# Your Weekly Progress



## Kyle R (Mar 2, 2014)

The deadline is one of the most powerful and overlooked tools available to a writer. Now it's time for you to start using it (or, if you already do, now it's time to start holding yourself accountable for it)!








This thread is designed to keep a public record of your weekly goals. No more lurking in the shadows with your typewriter or quill. It's time to step into the limelight and bare it all.

There are only four requirements for you to participate here: 

*1)* *Declare your deadline for this coming week.*
Maybe it's a number of words you want to write this week, or a scene you want to have completed. Whatever your goal is, be specific. Have a clear finish line to aim for.

*2) Update us on your progress during the week.*
How are you doing? Are you steaming along, clawing through the trenches, or have you chucked your computer out the window? Keep us in the loop!

*3) Encourage and motivate others you see in this thread.*
Sometimes, writing can feel like one of the loneliest tasks on earth. It doesn't have to be. Use this thread to remind others (and yourself) that we're all in this together.

*4) Declare your deadline for the next week.*
After the dust has settled, it's time to pick up your gear and soldier on. Tell us what your new deadline is for the coming week!

It's up to you to help keep this thread alive. Looking forward to seeing your name in here. :encouragement:


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## Gamer_2k4 (Mar 2, 2014)

I'm going to finish outlining and editing Chapters 20 and 33 of my story.  Bonus goal: Edit the epilogue.


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## Skodt (Mar 2, 2014)

I am going to attempt to get back into the groove. This semester does have as much course work. I should be using my free time to write, but I haven't yet. So, this week my goal is to write 2 full chapters. Word count is not important. I want to finish two scenes and work from there.


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## Grape Juice Vampire (Mar 2, 2014)

Finish scene I am currently working on, then outline missing chapters.

Edit:Finished the scene. Not quite how I expected to end it, but....I like the jolt it gives from one chapter to the next. Now on to outlining....maybe.


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## Bishop (Mar 3, 2014)

This week, starting tomorrow, I write two thousand words a day. It's been my 2K-A-Day pledge, something I've maintained since I began writing my second book, and I have a blog about it! The address is in my signature! I'll update some progress here, but I also post the goals on the blog, and on the forums' blog section as well.

Bishop


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## helium (Mar 3, 2014)

My goal is to write nothing this week.


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## InkwellMachine (Mar 3, 2014)

Ah. Simple enough. Good idea, as always.

My goal for this week is to finish drafting the scene I've been stuck on for the better part of a month and then to transcribe it onto my computer as a second draft. I've made some progress today, but lapsed back into that awful "I write boring junk" mindset and now my momentum has come to a halt. 

I suppose the trick is to write regardless. Rough.


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## Bishop (Mar 3, 2014)

Posting my daily update, I hit my goal today. 2060 words written, 1/5 of the way through.

Bishop

EDIT: Make that 2524 words today!


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## bookmasta (Mar 3, 2014)

I've found my routine to be a balancing act. Before my morning classes at the college I attend, I wake up three hours early to do my allotted 2,500 words a day and anything else I need to take care of. Then, for most of the day, I go to class. When I'm waiting in between from one class and another to start, I do any work I can. By the time I get home again, its usually six or later. From there, I take a small break and begin my editing. Instead of going by a word count, I strive to at least get in an hour, if not more, when I can. Lastly, to finish the day, I read for an hour. Aside from the weekends when I use them to catch up on my work, I follow the same process every day in terms of writing. For some reason, the idea taking a day off just doesn't work for me.


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## popsprocket (Mar 3, 2014)

My goal this week is to finish the first two chapters of this book, which are currently all over the place with each missing big parts of their scene, as well as write (a) third chapter, don't really care where in the MS it is.


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## Gamer_2k4 (Mar 4, 2014)

Gamer_2k4 said:


> I'm going to finish outlining and editing Chapters 20 and 33 of my story.  Bonus goal: Edit the epilogue.



Well, all the edits for Chapter 20 are planned out.  It's looking like 1000 words are going to go.  On to Chapter 33!


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## thepancreas11 (Mar 4, 2014)

My goal this week is to read at least one book, to finish editing my first novel and to write two chapters of my second novel. I also need to read and critique the entries for this month's LM CHALLENGE! Muahahahaha!


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## Bishop (Mar 4, 2014)

Ah-HA! Done for today. Got through 2024 words. It was actually a close call, because I had actual work to do at work today. Most of my writing was done on lunch. That puts me at 4548 so far this week, on my way to my 10k goal.

Bishop


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## Mr mitchell (Mar 4, 2014)

My goal for the week is to write chapter 19 and get to another plot point, which comes to in that chapter. It will be a long one. Wish me luck.


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## Staff Deployment (Mar 4, 2014)

100 pages of a screenplay. Started 3 days ago, didn't do any work on it yesterday and haven't started today.

54 pages down.


