10k Weekend Challenge! (w/ Live Blogging)

Posted by Jen on Friday, August 13th, 2010 @ 7:00 pm

This post is my live blogging about the 10k weekend writing challenge. To see what this is all about, scroll to the bottom of this post for the original entry started on Friday at 7pm.

Updates

Sunday, 10:30pm
I DID IT! I HIT 10K! I think I need some sort of reward for actually beating this challenge!

Favorite bit of the night:

“Can’t tell you right now, I’m sorry. Soon though. I promise,” Luke says.

“You are the most frustrating person I’ve ever met.”

A wide grin stretches across his face before he tugs on a strand of my hair. I feel myself take a step forward without even telling my feet to move. His eyes stare so deeply into mine, I feel as if I’m falling into a deep pool of endless blue. “Whatever happens next, go along with it okay? I’ll see you again soon.”

And then he takes two steps back, turns and trots away. All I can do is stand there in the middle of the sidewalk staring after him, dumbfounded. “What does that even mean?”

10k Weekend Challenge
10,023 / 10,000 Words (100%)
—–
Sunday, 8:30pm
OMG, I have somehow hit 9k. In definite need of some caffeine reinforcements if I’m going to get through this last stretch.

10k Weekend Challenge
9,015 / 10,000 Words (90%)
—–
Sunday, 7pm
Have now hit 8k! Which means I only have 2k left! This scene flowed pretty well. The action scenes usually do.

10k Weekend Challenge
8,005 / 10,000 Words (80%)
—–
Sunday, 6:30pm
Got a little off track because it was snack time and other things came up at the apartment, but I’m writing again now. Should be hitting the 8k mark soon.
—–
Sunday, 4pm
Another 1k done. I’m not writing terribly fast today, but it is coming along. I’m having doubts about how good this writing is, but I keep telling myself to move forward anyway. I can fix it later.

10k Weekend Challenge
7,014 / 10,000 Words (70%)
—–
Sunday, 3pm
Got distracted by talks of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins being released early. I can’t wait to read that book.
—–
Sunday, 1:30pm
Finished my first 1k of the day. A scene I’ve been looking forward to writing is coming up next. Yay!

10k Weekend Challenge
6,017 / 10,000 Words (60%)
—–
Sunday, 12:20pm
Just had an AMAZING breakthrough, yea!
—–
Sunday, Noon
Spent the morning drinking coffee, pumping myself up for another 5k day and bugging my friends with random questions in the name of research. But, if I’m going to beat this challenge, I better get started with some actual wordage.
—–
Sunday, 1am
Woop! I just hit 5k! I am now halfway through the weekend goal, and my brain is completely fried. Here’s one of my favorite bits from the day’s work:

I wish there was a way to capture this on film, but for once, I don’t pull my camera out of my bag. Instead, I close my eyes and soak up the city, committing the flickering images to memory, knowing that one day they will fade, but for now, I will hold on to this moment as hard as I can.

10k Weekend Challenge
5,038 / 10,000 Words (50%)
—–
Saturday, 11:30pm
Mehhh. These last 500 words were painful, but I am so happy I got them done! Just 500 more to go before I hit my goal.

10k Weekend Challenge
4,514 / 10,000 Words (45%)
—–
Saturday, 10:30pm
Umm, whoops. I accidentally took an unscheduled break to roam around the internet and listen to more Florence + the Machine. “A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes.” <3 <3 <3
Just 1k more to go to reach today’s 5k goal, but my brain is fried. Maybe one more song…
—–
Saturday, 9:30pm
I just hit the 4k mark! Unfortunately, it’s taking me about an hour to write 500 words, but this current scene is just so tricky. There’s the appearance of a cute, frustrating boy and an angry confrontation with someone else right after and all the while a sense a urgency that needs to stay present even with all this other stuff happening. I will conquer this scene, though, and by the end of the night.

10k Weekend Challenge
4,022 / 10,000 Words (40%)
—–
Saturday, 8:30pm
Listening to Florence + the Machine for this particular scene because the music is PERFECT for it. Got another 500 words down. Feeling a little draggy so I’m going to have another can of Coke. And maybe a cookie.

10k Weekend Challenge
3,516 / 10,000 Words (35%)
—–
Saturday, 8pm
This book is weird.
—–
Saturday, 7:50pm
Another 500 words done. Brain is starting to hurt.

10k Weekend Challenge
3,023 / 10,000 Words (30%)
—–
Saturday, 7pm
Break lasted a little longer than planned…but sometimes a girl’s gotta order pizza and watch an episode of House. Anyway, back to work.
—–
Saturday, 5pm
Yay, halfway through today’s goal! Time to take a break.

10k Weekend Challenge
2,564 / 10,000 Words (25%)
—–
Saturday, 4:40pm
I have no idea if this scene makes any sense.
—–
Saturday, 4:35pm
I’m hungry. I should eat. But my goal for today is 5k, and I only need 500 more words to hit 2.5k, which is the halfway point of today’s goal. So, I’m going to keep going a little longer before taking a break.
—–
Saturday, 4:30pm
Still slow going, but I am making progress with another 1k in the bag. This particular chapter just wants to be written slowly. (And okay, I keep getting distracted by Twitter.) And, I have to say, I am loving this new character. I’ve never written anyone quite like her, and I never know exactly what she’s going to say/how she’s going to phrase things until I type it out. Fun, fun!

10k Weekend Challenge
2,020 / 10,000 Words (20%)
—–
Saturday, 2:30pm
Procrastinating by finding images online of my new character.
—–
Saturday, 2pm
I got off to a slow start while wrapping my head around a new character I’m introducing, so I powered up the trusty Write or Die program. This got me going, especially after it rickrolled me twice. Only 1k in so far, but I feel like the words are rolling along now.

10k Weekend Challenge
1,028 / 10,000 Words (10%)
—–
Saturday, Noon
I have my iced coffee in hand now. Time to make some progress!
—–
Saturday, 11am
Okay, time to get up. I open the laptop and Scrivener and stare at the page for awhile.
—–
Saturday, 10am
Ugh, it’s morning. Going back to sleep now.
—–
Friday, 7pm
What do some people do on a summer weekend in NYC? Go out, head to the beach, spend the day in Central Park? Yep. But not me. Not this weekend. Instead, I am doing a 10k writing challenge with one of my critique partners, Chandler Craig. She has a lot of writing to get done. I have a lot to get done, and with work being as busy as it has been, the weekend is my best bet for getting some serious progress made. Plus, this is the only weekend without any plans for the next month or so.

So, our goal? 10k each. Starting tonight and ending Sunday night. I’ll be posting updates on here throughout the weekend with my current progress and any hiccups/victories as I go along. Here we go!

10k Weekend Challenge
0 / 10,000 Words (0%)