Tag: wip marathon

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon Check-In #9 (5)

Posted on by Amy McNulty

I can’t believe it’s over already! (True, I only participated in half of it, but it still flew by!) I’ll be sure to check back in with the monthly updates.

Last Check-in Wordcount + ChapterCount (+ scene count if you’re revising): 22,821 words and eight and a half chapters

Current WC + CC (or SC): 27,301 words and ten and a half chapters

WIP Issues this week: Nothing too much, just finding the time to write, as usual. And I went back to switching tenses. I thought I was over that. I think my next ms will have to be in present again since I clearly want to write that way. (Watch me keep writing in past when I work on that one, though.)

What I learned this week in writing: I’m still “off synopsis,” but I’m getting closer to getting back on track. I also learned you can really miss writing for one character who hasn’t appeared in a while. (I want to get further into the story so that character can come back already!)

What distracted me this week while writing: Mostly work, but early in the week I actually had free time I could have used to write, but I had a bad head cold and couldn’t focus, d’oh. I’m better now, though.

Last 200 words: Can’t because it’s the sequel to my book releasing next year

Plans After WIPMarathon: I’m going to keep working on this sequel. I may not be finding as much time to write as I would like (and I only worked on ONE of my many goals at the start of the WIPMarathon this whole time! But it was the most important one), but even juggling all I juggled in January, I managed to get a significant chunk done. I’m surprised, actually. It felt like I had NO TIME to write, but that clearly wasn’t true. That gives me hope that even when I’m overwhelmed by the rest of my life, I will find a way to write, even if it’s not every day, and it’ll help keep me sane.

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon Check-In # 8 (4)

Posted on by Amy McNulty

I held off on updating because I hoped I could add some more words today, but it just doesn’t look like that will be the case. Work won’t let up this month, and my stress in general has been through the roof! Still, it’s fun to work on the WIP when I can. Which was only twice this week…

Last Check-in Wordcount + ChapterCount (+ scene count if you’re revising): 21,839 words and eight and a half chapters

Current WC + CC (or SC): 22,821 words and eight and a half chapters (still working on that same chapter, lol)

WIP Issues this week: I’m entering a little uncertain ground in the WIP. This is still that “writing a few chapters off of only two sentences in the synopsis” bit, and so far it has gone well, but it’s starting to maybe drift a bit. I think I’m still on the right track, though.

What I learned this week in writing: So my progress this month hasn’t been as much as I’d like it to have been. Considering how busy and stressed I’ve been, the fact that I’ve gotten as much done as I have is pretty awesome.

What distracted me this week while writing: Work, my boyfriend’s car troubles (he wound up having to get a new/used one!), coming down with a cold and…

My big news! I think most of you saw my post earlier this week, but I can now share the fact that I’m going to debut with a YA fantasy in 2015 with Month9Books. Please add it to your to-read shelf on Goodreads if you have an account.

And now that that’s posted, I can share a more detailed summary of the story:

In a village of masked men, magic compels each man to love only one woman and to follow the commands of his “goddess” without question. A woman may reject the only man who will love her if she pleases, but she will be alone forever. And a man must stay masked until his goddess returns his love—and if she can’t or won’t, he remains masked forever.

Where the rest of her village celebrates this mystery that binds men and women together, seventeen year old Noll is just done with it. She’s lost all her childhood friends as they’ve paired off, but the worst blow was when her closest companion, Jurij, finds his goddess in Noll’s own sister. Desperate to find a way to break this ancient spell, Noll instead discovers why no man has ever loved her: she is in fact the goddess of the mysterious lord of the village, a Byronic man who refuses to let Noll have her right as a woman to spurn him and who has the power to fight the curse. Thus begins a dangerous game between the two: the choice of woman versus the magic of man. And the stakes are no less than freedom and happiness, life and death—and neither Noll nor the veiled man is willing to lose.

Last 200 words: Can’t because it’s the sequel to my book releasing next year. ^^

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon Check-In #7 (3)

Posted on by Amy McNulty

I had kind of a hellish, busy week, so I wrote only on Sunday and Wednesday. *sigh* I might still write today, but since I have so much else to do, I’m not sure I’ll be able to. *sighs again* I’ll count any words today toward next week, then.

Last Check-in Wordcount + ChapterCount (+ scene count if you’re revising): 19,391 words and seven chapters

Current WC + CC (or SC): 21,839 words and eight and a half chapters

WIP Issues this week: Not too many issues with the WIP itself, just finding the time and energy to write.

What I learned this week in writing: I’m still working “off-synopsis” in a way. (I’m expanding on a few sentences in the synopsis that didn’t go into detail.) It’s quite possible to plot and pants at the same time!

What distracted me this week while writing: A lot of work and a lot of stress.

Last 200 words: Can’t.

I have news I’ll be able to share soon! I know at least one of you saw it and was kind enough to give me a shout-out about it anyway. 😉 But I’m waiting for the big announcement next week.

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon Check-In #6 (2)

Posted on by Amy McNulty

I only managed to fiction write three days this week (so much for aiming for 5-6 days per week), but I still made some progress.