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## T.S.Bowman (Mar 4, 2014)

Unfortunately, I am unable to get any writing done. I am using a family computer and there just isn't enough free time to write they way I would like to. I've tried the pen and paper approach, but my hands aren't in good enough shape to write longhand for more than a few minutes at a time.

I have, however, set a goal (deadline) of having my novel finished, edited and ready for submission, by the end of June this year.


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## popsprocket (Mar 5, 2014)

Did nothing toward my goal today :-D

Edited some non-goal stuff and found what I'd written entertaining, so I suppose that's not quite too awful.

Unfortunately writing begets writing and I've been bad about... well... writing lately, so I have to dig my way out with a spoon before I'll get anywhere.


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## Staff Deployment (Mar 5, 2014)

Staff Deployment said:


> 100 pages of a screenplay. Started 3 days ago, didn't do any work on it yesterday and haven't started today.
> 
> 54 pages down.



70 down. My goal was 75 for the day. I have an hour and a half before midnight. Let's do this.

EDIT: And I did it, with one minute to go! Admittedly, I might have gotten sidetracked a bit. The last thirty minutes was kind of a desperate scramble.

75 pages of this screenplay in four days. Jesus, that's almost as fast as my last one.


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## Terry D (Mar 5, 2014)

My goal since starting my last book has been to write five days a week. Word count goals don't work for me, and I don't want to frustrate myself by setting them and then not hitting them because I spent extra time finding the_ right _words. If I write my five days all else takes care of itself.


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## Bishop (Mar 5, 2014)

2028 words today, just over goal! 

This of course puts the weekly total at 6576. When I add up a weekly amount, it makes me feel like I really did some work. 10K is about a tenth of a book for me, so I like seeing it grow that fast.


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## thepancreas11 (Mar 5, 2014)

Yup, finished editing my novel! And I finished the Hunger Games (again, which doesn't really count maybe, but hey, I finished them). Now on to judging!


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## ViKtoricus (Mar 5, 2014)

I'm going to finish revising chapter one of my Lord of the Ogres story before Sunday arrives.


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## Bishop (Mar 7, 2014)

Another 2628 words down today 

EDIT: Make that 3095; putting my total for the week at: 11756 (I did not post yesterday's total of 2089)

That's 1756 over goal. Next week? Doing it again!


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## Bilston Blue (Mar 7, 2014)

I find counting words overrated and counter-productive. A story will be finished when it's ready. I do have a deadline for a competition entry at the end of the month. Been rewriting/revising a 15-month-old story and now into the editing phase. Over the weekend I have work on both mornings, three rugby matches and a football match to watch, and a meal out to celebrate my mum's birthday. All of these things mean a 5.30am start on the editing on both Saturday and Sunday.


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## Staff Deployment (Mar 7, 2014)

I'm about 101 pages into this thing. I'm aiming for 113. I might be able to finish today.

EDIT: SURE DID. WHOOP WHOOP.

WHOOP WHOOP BACK UP DAT AZZ 2 PHAT, WHOOP WHOOP


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## Gamer_2k4 (Mar 9, 2014)

Gamer_2k4 said:


> I'm going to finish outlining and editing Chapters 20 and 33 of my story.  Bonus goal: Edit the epilogue.



Well, I delayed until early this morning, but both chapters now have their preliminary edits done, with roughly 1300 words cut total.

This week's goal: Edit the epilogue, then complete the corrections on Chapters 25, 26, 27, and 28.


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## Mr mitchell (Mar 9, 2014)

I have reached my plot point that I've planned to get to by the end of the weekend.


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## Kyle R (Mar 9, 2014)

It's amazing how quick some of you are with writing (and editing). I'm impressed! Keep up the great work! 

My goals this week:

1) Finish a short story I've been working on for a compilation on Monday

2) Finish the final scene of my (first draft) novel on Tuesday

3) Begin editing chapter one on Wednesday

4) Have the first three chapters edited by Sunday


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## Gavrushka (Mar 9, 2014)

My goals for this week:

1: Read a dozen chapters of Brandon Sanderson's latest.

2: Have all the LM competition entries marked for Friday.

3: Edit 150 more pages of Eviction in a fashion that cuts the deadwood, but nurtures what remains. (I think my earlier edits have left it spartan.  )

4: Look back on the literary week and feel I've made progress and not just 'done things'.


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## Bishop (Mar 10, 2014)

Started this week off with 2334 words written today!


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## Gamer_2k4 (Mar 10, 2014)

Gamer_2k4 said:


> This week's goal: Edit the epilogue, then complete the corrections on Chapters 25, 26, 27, and 28.



Apparently I should have set loftier goals.  All four of the chapters are finalized (for this draft, of course), so I guess I'll just shoot for the the rest of them.  For those keeping track at home, the chapters I'll be finishing by the end of the week are Chapters 19, 20, 29, 30, 31, and 33.  And the epilogue.

