The Journal, Thursday, 6/15

Hey Folks,

Well, there y’go. Half the month is almost gone already.

Kind of two topics in the post today. Read down through the “Today and Writing” section for some craziness.

Topic: More Thoughts on Challenges

I was telling someone a day or two back that any 30-day time period is still 30 days even if it doesn’t start on the first of a calendar month. Duh.

I’ve pretty much decided when I finish with the June novel, I’m going to start my story-per-day challenge again while posting each scene “in public” to my new Writing in Public website.

I hope to eventually add other writers with similar challenges into the mix. I’ll make the offer again when I find a plugin that will enable us to send subscribers an email update each time we post a new scene, vs. once a day.

In the meantime, if you have a website already and you want to start a challenge, you can do so right there. Just do it.

Especially if your website isn’t already cluttered with your past writings, lectures you’re offering and two blogs. (grin)

You could even post your updates “live” to Facebook, though I advise against it. What goes on Facebook is out there forever whether you like it or not. Putting it on my own website gives me the option of taking it down.

Today, and Writing

Started the day with coffee, email and Facebook, but then did some more work on the new Writing in Public website. I don’t want to start that yet anyway, but I want the site to be ready when I do.

To the Hovel, finally, around 10:30.

Well, I feel like the novel took a wrong turn somewhere. I’m listening to my creative subconscious, not my critical, conscious mind.

The little voice deep inside’s been nagging me over the past couple days of writing even as I wrote. That’s how I know it’s the creative subconscious.

I wrote some good stuff during that time (I think) but it went in a different direction, maybe into a different story, maybe even into a different genre. The current WIP is action-adventure, and this thing wandered off into romance or something.

Not like a romantic episode or twist, but like the story’s turning completely into a cute-meet, boy gets the girl sort of thing. Ugh. Fun enough to write, but not the same story.

Then again, this is not the typical girl who appears in a male-dominated action-adventure, so maybe she and the situation are supposed to be there. We’ll see.

So I started reading way back at the first word, allowing myself to touch the story as necessary, just very minor tweaks and corrections of inconsistencies. I have a feeling I’ll know when I hit the point where the story wandered off in the wrong direction. If it did.

Doing nothing but cycling I added around 1100 words by 2 p.m.

Then I moved up to the house and got distracted. Made some tea, fed a cat, responded to an excellent comment (see “Of Interest” below) etc. Finally back to the reading/cycling at 3.

Well, I didn’t finish the read-through today. I did learn that the part I thought I was going to cut doesn’t need to be cut. The woman involved just hasn’t shown me yet who she is.

I’ll start again tomorrow where I left off today. A little cycling and then (I hope) full steam ahead.

Back tomorrow.

Of Interest

For a wonderful surprise, see “The Magic Bakery: A Chapter in the Center” at http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/the-magic-bakery-a-chapter-in-the-center/.

For fun, check the comment and my response on my previous Journal post at http://harveystanbrough.com/daily-journal/the-journal-wednesday-614/. (Thanks again, Elise!)

For more fun, visit The Passive Guy’s site at http://www.thepassivevoice.com/. Some great humor there. Specifically I’m thinking of “How a Witch Cured My Writerly Envy” and “My Partner Doesn’t Use Bookmarks….”

Fiction Words: 1113
Nonfiction Words: 650 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 1763

Writing of June Novel

Day 1…… 2248 words. Total words to date…… 4925
Day 2…… 0505 words. Total words to date…… 5430
Day 3…… 1204 words. Total words to date…… 6634
Day 4…… 1535 words. Total words to date…… 8169
Day 5…… 2825 words. Total words to date…… 10994
Day 6…… 1631 words. Total words to date…… 12625
Day 7…… 3462 words. Total words to date…… 16087
Day 8…… 1113 words. Total words to date…… 17200

Total fiction words for the month……… 43672
Total fiction words for the year………… 336579
Total nonfiction words for the month… 10450
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 100430
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 437009

The Daily Journal blog streak……………………………………… 567 days
Calendar Year 2017 Novel Goal (15 novels)………………… 5 novels
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 25
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 3
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 176