DTD—286 words, and digging into the mystery

My heroine, convinced that her apparent allies are in fact allied with her enemies, questions her captor.

Fun session tonight. Got to explore one of my important secondary characters on my way to the bigger surprise I have planned between hero and heroine.

If you’re playing the “write a book with me” game, post your own progress for the day in response to this post. And have fun. ๐Ÿ˜€

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101 responses to “DTD—286 words, and digging into the mystery”

  1. Nancy Sampson-Bach Avatar
    Nancy Sampson-Bach

    Finally stumbled onto (or rather was hit over the head by my grumpy Muse) my idea last night, so I started putting down words today. Managed 885 during my lunch break. Wow. It felt so good to be out of editor mode and back into creative mode. Feel like I’m standing in the lee of a dam break! Thanks!

  2. Betty Avatar
    Betty

    1k late last night; just enough time to set up the engagement party, and let my poor heroine make a cheese platter. :p

  3. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    This sounds like a fab idea! I have 2 novels I’m working on at the moment, one is the first book of a children’s series that’s planned and about 20k written and the other is a fantasy novel in the early stages of planning. I haven’t decided which I’ll work on for this one yet. I’ve been working on the planning for the fantasy novel recently, but would quite like to get the children’s one done as I’ve put all those words in already… decisions decisions!

    I usually write in my lunchtimes at work and today I created a new file and planned to write some of the plot ideas I know I definitely want to appear in my fantasy novel. I’ve been trying to collate all my random ideas and I hoped this would help me see where it was all heading. I managed 256 words. I’m not sure I managed to do what I intended to though because I got sidetracked and ended up writing more about the characters than the plot! I did get to find out more about a semi-antagonistic character though and she’s shaping up to be one of my favourites so it was good fun for me. ๐Ÿ™‚

    I’ll hopefully fit in a little more this evening assuming no distractions. (A big assumption in my house!)

    Good luck to everyone else having a go at this. I hope you meet your targets and have fun doing it!

  4. Todd Bush Avatar

    1029 words today.

  5. Gerhi Janse van Vuuren Avatar

    267 words for today’s session. Enough

  6. Lisa Avatar
    Lisa

    388 words today! So happy about this! This is way easier than NaNoWriMo. ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. Laura Avatar
    Laura

    I’m just joining today–no word count for yesterday. Last week I wrote 3,193 words–so I will start with that word count (2 scenes that I was eager to write). That’s the most productive I’ve been in a long time, so I’m excited to have this opportunity–an additional push of encouragement and commitment.

  8. Emily Avatar

    Yee-haw! Went for 286, and came out with 1,265! And I’m pumped! I may not be done for the day.

  9. Helga Avatar
    Helga

    I’ll play: 684 on June 30.
    It would have been more, if my five-year-old hadn’t decided to take a walk all by herself. We found her safe and sound; that’s the main thing.

  10. Tori Avatar
    Tori

    Hmmmm…my comments haven’t been showing up either:(

  11. Anambika Avatar
    Anambika

    1138 words with mm, 10ml of tears? may be, in 3-1/2 hours. for an hour or so, I struggled … to get a start … my sixth chapter … an inspiration, from some program that I watched in the Discovery channel some five years ago. U C, I have a good memory power. FLASH !!! the words begin, not in a trickle, not in drops, but in torrents, you know how my muse treats me. like a laundry bundle pushed down a ____ duct. Then I read those words, and I cried, not in anguish, that my readers might do, for wasting their bucks on a ____ … OK come back, why? that’s all. I cried, for my thoughts had come out perfectly in words.

  12. Karen Mahoney Avatar

    I am totally joining in, what a great idea. Thanks! ๐Ÿ™‚ Got the link from Marjorie Liu.

    I wrote my last manuscript (rough draft) incredibly fast. It’s a 60k YA and needs serious revisions. But while I work on that and wait on submissions I have out with my agent, I really want to write an adult urban fantasy. 100k is perfect and life is so busy right now (day job, etc) that I want to do this one slowly. Not put myself under pressure. I will start on Sunday, hopefully.

    Cheers,
    Kaz
    ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Welcome, Karen. ๐Ÿ˜€ Happy to have you along.

