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Writing Words - writing it is the only way of getting it written[ March 2008 ] [ May 2008 ]
Writing Words - April 2008AF wordcount: 15051April 30th 2008 22:48
Did it!
I wrote 15,000 words, I wrote the third part of my novel and I roughly managed 500 words a day. On to the next big project: editing the beast.
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 AF wordcount: 14180April 29th 2008 21:19
The death of my laptop threw me off course for a few days, but I'm back and not willing to give up. Losing my notebook was inconvenient, but all it did as far me finishing the novel is concerned is spice things up a little.
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Do you have a back-up plan?April 27th 2008 17:45
Yes, there has been no wordcount update yesterday, and I'm not sure yet there will be one today. The reason for that is simple: my laptop died yesterday. I'm not sure what exactly the problem is, but Windows won't boot anymore. I am using Linux from a CD as operating system, but I can still access my hard drive.
I thought this would be a good opportunity to tell you about my back-up plan and get you thinking about yours. Many writers save all their work on their computer without having a back-up strategy. Just imagine your hard drive dies and all your work is on there. That would be a catastrophe. External storage devices are not that expensive anymore, and it is a good idea to invest in one and copy your data onto it in regular intervals. Set up a reminder in your calender if you tend to forget things - my reminder is set for the 28th of a month. Of course this means that my last back-up is almost a month old, and I am working on my novel this month. The loss of data could still have been devastating. Luckily, I can still access my hard drive thanks to Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution that can be run from a CD-Rom, you don't have to install the operating system. It is meant as a fully functional trial version for people who are looking for an alternative operating system. It is also a powerful tool when your operating system fails to boot. With Ubuntu, you can do almost everything you can do with an operating system that runs from your hard drive. That means you will be able to copy data from your computer to an external storage device unless your hard drive is seriously broken - depending on how bad the damage is, your data might be lost for good in that case. This is all the more reason to back-up regularly. I am even prepared for a total hard drive failure. I use Google Docs to save a copy of any work in progress whenever I make changes to it. So even if I weren't able to access my data anymore, I would have an up-to-date copy of my work in progress. I know this makes me look a little weird. Then again, without my back-up plan I would not be writing and posting this entry now, and all the work I did on my novel this month would be lost. As long as your computer works as it should, backing up may look like a waste of time. Think of it this way: You put a lot of time and work into writing - putting in just a little time more to make a copy of it doesn't make a huge difference anymore. You will appreciate the effort in case your computer breaks. So if you don't do it already, start backing up your work. Now!
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AF wordcount: 12525April 25th 2008 22:56
Repeat after me:
Writing it is the only way of getting it written. Writing it is the only way of getting it written. Writing it is the only way of getting it written.
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AF wordcount: 12008April 24th 2008 22:45
I have six days left and I am back on track. Yay!
Writing the third part of my November 2007 novel has turned out a bit of a roller coaster. Which should not surprise me, writing a first novel draft always is. That's what makes it scary and exciting, and sometimes it makes you a little sick, too. And when you get off the ride, you feel great and a little amazed that you did that to yourself voluntarily.
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AF wordcount: 11465April 23rd 2008 21:56
I've had to do a lot of research on copywriting for my day job. It's a fantastic thing that I have to work on my copywriting skills - one definition I found went along the lines of copywriting means turning on the reader's emotions.
That's what every fiction writer needs to achieve, too.
AF wordcount: 10940April 22nd 2008 21:52
AF wordcount: 10414April 21st 2008 21:57
Thanks to my internet problems yesterday, I am officially out of NaBloPoMo again. But the good news is that I am only 86 words behind the wordcount, and I can easily make that up in the next 9 days.
AF wordcount: 9853April 20th 2008 23:50
I had to back-date this post because we had no internet for some reason yesterday. Thanks, Virgin, that's just great.
AF wordcount: 9336April 19th 2008 22:52
Sometimes I think I have to stop reading stories and watching movies - I made up an entire story today from an idea a had a few weeks back.
I read the Marvel 1602 series this morning, and watched Cast Away tonight. Making up a story with elements from the comic series and the movie, that's what my brain does when I don't watch it.
