August 27th, 2009

(Ohhhhhh, We're) Halfway There

I just hit the 45,000-word mark, which puts me halfway toward my anticipated total length of 90,000 words. Or I should say initially anticipated; I really feel like I’m more than halfway through the book at this point. I just started a big, multi-chapter scene that forms the end of my more-or-less second act, and [...]

August 18th, 2009

40,000 and feeling fine

Writing continues, even while I’m on vacation; no, I’m not that much of a workaholic, it’s just that I’ve got a lot of down time in the hotel and it seemed like a good opportunity to get some writing in. I have another trip coming up in a week and a half, and the [...]

July 21st, 2009

Anti-Plagiarism Day Was MY Idea!

No, no it wasn’t; it was Jane Smith’s, and her post on the topic is definitely worth a read.

Plagiarism is a contentious issue for everyone involved in publishing, but it seems to have a unique resonance for the unpublished author. Aspiring writers have a serious fear of having their ideas stolen; this is [...]

July 21st, 2009

Google Fun

Perhaps in a search for some kind of perspective on the writing process, or more likely just as procrastination, I Googled the phrase “writing a novel is like” to see what came up. Here are a few of the results.

Writing a novel is like…

running a marathon or engaging in a protracted battle. [...]

July 8th, 2009

17,000-ish

Still writing, despite the protestations of a sore wrist and the distractions of wholesome, violent video games. Woohoo! I’ve also upped my daily goal from 800 to 1,000 words; this is partly to quicken my pace and partly a sort of psychological trick, because there’s something very satisfying about crossing each increment of 1,000 [...]