Labor Day Book In A Weekend!

Just like Nano but shortened..

no editing.. start brand new and fresh with a new book.. hehe...

I'm in!

I know of one festival that I will be attending on Sunday of that weekend, but I'm planning to use the festival and the location (Lake George,NY) in my current, just started WIP. So, taking pens, paper and using the setting for ambiance is allowed. Right?

Kewl, thanks Dee.

I'm going to join in the fun... or torture. 

I wouldn't mind..

but I know in Nano.. there's been some major drivel and cheese that comes pouring out of our muses to help reach that 50k words.. lol..

up to you if u wanna read it..

I don't think anyone can get a book done in a weekend. Or geez, that they should. Nah, it's more a see how much you can get done kinda thing. Or pledge to a reasonable goal. Like you're promising yourself 2k a day for 4 days. That's 8k, which ain't a bad haul for a weekend. :)

Dee 

This sounds like the perfect torture *cough* I mean motivation! LOL. Really sounds fun.

Dee - please count me in for BIAWeekend.

I will be working on An Outlaw for the Lady which is the wip I started during BIAWeek in Jan. I seem to need the accountability of being with other writers to get going sometimes.

I will be starting with the following stats:

Word Count  - 27000 words              

Pages complete - 110

Percentage complete - 36%

Because I'm serious about this, I will make a goal of 10000 words per day. That is a stretch for me since I've never written more than 5000 in a day, but I've always had distractions and this time dh is off for the weekend and has said I can hide out in the RV and he'll take care of the kids

It'll be hot in there but there's power and we have fans. No internet so I won't be tempted to surf and with no TV out there, the kids'll prob stay away.

However, I really like checking in each night here and then reading everyone else's daily progress during coffee the next am. It gives me incentive to get writing.

I'll post my totals too, but I generally aim to finish my novella by Labor day. :) Any progress is good progress for me!

Hugs,
Dee

10k. And her  I was thinking if I coudl just do 6 to 8k. I am planning to work on the novel (for which I have just the basic idea) I am entering into the Feel the Heat competition.

Fingers crossed.

Happy birthday to all who are celebrating or are about to. My sister's twins will be turning 3 tomorrow.

i didn't know Dee had twins (almost newbie). Cool.  I call my sister's babies my twins. They are adorable. Okay, let me not get started or I'll not finish.

:-)

Amanda - I couldn't shut my internal editor off during NaNo, either. I don't like revising after so I try to write right the first time.

So, if I could do 5k with editing for NaNo, then in theory, I should be able to swing 10k without editing.

I just have to find my internal editor power switch.

isn't a problem. That's the one what writes WITH you, reminding you of rules and such as you go. She doesn't interfere much. It's the evil cow who tells you that those last five pages were pointless, delete, delete, delete, we need to shut down.

Congrats on that bug, AC!

Empire--you mean, you haven't seen any of my posts blathering about how adorable my girls are, tempered only by how loud they are? LOL! Mine are 17 months old now and totally into things that might cause trouble, lol.

Dee

Eartha Kitt just seemed apt to use at this moment. My goal is to finish my WIP by the end of August. This just gives me the motivation I need to finish it this weekend.

I have a novella due in December, but I promised to have the first three chapters, synopsis, and a blurb ready mid-September. *Yes, I know, insane* This is just what I needed. Great timing. Okay, I'll stop gushing about this. I won't give myself a limit though. I'll just write as much as I can in those four days. *with the IE off or tied up in a basement somewhere*

No Worries, Tracey

I am in exactly the same boat as you.. I have so many ideas and stories started.. rarely are any of them finished.. I finished one tiny bite and shipped it off, but since then I started numerous things and haven't finished them. For the exact same reasons as you.. either the blasted editor is worried about every little word.. or the muse doesn't want to help.. or some other reason..

Hopefully this weekend will help push some of it aside and help us finish a book.. :)

We're all in it together..

I don't know what you all know of writing, so if you know some of this, please bear with me for those that don't. And Dee, feel free to jump in anytime...

For those of you who want to try to finish or at least make major progress in your wip, what you can do during this next week is work on your plot and make notes. Those of you who've only written a few chapters - when you stopped, did you have a clear story in mind? 

You know you need a Happily Ever After (HEA) and a black moment (BM) but how will you get there? Have you made a character sketch to refer to so you know exactly what your characters look like? (I use the one I found here on the eharl site)

Have you thought of scenes that you want your characters to be in? Some writers have this all plotted out. If you already have the first few chapters and know what the BM, epiphany and HEA are, then how do you want the characters to respond to each other? What are their conflicts?

The more you can figure out ahead of time, the more clear a picture you'll have of what you want to write about and it'll be easier to write.

If you're sitting at your keyboard and you don't know what to write about in chap 4, then why not switch to the BM? (For me usually happens in the 2nd last chapter.)

