Writing in Public: Week 2
Shitty first draft, staring at the blank screen and writing out of order.
Welcome to Week 2!
Welcome to Week 2 of the Writing in Public Newsletter.
Maybe it’s the extra motivation from the new year or the accountability of the newsletter, I hit my word target early! I am careful not to be too quick to pat myself on the back, though. If the past is any indication, and it always is, this will quickly fade, which will be the real test of my motivation and perseverance. For now, I am enjoying the start. Hopefully, with a plan in place, I will be better prepared for the messy middle too.
I’ll start with the goals and status.
Progress
Goal: Write a Synopsis/Premise for the Novel
Status: Version 1 Complete ✅
Current Version- When an indecisive man’s wife dies and leaves him in charge of finding the ideal spot to sprinkle her ashes, he embarks on a journey with his daughter to find that ideal spot. Along the way, they uncover things about her(wife’s) past that changes their path.
This will be a work in progress and will evolve with the Novel. My idea here was to write the story's basic premise as a starting point. This is a story I have been thinking about for a few months now, and the basic idea has been brewing in the background. Even in my head, it has taken many shapes, and thus I am sure that trend will continue during the writing process.
Goal: Write 2000 words
Status: Complete ✅
I was able to hit my 2000 words target by Thursday. I’ll admit that the quality was god-awful, but by resisting my temptation to edit, I kept the story and my writing moving.
Here is what my time spent on this project looked like:
Goal: A rough timeline for the project
Status: In Progress
I got started on this but am spending more time fine-tuning the details. Keep an eye out for this in future editions.
Goal: A small list of books and resources to keep close by.
Status: In Progress
This seemed like an easy task but was challenging to narrow down. I could make a case for every book on my bookshelf. In reality, I do have access to all those books. My goal with this exercise was to narrow down the sources to a few books that I could keep on my desk. I have narrowed down the list but am still finalizing it.
Ideas I was trying to incorporate.
This week I drew my lessons and inspirations primarily from two sources.
First, I tried to practice Stephen King’s Advice for thinking about a story. King talks about situation-driven stories in his masterpiece about the craft, On Writing. This includes putting the main character in a situation and watching how she gets out of it.
In my story, the Protagonist is an anxious, indecisive scientist who has recently lost his wife. She has left him with the task of finding the perfect spot to sprinkle her ashes. The only condition she laid out: it has to be close to a mountain. My story is now building around that.
Second, I am incorporating a piece of advice I heard from Cheryl Strayed( not sure if it was in a book or on a Podcast), but it has stayed with me. She makes a compelling case for letting go of our urge for chronological progress and writing about whatever part flows through easily. I worked on three separate scenes for the story. I am still unsure which goes where, but I found that letting go of the need for control and structure made progress possible.
Key Takeaways
Resist the temptation to edit. Similarly, resist the temptation to look things up. Instead, leave a note for yourself to look up the detail that you are missing.
Don’t worry about writing chronologically. Write whichever part of the story is flowing easily.
Most importantly, don’t wait for motivation or muse. Put those keys on your keyboard to use.
Block distractions and set a time goal.
During that time, do nothing but put your attention toward writing. I paid full attention, not staring at the screen and thinking about the e-mail I have to write. This was excruciating at the beginning. The temptation to do something else was huge. Though, after a few minutes, I started feeling a sense of calm and started getting words on the screen, one at a time. Those few minutes, especially the first two days, felt like an eternity.
Goals for this week
Write the next 2000 words for a total of 4000 words.
Complete a timebound plan to get to a complete first draft.
Finalize the list of books and resources.
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