The End is Here

What? It's the last day? No way, I swear I had another week here somewhere... Look it might have slipped down the back of the couch, hold on I'll pull it out in a second.
Ahh, no, it is the last day. I came in here with such massive hopes and dreams, and I accomplished a few of them. Some others will still have to be tackled.
I ended up writing 22,000 words on my current project. I also edited 150 pages of another mss that has been re-requested by an agent (crossing fingers), and I wrote a few blog posts along the way. Life was always getting in the way, but I'm much further along in my current WIP than I thought I would be, so hooray for that!
So my family can relax a little now, mummys not going to get upset if she can't reach her word count.
What about you? Did you accomplish what you thought you would? Are you still plugging away? How are you going to celebrate your achievements?
Me? I'm going on a road trip to see hubbys rellies with the kids. Fun. But I will go shopping in Brisbane which is a joy.
I don't get my full body massage until I finish this WIP.
Congrats to all the girls who participated. It's great to share the writing experience with others who understand the need to shut the door and type away.

The End is Near

June has been a big month for us all and not just because of the 50/30 challenge. Whether you reached your goal or not, remember you have more words on the page or pages/words edited than you might have if you didn’t take the challenge. If you have accomplished that, than you are winners.

Last week had its ups and downs for me. Computer and internet problems saw me doing a lot of writing by hand (which I still have to type into the computer). Family issues saw me diver for cover for a couple of days, but I’ve come to the decision that, there is nothing I can do about this problem at the moment so I’ll think about it later. (Oh, isn’t that very Scarlett O’Hara of me. LOL)


I’ve posted my new round of Fallen Angel Reviews on my review site if you’d like to have a look (okay they are the links to my reviews, minus two because of technical hitches) http://www.sandiehudsonreviews.blogspot.com/ .

My editing is moving along okay, but I’m going to have to go back over it all again. (I HATE EDITING!) Just thought I’d share that with you. July is going to be editing month for me, yep the writing is getting pushed to the back of the computer and all my finished WIPs are getting edited, if it takes me into August and September to do them I will. What is Diane’s saying? “Write, Edit, Submit.” So that is what I’m doing. What about you? Are you going to do the big edit thing in July? How close are you to submitting? Have you submitted and waiting for word back?

On a personal note, thank you all for a great month, as always it is a pleasure writing with you all and don’t forget to gear up ready for NOVEMBER – NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH. I knew you’d like to be reminded about that now.

Happy writing.
Sandie

A marathon sprint to the finish line

This is the toughest 50ks in 30 days challenge I've done. My brain is in too many places. I just haven't been focused on this story, and I used my broken alphasmart as an excuse for lack of output.

But today I will marathon write. To finish the challenge closer to the 100% mark than the 50% mark which is where I am now. What do I mean by marathon write? I mean sprint, rest, sprint, rest, sprint, rest. Most of the day. There'll be some breaks here and there for food, for reading the newspaper, for fulfilling my blogging obligations, for living up the to the title bestowed upon me by my writers group of 'the world's greatest secretary' (the handmade chocolates they gave me are decadent).



Currently in my story, I have a teen distressed because her ex's new girlfriend is throwing a party the same night as her rave, a fairy godmother who dares not use magic to assist her because she's been snorting the fairy dust that evening (don't drink and fly!) after discovering her time-shifted Prince Charming had escaped and ended up drunk in a strip club. Hang on, I thought this was supposed to be young adult.

So yes, I do need to get back to them. But I still haven't found my groove: I'm pantsing this one, but maybe I should have plotted. And the other seven manuscripts in various states of development are calling me. I so want to edit. And that is something I never expected to say or write. But after a fabulous course on Writing Body Language and Dialogue Cues with Margie Lawson, and receiving feedback from the Valerie Parv Award, my mind is itching to edit and rewrite. Cinderella is waiting patiently. Kirsty McInnes is waiting not so patiently.

Yesterday, I won 2nd prize in my writers group Performance Writing competition. It was a radio play that I started to write fourteen years ago, pulled it out of the file (didn't even have an electronic copy), dusted it off it, reshaped it, took it back to the essence of the event, and gave it a resolution. Never throw away your old idea, your old manuscripts, your old characters -- you just never know when you can resurrect them and use it again. The time was right for that one.

