Retired??? You mean I'm never going to be able to fulfill my secret ambition to take the train up to Providence and drop a week's salary at your restaurant?
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- Thread starter Homer Potvin
- Start date
This will be the first time I've done the November Writing Thing, and fortunately I have a story line that I've been developing for a while. I'm normally a pantser with some planner tendencies. That means a lot of time not banging away on a keyboard, instead I'm doing research or just trying to game out what the next scene is going to be. Once I have a general idea in my head though, I can knock out 2k - 3k words in an afternoon. This stop-and-go style, coupled with editing before the story before it's done really slows down my output. On average, it's probably ~500 wpd.
So, to keep some sort of decent momentum going, I'm going to spend the rest of October sketching an outline and doing research to fill in gaps in my story arc. Hopefully that will give me enough inertia on November 1 to carry me through. My goal is 1k/day, so 30k total. The hardest part is going to be not editing as I go. I hate seeing the squiggly red line under words and even if I turn spell check off, I'll skim through text and something will catch my eye and I'll fall down the editing rabbit hole.
So, to keep some sort of decent momentum going, I'm going to spend the rest of October sketching an outline and doing research to fill in gaps in my story arc. Hopefully that will give me enough inertia on November 1 to carry me through. My goal is 1k/day, so 30k total. The hardest part is going to be not editing as I go. I hate seeing the squiggly red line under words and even if I turn spell check off, I'll skim through text and something will catch my eye and I'll fall down the editing rabbit hole.
Just get here before early January. Not "retired" retired, but I believe my days as a mildly psychotic, type A (not my nature), 70 hours a week, heart-attack-waiting-to-happen, COO type are done. I will almost certainly find myself doing something in/around/above a restaurant again, but running 8 of them again ain't happening.
Are they staying open under new management?
Yeah, but that would be the wrong thing to call it. I manage the managers and department heads that would be traditionally be considered "management." Whether they continue to perform as well under somebody else's supervision is debatable, but they're all killers. Managing the personalities, though? Hail Mary full of grace...
Notre Dame's in second place.
Ooops. Wrong thread.
Ooops. Wrong thread.
50k for me. I still haven't picked a project yet, but I think (keyword: think) I've almost settled.
Glad to see this turnout! November's gonna be so much fun.
Glad to see this turnout! November's gonna be so much fun.
Speak With Animals
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I'd love to give this a go. In the old days I'd have stormed in very optimistically for the 50K target, and while right now I feel pretty optimistic, I know how the wind can change! So I'll go semi-optimistic and aim for 25K, if I may!
I'm currently 30K into my first fantasy novel, so I'll see how much further I can progress that! That is, if it's legal and not too disapproved of for me to take this opportunity to add to an existing project. Otherwise, I'll quietly continue in the background...
I'm currently 30K into my first fantasy novel, so I'll see how much further I can progress that! That is, if it's legal and not too disapproved of for me to take this opportunity to add to an existing project. Otherwise, I'll quietly continue in the background...
Please do continue existing work! If you have more questions there's an FAQ in another thread on this board.
If I counted right, it looks like 18 people have signed up so far!
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Right.
50k is not far off five times longer than anything I've written. Right now, the thing that is ever present in my day dreaming aspiring writer brain goes on for longer than a single short story and I've thought about it long enough and should just sit to write the damn thing. I don't know how long it's going to be but have 8 significant episodes that should each require more than 3k to actualise.
This exercise might be enough to kickstart, focus the head. I'll aim for 15k into the thing, maybe hoping for more but if I get to a 15k tipping point, there'll be more reason to finish than abandon.
I've opened a new file in my documents titled "you'll probably regret this" where I'll open eight separate documents and have a go. I'll put a little about the concept into the other thread.
I'd also mention that the name given to this exercise, November Writing Thing, played no small part in my decision to participate.
50k is not far off five times longer than anything I've written. Right now, the thing that is ever present in my day dreaming aspiring writer brain goes on for longer than a single short story and I've thought about it long enough and should just sit to write the damn thing. I don't know how long it's going to be but have 8 significant episodes that should each require more than 3k to actualise.
This exercise might be enough to kickstart, focus the head. I'll aim for 15k into the thing, maybe hoping for more but if I get to a 15k tipping point, there'll be more reason to finish than abandon.
I've opened a new file in my documents titled "you'll probably regret this" where I'll open eight separate documents and have a go. I'll put a little about the concept into the other thread.
I'd also mention that the name given to this exercise, November Writing Thing, played no small part in my decision to participate.
Yay?
I am about to indulge myself with a brief lecture about a pet peeve, so consider yourself forewarned.
You write. Ergo, you are not simply aspiring to be a writer; you are a writer. You may aspire to improve your writing, may aspire to publication, may aspire to seeing your name on a best seller list, but you are beyond merely aspiring to be a writer.
Aspiring writers think about writing something someday. Writers write.
You may be right about that and maybe the time I'm writing instead of thinking about it is enough to bridge the gap. I'm not entirely sure. What I am sure about, is that I'd most likely drive you nuts if I was in your class!
Joking aside, being a "writer" is a status I hold in high esteem, practised by people for whom I have huge respect. Identifying as one is not something I'd take lightly nor broadcast presumptuously. I guess I'm still talking about being accomplished or successful, as opposed to just writing, for which I have my own measures that don't include bestsellers lists. Essentially, I write but am not yet a writer, with the meaning I attach to what it is to be a writer.
Thanks for the encouragement, all the same.
Since I am already certifiably nuts, I laugh at the very notion of being driven there.
Louanne Learning
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Winner: 4th Contest August
Winner: June Flash Fiction
With all due respect, imo, I think you are a gifted writer.
Listen to Louanne, Rigor. She knows stuff.
