Tag: write-a-thon

Write-a-thon day

Posted April 12, 2014 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Writing / 2 Comments

It’s been far too long since I write-a-thonned, but progress MUST be made on Book #2 of the Threats of Sky and Sea series.

My goal is simply for 3,000 words. I’ve found that 5,000 is a bit unrealistic for me. I’ve done it before, but by the time I reach word 5,000 I feel more frustrated than accomplished. But Aleta and Bree need their story told, so ON I GO!

I’m joined today by Lindsey Allyson, Angel of Mermaid Vision Books, Christa of More Than Just Magic, and Candice of The Grown-up YA. I love write-a-thons with friends because they’re so helpful to keep me accountable and make sure that I get my shit done! Plus, we all get to cheer for each other’s accomplishments!

10:46 AM: The draft currently stands at 6,144 words, and I’ve just switched into a difficult POV. It’s not a character that I’m as used to writing, but I love her, and I think that it’s time she got more to say. I’ve got my glasses, PJs, and oversized robe on and Game of Thrones on in the background to remind me to write ruthlessly. Things get a bit more serious in this book. AND ON WE GO!

Draft: 6,144. | Today’s progress: 0

11:50 AM: Slow and steady wins the race, right? Within this hour, my laptop died, and I had to go on a hunt for my power cord. I also had a random scene pop into my head, so I jumped very far ahead in the story to “sketch” that out roughly.

Draft: 6,634 | Today’s progress: 490

1:00 PM: AHHHH, the Red Wedding episode of Game of Thrones may have been a tactical error to have on in the background while I write, especially since I’m in EARLY scenes, not action. But it does make me want to keep that ruthlessness in mind for later… BUT NOT TO THE EXTENT OF A MASSCARE. That distracted me a bit, and now I’m breaking for lunch. But I feel good about my 3K goal!

Draft: 7,192 | Today’s progress: 1,048

4:40 PM: WELL, lunch was consumed, and then I felt a little less than human sitting around in my PJs and robe still, so I showered and got dressed. I’m actually battling pretty terrible caffeine withdrawal as well at the moment, with no soda in my house. Pounding head, sensitivity to light, all contributing to my nausea.

But I’ve finally gotten back to work! I’m rediscovering how first drafting works for me. Right now, I’m writing a bunch of small sketched in random scenes, and THANK GOODNESS for Scrivener– makes it much easier to go back in scene by scene and reorganize later.

Draft: 7,619 | Today’s progress: 1,475

Sunday 9:56 AM: WELL, yesterday was a bit of a fail. The headache got worse, not better, and took me down. But I refuse to go back to Day Job on Monday without meeting my goal of 3K!

Draft: 7,619 | Write-a-thon progress: 1,475

Monday 9:53 AM: I completely forgot to update this log, but I rewarded myself for roughly every 500 words with an episode of The West Wing, which I was binge-watching a bit this weekend, and I finally met my goal! I had to switch out of this difficult POV for the moment. It’s difficult enough to find the story, and it seemed to be working against me to be struggling to find her POV as well.

Draft: 9,172 | Write-a-thon progress: 3,028

Here’s my favorite bit of non-spoilery dialogue what I wrote this weekend:

“Two silvers.”

Bree chokes and laughs. “What, do you stuff your chickens with emeralds?” She leans forward, hand on the table. “You’re not stupid. Look at us. You think we’ve got two silvers to spend on a chicken?”

“You can have the stew for one.”

She purses her lips and raises her eyebrows at me, looking impressed. “Quite the place we’ve stumbled on here. Emeralds in the chicken and a sapphire in the stew.”

PARTAY TIME- Or: Revise-a-thon round 2

Posted April 13, 2013 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Uncategorized / 1 Comment

Good morning!

So Lindsey and I are BACK to give our darling manuscripts a little TLC. The last time that we did this, I was trying to finish up Act 2 of this draft (draft 3). This time around, I’m finishing up Act 3.

I hope.

So, what does this translate to? Well, I know I’m making some big cuts to a scene that currently goes on WAY too long and is MOSTLY unnecessary, so I’ll need to tweak it to where I talk about what MATTERS and edit it to make it ~flow. I’ll be killing lots of darlings and cutting other scenes that no longer work with the ending that needs to happen.

And now that I’m really LOOKING/thinking about what is left to REWRITE in this draft, I don’t think it’s 3 chapters like I’m been saying. I think it’s 2. Maybe. It might even be ONE long one. Perhaps an epilogue?

We will just have to see.

Now I’m going to get dressed. Because honestly, I feel like I can’t concentrate when I write in my PJs.

