La-Tessa Montgomery

19 days have come and gone, and I am now 26% percent done with my UF draft with 23,161 words.  Okay, in the grand scheme of things, I am far off  my targeted goal. Yes, I know I’m supposed to be closer to 75% done, but I’m not.  And you know what, I’m good with that.

 Because I am an analytical geek, I made a chart of my daily production.  On a good day, I tend to hover around the 2k mark, and on a bad day, I’m lucky to pull out 500 words.

Then I decided to delve in a bit deeper & get a little more geeky, I came up with the following list of stats that probably don’t mean a thing, other than they tickle the left side of my brain:

So, looking at this I’m seeing my avg daily word count is far below the 3,214 I need it to be. But again, the fact that I am producing any daily word count is a thrill to me.  And apparently, when I have a good day, I have a GOOD DAY-lol!.  Check out that best day stat, 6,796  in one day! I definitely need a few more of those. 

Then, just for S & G’s (& to tickle the left side of my brain more) I wanted to see what my first half of the week production was vs. the last half of the week.  While the numbers are not really statistically relevant, I found it interesting. With Saturday and Sunday writing included with the “last 3 days” figure, I would have expected my production to be really off the chain on the weekends…. Apparently not-LOL   .  But what this does show me is that I am more focused on my writing when I have a finite time during the weekday to write (usually 2-3 hrs only) vs. unlimited time (in theory) on the weekend. I think I procrastinate more on Saturdays & Sundays because “I have plenty of time to write”.

Because I got to thinking about it and couldn’t resist, I made a stacked column graph that shows what I’ve been spending my writing time on the last 19 days:

You know, I am shocked and amazed (no, really I am ) that I have actually spent more time writing than outlining. Me thinks I’ve truly made a break through here. Am I really learning that the best way to finish a novel is to just write the damn book? Hmm, time will tell…

Okay, enough time wasting.  Time for me to get my butt in gear for some writing today. I’m planning on wrapping up Act 1 and then outlining Act 2, hopefully setting a new personal best in the process. 

 
Side Note: as I was writing this, one of my CP’s and I were IM’ing back and forth about being right brained and left brained.  As it turns out, we are both fairly even brained, her more so than me.  I tend to lean towards my left side more, but today I am channelling my right brain. :-)  This bodes very well for me and my word count goal of over 5K today.  I’m hoping I can even kick on the after burners and do a new personal best today.   7k - 10k would be a very nice addition to my word count. In case you are wondering about all this left brain vs. right brain business, I did a post on it a little while ago with links to two tests you can take. One is a quick visual test, the other a short questionnaire <here>. 

My test results are fairly consistant in that I tend to always be close to the middle, but leaning towards the left side.  I took the quiz again this morning for fun & today I’m 58% left brain, 42% right brain.  I find this quiz accurately describes me as a whole, but to get a sense of which side of my brain is peaking at any given moment, the visual test is key.  Today I woke up with the overwhelming urge to knock out the rest of Act 1–via fast draft, so I could work on my Act 2 outline.  A quick look at the visual & it told me that  my right brain is actually peaking now.  Good timing I’d say.  The right brain is the side that deals with the big picture side of things better.

I’ve been needing a kick in the pants, as far as my writing goes; as well as a much needed break from my contemporary romance (that I’ve been working on for 2 yrs).  Savvy Authors is hosting a June Boot Camp this month.  The goal being to take the 30 days of June and either complete a draft, or complete the revision/edits on your wip.

Because I need some a bit of mental space from Worth Fighting For (the contemporary romance) and work on my Urban Fantasy.  I’ve not given up on WFF, I am actually very pleased with the progress I’ve made on it.  But since I’ve changed the story up so much from my original outline, I need a little time to work on they second half of the story.  So Savvy’s June Boot Camp seemed just the thing to both give me a bit of a breather, but allow me to pursue a fresh idea that is burning a hole in my imagination, trying to escape my mind and get down on paper. Lovely bit of imagery that is, don’t you think-LOL 

So, I’ve I got my new word count meter set, and I am officially on the clock.  My mission is to draft a 90,000 word draft of, what is initially termed, an Urban Fantasy.  Outside of some brainstorming & idea tossing I’ve been doing within my own mind (and out loud at times), and constantly dragging my patient CP into the depths of my crazy ideas and rationale, I really don’t know where this is headed.

Crazy?

Yes.  But you know, I want to shake things up and get the creative juices flowing.  Hopefully after a month off from WFF, I will have a finished UF draft and a golden plan for the last 50 % of WFF.

Ok, off to write now. 

