Camp update 4

Well, things have been a bit up-and-down over the past few days. Had another no writing day, a very low word day, then a couple of good days.

12/4/19 - zero.
13/4/19 - 690
14/4/19 - 3460
15/4/19 - 2285

Total to date: 36366 words edited.

Actually, what I've produced over the last couple of days is more like first pass writing, because I'm at a part in the story where I got stuck before. VERY stuck. So it's all written in note form, without formatting; I'm having to do a lot of filling out and formatting as I go.

I also increased the word count I'm aiming for, because my original estimate of 45K for this novel seems a little low. So I increased it to 50K. I may not get that far, but I'd rather be working up to it realistically than looking like I've gone over and above my target if I set it too low at the start.

Onwards and upwards - like my word count.

Camp update No 3

Camp update:

7/4/19 - 3256
8/4/19 - 2754
9/4/19 - 1167
10/4/19 - 0 (Zero. Nada. Nowt)
11/4/19 - 6456

Total words edited to date: 29,931

Yesterday was a busy day, church wise. I DID write, but at NIBS, not on the novel. So it wasn't a word-free day, just a non-novel day.

Today was a good writing day, as plans changed and I didn't get to do what I'd intended to this afternoon (the not so good bit) so I edited instead. I was also working on dialogue, and I can whizz through more of that in a session because there's usually less editing required here than on descriptions or action sections. (I think I must have a knack for dialogue - it comes easily in the first instance. It's all the rest of it that slows me down!)

I'm also very aware that I am getting close to the place I got stuck on for so long (until I wrote something really simple and passed over it for more exciting bits!) I'm fully expecting my pace to slow down noticeably then, as I'll be editing much rawer material.

Probably a good job I've already had a good day today, eh?

Camp NaNoEdMo update 2

So the 'update every day on the blog' thing isn't working... it's working out as every few days instead. But I'm still glad to be doing camp NaNoEdMo, because I've discovered that even an hour a day is enough to get anywhere between 1100 and 2500 words edited.

And it's not proving so hard to find an hour. Today I've done the hour early in the day, because we're cooking dinner for friends tonight and I need to get a lot of tidying and cleaning done before I even start going near the kitchen! More usually, I'm editing in the evening, when everyone else at home is doing their own thing.

Maybe being an almost-disciplined writer isn't completely beyond me...

Here's the update so far:
4/4/19 - 2483
5/4/19 - 1157
6/4/19 - 1902
Grand total edited so far: 16296 words.

My aim is for 45K words by the end of the month. I'm on track. Happy Squidge.

Camp update 1

I forgot to update yesterday... I had a cold and was feeling a bit rubbish, then a quarter of one of my teeth broke off. So I was not in a happy, blogging place.

Instead, I'm giving you a double update today:

2/4/19 - 1365
3/4/19 - 1533

which takes me to a grand total of 10,754 words edited.

Mind you, it's taken me this long - and the assistance of my cabin buddies on camp - to work out exactly where to update my stats on Camp NaNoWriMo. At one point I was minus 9K words!!

Onwards and upwards...

Camp NaNoEdMo and Project Black Ruby

I mentioned the other day that I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo as Camp NaNoEdMo this month.

I'd already started working on the edit over the weekend, and I figured that I'd include those figures in the camp totals, as I'm aiming to have completed the edit of Project Black Ruby by the end of April.

So on the first day of camp, I have posted 7856 words edited. I was honest - said that that's three days' worth - and I am planning to edit something every day until I'm done, even if that goes beyond the end of the month.

In fact, I think I'll post my stats on here every day too, to prove to anyone outside of my camp cabin that I'm making progress. It's not something I've done before, but it might help to keep me motivated. Especially if you all keep encouraging me!

So, for Project Black Ruby so far:
30/3/19 - 4924
31/3/19 - 1697
1/4/19 - 1253
Total: 7856 words edited.

The End

Well, I hoped to get my first computer draft done, and it is. Still pretty rubbish in places - including where I skipped over a boring part and wrote 'She has to get to the mine again' to give me an excuse to write the more interesting action!

Now it's time to edit.

I'm doing Camp NaNoWriMo with some friends over April, but using it as Camp NaNoEdMo, because that worked well for me before.

Apparently, if I'm aiming for 45,000 words of editing, I should be editing 1500 words a day.

I got a head start, and have done around 5,000 today, a day before we're supposed to officially start, but I might not be able to do every day in April. Depends what life throws at me.

But I'm back writing. And it feels great.

Within touching distance...

After a couple of false starts, I'm within touching distance of having the book I'm working on finished.

By which, I mean it's the first draft on computer; the story bones are there, but they are going to need fleshing out and polishing up.

There are still a couple of places I need to work on - a lot - particularly as most of the action happens in a mine, which results in lots of to-ing and fro-ing between the mine and other locations. To-ing and fro-ing gets boring after a while, so I have to decide how to get the story moving without needing to describe the physical journey.

And there are plenty of places where I've added notes because I've realised something doesn't quite work in the plot...

And of course there are plenty of points where I'm not consistently in the MC's POV, where I need to be able to write the action and thoughts in such a way that my reader is completely immersed in my MC's world.

And last of all, I have to look at book one in this series, to make sure this one feels similar in style.

So yeah, within touching distance, yet still a long, LONG way off. Going in the right direction though...