Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Write a book with Holly Lisle

I have been stuck in planning mode for so long. I'm doing Holly Lisle's Think Sideways course, but I'm plodding and dragging and just feeling stuck. The course is great. I'm just having a hard time doing *anything*, not just that.

Enter a new venture by Holly. She calls it "Write a Book With Me." And it's pretty darned brilliant. Simple rules, simple goals, an easy place to post your progress. No pressure. Lots of fun. Lots of words. And I just realized that, even doing the bare minimum 250 words a day five days a week I will have a draft finished in four months (80 working days which works out to 16 weeks). And with a load that light, I can easily keep up with my course work.

I am not going to start on the course novel just yet. I think I'm going to pull out one of my back burner ideas and work on that. I'll tell more about that on Monday once I have some plans in place.

7 comments:

Phiala said...

That's a great plan. I saw the announcement but didn't look at what it actually was. If I write 1000 words a day, five days a week, then I'll easily meet my current self-imposed deadline, even with time off for Pennsic. I may have to play along.

Kim Switzer said...

Oh, I hope you do play along! I am going to post my daily word progress here as well as on Holly's blog. If you want a secondary, smaller place to check in, we can encourage each other.

What's your self-imposed deadline? And, finally and very late, I enjoyed your unicorn story very much. I'd love to read more from that universe!

Phiala said...

I applied to Viable Paradise with an unfinished novel, and whether I get in or not, I want to have the first draft entirely done by the date of the workshop. It needs 30-40k, I think. I know what happens, just have to put the words down. I got really bogged down in it for a while, but organizing the synopsis and first three chapters for the VP application got me unstuck. I think.

First, though, I have to write the last half of the story I started last week! I wrote the poor protagonist into a corner, and I can't just leave him there. :)

And thank you! I'm glad you liked the story.

Kim Switzer said...

Oh boy. I just added to my wish list. I had never heard of Viable Paradise, but it sounds fantastic! I hope we will get to hear about it after you go?

Phiala said...

Doesn't that sound fabulous??? I should hear within the next couple weeks. I think competition is pretty fierce, so I have no great expectation; I'm just pleased with myself for actually applying.

Phiala said...

I'm on the waitlist for VP, and strongly encouraged to apply next year. I'm quite pleased with that: real authors think my submission doesn't suck! :)

How's your writing plan? I didn't do any fiction all weekend, but just wrote the last 1150 words of a 2700-word short story. Needs some rewriting, of course, but a complete first draft is good.

Next, back to the novel. But not tonight.

Kim Switzer said...

Finally catching up on a few things. This is such great news! Very happy stuff to find in my inbox. :) Is the waitlist for getting in if someone else can't go?

My writing plan is actually going great! I am very pleased. I have spent a lot of time the past few months pinpointing my needs and wants as a writer, and I think the effort is paying off with a writing life that will actually work for me.

Related Posts with Thumbnails