Novel Four: Day Two

DISTRACTIONS, BUT STILL A GOOD DAY…

(As a reminder, the overall monthly challenge is to write four novels and gain distance every week on my step count, starting the first week at an average of 11,000 steps per day.)

Want to Hear Me Talk About Being Prolific?

I know some of you come by here to watch this crazy challenge. But if interested, a great guy and writer by the name of Ryan Pelton does a blog about being prolific. And he was crazy enough to get me on his program. And, well, you know me, I’m blunt.

So if you are interested in a fun bit of time with me talking about all the stuff I do as a writer, and about being prolific, check it out and check out his podcast regularly. It’s one of the fun ones.

https://www.theprolificwriter.net/episode-33-dean-wesley-smith-on-the-myths-of-writing-and-publishing/

The Day Went Like This…

Got up at 2:30 p.m., did an hour of e-mail and got to WMG around 4:30 p.m. The guys at the store there helped me unpack my car from my picking trip. I had a couple of lark buys, but mostly I did all right.

I stayed there until 8 p.m. working on workshop stuff. Home to nap, cook dinner and then back in here to work on e-mail and more workshop stuff and some reading on the challenge stories.

Then I got to the writing around 12 midnight again, right on time.

The Writing Went Like This…

Book is going great when I sit down to write. I have no idea where it is going, but I am enjoying the hell out of the twisted path the characters are following to solve this ancient cold case. It’s like I get to read a little bit of a book every night.

I did 1,100 words before 1 a.m. and then went to watch the vote in the Senate live. So that took some time and I didn’t get back to writing until around 2 a.m.

I got another 1,400 words done before 2:45 a.m., going like crazy for me. Took a quick break and did another 1,000 words before going to watch the morning political shows.

Then back around 3:45 a.m. and got another 1,300 words by 4:30 a.m.

Short break, another short break and 1,400 more words by 5:30 a.m.

6,200 words in 5 sessions. (Could have been so much more but got distracted.)

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Just Went Past 200,000 words written for the month.

Almost 140,000 of that is fiction. Four days left in the challenge.

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Novel #1…The Writing of TOMBSTONE CANYON: A Thunder Mountain Novel

 Challenge Day 1… Words written… 6,600.  Total so far… 6,600 words.
Challenge Day 2… Words written… 6,700.  Total so far… 13,300 words.
Challenge Day 3… Words written… 6,100.  Total so far… 19,400 words.
Challenge Day 4… Words written… 6,200.  Total so far… 25,600 words.
Challenge Day 5… Words written… 6,200.  Total so far…, 31,800 words.
Challenge Day 6… Words written… 6,100.  Total so far…, 37,900 words.
Challenge Day 7… Words written… 3,200.  Final Total…, 41,100 words. (Novel count is 38,000)

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Challenge Novel #2

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Novel #2…The Writing of DEATH TAKES A DIAMOND: A Mary Jo Assassin Novel

 Challenge Day 8… Words written… 6,400.  Total so far… 6,400 words.
 Challenge Day 9… Words written… 6,100.  Total so far… 12,500 words.
 Challenge Day 10… Words written… 3,200.  Total so far… 15,700 words.
 Challenge Day 11… Words written… 2,900.  Total written so far… 18,600 words.
 Challenge Day 12… Words written… 3,100.  Total written so far… 21,700 words.
 Challenge Day 13… Words written… 6,100.  Total written so far… 27,800 words.
 Challenge Day 14… Words written… 3,300.  Total written so far… 31,100 words.
 Challenge Day 15… Words written… 6,200.  Total written so far… 37,300 words.
 Challenge Day 16… Words written… 6,500.  Final total written… 43,800 words. (Novel is no where near that long and might get shorter still after Kris reads it.)

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Challenge Novel #3

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Novel #3…The Writing of DRY CREEK CROSSING: A Thunder Mountain Novel

 Challenge Day 17… Words written… 3,100.  Total so far… 3,100 words.
 Challenge Day 18… Words written… 3,400.  Total so far… 6,500 words.
 Challenge Day 19… Words written… 2,900.  Total so far… 9,400 words.
 Challenge Day 20… Words written… 6,200.  Total so far… 15,600 words.
 Challenge Day 21… Words written… 6,300.  Total so far… 21,900 words.
 Challenge Day 22… Words written… 6,100.  Total so far… 28,000 words.
 Challenge Day 23… Words written… 6,000.  Total so far… 34,000 words.
 Challenge Day 24… Words written… 3,100.  Total so far… 37,100 words.
 Challenge Day 25… Words written… 3,300.  Final total writer… 40,400 words. (Novel is not that long.)

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Challenge Novel #4

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Novel #4…The Writing of BURN CARD: A Cold Poker Gang Mystery

 Challenge Day 26 … Words written… 7,300  Total so far… 7,300 words.
 Challenge Day 27 … Words written… 6,200  Total so far… 13,500 words.

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The Day Breakdown

4.5 hours writing… 6,200 words
.5 hours exercise plus normal movement… 5,200 steps
6.5 hours of work for workshops and e-mails and meetings and such.

The rest is television and cooking and travel and so on. Plus 8 hours of sleep. One 10 minute nap.

THE CHALLENGE SO FAR…

Days over 6,000 words… 17 of 27
Days over 11,000 steps… 11 of 27

32 hours of regular job work this week. Today is week day six.

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Tracking Word Counts… July 27th, 2017
Writing in Public blog streak… Day 1,408

— Daily Fiction: 6,200 original words. Fiction month-to-date: 138,800 words  
— Nonfiction: 00 new words. Nonfiction month-to-date total: 700 words
— Blog Posts: 500 new words. Blog month-to-date word count: 13,200 words
— E-mail: 19 e-mails.  Approx. 1,200 original words.  E-mails month-to date: 813 e-mails. Approx. 48,100 words

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AUGUST ONLINE WORKSHOPS

All have openings at the moment. Information at

www.wmgpublishingworkshops.com

Any questions at all, feel free to write me. And if you are confused as to which workshop to take first, we have a full curriculum posted on its own page.

Class #13… Aug 8th … Depth #3: Research
Class #14… Aug 8th … Endings
Class #15… Aug 8th … Point of View
Class #16… Aug 8th … Writing Mysteries
Class #17… Aug 8th … Speed
Class #18… Aug 8th … Teams in Fiction
Class #19… Aug 9th … Depth in Writing
Class #20… Aug 9th … How to Edit Your Own Work
Class #21… Aug 9th … Character Development
Class #22… Aug 9th … Writing Secondary Plot Lines
Class #23… Aug 9th … Advanced Depth
Class #24… Aug 9th … Writing Fantasy

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