Tag Archives: #1Kaday

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Writing Tip #90

Make time to write (the return of #1kaday!). Today marks my return to writing Novel #2, In the Red, which I put on the back burner a few months back in order to work on the nonfiction title, Bully, that’s coming out in September. So it’s back to writing 1,000 words a day for me — every day — and by the end of summer I hope to have a completed first draft.

And I’m really serious. I will write 1,000 words every day. Every. Day. If I have beach plans, I will wake up early or stay up late to write. If I go away on vacation, my laptop will be coming with me this time (I usually try to leave work at home). If I have to miss a day of writing — hey, things happen, right? — I will double up the following day.

This is the only way it will get done for me. I know myself. I have to push. I have to stay on schedule. As I tell myself all the time, “This thing isn’t going to write itself.” I have to make the time. My family has been warned that I will often be frustrated and cranky and busy, and, as always, is totally supportive. (I’m lucky that way.)

If you’d like to join me during the next two months in writing 1,000 words per day, I’d love some company. Use the Twitter hashtag #1kaday, and we’ll cheer each other on.

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Guest Post: 4 Things I Learned Thru #1kaday

Today, we have another guest post from a member of our #1kaday crew. Ellie Soderstrom, one of our group’s biggest supporters, cheerleaders and inspirations, tells what she’s learned during our little 1,000-words-a-day marathon.

1. It takes me about an hour and a half of undisturbed writing time to finish one thousand words. Sometimes the words are as loose as a streetwalker and other days they’re as tight as a puritan. On the days when I have to grind the words out, 1k words feels like a great accomplishment. On the days when the words flow freely, I feel like an artist. Both are excellent feelings.

2. I need a lot of time to think. I must plot out my scenes before I ever get to the computer or I’ll stare at the screen listlessly until I decide to read a blog or get on twitter. Both are bad decisions for finishing word count. However, when my scenes are plotted out I can’t help but run to the computer and my writing time shoots by faster than I’d like.

3. Breaks don’t help. I took a few days off, thinking that it’d be good for me. It’s not. I need to write everyday or it’s hard for me to get into the story world, harder for me to remember what my characters are feeling, and harder for me to get the word count down.

4. Have fun. I found it so encouraging talking with my fellow #1kaday’ers. I felt like every time I finished 1k words I heard their cheering and clapping behind me. It kept me on the straight and narrow. They remind me of my goals. And they’re just plain fun to talk to!

Ellie Soderstrom blogs on Wednesdays at The Gig.

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Guest Post: What #1kaday Means to Me

Today, the lovely Lili Tufel, one of the writers in our #1kaday writing spree, guest blogs about the camaraderie and being a part of our little cheerleading squad and what that has meant to her. (Last Thursday, fellow #1kaday-er Michael Pallante offered his thoughts on word counts.) On Tuesday, look for my Q&A with Lili, who has written her very first novel titled, Sand. You go, girl!

It was April 1, 2011, and I was ready for #1kaday, Tweetdeck column saved and all. By hook or by crook, I would write those thousand words a day and tweet each milestone to my new support group. And so it began, and we all celebrated. In the beginning, I tweeted every milestone and cheered for my new friends as they weighed in their #1kaday.

As the days progressed, my obstacles seemed to increase and I began to feel like a fish swimming upstream. My grandmother was taken into ICU with double pneumonia and while staying in the hospital, she suffered two heart attacks. The house we had been waiting to move to for months was finally ready. Once we moved, there were still some renovations that had to be done and my husband, who is extremely handy, redid our entire closet – and, of course, I was his assistant. Yes, I helped dismantle sheet rock, took a dozen trips to the hardware store, and painted. I had to keep my regular blog posts while wearing a facemask in a dust-filled room. I would steal idle moments to pick up my phone and tweet, which of course annoyed my hubby, but every chance I got I checked my dear #1kaday friends. Even though writing a thousand words a day had become an impossible blur, I still felt a part of the group, and it was comforting. I believe only a writer could understand how valuable a support group like #1kaday really is. I didn’t feel completely out of touch with my writing, because I still had my writer friends.