Last Check-in Wordcount + ChapterCount (+ scene count if you’re revising): 14,947 words and 5 1/2 chapters

Current WC + CC (or SC): 19,391 words and seven chapters

WIP Issues this week: I’m still having a little trouble keeping my tenses straight, but it’s getting better. Instead of writing almost every sentence in present tense and then having to fix it, it’s like 1 in 10 in present.

What I learned this week in writing: I’m working off a synopsis and this entire section that probably needs to be 5-ish chapters is like two sentences in my synopsis because it didn’t seem that important, just part of a slow build-up. So it’s kind of been fun discovering how I’m making those two sentences come to life. More drama and tension that I anticipated, which is good.

What distracted me this week while writing: Work, so much work. I saw a couple of movies this week, too.

Last 200 words: Can’t share due to spoilers.

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon Check-In #5 (1)

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Check-in #5? What happened to 1-4? This is my first WIPMarathon Check-In for the December-January marathon because I didn’t write or edit a single word for my fiction projects in all of December, but I thought I’d number it to keep up with the rest of the people involved. December was busy for me with work, and I needed a break after being disappointed with my NaNoWriMo WIP. And the holidays. The month flew by, though, and now I’m going to try to get back to writing. I don’t think I’ll be as productive as I was in August or November, though.

Things I’m Glad I did in 2013: I finished my second completed manuscript (after burning out on an unfinished one in late 2012 and barely starting another in early 2013, I wasn’t sure I could do it again). I burned out on my NaNoWriMo one (which is still unfinished), but I’m glad I at least I got 50,000+ words done in another manuscript.

And I have news I’ve been wanting to share for months now, but I haven’t been able to. But it’s good news, writing-wise, that happened in 2013!

In 2014, I’d Love To Be/Do: I’m definitely finishing one manuscript, but I’d love to finish one or two more. Maybe tackle the two 50,000+ unfinished ones and figure out what went wrong. Also, I hope to go on submission (well, if the agent likes it and I don’t have to trash it ;-;) with the manuscript I finished in the August WIPMarathon this year. Edits come first, of course.

Last Check-in Wordcount + ChapterCount (+ scene count if you’re revising): 9591 words, 3 chapters. As you can see at my intro page, I had a lot of goals for this marathon despite not doing anything for the first half of it; it’s probably a bit premature, as I’m still waiting on feedback, but I wanted to work on goal #2, diving back into a YA fantasy I started over a year and a half ago. It probably won’t need to be a finished draft as soon as I once thought, though.

Current WC + CC (or SC): 14,947 words and 5 1/2 chapters

WIP Issues this week: I kept writing in present tense! I KNOW this is an issue and I correct it as I notice it and keep telling myself not to, but I keep writing in present. Wow. I’d only written in past tense before NaNoWriMo, and for that one, I felt it would be fun to try present tense and I think it suited the tone of the manuscript. It took me a short time to get used to writing in present then. I didn’t anticipate when I went back to writing in past AFTER A MONTH-LONG BREAK from the present-tense manuscript I’d subconsciously want to write in present still. Bizarre.

What I learned this week in writing: I’m having fun discovering the new nature of one of the characters in my WIP. Since the last time I wrote for him (about a year ago in edits, but I first wrote him two years ago during a first draft), something major happened in the story that would naturally change his character. I just didn’t realize how much so until I started writing him again. Interesting to discover, and definitely better this way!

What distracted me this week while writing: Work, shoveling endless snow, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

Last 200 words: Can’t share due to spoilers.

Posted in News

“Like” Me on Facebook!

Posted on by Amy McNulty

I finally properly joined Facebook and put up an Author page. If you have a Facebook account, I’d greatly appreciate your “like.” I’ll post all blog updates there (uh, well, after this one because otherwise it’d be a bit of a Mobius strip of click-here-to-see-blog-click-here-to-see-Facebook-page-click-here-to-see-blog), so it’s a convenient place to follow my blog, too. I’ll also update with fun little things on occasion–probably not as often as I do at my Twitter, but more regularly than I do here at the blog.

Click here to “like” my Facebook Author Page!

I know I joined the WIPMarathon at the beginning of the month, and I have nothing to show for it. This month has been one of my busiest, and I’m not sure I’ll get back to work on creative projects before January. Here’s hoping I start the WIPMarathon updates soon!

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon Intro

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Back in August, I participated in a “WIPMarathon” put together by some of the other writers I follow on Twitter. Unlike NaNoWriMo, the WIPMarathon allows for personal, flexible goals: If you only want to edit and not write a new WIP, that’s totally fine. Whether you want to write 100 words or 2000 words a day, that’s totally up to you! And everyone’s a winner. 😀

I used the marathon to motivate myself to work harder on a YA fantasy I’d started the month before, and I actually finished the first draft that month! I wrote over 55,000 words in under a month to do so, too.

This time the WIPMarathon is running for two months: December and January. It’s not too late to join!

Learn more about the WIPMarathon and sign up here!

