Writer’s Achievement Diary- 4 June 2017

Mon 29/05/2017

  1. Settled on ages for 2 main male characters
  2. Re-order a bunch of scenes between chaps 12-15
  3. Readjusted content of scenes in chap 13
  4. Idea seeds on chaps 16, scene 1 of chap 17

Tue 30/05/2017

  1. 20 grids filled for Chan Lok
  2. Vague idea for scene 1, chap 16

Wed 31/05/2017

  1. 22 grids filled for Si Ma Gun (out of goal of 20)

Thu 1/06/2017

  1. Scene 1, chap 16

Fri 2/06/2017

  1. Chap 16 done

Sat 3/06/2017

  1. Sorted out the ‘ending’ of chaps 16-20 block
  2. Working out the rough gist for chap 17
  3. Scene 1, chap 17

Sun 4/06/2017

  1. Started on list of easily pronounced Chinese characters to be used for naming (sizable surname list and 2 full names, first names to be done)
  2. Joted down notes on chap 18/19 (floating scene for now)

Week Goal: 1 achievement on average on weekdays and 2 on weekends. 5 Chapters outlined

Week Tally: 1.8 achievement on average on weekdays and 2.5 on weekends

Sum story progress: 1.5 chapters and fair progress on 2 main characters

Against last week: Now that I switched to the other plot-line I feel a little stuck as I needed to get back into it.

Moonlake’s Progress as a Writer

Random reminder: there’s now the option to receive new posts of this blog via email. It’s located at the bottom of the blog for anyone interested.

This blog has now been up for exactly two and a half years (as of the time of writing) and just prior to the creation of this blog, I started dipping my toes into fiction. So I thought it’s high time that I do a post on my own progress as a writer since then.

What I’ve Done:

  • Dipped my toes in novel writing and
    • Fully outlined up to book 2 of a quintet and partially all the other books in the series
    • Written up to chap 15 for book 1 out of a planned 21 chapters
  • Tried my hands at short story writing through a multi-author anthology
    • Co-authored one short story
    • Written a solo piece- A Thread of Chance that I’m converting to a novella right now
  • Creating a new novel series right now
    • Outlining book 1 as I type now- round 1 almost concluded

What I’ve Learnt:

  • Signed up for James Patterson’s Masterclass, a course crash on all aspects of the writing and publishing process. What I took away from this was mostly the idea of doing comprehensive outlines based on the provided sample outline from JP
  • Learnt a lot about myself as a writer and a person from the epub venture
    • Fine-tuned/refocused myself on novels rather than short stories
    • Learnt what makes me tick versus what doesn’t as a writer and a person

What I’ve Achieved:

  • I’ve made the important mind change to viewing writing as a hobby to thinking about turning it into my career. I’m still doing a FT day job at the moment and planning to make the transition slow but the mind change is the important thing
  • I’ve broadened my social network and gained on board a lot of writer friends through social media
  • I’ve expanded my reading horizon slightly and taken on board historical fiction as a new genre
  • Last but not least I’ve made this blog which isn’t much now but can be leveraged to build an author platform for myself

 

Writer’s Achievement Diary- 28 May 2017

Mon 22/05/2017

  1. Scene 1, chap 46 done
  2. Scene 2, chap 46 outlined very roughly

Tue 23/05/2017

  1. Scene 1, chap 47 partially outlined

Wed 24/05/2017

  1. Scene 1, chap 47 changed completely
  2. Chap 47 done
  3. Scene 1, chap 48 done

Thu 25/05/2017

  1. Changed ending of scene 1, chap 48
  2. Scene 2, chap 48
  3. Scene 3, chap 48 in main gist
  4. Rounded out scene 3, Chap 48 done

Fri 26/05/2017

  1. Vague idea of a subsequent happening

Sat 27/05/2017

  1. Cleared out floating scenes that belong to book 2
  2. Scene 1, chap 49; 3. Chap 49 done

Sun 28/05/2017

  1. Scene 1, chap 50
  2. Chap 50 done

Week Goal: 1 achievement on average on weekdays and 2 on weekends

Week Tally: 2.2 achievement on average on weekdays and 2 on weekends

Sum story progress: 5 chapters.

Against last week: Taking it leisurely after ‘big push’ last week but still making good progress.

Writer’s Achievement Diary- 21 May 17

Mon 15/05/2017

1. Finished off scene 2 of Chap 27
2. Figured out main gist of scene 2, chap 28
3. Made decision to relocate another side-plot section
4: Sketched out scene 2 of Chap 28 from scratch

Tue 16/05/2017

1. Decided on general shape of events for Chap 29-30 (equivalent of 4 achievements)

Wed 17/05/2017

1. Tidied up chap 29-30 in comprehensive form (equivalent of 4 achievements)

Thu 18/05/2017

1. Came up with an important flaw in Sin Sin’s character
2. Came up with rough idea of book 1 end
3. Rounded out scene 2 of chap 30
4. Fleshed out scene 1 of chap 41
5. Very rough idea on what goes into scene 2, chap 41; 6. Ironed out gist of main event in chap 42

Fri 19/05/2017

1. Relocated one scene as floating scene
2. Fleshed out new scene 2 of Chap 41 from scratch
3. Scene 1, Chap 42 done
4. Scene 2, Chap 42 done
5. Scene 1, Chap 43 done
6. Chap 43 done

Sat 20/05/2017

1. Scene 1, Chap 44 done
2. Scene 2, Chap 44 rough gist done
3. Fleshed out Scene 2, Chap 44
4. Scene 1, Chap 45
5. Chap 45 done

Sun 21/05/2017

Took a break since finished monthly goal already!

