Writing on Saturday — WABWM

The official Saturday “Write A Book With Me” post.

I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend, and if you’re writing, I hope the words are going well.

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34 responses to “Writing on Saturday — WABWM”

  1. Emily Avatar

    I revised 23 pages. I’m 2/3 of the way done!

    1. Sarah Collins Avatar

      Way to go! I’m cheering for you!

  2. Don Avatar
    Don

    Took yesterday off something was nagging me about the work, (I have to think of a title). I took a drive to sort out my head and figured out what it was did 541 words today, not great but I’m happy, and the nagging fealing is gone. The issue that was bugging me was happly sorted out (No cutting). Look to be at or very close to 40,000 words by 9/1.

  3. Larkk Avatar
    Larkk

    524 words on a night I wasn’t planning on writing at all, so I’m happy about that. And excited to get back into it tonight.

  4. Lucca Avatar
    Lucca

    746 words.

    I got today into a scene I longed to write for a long time: when he chases her under the rain and kissed her instead of telling her that he knows her husband beats her.
    How does he knows? That’s a whole different story.

    1. Sarah Collins Avatar

      That sounds deliciously romantic!

  5. Rabia Avatar

    No words, but I went through my notes for the novel I left off at 10K in the spring. The short story’s not going anywhere, and it’ll keep while I write what I really want to. ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. Lindsay Avatar
    Lindsay

    Hehe, yeah. I’ve had to do that a few times to actually get anything down at all.
    But what is funny is that the scene that I started last night leads up into the scenes I had written like two weeks ago as candy bar scenes! So I’ll have to clumps of story that need to be connected once I down with the scene and like the one or two more that go after it. HA!

  7. Lindsay Avatar
    Lindsay

    After a week of not writing, I finally got back to it last night.

    Word Count: 1510

    I am quite proud of that number. I decided to stop writing the scene I had been working on in favor of starting another one that I was more interested in. That’s not to say I don’t like the one scene I stopped writing, I just currently found it more fun to start this new scene that I really wanted to get to. I guess you can say it’s my candy bar scene that I’m working up to tieing into the main flow of the story.

    1. Sarah Collins Avatar

      I’ve done that. One scene screaming to get out, the other clawing to stay in. Guess which one won? LOL. Way to go w/ the 1510!

  8. Laura Avatar
    Laura

    966 words and I’m trying to chase away the feeling that I’m going to get stuck real soon. I haven’t done much planning for this novel (research – yes, but not planning), because for me extensive outlining kills the joy of writing and exploring and takes the story down with it. So now I know just the things that I saw in my dream (that’s how I got the plot idea) and go with the flow, letting my characters do as they please. It has worked every time before, but now I’m getting restless, ’cause some of the characters have turned out to be quite different from what I initially intended (e.g., the twin sister of the FMC doesn’t hate her right from the start). Another problem that I’ve noticed recently is that I push myself to write long chapters, as in “the chapter mustn’t be shorter than X pages”. It didn’t bother me beforehand and I had chapters that weren’t longer than 2 pages, but now I make myself write more, even if it is time for the next one. Of course, I can always delete everything that’s not relevant to the plot during editing, but I don’t like losing time on them. Oh well. I’ll try to figure out how to get rid of this obstacle.

    And maybe I’m just worried about nothing. After all, as much as I’m complainig, the words that I got on Saturday aren’t that bad.

    Good luck with your writing everyone! ๐Ÿ™‚

  9. Lisa R Avatar
    Lisa R

    I took Friday off. I enjoyed an evening of football scrimage, watching not participating:-) Then the kids sent my husband and I off to dinner to spend time together. I find it wonderful they see the need for us to have our time. I just hope they remember it for their own relationships when they grow up.

    1063 words. I ended up doubling the word count, so I didn’t lose anything by taking the prior day off. The writing was very enjoyable. I finally feel my MC is where she needs to be and will begin to start learning. She doesn’t think so yet.

    Yesterday I worked on a part of my HTTS lessons. The topic must have hit my muse hard. She gave me a nightmare that woke me in a number of ways. It taught me a couple of fears. One of the fears is something that I also love. Very interest conflict in my own personality. (I hope this is alright to write. I did make sure I only talked vaguely and about my emotions.)

