Last Check-in Wordcount + ChapterCount: 23,839 words and 7 chapters
Current WC + CC: 45,053 words and 15 1/2 chapters.
Yeah, I wrote more in one week than I did in the ENTIRE FIRST MONTH I worked on this WIP. It was a combination of this awesome WIP marathon, having the outline completed and having less work (boo) than usual.
WIP Issues this week: Continuing to balance the multiple POVs. It feels harder to keep them separate when I work on more than one chapter a day, but I’m not going to stop when I have the desire to keep writing! I just remind myself about how each character would view the situation.
Also, setting high expectations has a drawback. I’m starting to be disappointed with perfectly FINE accomplishments each day. Like this week, 1000-2000+ words per day was the norm, and that’s GREAT, but one day I did just under 800 and I felt sad. Um, but 800 was MORE than I was doing MOST days in all of July!
What I learned this week in writing: Getting over the initial “omg, I have tens of thousands of words ahead of me, I can’t do this~” hump has helped. I’m probably only halfway to the end even still, so I’ve got a lot to go. But it feels more like I can do it. I HAVE to do it. My characters want the story told. (I’m getting nervous as I approach the word count where I got irrevocably stuck in one of my previous WIPs.) Also, I’m still loving outlines now. I’ve even managed to keep thinking of new ideas as I write, but having that framework in place is immensely helpful.
What distracted me this week while writing: Car troubles and a busy schedule, but I still managed to find plenty of time to write.
Last 200 words: A little more, I cheated. Also, this is smack in the middle of a chapter, but I was done for the day:
Tierny grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me onward. “Avoid the ladies of the night.” We stopped moving, and I noticed a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. “At least when there are rumors the soldiers are combing their chambers.” I wondered if he would tell me to avoid them under any other circumstances.
He dropped my arm and guided me onward, through one alley and the next, through more puddles and muck than I ever imagined could exist.
At last he turned a corner and stopped again. No one was in this alley, and there was no torch to light our path. Something pulsated in the dark beneath me, like the heartbeat of the city, buried in mud and feces. I lifted a foot and shook it, suddenly feeling like I was covered in rats and insects.
Knock. Knock knock knock. Knock knock. Tierny’s fist pounded on a door I hadn’t even realized stood partway down the stone wall. He pounded the pattern again. And then once more.
“All right, enough.” A woman’s throaty voice called back from the other side of the doorway. I waited patiently, bouncing my knees and reminding myself that even a city as filthy as this one couldn’t possibly have as many spiders and vermin as I pictured now crawling up my leg, and the door opened, a squat and stocky woman holding up a candle in my face.
I looked down and saw my foot squished into the pile of what I hoped was horse excrement and all the maggots and worms squirming in it
And my little announcement–I came up with a working title last night!
Fall Far From the Tree
I’m pretty bad at coming up with titles. (My other completed manuscript didn’t get one until after I’d finished the first draft.) It actually only works on one level, but I like how it sounds. However, it might give off too much of a contemporary vibe (the WIP is fantasy), and there isn’t enough direct connection to the narrative, and yeah… But the idea is a play on “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Well, it’s a working title anyway. And it’s better than “TITLE,” which it was named until today…
Amy McNulty 
Titles are the best and worst things. 😉
I always hear that titles change before publication anyway (if we get that far). ^^ But it’s nice to have something to call it.
Eeek! I wonder what your MC stepped on. I really enjoyed the excerpt and I had a good sense of what was going on. And don’t your figures this week rock!
Heh, I feel bad for him because he hates not being clean. Thanks!
I know, right? I’m astonished myself!
Wow, you’re doing great!
I know what you mean by the high expectations. If I do less than 2000 a day, I’m sad. Lol!
I can really picture that scene up there. If you could see my face right now. Lol!
Thank you! I know, right? 2000 would have been an AMAZING day for me in July; now it’s like my minimum per day, lol.
Aw, thanks! XD I’m sure it’s disgusted. I would be, like my character!
I agree–outlines are immensely helpful! Congrats on choosing a title. I know the title of my current WIP, but my last WIP is still tentatively titled.
I really wish I’d have given outlines a chance earlier. I just started last year. It would have saved so many of my projects from devolving into a strange meandering mess!
I usually give projects a title knowing they’ll be subject to change but then they do grow on me. Thanks! 😀
Wow, congrats on getting so many words – what an achievement! It’s great when you get into a project and start thinking ‘Maybe I can do this after all!’ (I’m at that point with mine, too!). Good luck!
Thanks so much! 😀 I’m pumped! I want to finish this! And congrats and good luck to you, too!
Congratulations on all the progress and great title! Getting over that middle-ish hump is key. 🙂 Also – I hope your car is OK.
Thank you! 😀 And yes, it is indeed. I feel like I can finish this draft sometime in the near, not distant future, now. ^^
It is, thank you, but it’s very old. XD There was like a loose screw near the tire or something and it took the mechanic a few tries to figure that out and fix it. 😛
Wow, well done on the excellent progress! Love the excerpt. Made my skin crawl, but that’s a good thing! Nicely crafted. 😀
Thank you! Ha, that’s great. XD
I’m terrible at coming up with titles but I really struggle to work without one! I like your one though and don’t think it sounds all that contemporary.
That’s an excellent word count! It’s gotten to the point I’m just impressed if I get ANY words down.
Good luck with your words for this week 🙂
Thank you–that’s good! I don’t have any “trees” that are important in this ms literally, so I was worried it might be too off base. But it is important that kids not wind up like their parents in this, so that’s what I was going for!
Thank you, and good luck to you too! Some weeks/days are better than others. I wrote 17,000-ish TOTAL in ALL of July and I was fairly satisfied. (I felt like it was going to take me the rest of the year at that rate, but still!) Keep on writing, a bit at a time, and I hope it all falls into place for you soon!
I’m really loving that title!
Heh, thanks! 😀 It feels a bit awkward, but the longer I think about it, the more I like it.
22K LAST WEEK!? Girlfriend. YOU RULE! Good luck this week–halfway point!
Heh, aw, thanks! 😀 I’m on a roll (only seem to get those once a year, so I’m seizing the day!). I’m hoping this means I’ll finish by the end of the month, yay!