(Side note: I also know that I’m going to be taking either a lunch or dinner break, as a friend is in town, so I will just WATCH WHAT HAPPENS)

(Side side note: Newsies is in my head today so I took the opportunity to poorly work in that line)

And of course… we’re live-blogging

11:28 AM: Draft stands at 71,198 words. I’ve also just learned it’s a NaNoWriMo writing marathon day, so we chose our day well.

12:48 PM: I have allowed myself to get distracted multiple times. But now I am dressed, fed, watered, and I have priced out Newsies tickets for BEA, so NO MORE DISTRACTIONS (until lunch/dinner plans). On to SRS BSNS. 71,198 words.

1:36 PM: 1 scene down– trimmed and expanded in different places. And now for the one that needs SUCH MAJOR TRIMMING. Not a lot of progress thus far, but… it’s still SOME progress! 71,327 words. 1 scene. 0 chapters.

2:52 PM: I’m not really sure if this scene is coming across as stilted. It is supposed to have a lot of tension, but I think this is one that I’m just going to have to see what the CPs think. Regardless another scene down, with some cutting and some expanding! 71,233. 2 scenes. 0 chapters

4:08 PM: Mildly concerned that I am letting my own penchant for jokes in serious situations break up some tension, but come on, I just can’t bring myself to cut all of my lines like this:

“Listen to me,” she breathed into his ear. “And don’t react.”

His hand clenched around hers. “Ow. You’re reacting. Just… waltz, all right?”

70,818 words. 3 scenes. 0 chapters.

4:24 PM: Same status, but now LOLing at this random sentence because I forgot that this was a thing I initially wanted to have happen:

Bree had run into her during one of her baking escapades in her early days at the castle.

Self, when would she have had time for baking? Just… LAWL.

5:14 PM: I MUST DEPART FOR DINNER. Draft is currently at 70,805 words. I’ve revised 4 scenes and 1 chapter. I think my earlier goals of finishing this Act must, as usual, be amended. I always aim just a little too high. But I think that shooting for another chapter after dinner is reasonable

Edit, Monday 4 PM: OH HEY, REMEMBER THAT TIME WHEN INTERACTING WITH PEOPLE MADE ME SO TIRED THAT I WAS IN BED BY 9:30 PM ON A SATURDAY?

…yeah.

Anyway, obviously I am still working. And I lament the fact that I always aim too high with these “a-thons,” but I sense that the END IS NEAR and I’d like to wrap Apparent up.

Soon…

Soon.

The new “a-thon:” Of a revising nature

Posted January 27, 2013 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Uncategorized / 7 Comments

I have had my 2nd draft “done” since November.

Except not. Because it is RIFE with plot holes, placeholder names, weird sentences and scenes without the tension the should have. I won’t think about Act 3 too much right now, because it is missing scenes more than the desert misses the rain.

…see what I mean about those weird 1st draft sentences?

But Act 2– THAT is in my power to fix. So Lindsey and I are revise-a-thonning today. My goal: fix revising Act 2. Which might be a little crazy because it means trying to work my way through 40 more pages (I’ve already done 20), and ADDING things.

Hopefully the insanity is warranted.

Also, if you want to join in (with revision OR just writing), let us know and tweet us! Me on Twitter | Lindsey on Twitter

10:00 AM: Breakfast has been consumed. Comfy sweatpants have been donned. Let’s GOOOOOO. Current revision status of Act 2: 20/60 pages.

10:57 AM: Came upon a few facts that I thought might have been contradicted in earlier scenes. They weren’t, but it did lead to a re-revision of pages 12-20 (rhythm things were off and I had a couple more deets to add). Also, I got caught up in ennumerating the many wonderful things about The Lizzie Bennet Diaries to Steph, so I only managed to get to pages 23… out of 61 (yep, I added words). Current revision status of Act 2: 23/61 pages.

11:27 AM: Lol, I am getting nowhere, BUT important question… does anyone else experience the phenomenon where you MEAN one word and write a word that… sounds kind of like it? Ex: I just came across a sentence where I’d MEANT to write “someone.” What I WROTE was “summon.” THIS HAS BEEN HAPPENING A LOT.

…I am worried that something is wrong with my brain. Current revision status of Act 2: 24/61 pages.

12:39 PM: I am laughing at myself. FINISH REVISING ACT 2. LAWL. Ain’t gon happen. But I’ve been relatively pleased with these pages. Not in a “They’re kind of done” sense of course, but in a “this isn’t so bad” sense.

Also, my father brought me Diet Coke and sugar cookies to get me through these revisions today. He is a good guy, my dad. Current revision status of Act 2: 29/61 pages.

1:12 PM: I RETRACT THE PREVIOUS COMPLIMENT ABOUT MY DAD. He has left the house. AND HAS HIDDEN THE COOKIES. Current revision status of Act 2: 30/63 pages.