  13. Emily Avatar

    My comments aren’t showing up! (of course, this one will be posted. Just watch.)

    I wasn’t planning on writing today, but I can do 286 words. It’ll be a breeze! Thanks for the motivation, Holly.

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      I’ll check Akismet and see if you have run afoul of its arcane algorithms. ๐Ÿ˜€ But you get get through on this one. Congrats on the words.

  14. Emily Avatar

    I wasn’t planning on writing today, but I can do 286 words! It’ll be a breeze. Thanks for the motivation.
    –Emily
    http://emilycaseysmusings.blogspot.com

  15. Emily Avatar

    I wasn’t planning on writing today, but I can do 286. It’ll take no time! Thanks for this motivation!

    –Emily
    http://emilycaseysmusings.blogspot.com

  16. Glynis Smy Avatar

    A call for help from a friend put me out today, but 1st July (18.40pm Cyprus), saw me lay my pen down at 320 words. A physical workout moving boxes and writing, a good day!

  17. Cora Zane Avatar

    Hi all, I’m new to the WaBWM threads. This is a great idea, Holly. I need group motivation since I’m trying to finish my book by the end of summer.

    My June 30th word count for the day is 2k. (I’m a little over 57k into the wip upon joining all of you.) BTW, I do my writing at night once the kiddos are snoozing, so I’ll probably be a day behind on posting all my totals. Happy writing, everyone! :0)

  18. Mike P. Avatar
    Mike P.

    Iโ€™ve been working on my own little Noir piece for about a month. Iโ€™m at twenty pages and nearly 7,800 words. Which gives me an average of 260 words everyday. Averages are deceptive. I actually write around 700 โ€“ 900 and then take a few days off. Hopefully having the group push will help me work more consistently.

    Right now I have became hung up on describing how a car door reflects the surrounding area when opened in a hurry. It is always the little things that slow me down the most.

  19. Elise Avatar
    Elise

    Hmmm… this is going to be confusing. I guess the only rational way for me to participate is to post my word count for the date of Holly’s post. Since I got her email yesterday evening, I was going to start this morning. But I wrote 700-plus words yesterday on my own, so that’s what I’m posting here.

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Elise, that’s the right way to do it. Any day you decide to post, simply add your word count (and a sentence about what you wrote, if you want) to the most current “write a book with me” post.

  20. Lila S. Avatar
    Lila S.

    Well, I’ve finally decided what I want to work on. It’s not actually a novel, it’s a tabletop RPG setting, because that’s where my mind has been lately. If I get inspired, I may try to write some short stories that take place in this world.

    Holly, if you read this, thanks so much for the opportunity to follow along with you and be inspired by your and everyone’s progress. Also, I hope I’m not bending the rules too much by not working on an actual novel.

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      I think that’s cool, Lila. Folk who want to do this to finish short stories, nonfiction books, novels, screenplays, RPGs, … whatever—I think it’s great. Glad you’re here.

  21. Carol Avatar
    Carol

    552 words so far. This is great! I was pretty pleased with myself when I finished planning my novel on pretty-coloured post-its, but then I started angsting about the actual novel writing part and I’ve been dead in the water ever since. Not anymore. This has been a brilliant kick in the pants. Thanks a million!

  22. Eve Avatar
    Eve

    964 interesting words, but I’m starting to have so many notes–go back, they say. Go back, we have to at least mention Aiden the Terrible in the scene where Simon goes off the deep end because he caught Avery practising magic. And while in the tavern wouldn’t Ursus question Hudo about his troubles with Magda? You can’t just have Master Donjer demonstrate the luminance spell and then not say how he does it.-Still, it’s all good.

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Eve—don’t go back. Write notes to yourself on what needs to be revised, pretend in writing your next pages that you already made those revisions…and keep moving forward.

  23. Erin T Avatar
    Erin T

    About 500 words of character development on a new story last night. Aiming to make this as much a habit as brushing teeth before bed! ๐Ÿ™‚

  24. Carly Avatar
    Carly

    Just heard about this today and think it is fantastic. Yet again Holly saves the day. I just recently hit 26,000 words and was so shocked by it that my motivation seems to have vanished and I haven’t written anything in a week now! This is exactly what I need and the word count is perfect. Got an essay for University to finish off today but first thing tomorrow (or at some point tomorrow) I’ll be joining in! Thank you yet again!