    1. Khena Avatar
      Khena

      I’d guess it was okay, since the more comments I read about the course, the more I wish I had the money squirrled away to take it. So I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s great free advertising in my opinion, but I’m sure Holly will let you know if she doesn’t like it =)

  10. Sarah Collins Avatar

    Added 193 to the Edit-IP and I’m through the third chapter. Feedback great so far, particularly the opening. I hated the old opening, so I’m loving that! I have some paying work to catch up on Sunday so I don’t know if I’ll touch WIP#2 or not. I need to – it’s been a couple of days. *slinks away to take more pain medication and pretends it’s not an excuse*

  11. Debora Avatar
    Debora

    272 words. I had very little time to write. Although the word count is on the low side, the topic is extremely interesting to me. Having recently watched Holly’s motivation videos, I think I must have subconsciously been mulling over some of the questions she poses. All of a sudden my MC/narrator wanted to explain to me why it’s so important for her to remember fully what happened during the summer and fall of 1863 at Gettysburg.

    She’s not finished talking to me yet, and I am eager to hear more. I’ve had Gettysburg on the brain for a solid two years now, and I still don’t know exactly why I feel so compelled to write about it. Type Gettysburg into the search engine at Amazon, and you get over 36,000 hits. Why even think about writing another novel about Gettysburg? Didn’t Killer Angels get it all said?

    Can’t wait to revisit this topic! Gotta be central to my WIP.

    1. Lisa R Avatar
      Lisa R

      Debora, I have been enjoying your posts about Gettysburg. The Civil War is my favorite era in history. Someday I will do a couple of projects in this era. I have ideas that have been with me for quite a few years. I have read “Killer Angels”, watched “Gettysburg” a number of times, and written a paper on the movie for a prof who apposes war. That was fun! While doing the research for my paper, I found so many interesting stories that were left out of the book. Not everything was said in “Killer Angels.” You might just be the person to blow new life into an older topic. Keep writing and most of all, have fun.

      1. Debora Avatar
        Debora

        Hello, Lisa. I am always happy to hear from a fellow civil war buff! My favorite era, too. And I know Killer Angels, which is a very fine book, did not get it all said. There are quite a few YA books written about the Gettysburg experience, and several alternate histories, but fewer novels than you might expect.

        My novel is told from the POV of a young schoolteacher living in Gettysburg during the time of the battle. Killer Angels ends with Pickett’s Charge — or the Pickett-Pettigrew-Timble Charge, more properly stated. But the battle itself is just part of the story. Park ranger and historian, Gregory A. Coco, wrote an amazing book about the aftermath of the battle, called A Strange and Blighted Land. Sadly, he died this past year. All the anniversary battlewalks were dedicated to him this year. Reading Coco’s book is what got me obsessing about everything Gettysburg.

        There are still thousands of stories to be told about what happened at Gettysburg. Just hope to do justice to this young schoolteacher and her story. Sometimes I really do feel as if I’m channeling her.

        As Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain said:

        “In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field to ponder and dream; And lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls.”

        Spoken at the dedication of the Monument to the 20th Maine
        October 3, 1889, Gettysburg, PA

  12. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    1819 words, which finished up the scene where the elf queen finally, after hundreds of years, gets to start taking her revenge on the family line that messed her up. And the Potentate learns of her council’s betrayal. Fun stuff.
    Plus- Saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince! Huzzah!

  13. Dana Avatar

    I finished the description that was kicking my butt, then did one that did not kick my butt thank goodness. Everything’s on track for me to finish prewriting by the end of this month so I can start the rough draft at the beginning of next month.

  14. Brent B. Avatar
    Brent B.

    501 thanks to a lot of caffeine today

    Even after being shot in the head, MC finds himself miraculously alive again. He can’t figure out how that can be, seeing that his dead body is laying on the sidewalk in front of him. He checks himself all over and decides he feels real enough. Now, he wants some answers from the mysterious billboard girl, but he won’t get any yet, because MC wasn’t the only one looking for the billboard girl – a nasty little creature has been looking for the her too, and its arrived.

    1. Treelight Avatar
      Treelight

      Oh, that sounds interesting. I surely would be a little surprised in that situation, too ๐Ÿ™‚

  15. Danielle Avatar
    Danielle

    Word count- 605 words. I’m happy with that- it’s more than I’ve been getting.

    It was basically a rehash of what I already have, but I almost completely rewrote it so that it makes more sense in fewer words. And I changed some fairly major details. I like what I got. Would write more, but I’m tired. ๐Ÿ˜€

  16. Treelight Avatar
    Treelight

    I wrote 501 words on Saturday … which means I took only 1 free day this week. YAY!
    Well, not all of the stuff I created is great, but it will do for now. Let’s just hope I’ll be able to keep this up.

    Hm, and I think I’ll have to split up the chapter I’m currently working on. It’s the bad guys POV on some essential scenes and I think it will be too long in 1 block, and it might make more sense when it settles down into more proper places.
    But I think I’ll leave that decision for the revision, for it probably won’t make much difference for the first draft how this part is organized.

  17. The Pencil Neck Avatar
    The Pencil Neck

    2579 words.

