Day 1, Entry 1:

3:04 PM: It’s been awhile since I’ve done a whole lot on this blog or my book. Finally finished Chapter 10 the other day. Had a real hard time finishing the scene. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what I wanted the characters involved to do. I was actually getting pretty annoyed with them which is probably why by the end the decision was made for them. 🙂

Anyway, this will be the first of multiple entries on a daily basis as I make a big push to finish this book by my deadline. June 15th is right around the corner and I’m not quite halfway done with the book. As always there have been life events that have taken a lot of my attention. The biggest one is that we are moving very soon. That changed a whole lot of plans and has involved a lot of work, travel, and planning to figure out where we’re going to live and such. I’ll be going to a different college now of course, but the good news is this one has an actual Creative Writing major, not just English with a Creative Writing focus. As it is a much larger school it should also have more opportunities to meet other writers and find writer activities. Definitely something to look forward to. Now, on to the progress so far:

Woke up a little later than usual given we had such a crazy late night. You know it’s time for bed when the sun starts coming up. Had breakfast, worked on my WoW auctions, set up my boxing team to sit and farm for a couple of rare mounts then dove back into taking notes from my first completed Shroud short story Another Day at the Office. I’ve thought about doing this for that story and my first book before but hadn’t gotten around to it. While I was writing Chapter 10 I realized that someday soon I absolutely have to do it for the first book and probably this one as well. There’s too much going on for me to remember it all just yet. I’d actually forgotten that I came up with a real name for the mysterious Agency in my short story. Not to mention a whole lot of juicy facts about one of the races in my world.

Day 1, Entry 2:

5:12 PM: Managed to get about a thousand words down for Chapter 11. Finished one scene and started another. A good start to the day so far. I definitely delayed starting for a bit with some chores around the house. I realized I was worrying too much about what was going to happen in the book instead of concentrating on just what was happening “now”. I was also worrying too much about how good a job I was doing and that’s never helpful. I’ve read it over and over from other writers, ignore the worries and the inner critic and just write. Easier said than done though. Still, progress has been made! Time for a quick break and then diving back in.

Day 1, Entry 3:

8:37 PM: It was a slow start diving back into the book. Sometimes it’s easy for me to pick up a scene where I left off regardless of how much time has passed since I started it. In this case it was probably only a little over an hour. I stopped to heat up some lunch, catch up on my favorite YouTube channels, snag a shower and then take out the trash & recycling. Thankfully it started picking up about halfway through and I got another 1,500 words down. That puts me about halfway to my minimum goal for today of 5k words. I technically only need to do about 4.5k per day to hit my target of 100k words for this book, but I’d rather do a little more and get done sooner if possible. Anyway, today has been pretty productive so far. Time for another break.

Day 1, Entry 4

1:39 AM: A rather long break this time since dinner and catching up on the day needed to happen. Once everyone else was in bed it was time to get back to it. Managed to dive right back in sometime after midnight and banged out another 1.3k words. I’m sitting pretty at 3,800 for the night so far and I’ve still got a good couple of hours to go. Chapter 11 is done and I’m super stoked that I finished an entire chapter in one day. After the snail’s pace of my writing for the past couple of months this big push feels pretty exciting. Time for a quick break though.

Day 1, Entry 5

3:54 AM: I could probably write for a little longer but I feel like I’ve done exceptionally well for the first day of this big push. In the past two hours or so I’ve managed to lay down another 1.3k words or so bringing me to just over my 5.1k mark. I started and finished Chapter 11 and now I’m well into Chapter 12. Things are moving faster now as well, probably because I’m excited about what’s happening. I’ve finally made it past the bits I was having trouble deciding on and now I get to make up the history of my world whole cloth as the big secret is revealed to Stephen. Only took 1.5 books to get there. 🙂 Time to veg out for a bit doing one last round of auctions and call it a night.

Day 2, Entry 1

3:20 PM: Started the day a little later than intended but I was also a little more worn out than usual. Not surprising given the amount of work I managed to put in yesterday. I have to say I am very happy with my progress so far. It definitely provides some positive motivation to keep going. So I was up a little before 2 PM, grabbed some breakfast, picked up my roommate, snagged the mail and a shower, checked my auctions (slowly but surely seeing a positive cash flow trend there), and now it is time to get down to business. Let’s see what I can get done in the next hour or so.