Note that the difference between this week and last is that last week, I actually had to outline and determine corrections for the chapters.  The ones I'm knocking out this week are mostly edited, but have notes here and there like "correct the wording here" or "get rid of this filtering."  It's much easier to deal with.


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## Kyle R (Mar 11, 2014)

KyleColorado said:
			
		

> 1) Finish a short story I've been working on for a compilation on Monday
> 
> 2) Finish the final scene of my (first draft) novel on Tuesday



Some personal drama interfered and I wasn't able to finish my short story last night. :cower: I'm going to work on finishing it today, though! 

And then it's on to my novel.


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## Kyle R (Mar 11, 2014)

Gamer_2k4 said:


> Apparently I should have set loftier goals.  All four of the chapters are finalized (for this draft, of course), so I guess I'll just shoot for the the rest of them.  For those keeping track at home, the chapters I'll be finishing by the end of the week are Chapters 19, 20, 29, 30, 31, and 33.  And the epilogue.
> 
> Note that the difference between this week and last is that last week, I actually had to outline and determine corrections for the chapters.  The ones I'm knocking out this week are mostly edited, but have notes here and there like "correct the wording here" or "get rid of this filtering."  It's much easier to deal with.



Outlining your editing? That's a new approach. I like it. 

How much editing are you doing per chapter? You seem to be flying through them. I'm about to begin editing my novel soon and I'd like to be able to work at a speed near yours.


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## Gamer_2k4 (Mar 11, 2014)

A complete edit involves skimming over the chapter to pick out scenes and sub-scenes as follows:

Scene: Metabots Attack
-Briefing
-Heading out to fight
-Markus losing his weapon
-Battle conclusion

Once the chapter has that rough outline (there are generally 4-6 scenes per chapter), I go through sentence by sentence, word by word.  If there's something of note, I mark it in one of several ways:
-cut: this word or set of words can be completely removed (remove "suddenly")
-reword: replacing a small set of words with something briefer ("fairly frequently" becomes "often")
-rework: completely redoing one or more paragraphs
-fix: either an unspecific change, like "I like the idea here but not the wording", or a word substitute that doesn't actually contribute to lowering the word count ("joyfully" becomes "happily")
-note: a comment that doesn't indicate a change, but is something worth remembering ("see if the reference in Chapter 29 still applies")

Note that the above things in parentheses are the types of comments I might make, not global rules I apply to the story.

When I'm done, I have a full list of changes I want to make in the chapter.  I do this to avoid "edit creep," where I would make an edit, then I'd edit that edit, then I'd go back and reword something else, etc.  All the changes are defined in one place, then carried out all at once in another.  This was the process I was working on last week, and it's why I only got two chapters taken care of.

However, if I'm feeling lazy or not creative, a chapter might get most of the edits done and still have nearly a dozen "fix" comments left to execute.  That's what I'm taking care of this week, and that's why my pace has picked up so drastically (that is, why I could do four chapters yesterday).  As of last week, all 33 chapters have been outlined; this week I'm just mopping up what few edits remain.  After that, the second draft will be done.

From there, I plan to read through the book all at once and make sure that everything is consistent (that is, that I didn't ruin a character or break continuity with a particularly massive cut).  I'll also give special attention to the first five chapters or so, when I was still learning what my editing style would be.  Any changes in that part will be the third draft, and from there, it's time to find some beta readers.


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## Bishop (Mar 11, 2014)

So, after some night writing, my count for yesterday came in at 3985 and today's count is 2146. A good start to the week! I might even end up working on it a bit more when I get home tonight, but the goal still stands at 10K a week.


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## Grape Juice Vampire (Mar 11, 2014)

Instead of outlining missing chapters, my new goal is to finish my chapter edits. Already have one almost done (its been helping to get the creative juices flowing.), would still like to have a completely new chapter done.


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## Bishop (Mar 13, 2014)

I hit 2061 today! Wooooooo! 

It was a tough one today, I had a lot actual work at work.


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## Kyle R (Mar 25, 2014)

KyleColorado said:
			
		

> _1) Finish a short story I've been working on for a compilation on Monday_
> 
> _2) Finish the final scene of my (first draft) novel on Tuesday_



I've finished the short story and submitted it to the editor.

Now it's on to my novel! Better late than never, right? 

My writing goal this week: Edit the first 10,000 words of my novel.


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## Bishop (Mar 25, 2014)

Last week's total was 12,222 plus 4,032 that I worked on a new novel. Total there then is 16,254!

So far this week, I hit 2036 yesterday and 2186 so far today. I'm at 91,207 of book 2 of my series, with about four chapters left to go, averaging 4k a chapter makes 16K left in the book. Wooo!


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## bookmasta (Mar 26, 2014)

The days are moving by one after another. I'm still a few months off a million works, but I'm getting there week by week.


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