Writing Over 20,000 Words in a Day

I wasn't sure I would ever get here.  Honestly, when I started writing again, squeezing out six thousand words in a day burned me out.

But this weekend, I set a goal for 10,000 words during a 24-hour competition of word wars. After getting woken up by cats at 4:30 am, I started writing.  I managed 1,600 before crawling back into bed (it was 5:00 am, could you blame me?). I woke up again at 7:30 am, a more appropriate time.  I wrote.  I didn't stop writing until my dearest husband made us breakfast - then I only stopped to eat.

By 4:00 pm, I finished my novelette, a semi-comedic dystopian.  It stands at 19,380 words.

Since I hadn't broken 20,000, I switched gears and wrote a few more thousand for No Sugar Coating.  My grand total of the day was 21,968 words.

A lot of people commented on my status updates and said I was a machine (okay, maybe I said that I was a machine).  I kind of felt like it that day.  My fingers kept writing in this weird autopilot.  It was my writing and me, nothing else came into play.

It was a little bizarre to finish the entire novelette in one day, almost like I had watched a friend grow up in the span of nine hours.

I wanted to share some tips on how I made this possible.

1. If you have a significant other, get him/her to support you for the day (like making food).  You may owe them a few back rubs.  If you don't have a partner in crime, be prepared with meals you can heat, eat, then resume writing.
2. Outline, outline, outline.  I'm usually write by the seat of my pants.  A lot of writers do this, and I used to love doing it.  But I've seen the light. Outlines can really save you from making weird little plot bunnies that don't end up going anywhere.  They can also help you stay focused.  I wrote 2,000 words in my outline.  2k for a 19k piece seems excessive, but my characters stayed on track.
3. Read over your outline the night before.  In fact, you should be thinking about your story almost constantly in the days leading up to this! 
4. Give yourself a reasonable goal.  Pass it.  Then keep writing.  I started with 10k.  Once I finished that and saw how early it was, I said, "I can do this."  Set my next goal for 15k.  Finished that, still had time.  So 20k it was.
5. Don't sweat the small stuff.  You will have grammatical errors and probably a lot of typos.  This is your rough draft.  It does not have to be perfect.  Can't think of the right word?  Find a quick filler and keep going.
6. Reward yourself.  If you achieve your first goal, you should allow yourself to do something that you don't normally do or buy a little something for yourself.  In my case, I bought more books.  (ALL THE BOOKS).

It's possible.  It takes a lot of focus, some fun and friendly competition, a super supportive group of people (thank you husband and members of the G+ community!!), and tons of motivation.

Any of you have big writing goals planned?  How do you approach a full day of writing?

Oh, and be on the lookout for upcoming news of my novelette.  I plan on releasing it in July, but there will be plenty of sneak peeks and information before then!

No Sugar Coating Update

My original intention for No Sugar Coating was to make it into a light and fluffy book.  One that you could pick up, read in an afternoon, and put down feeling happy/emotionally satisfied.  After outlining and writing the first few chapters, I realized it was the opposite.  While you can, and should, fall in love with Hailey, her story is atrociously depressing at times.

It's her character that makes her so interesting to write.  She has moments of teen angst, where she's disgruntled with the world. But most of her moments consist of this strange acceptance of the universe as it currently stands.  Hailey's voice tends to be sincere and poignant, which is why it has been so fun to develop her character.

It ranges from the ridiculousness below:

I glanced around my room, and not having anything better to do for ten minutes, I opened up my book for English. I swear, if I had to read one more depressing poem about the tragedies of mortality, I was going to force myself to barf all over this book and tell my teacher that my dog did it. 

I didn't have a dog, but I figured the puke filled pages would be proof in themselves. 

To something a bit more meaningful:

I found the concept funny. It was amusing that normal people, people without my "problem," would fret over something as undeniably true as the past.

I fell in love with Hailey because she has so many layers.  She wants that first high school love and simple things that the rest of us take for granted.  I think her "problem" only adds to her voice.

