Sunday, June 27, 2010

Summer afternoon.

I am really enjoying my weekend. I haven't written as much as I should have since getting back into the habit of it last week, but I haven't seemed to have a problem picking up where I left off without much hesitation (which is usually an ailment of mine). I have used my phone again a couple of times to write and I'm really liking the "My Writing Nook" application. It is something I can do when I'm bored waiting in line at the store or having trouble falling to sleep at night. I've still only written a total of a measly 200 words since Barnes N Noble yesterday but I don't mind...it's something that is on my mind often and I think that the application has been part of the reason why. I've also been doing a decent amount of reading this weekend, which is a nice change for me. I always want to read but never really end up making time for it. I love weekends that help regenerate my mood and this has definitely been one of those weekends.

Total Words Written: 23,232

Saturday, June 26, 2010

So far today...

Just wanted to document how far I am at this point...I took a couple of days off and wrote for a little while in Barnes N Noble today. I hope to pick up where I left off sometime later this afternoon/evening.

Total Words So Far: 23,042

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Words for the day

Total Words Written: 22,570
Total Words Tonight: 543 (around 100 of which were written on my iPhone with 'my writing nook' app :p)

My Writing Nook

I am obsessed with all things Apple. I currently have a Macbook Pro and I technically still own a white Macbook, which my husband uses to watch movies on at night before we go to bed. I also have the iPhone 3G and an iPod Classic. Since the announcement of the iPad, and even before the announcement, I have wanted the highly rumored and anticipated tablet device but I don't plan on getting one anytime soon (funds get scarier when I'm three months from giving birth to my first baby). A couple of weeks ago, however, Apple announced their new iPhone 4, which is available for purchase in stores tomorrow. Radioshack is having a 'trade in' deal where I can give them my iPhone 3G for 100 dollars towards the new phone. I plan to do this whenever the white iPhone is available at my local Radioshack. In researching the new phone, I discovered that it is compatible with Apple's bluetooth keyboards (which I don't know, and are also pretty expensive, but I do plan to save up for). If I could connect the keyboard, it would make writing on the go a lot easier for me...even with the teeny screen of the iPhone as my monitor. I went looking for an app to help facilitate this process and found one called My Writing Nook for $2.99. I got that this morning and found that it is really simple to copy and past my latest bit of writing to the website on my computer before closing down my project every night and then I can sync that to my phone the next day because the app connects and updates with whatever was added to my account even if it was on their website. I tried it already today and it seems to work great. I haven't started adding to my writing, but I do plan to and I might even use this process with my work computer-it'll save me from saving my writing as a Word Document on my office computer and then attaching it to an email to myself so I can then copy and paste the new material to my project. Instead of the saving, attaching, and emailing, I can just open that program up and copy and paste directly from the site. And if I'm somewhere without a computer and all I have is my phone (and the future small bluetooth keyboard I plan to purchase in the future) I can write into the app and do the same. See?? More reasons to minimize my excuses to neglect working on my book! Of course, this blog has obviously turned into an excuse...considering I have only two webpages open right now and the other is my writing that I could be working on... I am instead writing this post.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

A Good Weeknight.

I'm feeling accomplished again. Tonight was actually (overall) one of the best nights I've had in a while. I stopped at the library after work and checked out two books. Each of them pertained to writing in some way (I LOVE the library and since I'm currently in the middle of a book, I didn't want to get any fiction). When I got home from the library, I relaxed a bit, then took the dog for a walk. Since being pregnant, the summer has been ten-times more hellish to me than I have ever experienced. It was so humid this evening that I felt like a swollen ball of grease and sweat when I got home, so I took a COLD shower, which felt incredible. Afterward, I cleaned a bit, read some of the library books, ate pizza for dinner with my husband and finally came up here to write again. Right now I'm about to go back down to spend some more time with my husband before bedtime.

I am in love with productive weeknights!

Total words written: 22,027
Total words tonight: 535

Monday, June 21, 2010

Moving along.

Throughout the night tonight I have tried to concentrate on my writing on and off through commercials and distractions-like researching the new iPhone 4 that comes out this weekend. At 9:30 pm however, I told my husband I would be taking my computer upstairs to our quiet bedroom to write. He isn't as enthusiastic about these periods of quiet time I take for myself, but I think if I make a habit of them he'll get on board. So for the past hour, I was up in our air-conditioned room working on my project. I feel excellent about this at the moment.

