My Personal Writing Challenge for January till the 31st

My personal challenge starting January 6 is 2000 words a day every day till the 31st, minus the 13th when I go meet my CP in Birmingham. That's about a chapter every 2 days. I need to make this a bigger book even though it is entered as a category in the Golden Heart. I can cut words and make a category cut if an editor requests it from me. But my goal is 90,000 words.

I'm not sure if I can do it. I can easily make this a category book. I only need 10-15,000 more words. The good news is that I almost have that length. I just went through the scenes and synopses each one into a few sentences and made notes for scenes I still have to write. Now I am ready to clean up what I have and tighten the writing grammatically.  

Next I will import some scene ideas and dialogue from my old classic -- the scenes are there and written and all I have to do is make them sing for my characters in this current WIP. Then the hard part of cobbling together more scenes and making the book complete will begin.

It's a heavy task, but I have my index card ready to roll with my word count goal, the days' numbers written and my mind set on working every day. I don't care if there is snow, ice, days off, weekends, or meetings. I must do this and be ready to send something off to my critique partners and readers by the 1st of February.

This is why I set goals. Now I have a mini map to reach my destination.

Onward ho!

Work and Work and Work...

Today I did the usual mundane crapola. Drove DD to inane *required elective* necessary to graduate summer school class, walked for an hour with my PW buddy, and wrote. I reworked chapter 14 and started on chapter 15. Got 3 scenes worked out. But will they ever be finished? Probably not.

Got to speak to my BF in Canada for an hour. We had arranged it prior to today and I was glad for the break. I wish I could be into her world: kids, decorating, painting, family, traveling. But no, I must flog myself continually for no pay because I am driven to write. 

We writers are strange creatures.

Am on the loop for chapter contest coordinator. They might not like how I do, but I am free labor and I want to help. Very good credentials.

Am worrying about DD who is presently at a *camp rehearsal* and dealing with the rain, lots of other more chaste young ladies (it is a Mormon camp... don't ask... we're not Mormon). 

Now I am finished for the day and eager to get the next chapter PUT TO BED... literally. Hehe.

Book in a Week-Day Two

I got up this morning and my head was filled with bits and pieces for various parts of the story. I scribbled them down on post-its, brewed coffee, and poured water, and came into my office. I layered those bits in first, so I wouldn’t lose them, into the scenes where I felt they belonged. Then I went back to the scene I’d planned to start on and started working. I wrote pretty much all day, with a break for Wii twice (must move), and lunch. I poured a glass of vino about an hour ago and plunked onward. I had a few family interruptions (honey where are the donations receipts….for taxes? And by the way I had already given them to him, so he lost them—and what kind of ink do you need??). I managed to help hubby with clarifying that I didn’t have tax receipts, got darling daughter to unload dishwasher, held up hand in silencio when they came near my French office doors and tried to get my attention, and kept plodding on. I fizzled out about now.

So grand totals:
9,067 words
7 scenes since yesterday, one added scene
Have names for hero/heroine (first) and his partner
Have descriptions of her friends on index cards
Have notes for tomorrow
Learned washing hair is really really good for inspiration. I figured out a lot about how she’ll know him. And I am excited about that revelation.
Learned my inner critic turns on in the afternoons and needs LOTS of beatings and time outs—but she can be silenced
Learned that inner motivation and what drives my characters internally needs to be written out and it is my way of discovering who they are—lots of sequel type, introspection, writing and am in their heads a lot—so what if the world wants all the action? I can layer that in later.

Saved it all to memory stick as well as to hard drive.