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.

April Goals

March went by and was decently successful.  I have 23,000 words written of No Sugar Coating, my YA Magical Realism piece.  Though, I think calling it Science Fiction and putting it under "Psychic powers" or something like that might be more accurate?  It's contemporary, except the one, magical element.  Which, these days, can arguably be either Magical Realism or Paranormal.

Where We Collide has four chapters left of first edit of the third complete rewrite.  My critique partners have gotten me feedback on most of the chapters.  I still need to work on this throughout the month, but I'm really close!  I did rewrite my not-so-great query letter, so that least that's done.

I need to edit/rework the synopsis, focus on the first five-ten pages, and then send off queries.  I am so excited!

This month, I also plan on finishing No Sugar Coating.  Depending on the length, I might hold off on self-publishing and consider maybe seeking an agent for it.  But if it ends up being novella length (my original intention), I'll self-pub.  If I ends up being over 55k, then I might seek traditional publishing.  I think it's a great story, I'm really proud of it.

And of course, April brings the dreaded Write-a-thon day.  On April 13th, a few friends and I are participating in Camp NaNo's write-a-thon, but we've put our own twist on it.  I'm excited, and nervous.  In preparation, I've been outlining my top-secret-novelette project (which has a name that I won't announce until I get closer to the release date).  It's YA Comedic Dystopian (that's the only sneak peek you're getting).  I plan on writing it in one weekend, and I'm aiming for 20k.  I figure if I outline enough then I might be able to pull it off.

So now I have a bunch of new goals, which include self-publishing the top-secret project by mid-June/early-July and creating an IndieGogo for The Unanswerable.

Yay for new projects!  And yay for almost finishing old projects!

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.

March on!

Okay, I know I'm a day early, but bring it, March!

I fought with February, goal wise.  We threw down, took the gloves off, and went three rounds.  In the end, this is what I accomplished:

• Edited 60k of Where We Collide (10k left)
• Plotted the entirety of No Sugar Coating
• Wrote 8k of No Sugar Coating

Things I missed:  Finish CPing (still working on it - so grateful that my CP is understanding!), writing all of Part One for No Sugar Coating, and of course, editing the entirety of Where We Collide.

I read seven books in February.  My husband and I joke that I'm now addicted to reading.  I think he's right.  I continue to go to the library and buy books when they are on sale.  I have 10 books on my desk that are all unread. Maybe I'm just a book hoarder...  Better than the other alternatives, I suppose!

March Goals:

• Finish editing Where We Collide - get it to CPs
• Finish CPing
• Write 20k of No Sugar Coating
• Consider editing RUHE - discuss with Betas/CPs if they think it might be better if I make it darker...  I still feel like it's not as strong as it could be

RUHE might be completely on hold until I finish other projects.  I want to accomplish tangible goals - and right now, RUHE is rather directionless. 

Just to update my word count, I've written 46,768 words this year!  Okay, okay, I included some rewrites, but hey, that's work/words towards my end goal.  So I have a right to brag about it just a little bit ;)

Feeling good about March, since the majority of the edits are done, I'm excited to start my new project in earnest.