progress

Happy New Year

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 1 Comment
Photo credit: Alan O'Rourke via Visualhunt / CC BY

Photo credit: Alan O’Rourke via Visualhunt / CC BY

I hope you all enjoyed your New Year’s Eve celebrations. I know I did. Good friends and a couple of champagne toasts are the only way to say goodbye to the old year.

I am very excited about starting 2017 and plan to spend some time with family, football and food. Tomorrow will begin a new schedule and new possibilities. In thirty days, I am anticipating having my fist draft completed. The prospect is sending chills down my spine. Or many I just need to turn the heat up. Regardless, I will be soaking up everything that today offers, because tomorrow I get down to business.

Welcome 2017!

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

 

Out with a Bang

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 3 Comments
Photo via LoSchmi via VisualHunt.com

Photo via LoSchmi via VisualHunt.com

Despite everything, yesterday turned out to be a good day for writing.

It had been a while since visiting my MC so I went back to re-read. But I soon found that I was wanting to make changes. The huge sensor monster wanted to commandeer the keyboard and “fix” things. It was a battle with me insisting that I only needed to see where I had left the story to move ahead. I forced myself to keep reading.

“Really? You are not going to fix THAT?” he demanded as he pointed at a glaring error where an entire word had been left out.

“Fine. I will fix that one, but no more. If I start now I won’t ever get this written. Please come back when I am in Edit mode.” I slammed on the keys as I added the missing word.

But holding the sensor monster at bay is hard work. Finally, after resorting to subterfuge, and misdirection I managed to stuff him back in his box. Knowing that if I kept reading he would manage to escape, so I gave up and decided just to write.

By this time, I had it all planned in my head. I knew exactly what I wanted to get down, but that didn’t happen. Nope, the story was highjacked by the MC and we took a detour that wasn’t on the map. He insisted on a flashback. The session ended up with him dictating and me writing. Normally I hate flashbacks. If this was something that I needed to know in the story, then why didn’t you tell me earlier?

But this one was kind of cool. It was sort of like having a tour guide give you an account on how the place came into existence. To be honest I didn’t mind being the stenographer since I really didn’t have to come up with much. Nope. Just write.

When we were done, the tally came to just over 1,200 words.

Keep on Writing

Jo Hawk The Writer

Pressure

/ JoHawkTheWriter
Photo via HebiFot via Visual Hunt

Photo via HebiFot via Visual Hunt

How I would love to say that I haven’t posted here because I have been writing like a fiend. My muse bound me to my chair and compelled me to spend hours at my keyboard while the words have spilled onto the page. Words and sentences and paragraphs flowing from my fingertips like water leaping over a cliff to create a magnificent waterfall with mist spraying into the air to adorn the creation with rainbows. The culmination being a story with wonderful dialog, stunning visual effects and a plot as solid as Gibraltar. A story that is destined to be on the best seller list with fans clamoring for the next two books in the series. Only seconds after writing the immortal word “The End”, producers bang down my door begging to be allowed to make my story into the next hit movie. It will be bigger than Star Wars they say.

Hmm, wait. Is my fever back?

Okay, the truth is that I have spent the better part of this week being sick. Just in time for the busy holiday season. Thankfully, today I feel better than I have since Monday. Somehow, as I lay knocked out by every over the counter medication I could get my hands on, time spun forward to a point where we are barely a week away from the fat man’s arrival. Boy am I behind schedule. There is still some Christmas shopping to do and some decorating and baking and grocery shopping and a house to clean for company and gifts that need to be mailed along with the “normal” stuff that needs doing. I wonder if I can convince the kids that Christmas has been rescheduled for next week? No? Probably not my best option.

I suppose there is nothing like the pressure of looming deadlines, other people’s expectations and the dread of being a disappointment to ignite a fire to get things done. So, I have modified my list, checked it twice and cranked up the holiday playlist. I have even planned to squeeze in some writing time. Wish me luck.

How is everyone else faring in the pre-holiday madness?

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Road Block

/ JoHawkTheWriter

I figured out why the writing was going so slow.

I ran into a road block.

Photo credit: morgandobbins via Visual Hunt / CC BY

Photo credit: morgandobbins via Visual Hunt / CC BY

A little issue with the story which I discovered when I re-read a bit today. Writing you MC into a predicament is easy, get him out in a believable way can sometimes be a challenge. My MC was trying to tell me that my solution was not in line with his character. So, I set about fixing it. A little research helped a ton in putting things right. With this done, MC now seems happier. Yippee. I also mapped out a plan for where we are going next. I think we are now set to make some progress on the story. So tomorrow I push ahead.

Charge!

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Challenges

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 2 Comments

How is it Friday already?

Photo credit: Sangudo via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Photo credit: Sangudo via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND

My targeted word count for this week is nowhere near what I wanted it to be. It is really disheartening. I often set some lofty goals for myself, fully realizing that I might not be able to get over the bar. But I also like a challenge. The harder and more unobtainable the goal appears to be, the more determined I am to prove that I can get there. Can you say competitive?

That being said, when I look at the rest of my never ending to-do list I see it is significantly shorter than it was on Monday. Hmm, I wonder what is going on here? Have I been avoiding the writing? Maybe a little. The truth is that a few of the items on the to-do list were starting to bug me, but now they are done, crossed off the list and nothing has been added to it. Yet.

Okay, nagging distractions out of the way, time to see if I can make it.

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Rock Star

/ JoHawkTheWriter

Today I feel like a rock start with thousands of screaming fans vying for my attention.

Photo credit: Philippe_ via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Photo credit: Philippe_ via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND

It is beyond me how this happened. All I did was ask myself what I should post about today. And that is when it started. Idea after idea came flooding into my mind. So, I grabbed my journal and started writing and writing. Now one journal is completely full and I have started a second one.

Here is the issue. None of those ideas was anything that I wanted to write about TODAY. That is not to say that I won’t, but just that I don’t have time for some of these ideas right now. The other issue is that this little exercise used up the time that I had on my schedule for working on my novel.

The good thing (I think) is I now do not have an excuse for not having a topic. Nope, all I need to do is pull open the journal, pick an idea, and get busy. Right now, I need to get busy with the other things on my to-do list.

I am hopeful tomorrow will be more productive.

Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer