Continuing to Learn, While Trying to Finish

If you've followed along since January, you know what I've been trying to do this year.  If you haven't, no worries.  I decided to start writing more and take things more seriously this year...And more seriously means actually finishing things, not just starting them!

I began with two projects, eventually scrapping one when I realized that two things going at the same time was not worth the trouble at this point in my writing.  I really hadn't planned either project.  I just started writing when an idea hit me.  The trouble is, that's the same thing I had done over and over again, and that leads to a paragraph or two and then nothing.  This time was different though.  I would finish something, so putting the secondary project away, I plugged away at the primary.

Almost four full months into 2013, I can happily say that I'm almost finished...with a first draft anyway.  With a little luck, I'll be done in about a week. (hopefully less)  My "novel" did not turn out to be novel length however and I'm okay with that.  (close to 20,000 words so far)  So not a novel, just a story and admittedly a flawed one.  A learning experience, if you will?

So you say, what did I learn?  First and foremost is to have a plan.  Do an outline for goodness sake.  At least for me, I need it.  The pants-er experiment has been a failure for me.  I know it works for some very successful writers, but not me.  From now on, I want a plan before I start.

The second thing is to know your characters.  Know who they are, what they want and how they would act in a certain situation.  Your characters will bring your story to life if you bring them to life.  I need to work on my characters more before I can tell my story.

Third and not necessarily last, but the last thing tonight is to know your world.  Whether you're building a fantasy world or telling a story in your backyard, you need to know your world.  I don't believe you need to take as long as Tolkien to build your world, but at least put down some notes about how stuff works.  You will probably need more for a fantasy world than the real one so that you'll have something to refer back to when you have questions about things in your world.  They will come up, trust me.

The thing that is frustrating me now though, is that while I'm close to finishing, I don't know just how to end it.  I just know that it's time for it to end.  Oh well, that's a puzzle for me to figure on.  I should be on that, so I'm off to go write 'n stuff.

The Magic Spreadsheet

Around the start of the year, I decided that I would start writing.  Not that I’ve never written before, I’ve just never taken it seriously.  Like so many others I would start projects and those projects, once started, would fall by the wayside fairly quick.  No one is really at fault for that, right?  Life’s busy after all, and who has time to write?

I spent a lot of time listening to podcast before starting to write.  Mostly “Writing Excuses” with Brandon Sanderson, Howard Taylor, Dan Wells and Mary Robinette Kowal.  It’s a great podcast, and the knowledge that I gleaned from that podcast was my main inspiration to start writing.

That kick in the pants was not enough to make me write consistently though.  I would write one day and not the next, then maybe not the next either.  Days would pass with no words being put down.  I was busy.  I’ve got a family, a job and all sorts of other stuff to do.  “I’ll write when I get caught up,” I would tell myself.

 

If this is you, then let me tell you something.  You are never going to get caught up! 

It’s frustrating when you’re trying to do something and there is always something else in the way of what you want to do.  Well, Never fear, The Magic Spreadsheet is here.  I’ve got to thank Mur Lafferty for her podcast, “I Should Be Writing” because that is where I learned about The Magic Spreadsheet.  “I Should Be Writing” is a podcast that I found after I started writing.  Mur is an experienced professional that gives great advice but was also someone that I could relate to.  She would get frustrated or busy and not write just like me.  It was nice to know that I was not the only one with these issues.

ISBW was a new podcast for me, so there was a lot of catching up to do!  Mur shared the ups and downs of her career including her adventures in self-publishing, agent woes and her eventual book deal.  One of the most recent revelations she shared was The Magic Spreadsheet.  She said that she had been able for the first time in her life to write consistently.  At the time she was busting through the hundred day barrier.  Impressive!

So I signed up!  This is only day eleven but I haven’t missed a day.  Here’s how it works.  It may not be for everyone, but it’s working for me.  Just put down at least 250 words a day, log your words and the spreadsheet does the rest.  It’s great and  it works for me.  Check it out and get to writing consistently.  Thanks for reading, and until next time, I’ll be here write ‘n stuff.