4:14 PM: Less than an hour later and I’ve done a little over 1k words. This chapter is definitely coming easy, though not quite as expected. I’m feeling much better now about the story since I’ve managed to put myself back in my characters’ shoes. I definitely find that my writing tends to flow well when I’m living in the moment with my characters. And to think I used to believe that I lost a lot of my imagination as I grew up. 🙂

Day 2, Entry 2:

7:55 PM: Time is certainly flying by today! Things are definitely a little more lively with another roommate home, but that also means more interruptions. Nothing too bad though and I’ve managed to hit just over 2.7k words for the day with plenty of time left to get to my 5k minimum. I had a bit of a time falling asleep last night as my mind was very awake with ideas and imaginings for this book. I was actually tempted to get back up and keep writing but sleep is important too after all. 🙂

I took a small break after hitting 2.7k and sat around for a bit wondering what I should do. Normally I would check my auctions but it’s a bit early and the last thing I want to do during this push is get sucked into a game before I’ve finished my minimum writing quota for the day. Then I realized I still had a ton of blog entries up from Dean Wesley Smith’s site about self-publishing and writing. He is an absolute gold mine of information for new (and current) writers by the way (deanwesleysmith.com). That led me to another blog he linked with a discussion between another self-published author who has been very successful and the CEO of one of the few remaining large traditional publishers. I’m only about 10% of the way through the whole thing but it’s definitely an eye opener. It doesn’t hurt that reading about all of the other successful self-published authors out there gives me real hope that I can make a living off of my own writing within the next couple of years. Maybe sooner if I can keep up a good pace. Anyway, here is the link to the post, I would advise anyone even remotely interested in writing and self-publishing for a living to check them both out:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2014/01/questions-from-steve-zacharius-ceo-and.html

And now, back to the story!

Day 2, Entry 3:

2:04 AM: I didn’t get back to the book right away. Ended up reading a lot more of the blog post I linked in the last entry. Still not even halfway done so it’s quite the post. Then the Cat got home from work and it was time for dinner and catching up on our days. I always enjoy this part of the day. It’s a nice break from whatever I was doing and the only chance we get during the week to spend time together. Put her to bed around 1 AM and went back to the book. Managed to get a little over 1.5k done but I’m starting to feel a little worn out. I’m not too worried about hitting 5k though since I’m only about 700 words shy of the mark. Chapter 12 has been a pretty big emotional roller coaster for Stephen. It’s been a lot of fun, but tough to do. Definitely time for a break.

Day 2, Entry 4:

4:31 AM: And that’s all she wrote. Stick a fork in me, I’m done. Got stuck for a bit after the break so the break got longer. It wasn’t a real ‘oh crap I’m stuck’ moment, more I’m getting too tired to think of anything stuck. Still, inspiration struck before it got too late and I managed to churn out another 1100 words. This brings today’s total up to 5,435. Somehow managed to do more than yesterday despite more interruptions and less time to write. I’m sure I’ll be more impressed and happy with myself when I wake up well rested tomorrow. Ta ta for now.

Day 3, Entry 1:

4:01 PM: Didn’t sleep too well last night. If I thought it was difficult getting to sleep the first night, last night showed me what real trouble was. Didn’t help that I woke up around 9 AM because it was too hot in the place and had to turn on the AC. Took almost two hours to get back to sleep. So now I’m a bit tired, but I’ve had breakfast, handled my auctions, and did a little research for the upcoming move. The fun really started when I decided to scan through my book as it stands so far. I realized my chapters jumped from 7 to 9. Definitely had a bit of a freak out there as I didn’t know if it was a simple numbering error or if I’d managed to delete an entire chapter out of the thing. I had to skim chapters 6, 7, and 9 before I was satisfied it was just a numbering error. Not sure I would have been able to stick with this big push if I had actually managed to delete a good chunk of my book. Regardless, this just points out that I need to keep separate files for each chapter. I did that with the first book but decided to try it a bit differently this time. Well, the experiment is over and the verdict is separate is safer. With that little bit of drama behind me it’s time to figure out where the hell the story is going to go now.

Day 3, Entry 2:

8:49 PM: I have definitely hit a story wall of sorts. Only managed to put down 750 words so far today. One scene basically. That was when I realized I didn’t have much outlined for the rest of the book and I didn’t have any real details on the ending, just some vague ideas. Thankfully with a little thought I’ve come up with an ending that I like as well as a list of things that need to be covered before the book can be done. The previous chapter revealed a whole lot of new info to the main character and reader both and there will be even more coming in the next couple of chapters. It’s fun but also challenging since I’m making up a lot of background for my world. Specific details now that I didn’t explain or reveal previously. At this point I need to just remember to go with the flow and let the story proceed naturally. I do like having a couple of brief points to reference when I write something this long but I also don’t want to rely on them too much. It will be time for dinner very soon so I’ll have to pick the writing back up afterwards. Hopefully things start moving along nicely. I’ve still got a ways to go today.

Day 3, Entry 3:

3:26 AM: Almost bed time and I’m only about 2,600 words in for the day. That will have to do though as I’m pretty well done now. The word count is definitely a little disappointing, but things should be much less distracting around the house after today so I’m hopeful I’ll be able to make up the difference pretty easily. I do really like the new ending I’ve come up with and I am very ready to be done with this book so the push will continue!