Total Words Written: 21,492
Total Words Today: 449 (such an improvement from yesterday!)

Sunday, June 20, 2010

sad word count

21,043 words
142 words written tonight (very sad...but the most I've written in months).

Ways to procrastinate.

For one thing, I am especially good at wasting a day not writing on things like searching for widgets for my new blog and buying shoes after my dog destroys two pairs in a week. I will start again tonight. As of right now I am at 20,901 words, I am on chapter 9 and I don't yet have an official title. Since I couldn't find a word-count widget all day I've decided to just put my word count and words written each day at the bottom of my posts in some other font and color. My end goal is to reach about 70,000-80,000 words. My short-term goal is to introduce my protagonist who, other than a few short memos on my recorder, is not quite fully developed. Maybe tonight I'll get there...

Hopefully before bed I'll be back with my word count for the day.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Just a Reminder.

I love motivational quotes about writing...

"Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."
E. L. Doctorow

"There are times when quantity is at least as important as quality in learning an art."
Lawrence Watt-Evans
This weekend I plan to drive out to Altoona to sit at the Barnes N Noble and make myself write. I still haven't worked on my project since starting this blog. When I take a few weeks (or months) off I end up turning my lack of writing into a habit and suddenly it takes much more effort for me to get back into my work. I need to just start writing again. This isn't writer's block, it's writer's neglect.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Already slacking.

I am sitting at work, trying to take a real lunch (because if I don't, I might end up going nuts this afternoon...this job is making me crazy). I was brushing my teeth this morning when I realized I already missed my second day of trying to motivate myself to write. If I can't even stay motivated to motivate myself (which takes less than five minutes a day) how am I ever going to finish a whole book? Well, what I originally thought of yesterday that I wanted to write in here was that if I ever do finish this book, I'll have to partially dedicate it to Scrivener...an awesome word document program on my Mac at home that has made writing 10 times more fun and easy for me. It helps me immensly with my organization process and I'm sure I wouldn't have even gotten as far as I am with this latest project if I hadn't found this program. I originally heard of it on a podcast I was listening to at the end of last year ("I should be writing" by Mir Lafferty). I will have to dedicate a few of my motivational notes to it as well because without my Mac here with me, I am having trouble giving my full attention over to writing about why I love the program so much.

I think one of the problems I'm having with motivating myself is the fact that my job and life are insanely stressful right at the moment. Being pregnant makes me tired all the time, being pregnant also makes it harmful for me to consume too much caffeine, so I need to get one cup in the morning of this necessary drug and then somehow make myself continue moving after work each evening with nothing but fumes. After cleaning (or neglecting to clean and laying like a lump on the couch all night), I never even crave writing like I did before I was pregnant and so stressed out with work. But....starting in August, I will be a part-time student again-taking two classes online-and I really want to finish this project before then. I have the ideas and outline and over a third written, so I know it's a realistic goal, but I just NEED to get myself back into it. Even with work...which I regard as my second priority when compared to my writing (my job is just what I do full time in order to pay the bills)...I need to keep writing.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Something to write about..

Since I was a little girl, I have been writing in journals for myself about myself. I haven't ever stopped writing in journals and even though I have had years here and there where I spend a few months away from the journal, I have stayed faithful. At some point-during college, I think-I got the insatiable urge to become a real writer. Now...at age 27, happily married and pregnant with my first child, I am in the middle of my third writing project. This doesn't mean the first two projects are finished-far from it, unfortunately. I have a terrible habit of starting things and not finishing them. Wait, that's not true at all...I have a great work ethic and give every task (at my job) my all...I also have that sort of ambition when it comes to schoolwork. For some reason though, I can't get myself to focus a sufficient amount of that ambition towards what I want more than anything else for my life...to be a real writer. And so maybe if I write a little bit to this void, I'll remind myself a little bit everyday how badly I want this for myself. And maybe that will get me through to the end of this project...regardless of what happens from there, I want to see the beginning, middle, AND end of a novel I have written.