AF wordcount: 8766April 18th 2008 23:00
AF wordcount: 8584April 17th 2008 22:22
Okay, finishing this novel has become a lot harder than I thought it would be. I imagined I would be able to write some quality blog posts every other day about writing fiction.
Yeah, well, it's obvious that plan didn't work out. But I'm writing the novel, that's all that matters.
AF wordcount: 8077April 16th 2008 22:38
I managed to write myself into a corner and I'm not quite sure how I'll get out of it. Result: another day with less than 500 words. I need to find a way out tomorrow.
AF wordcount: 7634April 14th 2008 22:20
AF wordcount: 7128April 13th 2008 21:50
Sometimes I wish I didn't have all these stories in my head. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to write.
I tried not writing once, though, and that was a lot worse. I'll keep writing then, even if I don't feel like it. Yes, definitely a having written day ...
AF wordcount: 6595April 12th 2008 22:10
AF wordcount: 6051April 11th 2008 22:25
An hour ago, at 128 words, I felt like giving up for today. Then I thought, I could at least get to 200 words, and just around that mark I had an idea that made writing the other 300 words easy.
AF wordcount: 5540April 10th 2008 22:24
Some days writing fiction is the best thing in the world, and sometimes it isn't. Today it wasn't.
AF wordcount: 5026April 9th 2008 21:39
AF wordcount: 4439April 8th 2008 21:27
Why have I never discovered before that 500 words are the perfect number of words to write every day?
I can manage 500 words even after working overtime, going for a run after work and cooking dinner. A little over 500, even, which makes me feel incredibly productive. Such a good feeling 
AF wordcount: 3850April 7th 2008 20:12
First week over and I am 350 words ahead.
I discover a lot of details about the story that were always there, I suppose, but that have been hidden in the background. I've been writing fiction for quite some time now, but the way my brain works while I'm at it keeps amazing me.
AF wordcount: 3262April 6th 2008 20:53
As my novel is divided into three parts, I have to go back to the parts I wrote in November to check some of the facts I established then. I'm happy to say that it is not all rubbish.
Or at least, it got the potential to not be rubbish once it has been thoroughly edited. I'll spend this month writing the third part, and from May on I'll edit all three parts. And I'm actually looking forward to it.
AF wordcount: 2723April 5th 2008 21:18
My 500 words today were inspired by this week's Sunday Scribblings prompt: Photographs. Here's an excerpt:
I am a professional photographer, you would think I would have taken some other pictures of us. The truth is, it’s exactly because I am a professional photographer and I know how real photos are made that I love Polaroids. These two happy people I see, they were real at the time the picture was taken. They were both in the same place, embracing, kissing, smiling. Looking like they would always be together and take lots of snapshots or their journey together. There is nothing fake about them, they are not the work of some skilled photoshopper.
AF wordcount: 2147April 4th 2008 22:53
It's a promising start: 4 days in and I'm ahead of the target. Despite the fact that I had one hell of a week at work and all I wanted to do after work was put my feet up and do nothing.
It's the obvious thing to do, but it is also one of the most difficult: If you want to make it as a writer, you have to write. No excuses.
AF wordcount: 1635April 3rd 2008 22:48
I came home late tonight and didn't feel like writing. So these 500 words tonight were a bit of a struggle.
Never mind, got there in the end.
AF wordcount: 1062April 2nd 2008 22:32
Day 2 - so far things are going well.
I enjoy writing emails, I'm surprised I've not tried telling a story through emails before.
AF wordcount: 524April 1st 2008 22:09
Yes, I am going to have these daily wordcount posts again. Makes it easy for me to keep track of my daily progress.
Epistolary NovelApril 1st 2008 18:07
According to Wikipedia, an epistolary novel is a novel told through a series of documents. These documents are usually letters but other documents such as newspaper articles and journal entries, and more recently emails and blog entries are also used.
Whenever I come across this literary term, I immediately think of The Color Purple, Bram Stoker's Dracula and The Boy Next Door. It is a powerful way to tell a story as a writer can give a lot of information that the main character does not necessarily know, but which gives a new dimension to the story
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