 words per week. The pace during NaNo is frenzied anyway, but spreading it out over a week makes it seem more manageable. I’m concerned, however, that it takes away one of the largest motivating factors of the event—the daily pressure to produce.
4. How does the brainstorming and planning of new stories work into all this? I’ve always wondered how other authors deal with the planning stages of their works? Are they still writing something everyday in addition to brainstorming, or do they count whatever notes they put down as counting toward a word count? Can anyone comment on this?

How do you set quotas for yourself? What methods or advice can you share that has helped you reach your writing goals.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a big fan of NaNoWriMo. It’s a great way to get people who are on the fence about writing to buckle down and participate. Many who give it try fizzle out quickly, but there are those who stick with the stuff and pound out the minimum 50,000 words. Sure, the vast majority of what is written during the month of November is drivel, but the cream will rise to the top. Some of those who have participated have gone on to become published authors.

Either way, simply sitting down and committing to the writing life is a good thing. Every word written down, whether on paper or in pixels, is a learning experience. This year’s horrible writer goes on to become next year’s mediocre writer who then goes on to be a good then great writer in the future.

If you’re thinking about participating in NaNoWriMo 2010, you might want to get a head start and begin planning your novel now. Worldbuilding, character creation, conflict and resolution, these are all things you can have worked out ahead of time. Start outlining your novel now, and you’ll find writing the minimum word count is really not all that hard because you’re not forcing yourself to make it all up as you go along.

Here are a couple of resources to help you plan things out.

From Lazette Gifford comes a guide to surviving NaNoWriMo. Honestly, I haven’t read through the whole thing myself, but have seen numerous recommendations about the guide mostly because of the section on Phase Outlining. This ebook is full of tips and tricks from a long-time NaNo participant who is herself a published author and editor. Click here: NaNo for the New and the Insane, and download either the PDF version or the MOBI/Kindle version.

From the Young Writer’s Program of NaNoWriMo comes three separate guides for young novelists. Though written for children, adults will find a wealth of wisdom about the basics of writing and composition, especially in the High School edition. Completing these workbooks during November while striving to write a novel may be too much, so download one and go through it ahead of time to be more prepared for the big event. Click Here: Young Novelist Workbooks, and choose your age-appropriate PDF for download.

If you’re a writer who’s been doing little more than plinking around and want to get serious about your art, consider giving NaNoWriMo a try. It might just be the kick in the pants you need.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again. When I’m in the zone, writing like a madman, I find there just does not seem to be enough words within me to write here on the blog if I’ve spent them working on my novel. The shouldn’t make sense, it’s not like there’s a reservoir within that only holds a pre-measured amount of words, but it sure seems that way. That means I’m probably stealing from today’s word count as I type this.

Let’s not think about it.

Anyway, I’m writing so hard because, well, I’m a writer, but also because I have a somewhat self-imposed deadline for the completion of the first draft of Rise of the Sun King. Since this was my NaNoWriMo novel, and I busted through the 50,000 goal, I earned the coveted free proof copy from CreateSpace.

The code is good until July 1, but I want to submit something better than just the first draft. I’d like have at least a round or two of revisions done before uploading what will go to print, and there also some extras I want time to get finished such as maps, a glossary, dramatis personae, and the like. I also don’t want too generic a cover slapped on the thing, even though it’s just a proof copy. That means I need a good solid week in Photoshop to create something that’s not crap.

I just finished up a pretty big deal at work where I spent most of my time editing a movie for a presentation coming up next week. With that all but in the can barring final revisions, I’ve got a whole weekend with nothing to do and nowhere to go.

I wonder if I can finish five chapters or more this weekend?

Happy writing.

I’m done with the word count war, but not the novel. Either way, I’m ecstatic to actually finish 50,000+ words in 30 days. Now to finish the story’s first draft. I figure I’m around 2/3 of the way to completion.

It’s been a fun ride, but now the really hard work begins.

READING: Regenesis by C.J. Cherryh

Word to the wise, moving a brand new blog to a new, self-hosted server while trying to write a minimum of 1,700 words a day don’t mix very well. If you’re one of the three regular readers to my blog and made the transition to the new digs, thanks for coming on over.

Alright, down to business. Remember those last few posts where I griped about not being able to find the flow and focus for writing? I think I’ve found at least one solution.

My daughter has been participating in NaNoWriMo, and she was behind. Since the Thanksgiving holidays afforded extra time off work for me, and days out of school for her, I challenged her to a series of writing sprints over the course of  three days. We did series of 20 minute word sprints, and pretty much rocked our keyboards. Here are some word counts.

• Day #26
  • sprint #1: 618
  • sprint #2: 695
  • sprint #3: 548
  • sprint #4: 374
  • Word count for day #26: 42,956
• Day #27
  • sprint #1: 507
  • sprint #2: 502
  • sprint #3: 534
  • sprint #4: 465
  • sprint #5: 566
  • sprint #6: 728
  • Word count for day #27: 47,258
• Day #28
  • sprint #1: 559
  • sprint #2: 719
  • sprint #3: 421
  • Word count for day #28: 48,954

We ended up only doing three sprints on the 28th because my daughter exceeded her word count for NaNoWriMo. I’m proud of that girl. Writing over 25,000 words in less than 30 days is a killer accomplishment for such a young girl. I’ll admit I slacked off myself after coming within just of 1,000 words. I wrote a little last night, and I have less 800 words to go to declare myself a NaNoWriMo winner.