Now, the cloud of dust has disappeared, and while at my new desk – almost as if jumping into swinging double-dutch jump-ropes – I pop in #1kaday with my word count and people celebrate like I had been there all along, and indeed I had been.

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We Interrupt This Writing Session…

It’s been such an emotional 24 hours since prime-time television programming was interrupted last night with the cryptic report of an impending announcement by the President of the United States regarding national security. Soon we learned about the killing of Osama bin Laden by a small team of Navy SEALS who carried out the secret operation.

This morning, after I fully embraced the news and watched the celebrations — particularly here in New York where so many friends and families have been affected by the tragedy of 9/11 nearly 10 years ago — and the debates began both on television and on social networking sites, it suddenly occurred to me, in a bizarre moment of mind-wandering, that this latest news might have an impact on my book, Baby Grand, a contemporary, somewhat political thriller.

Truth be told, I had been thinking all weekend about rereading the book, just to make sure it’s as “perfect” as can be.

So this week, with my agent on board, I’ll be taking a break from my #1kaday schedule to give Baby Grand one more read — just to be sure all is well there, which is how it certainly seems out here.

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#1kaday Weigh-In

Okay, it’s been half a month, and I thought it was time to check in on our #1kaday progress.

So far, I’m happy to say, I’m on schedule — I’ve written 1,000 words a day on average (had to skip some days, but doubled up the next) of my second novel, In the Red. And I’m still on track for an end-of-June completion of the first draft.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, not everyone is suited to this type of writing schedule, and that’s totally cool. Do what works for you. But more and more folks have been checking in regularly at the #1kaday hashtag, which is exciting to see. Just yesterday @adenpenn tweeted this:

My 3 most watched tweetdeck columns are #amwriting, #pubwrite & #1kaday. I’m excited & grateful for the twitter writing community. <3

How cool is that?

How are you holding up out there? Are you finding this regimen tough? motivating? fun? Fill us in on your progress in the comments below. Inquiring minds want to know. :)

Happy writing!

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Stuck? Move On.

Yesterday, I was struggling to make my #1kaday word count for In the Red.

At the beginning of every writing session, I have a habit of reading what I’ve written the previous day and editing my work and then moving on to write new material.

However, yesterday, it seemed as if I was rewriting and rewriting that opening chapter without really any improvement. Adding sentences and then deleting them. Not sure about certain names and character attributes. Hours were going by, and my word count remained essentially the same.

Finally, I just told myself: Move on.

I decided to work on a chapter that was very clear in my mind, one that was much further along in my story. Within an hour, I had a thousand words written and then some.

One of the perks of the blank page is that you can just write. Get it all down now and worry about perfecting later. I had to remind myself of that.

If this isn’t your process, if your words need to be just so before you can move on, that’s totally cool. But, for me, “bad writing is better than no writing,” as I like to say. And even though sometimes the writing’s really bad — cringe-worthy, even — I remind myself that first drafts aren’t supposed to be perfect. They’re just supposed to be.

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And So It Begins Again: #1Kaday

Today’s the day! 1,000 words a day, every day, until (fingers crossed) I complete the first draft of my second novel, In the Red, which I think should be about three months from now (end of June).

Hopefully, this will keep me busy while waiting for news on Baby Grand. That’s the plan anyway.

And I am happy to say that I’ve got lots of company this time. A few of my tweeps are also taking up this challenge:

Julia Munroe Martin

Ellie Soderstrom

Doreen McGettigan

Lili Tufel

Steve Umstead

As is my AP from last fall (you know who you are! LOL!) Welcome aboard, everyone! And if anyone else wants to come along, join us! The hashtag is #1Kaday.

Looking forward to sharing our stresses and successes.

Here we go!