Day 4, Entry 1:

6:28 PM: This day started much earlier than the others mostly because I woke up far too early and couldn’t get back to sleep. That will mean either a nap soon or an early turn-in tonight. Still, it’s been a fairly productive day so far. Went out to get some errands done and then came back to bounce ideas I have about where this book is going off of my Cat. We came up with some refinements that I think will work very well and I’m feeling much better about where the rest of the story is going. I definitely have enough items to cover to provide a satisfying story so even if the book doesn’t make it to the 100k word mark it should at least be more than 80k. Definitely a respectable number. Just have to keep reminding myself that most authors don’t write 1,000 page novels like Robert Jordan did. 🙂 About 1,300 words down so far and it’s early yet. Things are looking good for today.

Day 5, Entry 1:

4:47 AM: Ended yesterday at just under 1.4k words. I little disappointing but I found I just couldn’t manage any more. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the point where I’m putting down 4 or 5k words a day like some authors do, but right now I’m just trying not to over do it. To that effect, I’m not putting a minimum requirement on my daily writing. I’m still pushing to finish this book on time, but I’m not going to kill myself to do it. I ended up going to bed very early yesterday and was asleep before midnight. I slept until almost 3:30 PM so I was definitely exhausted. I ended up going down for a nap around 6 for an hour or so. Not sure why I’m so tired, but I definitely felt better after the nap. Didn’t get to the writing until almost 2 AM but did 1.7k words in one go.

I wasn’t real sure how to start chapter 13 so I just picked up where I left off and decided to see where that would take Stephen. He was sitting in the agency cab getting driven to the airport for his official Induction. So I wondered what I would do in his place if I was stuck in a car with two people who weren’t talking to me going somewhere I didn’t know anything about and I’d just discovered there are non-humans in the world and that I’m basically a very rare human empath. Then it was obvious: try out my powers of course. Who wouldn’t?

So far I find this works pretty well for getting the specifics of a scene down. I have a general setting and I know what the next scene is but I have no idea just how the story is going to get there. I still get stuck at this point pretty easily until I just put myself in my character(s)’ place and reason it out from there. I rather enjoyed this scene though I hadn’t thought of what actually happened at all until I started writing it. Then it was a game of, well if he does this, what happens then? And then? The scene just flowed from there. It’s getting pretty late (early) now but I’m tempted to continue while I’m on a roll.

Day 6, Entry 1:

1:01 AM: I got a to a little over 2k words last night when the Cat woke up and came to get me for bed. Who was I to argue? Another very late start today but with the Cat home we were busy with regular life stuff. Dinner was a particularly amazing affair with extra spicy stir fry. I ate far too much of that for comfort but it was too tasty to leave alone. The Cat is in bed now so it’s about time to get back to Stephen. I did finish the scene in the cab for the most part and now they’ve made it to the airport. I short transition there should bring him up to the Induction. Then it’s off to meet Riah’s father and learn more about Stephen’s abilities. The pace is definitely picking up and there aren’t a whole lot of major plot points to cover before the finale. Not sure this book will make it to 100k words but I’m okay with it whatever length it ends up being.

Oh, the print cover for the first book, Induction, is finished! That is an incredibly exciting thing as it means that I can work on the final formatting of the file, perhaps send it out for a quick edit, and then send everything off to the POD service and wait for the sample. We are on track for a July release in print. 🙂

Day 7, Entry 1:

7:41 PM: Yesterday ended up being another 2k day. Definitely not the pace I was originally hoping for but double my old daily minimum. Part of the issue is just not having a separate space to write in. The new place we move to will have that space so I’m definitely looking forward to that. I’ll be keeping distractions to a minimum with just writing/homework stuff in the room. No TV, gaming PC, etc. Also a door that closes. 😉  We looked at moving trucks today. The new place is fairly close so that’s going to be the cheapest part of this experience. Oh, found some excellent paint to turn an entire wall into a whiteboard. Really looking forward to being able to scribble out all kinds of story notes on such a huge space. I’m also going to block out a calendar as well so I can track deadlines and such. Obviously there won’t be a whole lot there just yet but I’m sure it will help inspire me to write more.

Day 7, Entry 2:

8:49 PM: Only managed about 500 words so far but the fact that I’ve started writing BEFORE 2 AM is a big plus. There was also the break to do dishes so not a bad word count for less than an hour’s work. The Cat is bored now so work will have to wait for a bit. Almost done with Chapter 13. The story is progressing nicely. I’m hoping the next three days will be very productive since I’ll have the place all to myself for a good part of the day.