Yes, it's best to have it all plotted out, scene by scene but not everyone can write like that. I can't. Maybe I will in time.

And no, I'm not pubbed yet, but I thought I'd jump in and try to alleviate some of your anxiety. The point I'm trying to make is - by the time the weekend is over, you want to see major progress in your own wip. It doesn't matter how many words everyone else does, as long as you are writing. And the best way to get writing, is to know what you want to write. That involves thinking it out whether you're walking the dog or doing the dishes. Use this time to figure out what your story is about and then run and make notes before you forget.

IMHO, this is what helped me write a complete ms during National Novel Writing Month.

I can't speak for everyone, but in my own situation it was a mixture of the internal editor and not being prepared.  I've found that reading 1000+ romance novels was not enough "research"; I had to learn more.  I read some books that broke down all the issues AM talked about.  I knew I needed a HEA and a BM (Ok, you all know i mean Black Moment, right ?) but I was clueless about the internal conflict vs the external conflict and about not falling into traps and cliches, like the evil other woman.

It was interesting reading about conflict and making sure it was substantial, and not something that could be solved in a conversation, if the hero and heroine ever sat down and talked.

One of the most useful tips I learned was to do character profiles of your hero and heroine.  Even if I don't use all the information I "discover" I at least know the character and that helps me when with their reactions to different people and experiences in my book.

So the main thing I learned is that the more preparation I do before I start writing the better off I'll be.  I had a definite outline for the first three chapters of the book because it was important to establish the characters and my mythology.  After that, I just went with the flow and I've been pleasantly surprised at where the characters and my story have gone.

And as they've grown, and I've gotten to know them better, I know there are places in the first three chapters where I can go back and make them richer and more complex... but I haven't yet.  That would start that editor again.  I just keep writing with an end in sight and when i'm finished, I'll go back, with all that I've learned about my characters and story, and begin revisions.

Like AM, I'm not claiming to be an expert and I'm nowhere near published, but I thought I would share what I've pieced together and what has helped me.  Maybe someone else will read something that will help them.  That's one of the great things about the forums.

When I first started, I was a Pantser who balked at writing anything down first, thinking it would kill the story for me. And at the time, it really did. But when you Pants and you are stuck, a little preplanning can't really  hurt, can it?

Here's what I do. I started off going, ok, what scene is next (I'm a linear writer and cannot skip forward, period.). Who is in it? Where are they and what do they NEED to do or say?

Once I answer those questions, I'm ready to begin. Then I just write, meander, work my way around to those things that NEED doing (because any scene that doesn't have clear purpose is gonna get axed later, I guarantee it) and then end the scene. Then I ask those questions for the next scene. And the next. And the next.

You're still Pantsing. You're just pansting with a goal.

Good luck gang!

Dee 

Hey Dee - 'Pantsing With a Goal' - that sounds like a writing technique title. Yes - I finally have a label!

Hello to all of you who're taking up the challenge.

Iheartsushi - you have 1 para done? Well, just think, if you finish the weekend with 2 paras, you've doubled your output.

Actually, I know a gal who had real probs getting past the first couple chapters. She'd have all these ideas but when it came time to write them down, she'd fizzle.

Last year, she attempted NaNo - again - albeit the Nat'l site. I told her the one we have here on eharl and how we set our own goals and she said she wouldn't worry about finishing, she'd just try her best.

You know, by the end of the month, she'd completed about 70% of her novel. She was so happy. Since then, she's finished it.

So, it's not really where you start or finish when your doing something like this, but that you don't cheat yourself of the time you're allowing yourself to write.

Sorry, Dee...there I go again...

So, I plan to write my synopsis and a blurb today. I've got my opening scenes in mind and what the three chapters will be about. But since I am still a panster at heart no telling what scenes will come to me once I sit down.

Good luck everyone.

I'll be writing...posting progress might make me more accountable...

I'm in, never can resist a challenge.

Labor Day is this weekend.. eeek..

Man.. where has the year gone??

Okay.. must get story ideas in place.. and fingers exercised... in.. out.. up..down.. get the muse pumped up with ideas and ready to flow.. :)

I'm just hoping to get something concrete done this weekend.. :) That's my goal.. lol..

Hugs and luck to all!

Arrggh, the day job from hell is taking over again next weekend and the best I can hope for is one day to write in. So I'm setting a target of completing a rougher than rough first draft for a potential "Feel the Heat" entry. I'm doing the character sheets and a bit of planning for right now., but I may not end up entering it, as I learned after the last contest that it's better to polish something and wait to submit it via the usual route than send in a good idea but only half-edited writing just 'cos its a contest deadline.

Good luck everyone and have fun with it!

Count me in.  Maybe this will edge me on to get the next 4 chapters written of my WIP.  A chapter a day. I know I can, I know I can, I know I . . .

Bev