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Dec. 30th, 2007 07:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swan_towerNearly 2500 words on the YA today. I'm starting to get into a groove with these scenes, but man am I sucking the beginnings and endings of them. I can has good transitions plz? Apparently not.
A voice in the back of my head is singing "Tonight I'm gonna write like it's 1999." Because it really does feel like I'm writing my first novel all over again, facing all the same hurdles I did then. They're both first person, too, which I don't normally do for more than a short story at a time. I wonder if that's why my transitions are sucking so hard.
But earlier today I read Paul Graham's essay "How to Do What You Love," which is an excellent reminder of why I'm in the right field. "You have to like what you do enough that the concept of 'spare time' seems mistaken" -- indeed. If you decide to forgo a movie or hanging out because you'd rather be writing -- not all the time, but if it happens -- then you're doing something right.
And, as he points out, it's good to try the thing you think you'd rather be doing, and see if you really do like it and can be productive on it. To that end, I should mention that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
novel_in_90 is starting up a new round January 1st. It's 750 words a day -- a much saner pace than NaNoWriMo's 1500+ -- for 90 days, for a total of 67,500 words, which need not (and depending on your genre, should not) be the entirety of your book. I'll be there, since I'm noveling anyway, and so will any number of other writers ranging from rank newbies to experienced pros. If you're minded to try writing a novel, and external motivation is something that works for you, it's a good place to go.
A voice in the back of my head is singing "Tonight I'm gonna write like it's 1999." Because it really does feel like I'm writing my first novel all over again, facing all the same hurdles I did then. They're both first person, too, which I don't normally do for more than a short story at a time. I wonder if that's why my transitions are sucking so hard.
But earlier today I read Paul Graham's essay "How to Do What You Love," which is an excellent reminder of why I'm in the right field. "You have to like what you do enough that the concept of 'spare time' seems mistaken" -- indeed. If you decide to forgo a movie or hanging out because you'd rather be writing -- not all the time, but if it happens -- then you're doing something right.
And, as he points out, it's good to try the thing you think you'd rather be doing, and see if you really do like it and can be productive on it. To that end, I should mention that
novel_in_90 is starting up a new round January 1st. It's 750 words a day -- a much saner pace than NaNoWriMo's 1500+ -- for 90 days, for a total of 67,500 words, which need not (and depending on your genre, should not) be the entirety of your book. I'll be there, since I'm noveling anyway, and so will any number of other writers ranging from rank newbies to experienced pros. If you're minded to try writing a novel, and external motivation is something that works for you, it's a good place to go.
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Date: 2007-12-31 01:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-02 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 08:10 am (UTC)I've been having a hell of a bad break for doing anything except stringing beads together in extremely un-creative patterns.
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Date: 2008-01-02 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-02 09:49 pm (UTC)I think the best thing to do is just gird up the proverbial loins and do something until I stop feeling bad.
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Date: 2008-01-02 09:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 05:13 pm (UTC)Thank you for that quote. That makes me smile.
Btw, I read Doppelganger a few weeks ago and I thought I'd drop you a line to let you know how much I enjoyed it. I've now bough Warrior and Witch and recommended you to a friend who read my copies then rushed out to buy her own :oD
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Date: 2008-01-02 09:09 pm (UTC)Glad to know you liked the book! I'm really pleased that people are still picking them up, this long after the original publication date.
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Date: 2008-01-03 05:09 am (UTC)Damn you, woman.
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Date: 2008-01-03 05:24 am (UTC)Not that the guys in the game had much competition from the guys in the pub.
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Date: 2008-01-03 05:10 am (UTC)Must sleep.
Heh.
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Date: 2008-01-03 05:06 am (UTC)Can't do novel in 90, mostly because I'm discovering that I write best when I spurt write. I'll do about 8000+ words a week, but they'll be in 4000+ word chunks.
Uh. That sounds a little dirty, doesn't it?
At any wise, now that you're back and I'm back, let me know if you need a sounding board to talk through stuff. I might be looking for one soon, too, although for me that may just mean coming to scat.
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Date: 2008-01-03 05:24 am (UTC)