Work-in-Progress Wednesday

I did get some writing done this past week, thank goodness. Carolyn saved me, and we wrote at Panera, and I cut another 3400 words from Outlaw Song. My goal was to finish reading and cutting by next week. I don't think that's possible anymore, because I still have over half of it to read, so I'll just shoot for end of September. In the meantime I want to work more on my short story, which I did revise a bit today. I want to have another draft of that ready for my writing group in two weeks.

I've also been critiquing a screenplay by someone in my writing group, and I edited two chapters of Carolyn's nonfiction book about using psychology right in your writing, and it is going to be awesome. It's packed with information and very well-written, and I can't wait to read the rest.

So, not a bad week, really. How was yours?

Blog Chain: Advice for Writers

Yes, the Blog Chain was established to dispense advice to you, the blogging writers of today. And this round is no exception. It is perhaps the most advice-filled episode yet.

Cole wanted us to, "In one sentence (no more than 20 words), please summarize the most important words of wisdom you can impart."

Thusly,

Everyone else is writing a book, which means you can, too.

Sarah let forth with her wisdom yesterday, and Abi will give you all something to think about tomorrow.

Work-in-Progress Wednesday #026

I only wrote one day last week, which is another day down from my previous week, so I'm going backwards. Must get more serious about this! But, work has been insanely busy (at home), and truth be told, I've not had a happy week. Until today, anyway, when I went to the grocery store and found these:


I love Cheetos. Love. Mostly I'm into the crunchy ones, but these are pretty good. I can fit them in my mouth, but it takes some effort to crunch down. And, I kind of sprained my tongue trying to dig out Cheeto bits from my back teeth. But that doesn't mean I probably won't finish the bag tonight. Hey, there are only like 40 Cheetos in there! They're giant!

Anyway, writing. I am still deleting, and I cut another 5400 words. I've read through the first half (NaNoWriMo 2005), some stuff I wrote about a year after that, and now I'm reading what I wrote last November. I noticed an improvement in my writing between both halves, and that made me feel good. I think the second half will be far less rambling, and I don't remember what I wrote, so I'm excited to unearth some good prose in there. I have to find something, right?

But, so as not to take forever with this deleting project, I think I should give myself a goal. Because next comes the hard part of figuring out what story I really have, and you know I've been procrastinating on that. Thus, my goal is to finish reading and deleting by the end of August, so in September I will begin, essentially, writing the 2nd draft. Whew. I'm already scared.

Blog Chain: I Can't Make up My Mind

When Terri started this chain I thought I'd have a simple time answering her questions. She asked,

Do you focus on one project at a time, or do you have many irons in the fire at any given moment?

But I've been writing the post in my head for the past couple days, and I've been rambling. Then I'll sit down to start writing, feel discouraged after a few sentences, then walk away. That's pretty much how it is with my writing projects, too.

Yes, I have "many irons in the fire," and they are too many, and it kind of holds me back. Plus, in case you've blacked out while reading my posts and somehow missed this: I am a procrastinator. I think I have too many projects on purpose just so I can stoke my procrastinating ways.

I have stories I started in college and just after graduation that I sometimes go back to and play around with. I have 5 novel drafts written in the last 5 years. Well, I guess one is complete, but I know it could still be revised. I have a handful of notebooks going at once, in which I'm either freewriting or trying to get some of my stories down in longhand. And I have pocket notebooks in which I'm always putting new ideas.

I have parts of stories and pieces of prose literally everywhere--on my computer, in various emails, on lists buried under clutter, and in all those notebooks. Nothing's organized. And I'm always telling myself I'm going to organize it. Yeah, right.

Too many projects, which means now I'm trying to focus on one at a time. So I've been working on Outlaw Song. And, in the event that Outlaw Song isn't going well and I want to jump on something else, I've recently created a spreadsheet of writing projects, where I'm simply noting the date, the project, and what I'm accomplishing on the project at the moment. I'm hoping this will be the start to some organization, and I can stop feeling so overwhelmed by all my "starts."

Because, that is the real pitfall of too much going on at once: nothing get's finished. And that has to stop.

Check out Sarah's post before mine and B. J. Anderson after me. And, if anyone has tips on organizing projects, I'd love to hear them!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday #025

Why, hello there, Wednesday.

I wrote two days last week, which I see is down from my three days the prior week. Hmm.... Well, it's something. And I cut another 12,000 words off my first draft, bringing me to a total of 28,000 words chopped since I started chopping. If my math skills are good (they're not), I think I've cut roughly 27% of my 101,300 word novel. I'm kind of hoping to cut like 70%. I think then I will find an editable story in all those words.

What else... Oh, I've been writing lots of story ideas down in my little notebook while staring at my computer at work. I don't know if I'll ever use any of them, but it helps me to feel creative during the dull work day.

And, I've been reading Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. It's okay. The characters are selfish, and I don't really care about them. I'm trying to figure out if Yates wrote them that way on purpose, for some kind of social commentary, or if he thinks they're really great and that I should be cheering for them. I imagine only bad things will happen to the two main characters.

Anyway, that's it! Stay tuned for next week when I tell you again that I hit the delete key a lot.