Day 9 of Writing Every Day In March

I know I got some writing done during my commute today, although my commute was much shorter than usual because I didn't go to work today. I'm taking the day off to spend it with my sweetheart. I'm writing this on day 9 instead of the day after my writing because this post date is my 10 year wedding anniversary! I am so thankful for my amazing wife. I can't wait to spend the next 10 years with her, and hopefully 50 more after that depending on how long we live. She's my best friend and I can't imagine life without her.

Day 8 of Writing Every Day In March

Yesterday I wrote around 900 words. I wrote on my phone on my commute using speech to text again. I wrote most of chapter 25. I'm pretty much halfway through my novel now! The story just keeps flowing and I keep coming up with ways to add tension to the scenes and I think it's really making the characters feel more real as they interact with each other in realistic ways.

Dealing with haunted houses and demons is one thing, but having to fix a relationship with your contractor because you were so mad you walked out on him just as you were about to start a job is another! I'm hoping these tense character interactions will flesh out the story and make it more than just a weird adventure about a realtor who finds the power to get rid of evil spirits in haunted houses so he can renovate and sell them.

Day 7 of Writing Every Day In March

Yesterday I wrote almost 900 words. I wrote on my phone on my commute using speech to text again. I wrote most of chapter 24. I'm getting so close to chapter 25 which is halfway through my novel! The midpoint where my character goes from reacting to acting. It's time to make plans to defeat the bad guy.

Day 6 of Writing Every Day In March

Yesterday I wrote a little over 500 words. I wrote on my phone on my commute using speech to text. I would have been able to write a lot more but the weather on the freeway was pretty sketchy with fresh snow. I was driving through slush so I chose to just focus on driving until I got off the freeway onto dry roads in my home town where the weather was much better.

I finished the 24th chapter though, so I'm still on track to finish the novel this month! I just have to complete a chapter every day. I shoot for 1,000 words but they usually end up being around 12,000 or even a little more sometimes. The manuscript is at 27,574 words with 24 chapters complete. At this rate the finished manuscript will be around 57,500 words. That will be a nice length. I outlined and planned for it to be about 50,000 words with 50, 1,000 word, chapters. Some of those will probably get shortened, but most chapters are turning out to be around 12,000 words so it's increasing the length of my book, which I'm totally okay with! It's still going to be a fun quick read.

As far as I'm concerned I still have a lot to learn so my plan is to write a whole bunch of short novels in several different genres. That way I can see if a particular genre or story grabs me and maybe from there I can start a series, but for now I just want to keep cranking out fun short adventure novels in lots of different genres and see if any of them find an audience.

There is one book I've written that I know is the first of many in a series. It's called The Case of the Missing Snowman and it will be the first in my Barnabas Thackeray Mysteries series. I'm still working on finishing the illustrations for that book but the writing is complete on it. Maybe I'll start the second one in the series after I finish this book. Or one of the other 50 ideas I have for books :) I seriously have a document with 52 book ideas at the moment. It's always growing too.

Day 5 of Writing Every Day In March

Yesterday I wrote a little over 2,000 words. I don't see how that's right because it didn't feel like I was even writing for very long, but I do remember the words were just pouring out of me super fast. I wrote on my Dell laptop. I don't like the keyboard on it nearly as much as my bluetooth keyboard, or our MacBook Pro, but it got the job done. This whole writing every day thing is really making a big difference in my productivity. Every time I sit down the words just flow because the story is still fresh in my mind. I'm used to writing in rare chunks of time that are few and far between. Often when I write it has been over a week since the last time I wrote anything. I don't ever want to go back there.

I really think having the simple goal to write every day is what has made such a big difference. I've never written this much in a week, other than during NaNoWriMo. I'm not getting up to the 1,667 words you strive for during NaNoWriMo, but I surpassed that word count goal by a little bit last night. I'm in chapter 24 and if I finish chapter 25 today then I will be on track to finish this novel by the end of the month! That would will be so awesome!

The best part in all of this is that I'm really enjoying the storytelling. I haven't once found myself stopping to check my word count. My mind is focused on the story. I don't even care how many words I'm getting down. I'm just making sure that I write something every day. I'm always surprised by how many words I get at the end of my writing session.

So here's to another day of not breaking my writing streak and painting another box with a red x on the calendar!