Going to do weekly posts on progress, with updates each day (or thereabouts).

Friday, Sept. 21, 2007

Words: 2,085 (4 pages)

Since July 2007:

• Act I: 110 pages / 65,000 words (this draft complete)
• Act II: 59 pages / 33,777 words (~33% done)
• Act III: [not yet started]
• Act IV: [not yet started]

Things have been moving along.  In some regards the last few weeks have seen less productivity than before, but this is acceptable for now.  Other worldly obligations have been on the table, which is somewhat expected to cut down on my output.

I am thinking of moving to a word-goal for each week, which would make my writing sessions longer but less in number (3-4 week?).  We’ll see.  I don’t like the idea of not doing every day, but I haven’t been doing everyday anyway.  In fact, 3-4 /week has been my average the last 3 weeks.

On a good day, such as today, I did about 3,000 words (7 pages) in about one and one-half hours.  Four such days a week I consider a success.  So we’ll see how things go.

Progress, as of September 20, 2007

• Act I: 110 pages / 65,000 words (this draft complete)
• Act II: 56 pages / 31,000 words (and counting… probably 30% done?)
• Act III: [not yet started]
• Act IV: [not yet started]

So that is about 96,000 words since the start of July, which is about 11 weeks in full.  About 9,000 words a week.  Good, but I probably want to expect more from myself… more like on the range of 12,250 a week (or 50,000 a month).  So we’ll see how things go!  Will keep more regular updates of progress here.

This never ceases to amaze me.  When I think I have something quite well figured out, I’ll spend some serious time with it and discover a bunch of previously unseen questions.  This could easily get you frustrated, mad, or upset, but I certainly don’t fall into this trap.  I think it is good to be glad you discovered these new questions at all, for they were certainly there the whole time anyway.

I’m moving along through Act II in my story, about 25 pages in since the start of last week.  Upon starting and creating the initial chapter list, I didn’t have nearly as many chapters as  I thought I would.  In fleshing them out, though, I’m constantly learning how much is going into what I thought would be so little.  And again, this is a good thing, for these are shadows that need to be illuminated.

Sometimes I wonder if I should be re-writing and taking serious notes as I proceed with this rough draft.  In total, 99% of my writing time the last 2 months has been straight-away writing, with little or no notes.  I’m assuming that if I spend the energy pushing forward, I’ll have a clear idea of things at the end (instead of spending extra time with ideas/thoughts at each stage).  This rough-draft stage is big enough as it is… I’d rather get through it straight-away then hinder my speed with additional notes.  No more notes.  I have years of them.  I simply want to move ahead.

With regard to keeping at a routine (such as writing each day), vacations can make things quite tough.  The usual order and schedule of things is turned upside down, leaving us without the well-established grooves in the road.  The grooves can keep us locked into our habits, for better or for worse.

I was away this weekend, having left Saturday morning and returned Tuesday morning.  That is four days where the usual routine is altogether disregarded.  Before leaving for the weekend, my goal was to really push hard and figure out what about vacations made writing difficult, and what challenges might best be overcome.

Having made it to the end of the trip (and currently getting myself back into the swing of things), I can report both victory and defeat.  I am proud to say that I was able to find the time do write during my trip (even if not every day).  The downside, though, is that the day of my return, things are still unbalanced enough to throw me off track.

So then, leaving a routine is hard: but coming back to it is also difficult.  That is my little point here.  You can force yourself to find the time to write in the vacation itself, but that doesn’t mean that the return to the normal life will be smooth.  Bumps in the road may occur at any place and will always be of slightly different shape than those seen prior.

My answer, in close, is to fall back onto a lesson learned well in previous years.  When muscling through those days of “getting back to normal” when everything is messed up, busy work is your friend.  At its best, busy work doesn’t involve thinking or necessarily require inspiration.  Yet it counts as work, on some level, and must be heralded as such.

So now, on this day of return, I shall type of the five pages of hand-written scribe I took down over the trip.  This stuff will have to be typed up eventually, and what better than a day like today?

For tomorrow, it is truly back into the sway of things.  I shall rest myself very well tonight to make this final stage of the return a proper one.

This will be elaborated upon further, to be sure… but for the sake of getting it down, here are the stages I’ve moved through in this overall writing endeavor:

 Stage 1: Brewing Ideas (1980-2000)

This is me growing up, when the ideas, archetypes, and forms that would fuel the story took root.  These were not really consciously aware to me at this time, but they were there.

 Stage 2: Realization, pt 1 (2000-2004)

This started when the first idea came to me, the idea that sparked the flood of all ideas to follow.  This initial idea was like an inkling of thought that made me aware of some vast realm that wanted to be explored.   For years, I groped and searched for ways into this realm, without any luck…

Stage 3:  Realization, pt2 (summer 2004 – winter 2004)

This is when I had the important “second” idea, which in combination with the first idea, fully opened the floodgates.  For this several month period, the ideas were pouring their way into my head.  I talked about these ideas with many people, though I wrote nothing down…

Stage 4: First Notes (circa 2005)

This is when I started taking actual notes on my various ideas.  Scraps of papers, notebooks, journals, bulletin boards — I started putting stuff down in writing, however scattered and unorganized it all might have been.