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Hi, Carly! Good luck with the essay. See you tomorrow… (or today, depending). ๐Ÿ˜€

  25. Teresa Avatar
    Teresa

    621 words for my new novella, which is an exercise in something I want to write, but not sure I really can. ๐Ÿ™‚

  26. John Avatar
    John

    336 words this morning! I had fun writing today, I’ll probably write more this afternoon.

    This morning I found out that the character who I thought was my main character actually isn’t right for the part, so that changed the story quite a lot!

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Cool. It’s always fascinating to see who shows up for a main character casting call. Good luck.

  27. Ruth Avatar

    Ooh, count me in! I think I might try a variation on the 250-word-a-day rule, though – 250 words a day or a new scene outlined or 500 words revised, I think. I’m in the revision stage of my WIP at the moment, although I have a few new scenes I’m adding – hopefully this will motivate me to do a little a day. ๐Ÿ™‚

  28. Ann Avatar
    Ann

    250 words for the 30th – really hoping for more, but after 14 hours at the day job, I was pleased to be able to write at all. Hopefully a bit more today

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Ann—that’s just exactly the trick. It’s how I got work done when I had two toddlers. I learned to write small amounts in very short intervals, and to pick up where I’d left off by skimming (and line-editing) the previous few paragraphs of what I’d written. (A technique I learned from Lawrence Block.)

      The magic happens when you discover that you don’t have to write a lot to succeed. You just have to write a little bit even on days when you don’t really feel like doing it.

  29. Patricia Guy Avatar

    Thank you so much for this opportunity to join your community. I have decided to write a novel…but this time…I will approach it in the same way as I do my non-fiction books: I will always think of the reader and I will know where I am going before I committ a word to paper. I found Holly’s advice about constructing scenes and her rule about aiming for “conflict on every page” invaluable. I hope to complete the scene by scene breakdown shortly and start writing July 5. Thanks again.

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Welcome. I’ll look forward to seeing you here when you’re ready. ๐Ÿ˜€

  30. Rachelle Avatar
    Rachelle

    408!

  31. Minze Avatar
    Minze

    434 words on the 30th.

  32. Lindy Avatar
    Lindy

    I just found out about this and it sounds ideal! I recently started a plan where I write on paper on the way home from work (one of the few benefits of not owning a car) so every weekday I get a few more lines done to get that gradual build up. Then I type it all up on weekends, so I don’t usually get my wordcounts until then. Very excited to be taking part ๐Ÿ™‚

  33. Sal Avatar
    Sal

    448 words last night, and the first scene done.

    One slightly battered hero, one other character for him to meet later, scene set, equally battered horse named after Margaret Tudor, and they are creeping away from Flodden as fast as they can limp.

    Happy July!

  34. Jessica Avatar
    Jessica

    Starting out with 1400 words behind me, only got 100 done today, but they are good words and I had a lot of distractions with family issues. And tomorrow being Canada Day, I don’t know how much time I’ll have to commit to writing. BTW, happy Canada Day and (early) Independence Day everyone!

  35. Julia GD Avatar
    Julia GD

    about 2000 words today. Too many distractions. Too many things to do,
    Well and whatever I will write not already would count to july 1st technically.

  36. The Pencil Neck Avatar
    The Pencil Neck

    1123 words tonight.

    In this scene, my protagonist asked his brother’s girlfriend if she was his brother’s killer. It got ugly. And then he found out she’s an undercover policewoman. And the relationship to his brother was a ruse, and his brother was a snitch helping infiltrate her into the gang. And he’s now pretty much convinced she’s innocent… and that he’s going back to jail (he’s on a type of probation.) It was a fun scene to write but I’m worrying about some of the more brutal sections.

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      I sometimes scare myself with scenes I write. It’s part of the gig if you’re putting something that matters on your page. Let it stand as written. You can always change it in revision if you later decide it’s too rough.

