The Journal, Monday, 7/13

The Day

Rolled out about 2. For some reason, still recovering from the camping trip. I might not walk tomorrow, or keep it short.

Today again I messed around the house a bit, went for a walk and got some pics. I also posted a video of the place where Dan and I went camping. It’s a calm video, between rainstorms, to show people why we go there.

Also posted a few pics from the trip. Then I ordered a couple of parts for the camper shell and bought some stuff for it. It’s coming along slowly. No rush.

Back to writing with Wes off and on today. Like I said, I’m still recovering. Weird.

Topic of the Night: Write the Next Whatever

The best advice I’ve ever received or given is to Write the Next Sentence. If you keep doing that, your characters will lead you eventually to the end of whatever you happen to be writing.

I was following that advice one day when I realized there WAS no next sentence. A short time later (thankfully) I realized the scene was over. I was trying to move the character into a dead area that was unnecessary and boring. What I needed to do was write the next SCENE. And that’s when I became a writer who writes scenes.

A scene is a character (or a few characters) dealing with one situation. To this day, I still can’t “write a novel,” but I can write a scene. I can write a bunch of scenes. I can write a novel.

If you’re the kind of writer who writes scenes, that’s good. If you aren’t, or if you need a refresher, here ’tis.

1. To begin a scene, put your fingers on the keyboard and write whatever comes.

2. To get through the scene, write the next sentence, then write the next sentence, then write the next sentence. Don’t think about where it’s all going or even about the second or third sentence: Just write the next sentence.

3. When you’re writing a scene, don’t worry about how it connects to other scenes. Just focus on that scene.

4. When the scene ends, write whatever comes for the next scene (or for another scene), then write the next sentence, then write the next sentence, then write the next sentence.

5. Your character(s) will lead you to where you need to be.

The whole trick is to Keep the story moving forward.

The Writing
I prepped a couple more stories for the weekly free short story release, and I wrote some on Wes today. Feeling great about the book. Not moving fast right now, but moving toward where it’s gonna move fast. It wouldn’t surprise me if this one wrapped at about 20 days. Woohoo!

Today’s Writing
Fiction words: 1730

Writing of Book 8 in the Wes Crowley saga
Day 1…… 4125 words. Total words to date…… 4125
Day 2…… 2624 words. Total words to date…… 6749
Day 3…… 2766 words. Total words to date…… 9515
Day 4…… 1412 words. Total words to date…… 10927
Day 5…… 3441 words. Total words to date…… 14368
Day 6…… 1052 words. Total words to date…… 15420
Day 7…… 2486 words. Total words to date…… 17906
Day 8…… 3201 words. Total words to date…… 21107
Day 9…… 3186 words. Total words to date…… 24293
Day 10… 1585 words. Total words to date…… 25878
Day 11… 2178 words. Total words to date…… 28056
Day 12… 1730 words. Total words to date…… 29786

Total fiction words for the month…………… 20520
Total fiction words for the year……………… 426203