(My posting consistency is already spotting , so don’t expect too much from me this month.  Although, I do have 2 posts that will be coming up soon.  One a review on a very good ebook  and another a craft related post about a concept call Fast Drafting.

This morning, a few short minutes ago, I successfully completed chapter 11 of my contemporary romance.  And why is this important you say?

Well, I’ll tell you why!! :-)  For one, with my final word count from this morning, I am now OFFICIALLY over 50% done with this story!! WOOHOO. I have been working on this (in varying degrees) for the past 2 years.  I am now, as of this morning, finally on the downside of the hump.  I am quite proud of myself as I have threaten to chuck this book more times than I care to admit, including at least 3 times this past week alone. 

And the second milestone you may also ask yourself, considering this blog’s title is “More Milestones” not “I’m halfway through”-lol.  Well, l’ll tell you that one too.  I completed my first full sex scene this morning.  Just let me tell you how hard this was.  I’ve been dreading and avoiding this moment from the very second I decided I wanted to write a romance 2 years ago.

But it’s done ~done in my best imitaion of a dying gladiator that had just enough will left to kill his opponent–who’d btw killed his family and burned his lands and killed his dog– before he succumbed to his own fatal injury) <– see, I have quite the active and dramatic imagination, now you see why I write.

So to borrow a word from another friend and writing buddy Mynfel, I am just full of AWESOME SAUCE today.  So I am heading off to take the kids swimming while I am riding the wave self-fulfilment, because I know me and it won’t be too long before I’m wanting to chuck this story again.

Received my 2nd rejection on my contemp IR romance this week. I expected as much, but it still smarts a bit.

The silver lining to this cloud (this thunder cloud that is WFF) is that I’ve been getting revision ideas to implement on the overhaul revision round.  I’m been second guessing myself because the changes (not to the plot, but the actual timing of things) is major.  To implement, it will cause me to let go of 2 ideas that have been with me for 2 years with this wip–translation: not an easy feat.

But, this rejection is making me feel better about implementing them.

After a couple of weeks of preparation where I completely reevaluated by contemporary romance. Once I thought about what it was I wanted to do and the general direction I wanted to take, I tucked in and: redefined my characters (I had a lot to learn about them apparently), reshaped their GMC’s, drafted out a timeline, then worked on my W Plot. 

Once I got these 4 things done, I had the foundation I needed to do my synopsis.  The synopsis took a lot of work, even though I told myself to keep it high level and to concentrate on just moving the story from beginning to middle to end.  So 4 hours and 7 pages later I had the complete synopsis in my hand.  (And yes, it took me 2 hrs longer than I’d planned to finish it).

So today, I woke up with a plan.  A plan to get through at least the prologue and first chapter of the new & improved draft.  Silly me, I went into this little challenge  thinking this would be a breeze since I already had (in theory) the prologue through chapters 7 already done (from the previous draft).  Let me tell you, small changes to an outline can have a huge impact to the actual chapters.  So about 6 hrs later (probably more, but I refuse to acknowledge that I have now been sitting on my butt in one spot for over 6 hrs), I have my new prologue and chapter 1 down in the books.

CHA-CHING!!

I had to do a fair amount of deleting (painful), re-writing & tweaking of old words (time consuming) and addition (which was flowed much better than I’d thought).  I produced 4.895 words today, a personal best for me; yet one I don’t think I will ever try to do again.

You may or may not know, but I have been actively working on my first contemporary romance novel.  I spent some time getting my characters and plot together, then I hit the ground running.  I ran into a few snags here and there, but I pushed through it because that’s what writers do.  Then I got to the halfway mark and felt I was pushed into a corner.  Things were not moving along fast enough for me, I wasn’t feeling a particular element of the plot and I was far more interested in working on a new project I’ve been brainstorming.  Not a good sign.

So last week while chatting with my CP, I told her of an earlier version on my story and something clicked.   I turned away from an idea in favor of what I thought was a better plot point.  Now, 12 months later, I’m going back to my original idea because apparently that new idea was NOT the way to go.

So I’ve started over by rethinking the plot and doing some indepth character development.  I must say, I am really feeling a better energy surrounding this project now so I am beginning Worth Fighting For anew.  My goal is to complete my first draft within the next 4 to 5 weeks.  I know I can do it, I have fresh energy & motivation on my side, plus I have close to 50,000 words from the first draft that can be salvaged in some way, shape or form. 

I’ve reset my word counter, untied myself from the current draft (which was much harder than I thought) and now it’s time for me to get busy.  Today is Day 1 on my new journey with this project.

