Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Work in Progress Wednesday


I actually have progress to report this week! Yahoo! :) I was in such a slump after my grandfather's funeral a couple weeks ago. With the travel and then the recoup time when we got home, I just didn't get much writing done at all.

And then this last Saturday, a bunch of writer buddies and I got together in one of the chat rooms at RallyStorm and had a write-a-thon. Basically, we write for 15 mins and then chat for 5 (or 10) :D then write for 15 more, etc. It really helps get the creative flow going and is fun to boot. And it got my momentum back in swing!!! I have done so well this week, even wrote about 4000 words on Monday alone.

Life is good :)

Though, when the time comes to type this thing up...well, let's just say it will be interesting. Here is a snapshot of one of the pages....


It's not a great shot...you can hardly see all the arrows flying all over :D Luckily, not every page looks like this...some look worse :D

In any case, I am now 4 pages from filling this notebook (pen count 4...just started with #5) - which means I've got roughly 30,000 words and about 100 typed pages. So, I am very happy this week. And I'm going to finish those 4 pages no matter how late I have to stay up tonight!

Think my daughter's teacher will understand if I write my way through our Parent/Teacher conference today? :D

9 comments:

Scott said...

Congrats.

Ah, the days of pen/paper. In the days when I only had a typewriter . . . man, do I feel old now. Still, I sometimes miss the days of writing endlessly, ink all over my hands, and filling page after page after page with words. Now, I type endlessly (on very good days) and hope I don't accidently delete (yes, i've done that, but been able to recover - whew).

I sometimes still edit by printing out the entire document and going through with multicolored pens. Those days are waning as well (just like the last days of the Third Age of Middle Earth) as I move toward a 'greener' life.

Keep up the good work.

S

Michelle McLean said...

lol honestly, I'd much prefer typing - I can type much faster than I write and with the computer I have the luxury of saving it :D (though there is something about seeing all those lovely pages full of writing) :)

But with two little ones running around...it is just easier to cart around a notebook. I am a bit paranoid about it though. There's no backup!! I can't email it to myself or save it on a disk...so that poor notebook goes EVERYWHERE with me. And heaven help anyone who comes near it with sticky fingers or cups full of juice :D

Hopefully someday I'll be able to join the 21st century again :)

Weronika Janczuk said...

Congratulations!!! :) I'm glad to hear there's some progress, and I must say--the pen/paper way is the best way.

Cheers!

Elana Johnson said...

Awesome progress Michelle! Way to go. And trust me, your daughter's teacher won't care. Or maybe she will... I expect reportage on if you got those four pages done!

Anonymous said...

Congrats Michelle...that is AWESOME!!!

Danyelle L. said...

Congrats on your project! Isn't it amazing how working for a set time, then taking a few minutes of down time can really boost productivity? Awesome word count!

Joyce Wolfley said...

I write in my notebook late at night. And some of my pages are about that bad. I think writing on paper illustrates the creative process more. On a PC you can just cut and paste or delete when a passage needs to be inserted elsewhere. On paper it is arrows and strikethroughs and tiny letters squeezed in.

Quite enjoyable.

JPM said...

Everything is our medium, right? I mostly write on my laptop, but I'll write by hand, in my notebook if I am out. On scraps of paper at red lights (seriously! I know, it's bad...), on printer paper or the backs of my son's old homework if I am downstairs and I have 15 minutes...it all adds up and if we always relied on the perfect writing set up, we'd never finish our books!

Michelle McLean said...

I really do love seeing the papers piling up. Somehow it's much more satisfying than checking my word count - but I'm a huge visual person, so seeing that stack of paper filled with writing is just more fun than seeing the word count adding up (though I love that too!)

and JPM - you are so right! Really I think that's why I've had such a hard time finishing another book. I always waited for the time to get on my computer without interruption and that just never happened. With the notebook, I can write with all the kids' craziness around me :) So I'm actually WRITING :)