Stage 5: Second Notes (circa 2006-2007)

Eventually, I had too many notes to know what to do with.  Each new addition to the pile of notes was less and less constructive to the overall endeavor, as the lack of formal organization began to severely hinder my growth.  As a result, I began to type up all my notes, storing them in separate documents both chronologically (as written) AND sequentially (in their proper order of the overall story).

Stage 6: Rought Draft (July 2007 – present)

Eventually, all of my organized notes became too plentiful to be of continued use as-is.  I needed to up the organization structure again.  I had tons of notes on each section of the story organized very nicely, but the ideas for each section were too plentiful to know what to do with.

Finally, I knew I had to start writing the actual story… I had to move on from mere notes!  90% of what I’d written so far had been notes on the story, not the actual story itself.  So this is the stage where my goal is to actually write a full and complete draft of the entire story, from A-Z, which will of course be edited, developed, and refined later on.

* * *

So that is it for now. Again, these sections will probably be flushed out and elaborated upon sometime down the road, but this will have to suffice for the time being.  Detailing this evolution of complexity has been very worthwhile, as it shows that each new stage grows out of the existing stage, dealing with the necessary flaws that became inherent as time progressed.

I’ve skirted around this point several times, but it is too important not to run into the ground: at all times, be aware of what your job and intention is.  Only with this thorough knowledge can you be sure you’re doing that job well.

Right now, I’m in the stage where I’m doing a “straight up” or “super-rough” draft: my primary intention is to get from A to Z, filling in every letter in between.  It doesn’t matter how incomplete, rough, sloppy, or unrefined this draft is.  This cannot be emphasized enough.  It would be far better for me to race through it, even if very sloppy, than get lagged or slowed because of some nagging urge to be “more complete” or “more refined.”

Once I’m through it, then, I can begin the next task: cleaning it up, even if bit by bit.  No step delivers you at the end in absolute terms… it is all about stages leading you to the next stage, which leads you onward further (and so forth).  Don’t feel pressured to “be perfect” at the end of your current stage.  Rather, go through your current stage properly, and that in itself will be as close to “perfection” as you should be concerned with.

So I reached a rather big milestone at the end of last week: writing all the way through Act I (of four).  This is roughly a quarter of the overall story.  In this iteration, it clocked in at about 110 pages and 60,000 words.

I certainly plan to continue on in the same fashion, hoping to complete each of the remaining Acts in the same manner.  If this takes 4-8 weeks per Act, I’d be totally done with this draft in 12-24 weeks (4-6 months).  Seems like a long time… but ultimately, quantitiy is not what is important.  I want to finish the job as it properly deserves to be done.., I’m not looking to feel good about myself for how much I’ve written or how long I spent writing it.

So now, being the Monday morning I’ve finished a big part of the journey, how do I continue?  My plan at the moment is not to dive off immediately into Act II in the fashion of the previous 7-8 weeks, at least not immediately so.  I want to take inventory of what I’ve done, where I’ve been, how I might improve, and finally lay the groundwork for where I’ll be going.

The last of these points is perhaps the most important:  I know that some pre-writing for Act II will be of huge benefit when the time for actual straight-up drafting comes.  I know, for example, that I’ll need to have names of several dozen new characters and several villages.  These are things I want to spend a day thinking about very soon, before properly setting off on the journey of drafting Act II.

Another point, as mentioned in previous posts, is the need to set up a repository for ideas & notes that I’m having while doing this round of drafting.  It is very important that this repository NOT be the place I’ve been keeping notes for the last few years, as that is a large and messy attic filled with too much stuff.  Much of this stuff is useful (and will be called upon), but I want to start off new.  This is necessary when I have years of ideas to draw from.  The most likely repository vehicle will be a wiki, which I hope to set up very soon.

Goal this weeK: get appropriately set for this upcoming journey.  I want to make sure this isn’t an excuse to be lazy (and not straight-up write)… so I will probably expect stringent progress reports of myself.  I want to account for my time.  I want not to give myself even the chance to get soft with this.

For the sake of celebrating victories, let me announce today that I reached and surpassed the 100 page mark since this endeavor started (approx. 7 weeks ago).  That is 100 pages of freshly written, new material… nothing has been re-used from previous notes and/or drafts.  Single-spaced, 12 pt Times New Roman. Word-wise, that is just above 59,500.

Not necessarily world-shattering news, but it is a milestone and shall be properly acknowledged!  May I blaze on to 200 pages with similar fortune.

So it has been about 7 weeks since the start of this little project.  That is, my efforts to write for “one hour every day.”  Here is a report on general progress so far.

Over all, I have been doing about 4-6 days a week.   During the work week I haven’t missed more than one or two days: this is the easiest and best time.  Weekends, though, aren’t so good.  I have missed several weekends due to vacation travel, during which it would have been almost “too much” to make time for writing.  As it stands, I have no problem with this.   Tuesdays are also a bit tougher, because I telecommute.  There is less room for natural “rhythm” and ritual when I don’t go to work.

