When I started writing my current novel manuscript back at the beginning of June, I also started keeping a writing journal. On the first few pages I scribbled down the basic premise and broad story overview, a preliminary list of major turning points, and a list of major characters. After that, I started keeping almost daily … Continue reading Why I keep a Writing Journal
Word goals & the wordmachine
At the moment I am working to a fairly ambitious daily word goal as I write the first draft of my current ms. It is not so much an ambitious goal on its own (and some writers I know would scoff), but to reach it five or six days in the week -- and then the … Continue reading Word goals & the wordmachine
On writing & discipline
It is an unequivocal truth that novels do not write themselves. Irrespective of how many words a writer can produce in an hour, or how many hours in a day (or even a week) can be made available to write, the fact remains that every single word and every single minute counts. Today I am mostly concerned … Continue reading On writing & discipline
Momentum
Just about every writer I know will endorse the philosophy of 'write every day'. One of the primary reasons is to foster habit (especially among those of us who are holding down full-time jobs -- which is most of us); another is to maintain momentum. I am a momentum writer. Time and again I've demonstrated … Continue reading Momentum