Day 7, Entry 3:

4:32 AM: Today was almost par for the course. I ended at just over 2.5k words, and that’s only because of the 500 I got done before dinner. There were a whole mess of distractions between that first 500 and the rest. Still, chapter 13 is done and I have a new character that I really really like. Already. It’s funny too because this new character was completely unplanned. I knew I was going to end the chapter with Stephen meeting the Shroud envoy, but I’d originally planned it to be Riah’s father. By the time I got there in the story though, he really didn’t fit the scene so I had to make up a new one right there. I switched out Riah’s father because I wanted someone sympathetic. I decided that the Council wasn’t likely to send the person who’d pestered them into the Induction request in the first place. Of course, this envoy is a bit more important than anyone yet know. 😉

Every time I think I’m getting bored with the writing or this book (and it happens pretty often), I surprise myself by loving the experience. I hate how long it takes and wish my fingers could move at the speed of my imagination. Well, I also wish my mind could come up with the language to match my imagination as fast as I can imagine scenes and such. Dream on I suppose. 🙂

The best part about this last bit I’ve put down is how smoothly it will lead to the next important point in the story, though I think it’s time for a little interjection so we can find out what’s happening back on the ranch.

Day 8, Entry 1:

3:59 AM: Not much progress made today. Only put down about 1,500 more words. I let myself get distracted by too many little things today. Though if I weren’t pushing to meet my deadline I’d be perfectly happy with my progress. I’ve written more in the past 8 days than I have in the last 2 months so that’s definitely an accomplishment. At any rate, tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to really kick some butt.

Day 9, Entry 1:

1:57 AM: I’ve done about 2,100 words to far in two separate sessions. Took a break after the last one to re-post my auctions in WoW. That particular experiment has so far had only mediocre success but is steadily earning funds for future adventuring. 🙂  Due to laziness all 900+ items come up for re-posting at the same time. Funny enough that’s been more efficient than logging in 3 or 4 times a day to do more posts. Now I just log it to see how much I’ve sold.

Back in writing land things are still moving along. The current chapter switched to Stephen’s friends worrying about what the bad guys are up to. The ever-paranoid and devious Leon has postulated a very dire possibility that the rest of the gang is pretty upset about. Next up we get some more Kara action to keep her relevant to the story and then it’s back to Stephen for the actual Induction ceremony (maybe, I might just do a quick blurb where he’s thinking about how anti-climactic it was.) More fun world-building and information revelations await Stephen. 🙂 I’ve got just enough in me for one more session so I’m going to try and make it count.

Day 9, Entry 2:

2:38 AM: Chapter 14 is now done and this is definitely a good place to stop. I need to figure out what I’m doing about the ceremony since that will likely be the start of 15. There are only a handful of important plot points left until the big finish. The book should break 80k words easily but I don’t know how much longer it will be. I think it will depend on just how much action and mayhem happens at the end and I’ll be playing that by ear. Of course, I play the whole thing by ear so that’s not saying anything significant. Anywho, it’s about time for an early bed since I’ll be getting up far too early for my taste.

Day 10, Entry 1:

6:01 PM: Time is running short since the deadline is approaching quickly. I did end up doing the actual Induction ceremony for Stephen. Mostly because it gives more insight into how things work between the Shroud Council and the government. After that it will be time to get Stephen some much needed training. Somewhere in there will be the meeting with Riah’s father as well so that should be interesting. I’ve managed a little over 1k words today so far so I’m off to a good start. I’ve got a lot of computer maintenance to perform today as well so that should actually help since a lot of it will be sitting around waiting for the computer to finish its task.

Day 10, Entry 2:

12:25 AM: Going to have to call it early today. Feeling pretty sick to my stomach and I managed to pull something in my shoulder. I’m sure the nausea will pass but until it does it’s impossible to concentrate on anything.

Day 11, Entry 1:

12:59 AM: Another day with little progress. Managed to do about 1,500 words but I’m falling asleep at my keyboard and mistyping almost every other word. I’m not too disappointed though as I’ve almost doubled the word count for my book over the past 11 days. No small accomplishment considering it took me several months to get the first half of the book down. As Mr. Dean Wesley Smith is constantly saying in his blog it just takes a little daily dedication to make big things happen when it comes to writing. I’m thankful that this big push has reminded me of that.

Day 12, Entry 1:

3:01 AM: This is the last day of the big push. I won’t hit my original goal of finishing the book but I have effectively doubled how much of the book is done in 12 days. No small feet that considering my snail’s pace before the push. I’ll be taking a day or two off for recovery & life stuff that needs to get done. I’m also still pushing to have this book finished before we move so I’ve still got a couple of weeks for that.

So to summarize:

Book words finished during big push:

Day 1 – 5,151

Day 2 – 5,435

Day 3 – 2,600

Day 4 – 1,396

Day 5 – 2,000

Day 6 – 2,000

Day 7 – 2,582

Day 8 – 1,500

Day 9 – 2,860

Day 10 – 1,379

Day 11 – 1,500

Day 12 – 1,400

Total words in novel to date: 66,404