I've written 24,000 words so far with an original goal of 45,000 (to self-publish as a novella).  But the more time I spend writing Hailey's story, the longer I want it to be.  Considering I just finished Part 2 out of 5, I doubt her story will fit inside the 45k words anymore.  I hope to finish her story by the end of this month.

While I want instant gratification (share Hailey with all the readers!), I will wait until the book is fully edited and actually done properly.  I refuse to sentence readers to reading a book littered with grammatical errors and typos.

Progress

I know editing is important, incredibly so.  But when I'm editing, I feel like I'm stagnant.  It's a frustrating feeling, especially when I have so many things to finish, polish, and improve.

Thankfully, this month brings a different tactic, since I'm determined to make progress with No Sugar Coating, I am writing a little bit every day.  Editing is taking place in my downtime, but it's still happening.  I have so much to do with Where We Collide before I can fully count it as "decent enough to query."  It does stand much better than the original, so I'm happy in regards to that.

RUHE, however, is going to take a complete backseat.  It was my first finished manuscript.  Perhaps somewhere down the road, I'll take it out of the box and dust it off, when I feel like making a darker story, "going there" instead of easing off at the last moment.  For now, I'm quite content to focus on my other two projects.

In other news, I've been reading, a lot.  I've rediscovered the wonders of audiobooks.  I know that sounds silly, but when I first listened to books on CD they were all kind of done in the same, drab narration.  Now, they are punchy, have impact, and it's almost like watching a movie unfold.

The wonders of technology and the world we live in:  I love it.  I can listen to an audiobook, read a physical book at lunch, and take my ebooks anywhere I'd like.  At this moment, I have three books in progress, one in each format.  I think I'm honestly making up for lost time.  So many days of my life were spent hating books because of my "required readings."  But I wonder, now that I'm older and more in love with lyrical writing, if I would get more out of reading the classics now than I did then.

Maybe some day I'll revisit my old, required readings and see what I make of them.  For now, I'm having too much fun getting lost in young adult literature, new and old.

Almost 200 Followers

One follower away from almost 200 has me thinking.  I should probably make a post with my favorite quotes from all of my current works in progress.  Short and sweet, but fun fun fun.

"My Summer Vacation by Terrance Wade" - Short Story, Humor
My dad always told me, "Terrance, if you see your mom trying to get in through that door, you lock it - you understand?"  So when my mom comes in through the window, I'm thankful it's not that door.

Rioss - YA GBLT Urban Fantasy
He opened his mouth to answer me, but before he could get any words out black and red bile spewed from his mouth.

RUHE - YA Contemporary
Delia threw her arms out in an elaborate gesture.  "My messenger name is Delialovesyou.  I know, super cute, right?  Totally.”

Soul Therapy - YA Paranormal Romance
She never really could get used to the underlying sense of desire he exuded. It oozed out, and he always seemed too eager, which is why Jess hadn’t done anything with him. She hadn’t decided if he was worth it.

2042 - Science Fiction

    "Okay, no, really... who put you up to this?  Albert?"  I hollered down the hallway.  Albert poked his head out of the office.  I got up out of my chair and pointed to the machine thing, it was still reaching for me.  "Did you get this guy?  What is it, a new kind of robot-ogram?" Albert walked towards me and stopped as he saw the clunking machine.  The machine's eye refocused on Albert.

    "Albert Stevenson?"

    "Kayla, I think you should..."  Albert stammered out a few words before the robot interrupted him.

    "Albert Stevenson, you should really return those DVDs."  Its voice boomed.  Albert's face whitened.

Good Criminal Heart - YA GBLT
Blood trickled down the back of my head and my knuckles were dropping blood.  My blood, and Nick’s blood, in one beautiful mess that spread throughout the hallway floor.

Kingdom of Obsession - Contemporary
“But nothing, Cat.  You and David split for the same reason in my ‘dream.’”  I rolled by eyes, “And mom only found her cancer because of the accident that never happened… but did happen.  In my...” Other life, second life, dream, memory, “Whatever, it was as if that accident never happened.”

That's all the teasers I have for today.  Rioss is officially in the hands of an editor!  And yes, it is one that I am paying for, but she's crazy amazing, and I'm excited for her feedback.  I have a good feeling about this one, folks!