Writing Update Promise

So last week I started talking about the mechanics of writing, specifically about Plotting and Pantsing, and the Hybrid between the two. And I must admit that I had a moment where “imposter syndrome” reared its ugly head. For all of a few minutes my confidence shattered and I faltered in my message and in the end, I shortened my post.

Now all writers, all creatives… I’m pretty sure that just about everyone has a moment where they ask themselves if they belong. It’s just human nature that we criticize ourselves the hardest and allow doubt to worm in.

BUT… this gave me another thought, and no, that thought was not to spend the next 2000 words talking about doubt. Instead it made me think about why I was feeling this way, what was bothering me?

Procrastination:

I quickly realized that I was feeling this doubt because other than these blogs I haven’t been working on my current novel. I have plenty of good excuses (finishing my degree, starting up this website). In my previous writing posts, I mentioned “world builder” syndrome and procrastination, but then blithely ignored that I have been using these Wednesday posts as yet more procrastination.

World Builder Syndrome:

In case I have some readers who don’t know this term, I’ll define it here. It ties into last week’s post and is mentioned in my trio of world building posts (linked in the above paragraphs). Basically, WBS is when a plotter (or Hybrid writer) starts writing about the world of the story, making notes, drawing pictures, making maps, and often doing LOTS of research into minutia. So the writer is spending all of their time thinking about writing, researching about writing, and in my case writing about writing… but not actually writing the WIP.

The last few months has seen me write nearly 40 posts on this website, with four of them being essays I wrote toward my Bachelors. About a dozen of them are about writing in one way or another and the rest are a creative retelling of a game I run on the weekends.

And this means…

Overall, I feel like I’m generating some interesting content, but I also feel like I have been using these posts (at least a little) as reasons not to work on the novel. Now I stress the LITTLE in the previous sentence. I freely admit that I have horrible writing habits. I am NOT one of those writers who will tell you to write every day. I am one of those people who might work on notes, outline, or ideas all the time, but I only sit down and really write every once in a while. Now, when I do write I tend to do it in a LONG session and usually knock out 5-10K words and call it a day. This has always worked for me and yet… I’m starting to think that those who say to write more consistently have the right of it.

Still not getting to the point…

Ok… this post was not planned out and not pre-worked at all…

My Masters starts in two weeks, part of these classes are going to push me to write more often and with better habits. So, I will be improving my time management. Second, I will start using at least one if not 2 of these Wednesday posts to talk about my current wip. This means I will try to hold myself accountable by posting here. While I don’t get much commentary here, I do get some feedback on my Facebook. And even without having people kicking me in the butt for progress updates, forcing myself to make them.

First Update:

This is the first time that I’m writing a novel where each chapter has its own file, as such I have no idea what my current page or word count is at, but I have completed the first 6 chapters and probably close to 80-100 pages when it’s all put together in a single file. I have a very loose outline of the next few chapters and I have a chart of where the five POVs will be going. (I also have a bunch of points written out and most of the ending already figured out.)

My goal is to get chap 7 finished by next week… really, I should be able to do FAR more than that but I have a so many things going on at the same time.

Writing Schedule:

Thinking about it… I have a bunch to do, so I am going to list it all here and by Next week I will show what got done and what still needs doing.

1. Write Up Torg Game for this Saturday (Aylse Act 10)-50% compete
2. Write Chap 7 of WIP.
3. Edit friends Book (12 chapters done)
4. Write Torg Sunday Post (Act 5 part 2)
5. Write Next Wednesday Writing Post

Short Post

OK… another short post, sorry for that. I’ll add in some extra pictures for fun and amusement.