Ladies, we have three days left of this challenge. Make the most of them and finish the 50ks in 30 days, knowing you did the best you could. Whether you make your goal, or not, you will be a lot further along then when you started on June 1st

What more insiration than success

Cross-posted from my own blog. Sorry for the replication - but I think there is nothing more inspriring that seeing one of our own's success.

Fellow 50K participant, Anna Hackett, has her debut Silhouette Nocturne Bites out in a few days time.

I'm very excited read this story and have already pre-ordered my copy.


Description

They call him the Savage Dragon: Rordan Sarkany, knight of the Order of the Dragon, charged with tracking and destroying those who let their dragon blood turn them into beasts. In the wilds of Hungary, Rordan hunts one such creature—along with fellow warrior Kira Bethlen.

Both Rordan and his inner dragon desire Kira...and she can't resist Rordan's dangerous allure. But even if she succumbs to their attraction, can she ever forgive him for slaying her beloved brother?

Buy your copy of July 1 release of Savage Dragon here. Read more about Anna at www.annahackettbooks.com/

Day 26/30

A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.

By Richard Bach, author of Jonathon Livingstone Seagull.

This is what you need to remember right now. Don’t quit!

There are still 4 more days after today to get as many words down as you can. And two of them are the weekend. You can do it. Look at your goal posts. Work out what needs doing and go for it.

In the hope of keeping you motivated, I’ve listed some quotes that I like. Maybe there will be something in there to inspire you…

If you only do what you know you can do – you never do very much.

Try and fail. But don’t fail to try.

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.

Always look on the bright side of life.

Don’t wait – the time will never be ‘just right’.

The most painful thing to experience is not defeat but regret.

What is your favourite saying?

To finish, I’d like to leave you with a quote from the movie Galaxy Quest:

Never give up! Never surrender!

The light at the end of the tunnel...

It appears many of us started the challenge with a bang, but hit a few health or personal hurdles midway through. From the posts below, you can see viruses and injury were rife amongst the participants.

I'm guessing most of us are now back on track, and can see the light at the end of the dark, winding, 30-day-long tunnel. Here's a treat for those of you who can see the light... he's waiting for you at the end!



*Drool*. I digress... How's the brain going? Body doing okay? Characters well formed (like the hottie above)? Storyline makes sense? Or is it a train wreck, and you'll just keep ploughing on to reach the magical word count figure you're targetting? Let us know if your morale is low, high, or somewhere in the middle.

I know my word counts won't be that hot, but my editing is going great guns. I realise I have A LOT of work to do, but it's something I WILL achieve. I'm determined to edit as much as I can over the next six days so I can reach my target, and if my word count improves, that's fabulous. The fact I'm taking the challenge with other like-minded people is enough to give me that extra boost.

So keep plugging away, and keep working towards the light. We'll have a little celebration at the end, and I promise to bring Angel-o (as I've know called him) to help celebrate our achievements.

May your words fly like the wings of an angel, and your characters soar to the heavens (soooo cheesy, but it gives me a laugh!).

Have a great day,
:-) Mon

I've only got a week?

Right, we've talked about pushing yourself through, we've talked about cheating your way to the end, now let's talk about your writing.
It's not a Hugo Award winner right now is it?
Can I tell you a secret?
Even Hugo award winners first drafts are crap, with the exception of probably a couple of geniuses. Every writer will tell you their first draft is really them sorting out where the story is going, who's in it and what big things happen. It's not until the first or second draft that they start liking what they've written.
So here's the deal. Turn off your inner editor. I know you've got one, sitting on your shoulder every time you write telling you that that word is spelled wrong, you're splicing that comma, who in the world would say that?
It happens to every writer. The successful ones don't listen to it, they just keep the words flowing out, and if they get stuck they put a little asterix or something saying that "XX happens here" and then skip that section and work on the next. If there's a fact you need to look up, don't. Instead just leave yourself a comment (and you can do this in word by going up to Insert on the toolbar, then scroll down to comment, and it will insert a comment right there. You can then say "find out who the heck developed the carbon/lithium battery" and go back to getting your story down.
The crux of the matter is, you need to get down the skeleton of your story, you can add embellishments galore when you edit, but for now, get it down.
TURN OFF your Inner Editor, write like the wind Bullseye!