  37. Ann J Avatar
    Ann J

    417 words, and tentatively approaching 20K. This is the ideal motivation for me to work on my story over summer vacation!

  38. Mikaela Avatar
    Mikaela

    I actually managed to get 1000 new words, in a very ambling way.
    I am very pleased with them. Now I just need to keep Aida in check so that she don’t take over the story.

  39. gin Avatar
    gin

    Does writing a synopsis count? Finished my novel (thanks in part to your, that is, Holly’s, blog for motivating me) two days ago and I have to get that critter out the door and onto desks now.

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Writing words counts. ๐Ÿ˜€ If you’re developing an outline, interviewing your character, creating background… yeah, it all counts.

      It won’t count into your page count, but in most cases, writing a novel is a lot more than just writing the words the reader reads. And since all of those words lead eventually to completing the book, you get credit for all of them.

  40. Natisha Avatar
    Natisha

    372 words. Sequel to my MG sci-fi novel.

  41. Melissa PLC Avatar
    Melissa PLC

    About 1000 words today (the thing I’m using right now doesn’t have a word count thing, sadly. I’m switching soon, but until then, I have to guesstimate.).

    Since I’m a first time author like some of the others, this is really the kick in the pants I needed. I have a horrible time actually finishing things…because my mind is always popping with ideas.

    Can’t wait to see how everyone else is doing!

  42. tamlyn Avatar
    tamlyn

    866 words ๐Ÿ™‚ very pleased. Am in chapter 11 of the planned 12. Kicked out one scene because it made no sense whatsoever to keep it in. Guess I am learning more than I think from HttS ๐Ÿ™‚

  43. Jamie D. Avatar

    265 words tonight…which is major progress given 3 hrs of sleep last night. But it’s odd that I still feel the need to “justify” my low word count, when the minimum is 250. Gotta get over that guilt thing, and be glad I wrote just a little bit tonight.

    Off to bed now.

  44. Ieva Avatar

    Hmmm. If “today” is June 30th, then it’s 900+ words. (The timezone differences boggle my mind.)

    1. Gerhi Janse van Vuuren Avatar

      I get a kick out of it that the USA is behind the rest of the world.

      But to be able to match Holly’s word count I will have to accept that I write a day after – or I have to keep a ridiculous schedule

      1. Ieva Avatar

        Well, since I’m on so-called “advanced” schedule I’ll just do what I do at my pace and then measure up. Otherwise, I’ll go nuts, I have two spreadsheets already.

  45. rachelle jensen Avatar
    rachelle jensen

    what does DTD mean? i know its something really simple…

    1. meela Avatar
      meela

      Dreaming the Dead! Holly’s tentative title.

      1. rachelle jensen Avatar
        rachelle jensen

        Oh thanks! I thought it meant something super cryptic like: Daily Thread Delineation… aka, word count. haha

  46. Leah Avatar

    @ Emily – I saw one of your entries with this word count under the previous post, “DTD-Night off with the AFK,” could that be it? Just trying to help. I know it really makes me wonder when my posts go missing. So I normally just blame the gremlins and re-write the post ๐Ÿ™‚

  47. Clare K. R. Miller Avatar

    593 words today. I’m pretty pleased with that.

  48. Emily Schafer Avatar
    Emily Schafer

    Hmm…wonder what happened to my comment…:(

    575 words before midnight.

    5,704 total for “Lacrymosa” Part 1

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Your initial post ended up in my “moderate this post” filter. Never quite sure why some of them hang up there.

      I go through every day and fish out the posts Akismet held that aren’t spam. I get a fair amount of spam, too, but I don’t let it auto-delete. I’d lose some good stuff that way.

  49. Emily Schafer Avatar
    Emily Schafer

    Oops, posted in yesterday’s post. >_<

    I'll repeat: 575 words before midnight, which takes me to 5,704 for the story in total. I'll fill in some gaps between the first part and the snippet I wrote a few days ago. This should be fun…

  50. Dana Avatar

    I got 831 words today. I’m behind where I wanted to be, but not badly so.

    I’m doing 2YN. I started to do it on the site but got the books and I’m flying much better solo.

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