Day 41

Posted on September 1, 2014 by rachelsparling

For some reason I managed to write. I got a lot done in about an hour and I’m really shocked by it. I can’t really explain it. I just looked at the next chapter and I just started writing. I got quite a fair bit into it and felt it was time to stop. I’m not even done the chapter yet and it’s already easily twice as long as some of the others! I might have to split it into another chapter. We’ll see.

Once again, I find there aren’t enough hours in the day. I find myself working until late hours and trying to find time to relax. I’ve taken on another project – not writing – and it’s been quite time consuming but also relaxing. Either way, it’s adding to everything I have to do daily.

Anyway, I’m glad I got writing done, even if it was out of nowhere. I’m exhausted though and really need to get some sleep.

Night everyone. Hope you all enjoy the long weekend.

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Day 40

Posted on August 19, 2014 by rachelsparling

I think I have a plan to get me back to writing.

Due to a lot of the things that have gotten in the way, a lot of my motivation to get it done has been slowly ebbing away. Currently, I have a headache and I’m feeling absolutely exhausted and could fall over on to my bed and sleep for a few hours. Will I? Probably not.

Either way, because of these things I’ve been losing that push and motivation to get back into writing. So I’ve thought up a plan of sorts. If I find myself sitting and staring at my iPad screen because I’m bored, I must then think of something to write. It will either be a short story or just an excerpt from a much bigger story, but it has to be something, anything at all. I figure that the more I write little bits of randomness here and there, some of that motivation will start coming back and I’ll be able to get back on the metaphorical horse.

I started it today. I sat down, had this random idea about a snowy, cold mountain, and just started writing something. I can’t entirely say how many words it was, but it was enough to fill my screen on my iPad and refuse to allow me to scroll down to see what I was typing (kind of annoying, don’t think I’ll be using the app again).

It hasn’t pushed me too much yet, but I think the motivation is slowly coming back. If I wasn’t so exhausted and drained, I think I would actually have more motivation to look at the manuscript again.

Anyway, hope everyone has a good week. I’ll be updating as I do more writing. I’m hoping this plan will help get me back to it.

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Sincerely

Posted on August 14, 2014 by rachelsparling

I have been trying very hard to make time for writing. Over the last few weeks, as I’m sure it’s been clear, I haven’t been getting anything done. There are a few reasons for this:

1. Despite being down one time consuming job that barely paid me for the work I did, other responsibilities have cropped up and taken hold with a vengeance.

2. On days that I feel I might be able to make time to write, I wake up with a number of different health problems, which I won’t get into here.

3. I am feeling very overwhelmed with the amount of things I have to accomplish in a day, feeling as though there aren’t enough hours in one day, and accomplishing, if I’m lucky, half of the list I mentally prepare for each day. Writing always seems to not get done.

I am, however, hoping that with the new health issues I’ve managed to have (today was a particularly bad wake up call to this new experience), that I will still be able to get passed it. Even if it’s just getting used to it enough that I can still get some of the things I need to get done during the day.

For my lack of writing and my lack of posting, I really do sincerely apologize. I wish that I could be here doing what I love more frequently than I am able. I am hoping (and I know I’ve said this a lot) that things will calm down. It seems that when one thing is done, several more things seem to topple over and then I’m bogged down again.

Either way, I am sorry. As a blogger and a writer, I should have the time to get these two things done. And I am sorry for not being present over the last few weeks.

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Day 39

Posted on August 2, 2014 by rachelsparling

Okay so I didn’t write a chapter today BUT I did fix up all the outlines and made the next two stories much better. The first one will be better too!

This whole thing took longer than I thought it would and I have other things I need to do so this will be a very short post.

I think the outlines I’ve developed for the other parts will be much better both story wise and narrative wise. I think it will be much better and I look forward to reaching those points. I think people will enjoy reading them too. Let’s hope!

Anyway hopefully I can write sometime tomorrow but if not, I apologize.

Hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!

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Day 38

Posted on July 18, 2014 by rachelsparling

So I haven’t had much time to write lately. It’s been quite the stressful few weeks with no sign of slowing down. Not much I can do about it either.

On another note, my pet project I mentioned in a previous post is going to become something more. A friend of mine has quite the ability for drawing, so together we’re going to work on what will essentially be a comic book. I will be using my pet project and he’ll be illustrating. I don’t know what will come of it but it will certainly be fun and I look forward to seeing how it all turns out.

I’m hoping to get some writing done this weekend. My life has been drastically out of balance lately which has made it difficult to find time. Changes will be coming by September but I’m hoping for good things before then. Here’s hoping.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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Day 37

Posted on July 10, 2014 by rachelsparling

For the last few days, maybe closer to a week now, I’ve had this idea bobbing around my head. At first I decided I would just write whatever came to mind, and then today I continued to think about it. I started writing more to add to it. I’ve written two short chapters about this world and the characters. Not a whole lot to go on I’ll admit, but it was just an idea that’s sort of flourishing right now.

I’m still working on my other manuscript. I fell behind last week because everything was a bit ridiculous and I got thrown more work to do from my boss, which ate up my free time to write. This week has been a bit like that too. More work from my boss, less free time, and I spent the better part of yesterday quite sick. I’m still recovering today and barely feeling 100% but I’m doing better.