Week Goal: 1 achievement on average on weekdays and 2 on weekends

Week Tally: 4.8 achievement on average on weekdays and 2.5 on weekends

Sum story progress: 8 Chapters!

Against last week: Speed really picking up this week on weekdays!

Writer’s Achievement Diary- 14 May 17

Mon 8/05/2017

1. Fleshed out the empathy scene b/w Sin Sin and Lok for potential future incorporation
2. Identified key decision points for the outline as a separate doc

Tue 9/05/2017

1. 10 grids filled for Ip

Wed 10/05/2017

1. Came up with rough idea on scene 2 of chapter 26

Thu 11/05/2017

1. Come up with rough idea on Chap 27
2. Made rough decisions on some of the floating scenes
3. Progress on scene 2 of chap 26

Fri 12/05/2017

1. Finalised scene 2 of chap 26
2. Finalised scene 1 of chap 27

Sat 13/05/2017

1. Rough outline of scene 2, Chap 27
2. Rough outline of Chap 29

Sun 14/05/2017

1. Joted down idea on round 2 outlining concerning plot relocation in early 10 chapters following received feedback
2. Plotted out scene 1 of Chap 28

Week Goal: 1 achievement on average on weekdays and 2 on weekends
Week Tally: 1.8 achievement on average on weekdays and 2 on weekends
Sum story progress: bit more than 1 chap, abt 1 chap worth of rough outlines.
Against last week: weekdays almost catching up to weekends! Sum story progress also going nice.

Writer’s Achievement Diary- 7 May 17

I forgot to mention it last time but I’ve newly added an email subscription option to my blog which is located at the bottom. Finally! Thought I would point this out to my followers.

Mon 1/05/2017

  1. Made decision on how to proceed with Chap 26

Tues 2/05/2017

  1. Made decision on how to proceed out of too many plot lines and not enough chapters

Wed 3/05/2017

Did nothing for outline today.

Thu 4/05/2017

  1. Restructured scenes for chaps 26-30

Fri 5/05/2017

  1. Made chap 21-25 clearer for alpha readers
  2. Plotted out part of chap 26

Sat 6/05/2017

  1. Worked out the next plot point for chap 26

Sun 7/05/2017

  1. 26 grids filled for Sin Sin, exceeded goal of 25
  2. Completed scene 1 of Chap 26
  3. 10 grids filled for Ip (cousin)
  4. 10 grids filled for Ning Yee
  5. Came up with the seed for a potential future scene between Sin Sin and Lok

Week Goal: 1 achievement on average on weekdays and 2 on weekends
Week Tally: 1 achievement on average on weekdays and 3 on weekends
Sum story progress: 1 scene or half a chap but fair progress on characterisation
Against last week: Woohoo for weekends!

Writer’s Achievement Diary- 30 April 17

Okay, so I’m starting yet another blog series to document my weekly progress. This time, it’s for a brand new novel series and now I’m just outlining book 1. I want to trial doing more comprehensive outlines which means that I’m considering a multi-round progress and I’m still on round 1. My intention is to put no time limits so that I don’t rush but then an unfortunate side-effect is that I end up bludging so I’ve started to create a goal of how many achievements on average to make on each day. That of course gives birth to a writer’s achievement diary where I have to mark down achievement on every single day. This idea came to right at the end of April and what you see below is pretty much the speed I was outlining at:

Mon 24/04/17

1. cleared the debt with earlier parts of the outline, can now concentrate on Chap 25
2. tidied up my idea journal and G drive creative folder
3. Made headways towards Chap 25

Tue 25/04/17

ANZAC day holiday

Wed 26/04/17

1. Restructured the alternating plotline to be every 10 chapters
2. Scene restructuring with cascading effects
3. Finished one new scene

Thu 27/04/2017

1. Plotted out rough sketch of Chap 25

Fri 28/04/2017

1. Plotted out scene 1 of Chap 25

Sat 29/04/2017

1. Expanded scene 1 of Chap 21

Sun 30/04/2017

1. Fully fleshed out scene 1 of Chap 21
2. Finished Chap 25

Week Goal: 1 achievement on average per day
Week Tally: 1.6 achievements on average on weekdays and 1.5 on weekends 
Sum story progress: 1 chapter

Official website for Excursions from the Citadel and closure

I’ve previously mentioned that I’m no longer associated with the publication titled Excursions from the Citadel but for completeness’s sake, I thought I should mention that there’s now an official website for the Excursions: http://www.exftc.com/. It is very unlikely that you have become a fan for this anthology series through this particular blog but on the off chance you are, please refer to this website from now on for official news. There is also a Facebook group for this publication if you are interested.

Progress Tracker on Thread (5)

Firstly, I’m back! And I thought I should sum this mini-blog series up before I move onto something else. The short is that I finished the first draft for this project on time or at least I said I finished on time. By this, I mean that I skipped over a chunk of the section that I was having a block on, the section that wasn’t in my plan but came about due to spontaneous writing. Nevertheless, I proclaim that the first draft is done and this project is now on the cooler.

I can’t say I have a definite timeline for actually releasing it to public eyes. But it will definitely come one day. I’m determined.

On the blog reconstruction front, I’ve now decluttered this blog by removing most of the non-writing related drop-downs. It will be a while before I put up my spin-off personal blog though.

 

All basic questions but hits the nails on the head.

Yes my friends it is #NaNoWriMo2014 and like every year I embark on a month long adventure that takes me to fascinating places without leaving the relative comfort of my writing desk. For those of you new to the game, November is National Novel Writing Month where established authors and newbies alike try their darnedest […]

via Questions to Ask When Writing — Curse Breaker Series