    I’m pretty pleased with that word count. It should have been much higher. My wife was off running around planning a wedding today and I was all alone. My plan was to write all day. But of course, after I had about 1000 words written, work calls with an emergency and I spend the majority of the day working. I have to work tomorrow as well. ๐Ÿ™

    Anyway, 2 scenes down. In the original draft the first scene took maybe a paragraph. I expanded it to over 1000 words. The second scene was just a really poorly written data dump. I rewrote everything from scratch.

    Over the two scenes, our thief reluctantly told the ancient vampiress that he’d stolen a necklace her grandmother had given to her over 2000 years before. She wasn’t pleased. He was beaten to a pulp. Then when he woke up, he got dressed and faced his first test. She questioned him about things while he had to stand next to her human maid without feeding even though the hunger was on him (because of having to heal from his extensive injuries.)

  18. Patricia Avatar
    Patricia

    2,815 words today! I almost feel bad because I see a lot of people struggling while I’m having a ball over here. Good luck to all of you who are having difficulties. I’m rooting for ya!

    Anyways, I am super, super, super excited because I just signed up for How to Think Sideways, and I’m really looking forward to doing the lessons. Not sure if I can exactly apply what I learn when I’m already well under way with my book, but we’ll see. I’m sure I can mix in the lessons any time, and it’ll happen unconsciously anyway whether I choose to or not, that’s the way learning works. ๐Ÿ™‚

    The vampyres decide it’s high time to move to another location (they are a nomadic culture) and Ryan has an interesting conversation with his master’s children. I am quite happy with the dialog, because it’s not really my strong point. It is nice to relax for a change. Ryan’s life has been absolute turmoil so far, and it’s a nice change of pace to be riding on the back of a cow, simply talking beneath the stars during the long journey. I think the children provided a nice bit of comedy relief as well, which was nice. I had fun with them, and I think Ryan had a little fun too. I never knew he was so good with kids. ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. The Pencil Neck Avatar
      The Pencil Neck

      You can definitely apply the HtTS techniques and approaches to existing works although not all of them will be applicable to everything. There are some techniques that are for finding new ideas but also for the framing of those ideas into something workable.

      I took each lesson and tried to apply it to my WIP. I was just having problems with one thing and I couldn’t get it and couldn’t get it and it didn’t make sense to me why I couldn’t get it to work. And then after I was finished with my first draft and going through the revision checklists that I realized that the reason I couldn’t get it was because there was a fundamental flaw in my story. ๐Ÿ™ Hello, Rewrite.

  19. Bonne Friesen Avatar

    I spent many hours today in revision, and got to Chapter 20! Beta readers are impatient for this latest version, so this feels really really good. The really hard things are yet to come (where do I end this story?!) but I feel much more prepared for them now.

    1. Sarah Collins Avatar

      Milestone chapter! Way to go!

  20. Kristen Avatar

    641 words today. I haven’t decided yet if they were great words, but for now I’m just happy I got them down on paper. I spent the past couple of years mired in the SAFE/PERFECT issues Holly describes in the HTTS course, and during that time I hardly wrote anything worth mentioning. So, just the act of writing and getting those words flowing this morning was a big breakthrough for me. This week has been full of wonderful surprises. I was so excited about my story last night my muse kept me awake until the wee hours of the morning with new ideas about the plot.

  21. Khena Avatar
    Khena

    1215 for me tonight, mostly dialogue. Unlike everyone else here, I have seem to have more problems with dialogue than anything else. But I think it’s going well. Tomorrow I’m going to interrupt their conversation with the return of a friend, which will only serve to complicate things =)

    1. Amie Avatar
      Amie

      Oddly enough, dialogue (and action stuff) comes very easily for me. It’s the descriptive/narrative parts that get me. I’ll sit for days going from a blank page to the exciting parts before I get anything that’s worth keeping. Most of the time, I just try to get something down and go back for a re-write later. Thank goodness for very supportive family and friends, or I don’t think I’d ever finish anything!

      1. Treelight Avatar
        Treelight

        I dare say that I write diaglogue easily and can do quite a lot of it, too. However, I don’t think that all of what I produce in that line is actually good. So, I’m not sure if this counts as “having no problems with dialogue” ๐Ÿ™‚

        1. Khena Avatar
          Khena

          I think my main problem with dialogue is knowing when to stop. A great deal of my stories aren’t dialogue, so it’s harder for me to make the switch. And I tend to feel like it’s lame, unless my characters are fighting with each other. I’m good at fighting… in stories at least. If only I was as good in real life, I’d win more arguments with my husband… =)

          1. Treelight Avatar
            Treelight

            What you say sounds very familiar.
            Most of my story-dialogues are either fights and bickering, or cheesy stuff.
            In real life I can talk neither.

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