Anyway, I do plan to get more writing done for my manuscript. In fact I might start writing after I’m done this post (assuming I don’t get called away which very well could happen).

But the other idea I couldn’t ignore. It just keeps sitting there. I’ve decided to make it my pet project. I’m not going to do an outline for it, it’s just going to be there. If I get the urge to add something to it, I’ll write it unofficially (meaning on my iPad or cell phone as an email to myself and not on my laptop) and maybe post about it. It won’t be something that I think will turn into much, just something fun. I have different ideas for it so it should be interesting to say the least if it actually turns into anything.

I did a bit of writing for it, close to how much I usually get done in one day actually. Short but to the point. I’m okay with that. Like I said, it’s just a pet project where my imagination of some fantasy world will be driving it. So very different and much less structured considering how much of my effort is usually used in planning, outlining, and structuring the story to make sure there are no huge loop holes or any other thing that usually turns into really bad writing. I do know a few people who write just from the start and see what happens. There are a number of good writers that do that. I do find that writers who at least have a general idea of what they want to do – main story arch wise – can produce great literature even if they don’t have it outlined. It really depends on the writer and what strategies work for them though.

Anyway, enough rambling for today. Hope everyone has a good week/weekend!

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Day 36

Posted on June 30, 2014 by rachelsparling

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last several days of high humidity and high temperatures, it’s that my body gets tired and worn out far too easily. I am definitely feeling exhausted and it won’t matter how productive I’ve been. The heat doesn’t like me apparently.

Anyway! Today is a normal work day and tomorrow is a holiday. Normally I don’t get too much time on Monday to get work done, but it’s been a bit quiet so I managed to steal away and grab a bit of writing time.

I finished another chapter but it was short. It felt short. As I finished it, I kept thinking, this is short and it needs something. Nothing came to mind given the outline I wrote for it. There were no areas I felt I could really add more details since it’s a very short scene in the book. I even tried to think of how much further into the mind of the character I could go but realized that if I added anything else it’d be boring and repetitive. So I left it as is. I’m sure I’ll come up with some ideas by the time I get to editing, I just wish I could’ve thought of more now during the rough draft.

Anyway, it should be a good start to the week. Off work tomorrow because places are closed so I’m going to take advantage of that. Slow day today too. Things will pick up though for the rest of the week so I’ll just have to try to sneak in more time. If I have time tomorrow to write, I will, and if I can grab more time through out the week, I most certainly will.

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Day 35

Posted on June 26, 2014 by rachelsparling

This week has been unbelievably hectic!

I wish I  had more time to write but I managed to squeeze in some writing time now. I finished up another chapter. It’s really short though which has me a bit discouraged. I figure when I go through and edit it, I’ll make it better. Either way, at least it’s one chapter down.

The chapter is really more of a bridge to bigger things happening. It’s important because it also triggers the next big event in the story, but it’s also one of the more slower points. It bridges what happened in the previous chapter and starts the next event. Then the following chapter goes into more detail about the one I wrote, and then it gets back on to the event where more exciting things happen AND big plot developments. So it will be more interesting to write once I get to them. Just another chapter to bring the others along.

The future chapters will require a bit more outlining. I need to figure out the more specific details so that it doesn’t end up being repetitive. I have general ideas of how I want it executed in my head, but I’ll need to finalize them a bit before I start writing them. Either way, they’ll be fun to write! Big stuff coming up!

Anyway, I hope everyone has an absolutely wonderful weekend and that other places are getting better weather than we’re having here.

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Day 34

Posted on June 23, 2014 by rachelsparling

This day seems to be flying by.

Finally I’ve had a day without a bit of a headache or migraine. I can honestly say that it feels great, but I’m not going to get my hopes up. The weather has been strange all day, constantly shifting from cool temperatures to disgustingly hot. I’m not really sure what to make of it yet but something could be on it’s way.

Anyway, I snuck away to get some writing done. I finished another chapter! I also made a note to myself for when I go through and edit it. There is something I was a bit lax on in this chapter and I want to make sure I fix it when I edit it. Either way, one more down, which means I’ve completed 14/32 chapters!

The writing is going smoothly and I’m averaging two chapters a week. I’m going to try to get that up since I still have another 18 chapters to go and I’d rather have a rough draft of the manuscript done in less than 9 weeks. I guess we’ll see how things go. It’s hard to make more time for something when one tends to have so little to begin with.

Hope everyone else is having a good start to their week.

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Day 33

Posted on June 20, 2014 by rachelsparling

So I’ve had a weird type of migraine building since yesterday. It seemed to get better last night just as I was going to bed, but I woke up with the same kind of pain this morning. After a slow progression, I think it’s a bit better now. So considering that, I decided to get to writing!

Another chapter has been completed. It’s a short one but still just as important. It brings about a new revelation and something so complicated and difficult for the main character to fully process. It leads into bigger things which in turn helps to really move things along.

The writing itself went relatively well. My brain isn’t fully functioning in the way it usually is when I sit and write, but it was high enough that I think I did okay. The chapters length is within about where it needs to be, and I covered everything I had planned for it. Obviously editing will still take time, but I think it turned out well all things considered.

I have a busy but good weekend ahead of me. I hope everyone else has a wonderful weekend as well!

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