Yes, I know it’s December 29th, and technically I still have 3 more days of working on the current wip in my mad dash attempt to finish if by the end of the year.  I can do it! (Do I hear crickets…)

Anywho, my CP (the best one in the world) spent pretty much all day Sunday brainstorming and sludging through my idea for my Urban Fantasy.  I now have a loose outline for all 3 books in this series, better character defintion, and he backstory is gelling a bit.

Oh, I still have miles to go before I sleep on this one, but I have a good starting point.  Now, if I can only NOT work on this one while I strive to finish up the contemporary…

Decided to do a NaNo check in today, so here goes.  It’s Day 6 and I’ve not written today yet (but I plan to, no worries.) 

And I will admit, Day 1 & 2 were more than a bit rocky.  For one, I’m still actively writing and polishing up my contemporary romance (Worth Fighting For), so that keeps me busy.  But determined to get a good, more than good actually, start on my Urban Fantasy, I decided to challenge myself this month and give working on two manuscripts a chance.

It’s also been slow going because I decided to undertake this challenge without a plot overview/outline or character sketches.  Apparently, just jumping in feet first is soooo not my style. 

Now, I knew this going in, but I am always trying to make myself a better, more productive writer; and that means I have to challenge my established procedures from time to time to make sure I’m not bogging myself down with unnecessary processes.

So I decided to spend time during my lunch break this week to work on character profiles for my main characters.  So far, I have 3 out of 5 done, and the story opens up more and more each time I complete one.  Yesterday, I had my best day yet, clocking 700 words on my NaNo project. 

Yes, is far below the daily word goal of 1,667, but I’m very encouraged by it.  Now that I have I clearer view on my story, I know longer have to wonder around in wide circles, waxing poetic about nonsensical things.  (Because trust me, I have.  If you could only see some of what I’ve written thus far-lol) 

I’ve been rolling along nicely, and I hope the trend continues.

After a hard & very distracting weekend, I think I finally got a hold of my mojo again. 
(Excuse me while I do the happy dance.)

Mr. Mojo, not to be confusesd with The Muse, was been elusive the past few weeks, escaping me at every turn.  Taunting me with quotes, ala Capt. Jack Sparrow, like  ”You will always remember this day as the day you almost caught Mr. Mojo”. 

LOL– seriously, it’s been like a bad super hero comic book.

But anywho, I got a great start on my chapter 1 re-write,  although due to some unforeseen issues, I did not make all 3 of my writing goals for the weekend.  But with my CP’s blessing (I think) I did earn 1 chapter from LOVER AVENGED. 

 Woo-hoo!! 

But I’m going to hold off until I’ve earned at least 3 chapters before I crack it open.  Only being able to read 1 chapter would drive me up the wall.  JR Ward is always leaving those chapters with some sort of hook and I wouldn’t be able to take it.  Although, just reading the 1 chapter would probably inspire me to push through my goals for the week though.

So I have 2 goals for this week, with 3 LOVER AVENGED chapters up as grabs as the reward.  I will report in next week on my progress.

‘Til then, lata

Today when I got home, my autographed copy of LOVER AVENGED by JR. Ward was sitting on my desk. 

Can you say “Woo- hoo”, because I know I did.

I’ve been waiting on this book’s release for more months than I care to remember.  I sooo want to tear into this book right now, but I know me.  The Black Dagger Brotherhood series is like the Harry Potter series for me in that whenever a new release comes out, I just have to devour it.

The problem, I have a whole list of things I’ve got to do in order to stay on target for the year.  And putting my energy into this book is just not the most prudent use of my time.   (And believe me,  it hurts me to have to say this.)

Now, I really need to finish the first draft of  my manuscript by July.  This goal has been made a bit tough because I’ve had  to scrap my first 2 chapters, and  do a new outline for the first 3.   So, I’ve decided to try a new method on myself.  Inspired by Jerry Oltion’s article, I’ve begun to embrace the fluidness my muse needs in order to be productive.

So here’s the deal, for each writing goal I accomplish by Sunday midday-ish, I get read a chapter of LOVER AVENGED.  I have 3 specific goals for the next 2.5 days, so that’s 3 chapters up for grabs.

I will continue, (ok let me amend that, I will try my hardest), to reward myself with a chapter for each goal, specific to my current wip, I accomplish.  Now, these books usually suck me in, and I’m done with them in a day or so.  So only being able to read a chapter at a time should be proper motivation for me to get through my rough draft.

Now, if only I can stick to this when I am about 4+chapters in, and it really starts to get good- LOL.

OK, I’m off to get a jump on my writing goals.