Then I have to finish the story, then go back to my other manuscript and resume revisions. The writing life never ends.

Word count for day #29: 49,278

READING: Soldiers Live (Chronicles of The Black Company)

There must be some kind of 1,000 word barrier behind which lurks an inspiration sucking monster that steals 90% of your words. I rocked along full of optimism until I passed the triple zero mark, and then everything just fell apart.

I was unable to concentrate and every word I wrote seemed to be the wrong one. I sloughed through for today’s necessary word count.

I finally gave up and finished read the Black Company saga. The ending was very un-Black Company-like, but satisfying none the less. Now I think I’ll look for some good sci-fi to read. I tend to alternate back and forth between fantasy and sci-fi so I don’t get too burned out.

There’s still a couple of hours left before midnight, so I might try knocking a few more words out and getting ahead. It would be nice to end NaNoWriMo early.

Have a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow

Word count for day #25: 41,697

READING: Soldiers Live (Chronicles of The Black Company)

Yet another mixed day of hitting keys on the laptop to magically form somewhat coherent phrases and clauses. I was able to knock out a thousand some-odd words in around an hour after being inspired by some more afternoon NaNoWriMo twitter word sprints.

Then the morass of molasses hit and I got extremely bogged down.

Ok, ok, I’ll confess. It was actually the year’s final episode of V that knocked me off pace—let’s hear it for 80s nostalgia. Then it was the finale of Dancing with the Stars during which we were all rooting for Kelly. I think I managed a couple hundred words during the commercials over those three hours.

Later on I was able to pull out the necessary word count for the day plus a little extra. Tomorrow is only a half day at work, and my evening is free. I’ve challenged my daughter to a word count war. She’ll have more time available, so it’s very possible she could burn me. She did 1,300 in about an hour and a half tonight.

For the record, I STILL didn’t get to that fight scene. It’s mere paragraphs away, but it sure took a lot longer to get there than I expected. You other writers out there understand what that means. There’s going to be a lot of fluff cut out of the last few day’s work of writing whenever NaNoReVisMo comes around after the New Year.

I promise I’m not using useless adverbs to boost my word count, honest.

As a side note to the three subscribed readers of this blog, I’ll actually be moving to a self-hosted domain in the next few days. I hope you’ll make the move with me.

Word count for day #24: 40,138

READING: Soldiers Live (Chronicles of The Black Company)

Quite the mixed bag of writing today. Our family went to a staff Thanksgiving party tonight, and I was in charge of making the stuffing. After a day in the office, I spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen, making stuffing from scratch for the first time in my life (I think).

It tasted great if I do say so myself.

I did avail myself of the time it was in the oven cooking to run some writing sprints. I think I pumped out somewhere around 700 words in two 20 minute sprints. By then it was time to take my stuffing and run.

Once we got home, I realized i was the stuffed turkey. Do you know how hard it is to concentrate while you’ve got tryptophan coursing through your veins? Do you?

Nevertheless, 1,000 words somehow materialized on my screen to help me reach today’s writing goal. I’m a little bummed though, I still didn’t get to that fight scene yet, but we’re very, very close. It was all Silver Hair and Bread Girl’s fault. They just couldn’t make up their minds.

Word count for day #23: 38,420

READING: Soldiers Live (Chronicles of The Black Company)

Today nearly went down in NaNoWriMo history as the day I didn’t write squat.

Sundays are a work day for me, the most exhausting day of the week. Though the hours are not long, they’re intense. In the past I’ve been able to get some writing done in the afternoon, then finish up later at night.

Today called for a nap, then an early Thanksgiving dinner.

Once I was back home, I let myself be distracted by the AMAs, local news, and British comedies on PBS. 11 PM rolled around and I hadn’t written a word.

I fired up Twitter to be reminded tonight was the Night of Writing Dangerously. They were tweeting about doing writing sprints, and it was enough to finally inspire me to turn everything off and give writing a go.

By 11:58 PM I had posted an update to my NaNoWriMo profile to show a total of 1,234 words in less than an hour. Though this was short of the daily goal, I was stoked. I kept on for another half hour and racked up 1,652 for the “day.”

Sorry, there won’t be a scene update for the day other than to say I’ve finally brought things around to set up a fight scene I’ve had fully formed in my head for some days now. That’s on tomorrow’s agenda.

Word count for day #22: 36,683

READING: Soldiers Live (Chronicles of The Black Company)

Man, I really need to find out where my happy writing place is and set up shop. Today was a struggle to stay focused. I was finally able to beat out the minimum word count for today. Over the course of the last eight hours or so I’ve been able to complete a phrase here, a sentence there, sometimes even an entire paragraph at once.

If I learn nothing else from this year’s NaNoWriMo, it will be the fact I need to come up with a routine of some kind. I’m still in a hobby mindset, and I don’t think that will equal eventual success.

Story-wise, Haun has relinquished all of the investigation regarding the Stone King and Kei to Eyses and his brethren. With the addition of the Apostate to the mix, there’s no one in Haun’s department equipped for the job.

Mubattan introduces Glance to the Path of the Hand, and Tinker tells us his reasons for rejecting the Path. Glance on the other hand is complete sold on the idea, and already has it in her head to start proselytizing.

Meanwhile, Sultry attempted to sneak in and see Mirtra overnight, but so far he’s been tight-lipped on his success, or lack thereof.

Word count for day #21: 35,031