2:22 PM: After lamenting my failure to locate the cookies, I managed another page before– Uh-oh. This has been a scene that I’ve been wanting to redo almost entirely for a while now.

Unrelated: I am noticing that I use a few metaphors/similes analogizing something to a dog. Current revision status of Act 2: 31/63 pages.

4:11 PM: Still working on this scene rewrite. But also, I came across this:

“Why not some other country like… oh, I don’t know. Bombay?”

Right. Because Bombay is obviously a place that exists in high fantasy, Jen. Also, it’s a city. And you know that. *headdesks repeatedly*

And God, this act keeps GROWING. I thought revision was supposed to be about CUTTING. Current revision status of Act 2: 34/64 pages.

5:36 PM: *falls back a page* *watches an extra page sprout*

But writing this scene is getting fun-ish. I’m liking one of my supporting characters a little more. See below.

“We’ve debated the merits of an assassin–”

“–We have not,” Caden said. “He’s hardly my favorite person, but he’s still my father, Aleta.”

“I had said ‘debated,’ hadn’t I?” she shot back.

My new goal is to make it to page 40 before retiring for the evening.

Also, I have to take a longish break now for real clothes and to pick la madre up from the airport. I SHALL RETURN. Current revision status of Act 2: 33/65 pages.

5:56 PM: Okay, j/k, real clothes didn’t take that long since I refuse to go so far as doing my normal make-up routine today. I still have about an hour to work before I must ~depart. Current revision status of Act 2: 33/65 pages.

7:18 PM: NOW I am going to get la madre. And I’m ALMOST DONE revising for the day! Happy thought since I have AT LEAST 3 reviews I’d like to write AND one book I’d really like to finish. Current revision status of Act 2: 35/66 pages.

10:17 PM: I got back to work about a half an hour ago after returning home from the airport pick up and am going to have to call it a night. I can barely keep my eyes open.

I hate that I fall short of my goal, but think I did some really solid work tonight. And now I have to try to be coherent enough to draft a review on the book blog.

…Or maybe I’ll write in in the morning.

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz

Current revision status of Act 2: 37/66 pages.

AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT

NaNoWriMo Write-a-thon Take 2

Posted November 24, 2012 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Uncategorized / 4 Comments

HALLO THERE, FRIENDS. Guess what we’re doing again today? No, I’m not going to just tell you. Guess. All right, fine. It’s another write-a-thon! But this time it’s the last write-a-thon of NaNoWriMo! I am slightly behind where I am supposed to be… today’s NaNo-generated target word count is 40,000 and I’m at 36,472 after a mad dash of writing to catch up yesterday. So, I’m shooting for the standard write-a-thon 5K so that I’ll be slightly ahead of said 40,000 words. And of course, live-blogging it all. 10 AM: The start time that I chose. I snooze. Because sleep and I are best buds. 10:26 AM: I pull myself over to the computer to find that Lindsey and Christa are ready to go. Aaaaaaand here we gooooo. 36,472. 0 words today. 11:10 AM: I am building up to/avoiding writing this really BIG scene because I’m […]

Write-a-thon round 2 (1st NaNoWriMo edition)

Posted November 11, 2012 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Uncategorized / 2 Comments

Hello again, friends! Today, I’m doing another write-a-thon with Lindsey, but this time also with Christa, Katie and Geek Girl. Now, I think they’ve all been going since 8 AM, but I am a lazy bones and when my alarm went off I cried “NAY!” And went back to sleep. But now I am AWAKE! And with GOALS to meet. So here I am, live-blogging again. I’m behind everyone else for the day, but it looks like we’ve got about the same goals. I’m shooting to add another 5K to my draft. My draft itself is currently 37,574 words, but the NaNoWriMo portion (aka the second 2 acts) are at 17,787. So. 10:32 AM: I have opened up Write or Die. Here we go. 17,787 words. 0 written today. 11:21 AM: Mother keeps interrupting with packing questions as we’re moving to […]

Write-a-thon!

Posted October 28, 2012 by Jennifer Ellision in blog, Uncategorized / 0 Comments

So, today, my friend Lindsey and I, both deciding we want to be the PRODUCTIVE sort of people, have decided to do a Write-A-Thon together. It’s basically exactly what it sounds like: we write. For a long period of time. My goal is to add at least 5,000 words to my 2nd draft. I don’t have Lindsey’s crazy “I can write 8K a day” powers, but that will make it the most I’ve written in a day (term papers, etc excepted) since high school. I think we’re also going word war sporadically throughout the day? I am unsure. BUT we’ll each be live-blogging our efforts. 11 AM: Draft stands at 15,639 words. I have been awake for less than an hour and I have no caffeine at my disposal. This should be interesting. AAAAAND BEGIN! 11:37: Wonder if I am using scabbard […]