Marathon Goal: Well, I’m going to be honest and say that the first week of the WIPmarathon, I don’t plan to do a thing. Maybe brainstorm a tiny bit. But I desperately need a break from my creative projects after a lackluster NaNoWriMo.

After that, I have a number of things potentially going on, so it’s going to be a bit of a mixed bag of goals:

-Do edits (like a 6th or 7th revision? I can’t remember anymore!) on a YA fantasy

-Continue work on a YA fantasy WIP (currently 9591 words, needs to be a full first draft in a few months)

-Do edits (2nd revision) on a different YA fantasy (the one I finished during the last WIPMarathon)

…Those things are all my top priorities, but they also depend on talking with other people, and that depends on their schedules, so I’m not ready to dive into them quite yet. But I will be soon, I hope! I’ll definitely be working on at least some of them before the WIPMarathon is over.

My not-as-important optional goals to keep me busy when/if the above goals can’t happen are to finish the first draft of either my NA romance from NaNoWriMo (50,250 words at the moment) and/or a YA suspense I wrote last year (53,910 words currently). Both of these sputtered to a halt because I just felt that things were off about them. I’m not even sure I know how to fix them or if I can summon the ideas to at least finish drafts and try to fix them later. I think the YA suspense might even need close to a page-one rewrite. I just don’t know.

Stage of writing: See above. Five projects I’m juggling here! Two in revisions and three in drafting.

What inspired my current project: Reading The Hunger Games a couple of years ago really inspired me to get serious about my writing again. I wrote the first draft of the first YA fantasy mentioned while on a HG high. (Not that there’s much in common, I suppose, but there are some dystopian elements.)

What might slow down my marathon goal:  Having five separate projects to work on for starters! Other than that, the holidays and keeping my motivation up. (And trying to fight the desire to give up on those two unfinished drafts.)

Best time of the day for writing: I work from home (as a writer), so my schedule is pretty flexible. I probably write best in the afternoons if I have the time.

Posted in Writing, Writing: Help

WIPMarathon Check-In #4

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Last Check-in Wordcount + ChapterCount: 72,956 words and 28 chapters (first draft completed)

Current WC + CC: 73,226 words and 28 chapters (still editing)

I surpassed my overall goal (“get as much of the first draft done as possible by the end of the month”), so yay. 😀 The marathon has been motivating and a lot of fun to participate in. When I started writing this one in early July, I really didn’t feel like I could finish before the end of the year. Earlier this month I became more determined to finish, but I still thought it would take me another few months. So this was beyond awesome.

WIP Issues this week: Despite totally kicking my goal’s butt this month, I actually barely scratched the surface of the goals I set for myself for this week once I’d finished the draft: Edit it all–just a typo-check and minor continuity changes at this stage–AND write the outline for my next project, the shiny new idea that came to me last week. I didn’t get as far with editing as I’d like, mostly because I was busy, and I didn’t even start the outline.

A good thing, though, because the outline for the shiny new idea continues to evolve in my head. It’s important it evolves and becomes something a little different because it’s dangerously close to some been-there, read-that vibes from other books, I think. It’s how I execute it that I hope sets it apart and makes it worthwhile. (It’ll be my first attempt at a straight-up contemporary, no supernatural involved, so that’s why I was unsure I could make it unique enough. Also… I’m actually going for NA instead of YA this time, which I never thought I’d do.)

What I learned this week in writing: I can actually miss writing/editing on days I’m stuck doing work writing instead. ;-; (I’m usually so tired of staring at a computer screen on those days I don’t miss it.)

What distracted me this week while writing: Work. I also beta read 20 chapters of someone else’s work, which was a pleasant distraction. 😀

Plan after the marathon: Finish the first edits, do the beta process, hopefully get it off to my agent, and meanwhile also outline the next project and dive into it soon!

Last 200 words: I can’t share the last 200 written or edited due to spoilers, but I guess I’ve steeled myself and am ready to share the very first 200 words of the book if you guys want to see it.

I’d lived only five winters the first time I saw an infant drowned.

I felt Father’s hand on my shoulder as the horse jostled us slightly, shaking her head and whipping the tips of her silky black mane across my eyes. Father noticed the instinct that took over, the mere moment my eyelids closed despite the how hard I’d fought to keep them open. “Watch, Rohesia. Burn the moment into your mind.”

The shrieking woman held aloft by two soldiers kicked her legs, sending her skirt upward. I noticed the mud that collected among the hem, the strands of straw-colored hair that escaped her kerchief and swung wildly across her mouth. The hair blew with each shriek like curtains in the breeze, the skirt a gale that tore through a field of wheat, the woman the only source of movement beyond the scuffing hooves of the horses beside me.

“The child, Rohesia. Not the mother.”

The soldier by the river tossed the tattered cloth that had wrapped the baby on the ground and held the crying infant as far out in front of him as his stocky arms would allow. One gauntlet supported the baby’s head and neck, the other gripped the child’s body loosely, and I saw one impossibly small leg kick upward vainly.

–Oops, beta reader, I read this over again and changed a few words yet again if you noticed a difference, but yeah…