January 2010 Wordcount Goal: 73,000

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Janowrimo 2010: Day 3 Reconnecting with the story

I spent New Years Eve reconnecting with my main two characters and with a new setting I visited a few months ago. While I didn't do any formal writing that would provide manuscript wordcount, I did write about a scene that came to me during my visit.

I often write about my story and characters as much as I write the actual manuscript pages. My ongoing project diary was inspired by Sue Grafton's project journals. It's a way for me to create and feed a dialogue within and without as I write. The process often pushes me to write more and definitely helps me connect and stay within the story's universe.

I'm participating in JaNoWrimo and signed up for the Book in a Week that starts tomorrow. Between the two I look forward to pushing the wordcount even higher.

New Year's Day was devoted to my 2010 5-year goal and action plan. That took most of the day but I've always found it helpful to take the time to work out immediate and far-reaching goals. Having an immediate action plan with linked goals has, in the past, helped me to take those baby steps every day that eventually get me to the finish line. So what do you do? Any tips or tricks you'd like to share?

2 comments:

Leigh Russell said...

I set myself targets. I tend to write up to 2,000 words a day but don't seem able to achieve much more than that, even when I'm not working during the day. I like your idea of connecting with your characters even when you're not actually writing about them.
I hope you return my visit - and maybe consider buying my book. Please don't be put off by amazon.com being temporarily out of stock. My crime thriller, CUT SHORT, has been so popular here in the UK that my publisher is reprinting (for the second time in six months!) Reprints will be available soon.
In any event, I hope to see you on my blog. Fellow writers are always welcome!

vikk simmons said...

2,000 words a day is a great daily target. In general I used to average 2-3,000 words but there were days when my writing soared. When I did the December 2008 daily marathon I worked up to a 9,500 word day. Talk about an incredible high. That was way into the month so I was deeply immersed in the story and the character. Thanks for sharing!