WRITING IN PUBLIC
Another day off means another productive day. Though it took me longer to get started than I’d planned, and so thus not as productive as I’d planned. Went over to my parents’ house for a change of scenery, which brought with it certain advantages and challenges.
Progress: 1940 words on SHOTGUN GUNSLINGERS in about 2 hours. Likely still 10-15 hours worth of writing still left on this project. It really has ballooned out from what I’d originally expected.
-j
WRITING IN PUBLIC
A whole day free meant I was able to focus on making some more significant progress. It also meant that I could actually spend some time with several friends that I haven’t really seen in the past few months. So a balanced day, and a good day.
Progress: 2000 words on SHOTGUN GUNSLINGERS in just under 2 hours. Would like for that to be everyday (2 hours, that’s all it takes), but I’m still working my way up to it.
-j
WRITING IN PUBLIC
Dead-exhausted after work today. Still managed a writing session, though. So that’s at least a bare-minimum of dedication. Day off tomorrow, big plans for getting a lot of work done.
Progress: 620 words in 30 mins an SHOTGUN GUNSLINGERS.
-j
WRITING IN PUBLIC
Much better progress today. The fall air is invigorating. If I can increase and maintain the pace just a little bit, I should be able to have this done by the 30th. Then I can move on to something different.
Progress: 1161 words in 1 hour on SHOTGUN GUNSLINGERS.
-j
WRITING IN PUBLIC
Saying I took a week off makes it sound intentional. Reality is I haven’t written in a week because I was in a wedding and had a seven-day work week in order to get the time off for the weekend. Back now. Writing again. Still on SHOTGUN GUNSLINGERS, which needs to be done by the end of the month or else I might go crazy.
Progress today: 395 words in 20ish minutes. Didn’t have a good space or time today. Try again tomorrow.
WRITING IN PUBLIC
Minimal progress today. But Sundays are like that when I have to work.
Progress: 295 words on SHOTGUN GUNSLINGERS. Again, some is better than none.
-j
WRITING IN PUBLIC
Long night last night. Didn’t sleep as much as I should. As such, plans for a big day on the word count did not come to fruition. Even so, still managed progress. And I’ll take sequential writing days over occasional writing days regardless of the word counts.
Progress on SHOTGUN GUNSLINGERS: 630 words in 40ish minutes.
-j
WRITING IN PUBLIC
Actual progress on SHOTGUN GUNSLINGERS today. Finally reached the end of a very long, very expository scene. Not really sure what happens from here, though. At this point, I’m so far off my original map I’m in another time zone at least. So we’ll see what happens next and all be pleasantly surprised together when it all works out in the end.
Progress: 1730 words in 1.5 hours. So much better than back in August. I’m finally finding a comfort zone with the Dvorak layout, to the point where I’m making mistakes on Qwerty. It’s kind of the most annoying place to be in right now. I’m not fully proficient on Dvorak yet (still make a mistake on every other word or so, despite the increase in speed), yet I’m comfortable enough with it that going back to Qwerty wouldn’t actually be an improvement. Which means it’s all-in from here. I’ve passed some threshold of no return and/or some other ominous and portentous proclamations.
Point is, I’m getting faster on Dvorak. At a pace that I can see will ultimately end with me typing faster than I ever did on Qwerty. Huzzah.
Now, if only I could get myself to type more often. Then I’d really be making some progress.
CURRENT GEEKERY
I finished watching PSYCHO-PASS last night. Yes, another anime. And it was also very good. An entertaining neo-noir cyberpunk thriller with some fantastic world building. Maybe all of the elements presented have been seen before, but I’ve never seen them put together in such a way, and in the end it’s what you do with your setting (or story or characters or…) and not how “original” it is that makes a work stand out, be good/bad, endure, etc. Whatever term of quality you wish to apply.
Point is, I enjoyed it, in large part due to the setting. Highly recommended.
(At this rate, I’m going to have to start compiling a list of recommended anime or something. I mean, there’s ATTACK ON TITAN, KNIGHTS OF SIDONIA, FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, and now this. Must go deeper!)
-j
WRITING IN PUBLIC
Another day on SHOTGUN GUNSLINGERS. We have long-passed the point where my outside enthusiasm for the project has faded. While I’m writing, I’m always enjoying whatever project I’m working on. But when my enthusiasm outside of the writing time has disappeared, it makes it so very much harder to get to the writing table. As such, I end up with long stretches (in my opinion) of no writing at all simply because I fail to motivate myself to sit down and Nike (“Just do it!”) It’s very unprofessional, and I’m making it a priority to fix it. In any case, today’s progress: 590 words in 30 mins.
Good news: pace on the Dvorak keyboard is increasing significantly. So that’s good.
Bad news: failed to write for a full hour today. Doing so each day would have this story done by the end of the week. Which would be lovely, because then I can move on to something different. Something not SHOTGUN GUNSLINGERS.
-j
WRITING IN PUBLIC
Further into SHOTGUN GUNSLINGERS. Progress: 1112 words in 1 hour. Bam. That’s what I call progress.
Status report. At this point, I’m about 7,000 words into the story, and I would estimate that I’m somewhere in the 40 – 60% range on completing it, judging on where the story is so far. Which means this is going to end up more like a long story — a novelette or a novella even — rather than a short story.
And that’s fine. A little frustrating that I can’t predict my own story’s length and all, but exciting that the story is growing. And where the story is growing.
Having fun with it again. Though still hoping to put a wrap on it in the near future and move on to something new.
-j
Joshua Kehe 