In the 7 weeks, I have been writing into a single MS word document (called “Master Chapter Progress.doc”) where I’ve been writing a chapter at a time.  I’ve been doing all Act I so far.  All the chapters are mapped out (17-18 in totaly)  I was doing chapters from here and there at the beginning, but soon got on a roll: I knocked out the second half of the Act consecutively (all but the very end), and then started back at the beginning to catch up in the middle.  As of this entry, I have only one more chapter to finish before I can proceed to write the very last chapter of the Act (which may in fact be 2 or 3 chapters when told and done).

So 4-5 days a week, let’s say.  No weekends.  How do I feel about this?

Very good.  For the most part, I have been doing more than the “one hour a day” goal.  For the course of two solid weeks, I was writing for average of 90 minutes a day.  This feels good, as it is clearly not something that I give the “bare minimum” (of effort) to.  Hell no.  That is the LAST thing this is about.  This is the total opposite, in fact.  If anything, I should be expected to over-shoot the goal, right?

The important part is that I would say I’m overall victorious so far.  The battle is less over than ever, however.  There is still so far to go and so much to learn.  May I never stop being nimble on my feet.

Some additional thoughts:

“Fleshing Out the Body” — that is the general strategy of this “stage” of my writing.  I’m actually writing the story itself… the actual words that consist of the eventual “novel.”  Up until now, 90% of what I have wrote has been notes about the story itself, but not the actual story.  This is all well and good and great and necessary — to an extent — but in the past year I’ve realized that I need to evolve.  Writing notes about the story wasn’t cutting it anymore… I had too many notes, not enough organization.  It is like a continent finally full of hunter-gatherer tribes.  They can exist, but it is increasingly jambled and inefficient.  In a sense, it almost seems totally expected for a higher form of organization to evolve.

The Rawness of the First Draft — since most all of this is a first draft, it is therefore the very first times I am writing most of this story in narrative form.  As a result, I’m finding some of the ideas I wrote notes about as difficult to convey in narrative form (and properly represent the images in my head).  But I write on anyway — as it is okay that this is not a masterpiece right now… it is not meant to be a masterpiece finished, polished, and refined novel.  What it is meant to be is a rough draft — a masterpiece rough draft, at that — which is meant to include mere narrative for the whole story, from beginning to end.  It doesn’t matter if it isn’t perfect, it just as to be.  You can move from there.

Animating a Constructed Corpse — so if my efforts right now to “flesh out the body” in the very raw form I discussed above, I will one day be left with a complete body — though it will be unrefined and unpolished (ie, rough!)… or in otherwords, it will be lifeless.  So we must bring it to life, just like “animating” a dead corpse (like Frankenstein).  So bringing it back to life is what I’ll do after the “flesh it out” process.  And I must never forget, when things are going slow or boring, is to simply piece it together — and don’t worry if its sloppy!  This should never be boring or slow.  Go fast, fast, fast — get the content together, and worry about bringing it to life later.

One Act at a Time — I’m working entirely on Act I right now.  When I think about the following three Acts, I feel entirely overwhelmed, as it seems so much material that may not be as flushed-out to me as Act I is.  So I’m worrying about one Act at a time.  When I move on to Act II, as I plan to, I may well have a different strategy.  I may not write entirely linearly.  I may use a wiki to organize further thoughts and notes I have (in fact I plan to do this).

Weekend Rest — I’m looking at the weekend days as perhaps necessary days for rest/recovery.  Thoughts of the sabbath come to mind, as do thoughts of acknowledging and harnessing the natural rhythm of things.  Saturday AMs I think I should be able to muster, for the most part, so I’ll look into those.  I don’t want to get in the habit of settling on 5 days only.  But Sundays for rest — this seems like it could be very beneficial.  I must not forget to write vigorously the other 6 days though, which is sort of the flipside (for better or worse) of recognizing the rhythm in things.  If you take a rest or break, you must not apply your “rest” qualities to the rest of the week.

In the end, my general list of goals is 1) flesh out the whole beast and 2) bring the beast to life.  There will be elements of #2 in the process of #1 (which makes it great), but as a whole I must not turn away from my goal to finish #1 sooner than later.

So there we are.  I will be up to the last section of Act I by today’s end, and then I should give myself the rest of the week to finish Act I.  Three days… can I do it?  I see no reason why not, if I apply myself.  And that is what it is all about.

GOALS :

Week of 8/19-8/25– finish Act I.

Week of 8/26-9/1 — notes and pre-writing before I start Act II.  Chapter layout exercises, name creation exercises, exploration of Google Docs & wikis, etc.

Week of 9/2-9/8 — begin “Act II” (or whatever it is you’ll call it at the time).

The song is in you… now let it out!

You will need skill & mastery of both technical, objective means (operating instruments, etc) as well as inner-exploration (being able to weather the internal storms raging inside your head).

All of these pieces of art are in all of us, always, begging and crying to be let loose, set free.

If only we have the eye to recognize, the ear to hear, the tongue to taste, the touch to discern, and the nose to properly follow the sent of that which beckons.