Day 3 Check in: March Madness
Well, we’re already a few days into the March Madness writing challenge. In case you’re checking in for the first time, see my post below for a detailed description of March Madness, as well as the current list of prizes! (We should be announcing more next week!) Remember, for every time you check in, you are entered to win one of these awesome prizes. Plus, I love hearing everyone’s progress!
If you’re anything like me, it’s hard to get into the habit of doing something, whether it be writing every day, going to the gym regularly or going to bed before midnight. I’ve had my head down in revisions and synopsis writing for the past couple months, and it has been a bit of a struggle so far to get back into the writing a first draft every day mindset.
But I think that’s only natural. In the past, I’ve found that if I just keep trying to get into the habit, eventually I do, and I don’t even think about NOT writing. For me, writing every day is just like exercising three times a week. Hard to start up, some painful muscle stretching at first, but easy to keep doing once I’ve gotten into a steady rhythmn.
The best thing to do is keep trying. It helps me to develop a schedule so I can carve out a specific time during the day when I will write.
So, on that note, here is my word count so far for March Madness. I’ve gotten 1k of my 30k goal done so far. Not bad! I’d like to have a bit more done, but I know I can pound out more words on a Saturday morning than on a Monday evening so I’m counting on those days to round out the beginning lower word count days.
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March Word Goal
1,009 / 30,000 Words (3.36%)
How are your goals coming along?
UPDATE at 11:25am: Apparently, there seems to be a commenting problem for some of you, and I’m working to remedy the issue! So sorry about this! Hopefully I can get this worked out in a few minutes.
UPDATE: The issue has been fixed, and everyone should be able to leave comments now!
Comments
Hi, Jen. This is my first time trying out March Madness… and since signing up, I HAVE NOT WRITTEN ONE WORD. Is there a prize for being a terrible slacker? I’m going to try and work today so I’m not such an embarrassment tomorrow!
Well…I’m still a bit behind in my goals but hoping to catch up this weekend. I’m getting excited about this project though!
I finished my scene and ended up slightly over target word count! (I tend to write short, so this is a good thing. :D)
I’m right on schedule, thankfully. I always try to start off strong, because it’s much easier for me to force myself to continue than it is to force myself to start.
Anyway, I’m on 3700 words of my goal of 25k - which I might have to adjust if I keep going at this pace. *g*
I’m so happy to finally be making progress on a first draft again. (And it probably wouldn’t have happened without the mental kick-in-the-pants of this challenge. Yay!)
I got my chapter summaries done and reviewed my research notes. Now I have to get writing. Just. Do. It.
Jen,
Thanks for getting things fixed. I just finished the new first chapter of my WIP. I’m energized to keep going. March Madness. WOOHOO!
Yay, it works! I worked on a new scene yesterday. Today I’ll read it back and see just how bad it is and then hopefully finish my chapter 2.
Hi, Jen. I’m farther ahead than I ever expected to be — I revised *five* chapters yesterday! Granted, they were ones I’ve gone over before so they didn’t need as much work as later ones are going to, but I’m pleased to be making this kind of progress. I’m sure it’s just because I know I’m going to get to brag about it here! Yay for team effort motivation!
Congrats to everyone for making such a good start!
I’m still going. Every little bit helps, right?
Yeah. Well…
I did nothing yesterday. Like you said, it’s hard to get back in the habit. But I thought about changes, so that’s something. Right?
I’ll be better today. Promise.
I woke up at 5:00 am thinking about my characters. So I got up and wrote a couple of pages I really like. I’ve added another couple of pages since then.
Yesterday I wrote five. Since I write in verse, one page can often take an hour. So if I can do 4-5 pages in a day, I feel pretty good.
Hi Jen! I came over from Elle Strauss’s LJ (i post there as elfmama).
The good news is, I did work again last night while hubby and kiddos slept. The bad news is that I was distacted from my main ms by a picture book I started working on while awaiting agent feedback.
But, I completed that!
Well, as of last night my goal was 500 words per week night. Last night I wrote 631, so that was a win.
I’m majorly increasing my daily goal now, though. It’s going from 500 week nights / 1,000 weekend nights to 1,600 words per day. My goal is to have my draft complete by March 25th, the day before my weekend writing retreat.
I only managed to write about 300 words yesterday, which is enough to add on to my goal, but not enough to do it well. On the upside I did manage to finish a review I had been trying to write for a week, so at least something was finished.
Today hasn’t been great so far. I’ve been typing up a scene I wrote by hand while on the bus this week, but I keep getting very distracted. And I keep wanting to polish the paragraphs as I type.
I’m going to keep going, though, and see if I can turn this around!
First time checking in! I finished chapter 16 of my WIP this morning and I plan to start chapter 17 tonight after my kids go to sleep.
Three days in a row of writing for me .. wahoo! this thing-a-ma-program you guys have set up is exactly the structure and motivation I needed to get this project going. thanks!
Hello, Jen!
Sad to say, I did not write anything yesterday or today. At all. I wrote on the 1st, however, and finally figured out my title, which was a major plus. I plan on writing some tonight, after I read some more of Jodi Picoult’s HOUSE RULES, of course.
Checking in. *Four lines* today. Not even close to meeting the modest goal. For some reason I’m flashing on the old Oregon Trail game–I’m on a doomed wagon train. Zeke will probably be bitten by a snake tomorrow. I do imagine I might be able to write tomorrow after I get this index to the author for revision.
Well, call me crazy, but I’ve been bouncing back and forth between 2 projects. I wrote 1041 words today on the revision of my WIP and spent a lot of time researching another novel idea (the one I pinged on yesterday).
Woot. Go me!
Well, I opened my WIP and stared at it. I opened my WIP notes document. Removed a couple words from it and then stared. I’m stuck. I hope it counts that I really, really tried. I’m closing down for the day and reading. Try to make up for it tomorrow.
Not a good day in terms of upping the word count. However, after giving up on the scene I was trying to write, I spent a couple hours studying story structure, which was good. Tomorrow, I shall be victorious over the troublesome scene! Or at least, that’s my goal.
Good job! I’m not taking part in March Madness, but I did promise myself to get through this next round of edits by April 1st. So far, I’m doing okay, but not great. We’ll see what the weekend brings. =o)
Hi! Just reposting my comment ’cause I posted in the wrong spot, yesterday…
Hi Jen… Reporting in with half of chapter three, of my YA, revised yesterday morn. Finishing that up today, along with chapter four.
Cheers and thanks for hosting. Happy writing today, everyone!
I did a summary of a novella I’m workng on and the characters. Now it’s time to start writing!
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