Aug 20, 2010

Wannabe Writers #30

Wannabe Writers is an internet writing group. Everyone is welcome to join. It's a place to meet other writers, ask questions, and get feedback.  Click here to find out a little more about how it works. 

So, I'm making a couple changes that I think will improve Wannabe Writers.  First, I decided to keep it on Saturday.  That just works best for me, but feel free to post whatever day works best for you.  Second, I don't want to limit people to writing their post as a model of mine.  Basically as long as it's relating to writing and you personally then whatever. Some people do a weekly update type thing and if you want to link your own weekly writing update than that can serve as your wannabe writers post too.  And third, I'm urging everyone to answer the question I pose at the bottom of this post in the comments section of my blog.  And then when you write your own post ask your own question.  (If you don't have any for the week that's okay too.)  That way when you visit different blogs than you can see a number of different questions and answers.  Basically, I'm just trying to add more flexibility to this meme.

Where I am in the writing process: Unpublished. I've been writing since Nov. 2008.  Wow.  Time just disappears.  I'm not sure if I'm even any better than I was way back when, but I just keep on trying.  That's the best I can do.  Currently I have THREE works in progress (WIP) going.  WIP #1 is 34K and I figure I'm about halfway finished.  Then WIP #2 and #3 both are about 10K long.  I typically work on WIP #1, but if I get bored or irritated than I have #2 or #3 to focus on. 

My current problem(s): Will I ever finish anything?  I have a million problems, but I guess that's my biggest.  I've been writing since 2008.  I should have sometime a little closer to completion, but sadly I don't.  I'm a teacher so I had this whole summer off--and I though surely I'd be about to finish my WIP #1 with what 8 hours of free-time per day by now.  Nope.  Hasn't happened.  And now school going to start in one week.  :(

My question this week:  Is it possible to write any faster?  I just want finish something.  Anything!

6 comments:

Serafina said...

If there's a trick to writing faster, I definitely want to hear it. But I guess it really depends on what's slowing you down.

The thing that really slows me down is the whole stop/start thing; at some point during the writing process (how quickly it happens depends on a number of factors) I'll get in "the zone" and will write a lot of great material.

But if I have to stop in the middle of it, picking up where I left off sucks!!!! Not only am I out of "the zone", but it's like I can't get back on the same page...I feel like I don't remember where I was going with it.

I'm thinking that I could avoid that by taking the time to make a few "where-I'm-going-with-this" notes before I stop writing. Then, I won't feel as lost when I start back up.

...or maybe you don't have that problem and this doesn't help you at all. Maybe it's just my malfunction.

- Tiff
http://zenalicious.blogspot.com

Amanda said...

The only way I've found it to be faster writing is to treat the manuscript like it's NaNo. There's a lot of advance preparation - down to summarizing each chapter in advance so you know exactly what you're supposed to do when - and then just never, ever looking back at what you've written. You just keep going, no matter what, and know you can fix anything in the edits.

It used to take me months to write a book, no less than six months and that was fast. Then after I did NaNo last year, I was stunned by the difference. Going back to the slower writing has been difficult, though I know I write better that way. Then again, the fast novel that I then heavily edited is the one being looked at by agents, so maybe there's something to the fast dump-write theory.

But I do think it's important that if you want to write fast, you have to have things planned out to a T in advance. Obviously some stuff will change as you write, but if you have a strong notion of where you're going, it'll be much easier to write quickly.

Unknown said...

Hi! I have an award for you over at my blog http://book-mac13.blogspot.com/2010/08/one-lovely-blog-award.html

Elizabeth Briggs said...

Maybe you should try working on just one project until it is done? That might help you finish it faster.

Anonymous said...

I have a huge problem with this as well. I feel like whenever I start to write I immediately become interrupted. It's either chores or work, kids and so on. I have just recently decided that sleep can't be that important so now I'm going to be working on a pot of coffee and forcing myself to stay awake late into the night until I finish.

Miranda Hardy said...

What works for me is that I just keep writing without going back to edit. It flows better and I get my ideas all down. Of course, I did a 50,000K in 50 days at the beginning of the year and that helped. This last time was a little harder and I wonder if it's because of the time of year.