Write Every Day - April Day #15

[auroracloud]

It's the middle of the month, so tomorrow sylvanwitch will be taking over, as my schedule for the latter half of the month is more irregular and it's better I don't host the whole month. I've totally enjoyed the hosting, though - and I think it's been good to drag me out of the mental cocoon I've been in for the early part of the year and interact with more writers again! I look forward to seeing the participants continue as the challenge moves on. I'll post the complete tally for the days 1-15 tomorrow, but from tomorrow onwards the check-in happens at sylvanwitch's journal.

Two practical notes about that: first, sylvanwitch needs to keep the posts locked, but has promised to grant access to anyone who wants to participate in the challenge, and if you want, can remove it once the month is over. So if you haven't added her to your circle yet, do that or request her to add you, so you can continue in the latter half of April. Second, she has told me she may have power issues due to weather tomorrow, so if the posting is delayed, that's probably why.

Anyway, I hope to keep seeing all of you around in the challenge! And I'll be happy to do a full month of hosting some time later in the year - say, from July onwards I'll probably be okay hosting a month, if nothing surprising turns up. By the way, I don't think we have a volunteer for hosting the challenge in May yet. Does anyone want to volunteer for that already? Or for June, for that matter? Of course, if nobody turns up now, you can still volunteer towards the end of the month at Sylvan's journal, but thought I'd ask already so that we have a chance to get the hosting cleared up sooner.


Today's Writing

A lot of the day kind of went away from me. I was mostly geeking out over space writing (the aforementioned Stuart Clark book, which has a lot of science goodness in it, not just weird quotes speculating about the surprising celestial origins of bad weather and Frenchmen). I also watched The Cloverfield Paradox, and concluded I should have read the reviews first, as it was quite awful. However, Gugu Mbatha-Raw was amazing so I couldn't stop watching. So at least there was her performance to enjoy...

But anyway, I didn't manage to be as productive as I hoped because time just went away, but I did write a little over 700 words. Partly on a couple of scenes of the novel, partly writing notes for a minor character who suddenly made herself known to me as I was emptying the dishwasher and listening to podcasts. I also looked at the structure a bit. I need to make sure I don't bloat the beginning, which I have a tendency to do.

Tally

Tally

Day 1: auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, iberiandoctor, navaan, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, trobadora, ysilme

Day 2: auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, iberiandoctor, navaan, shopfront, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, talkingtothesky, trobadora, ysilme

Day 3: auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, iberiandoctor, navaan, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, talkingtothesky, trobadora, ysilme

Day 4: alexseanchai, auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, iberiandoctor, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, talkingtothesky, trobadora, ysilme

Day 5: auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, iberiandoctor, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, talkingtothesky, trobadora, ysilme

Day 6: auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, iberiandoctor, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, talkingtothesky, trobadora, ysilme

Day 7: alexseanchai, auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, luzula, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, trobadora, ysilme

Day 8: auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, shopfront, sylvanwitch, talkingtothesky, trobadora, ysilme

Day 9: alexseanchai, auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, iberiandoctor, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, talkingtothesky; trobadora, ysilme

Day 10: alexseanchai, auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, sylvanwitch, trobadora, ysilme

Day 11: alexseanchai, auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, shopfront, sylvanwitch, trobadora, ysilme

Day 12: alexseanchai, auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, shopfront, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, talkingtothesky, trobadora, ysilme

Day 13: alexseanchai, auroracloud, carenejeans, shopfront, sylvanwitch, talkingtothesky, trobadora, ysilme

Day 14: alexseanchai, auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, sylvanwitch, trobadora, ysilme

Let me know if I'm missing anyone, or you wrote but didn't check in yet! And of course you're welcome to join us any time.

Comments

[sylvanwitch]

Thank you SO much for hosting us these last two weeks. As always, I've enjoyed exchanging writing-related (and other) thoughts with you. :-) Thank you, too, for your information about my restrictions as the next host. The good news is that the worst of the weather seems to have passed us, and we still have power here. Yay!

Congratulations on your writing progress too! I know what you mean about "bloat" in the early part of a story or novel; I'm afraid that's a writerly crime I'm definitely guilty of, but I say that's what editing is for and hope that I'll be able to be incisive when it comes time to cut things out.

On that note, I edited and added to and subtracted from my short story and then also wrote 1116 on "The Donner Party" today.

[auroracloud]

It's been my pleasure, and thank you for participating and for hosting the rest of the month! And yay for still having power! (Hope that's still true now...)

It's true that fixing the bloating in the early part of the novel is perhaps something best left to the editing phase. When you're still figuring out your way through the story, it's easy to do too much exposition etc. in the early part. Still, I need to take care to not get too stuck there, so that I never advance...

Sounds like you had a productive writing day, and on two stories, too. Congratulations!

[st_aurafina]

I also watched The Cloverfield Paradox, and concluded I should have read the reviews first, as it was quite awful. However, Gugu Mbatha-Raw was amazing so I couldn't stop watching.

Basically this! I kept watching but only for Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

I wrote some words today, not many but some. And I'm trying to find a way to make a timeline for the big WIP, if anyone has any recs for apps or something? I have tried with mind42, but it's not exactly what I want - I need to be able to draw connections across timelines, if you know what I mean.

[auroracloud]

She's such a fantastic actress, she could make so much out of her role even in that film. But without her it wouldn't have been watchable. I need to go and dig out some actually good stuff with her in it. She caught my eye already in Doctor Who when she played Martha's sister, but I don't think I'd seen her in anything else yet until this. Time to find the good stuff!

Yay for some words, even if not many! I think I understand your timeline problem - I could imagine needing one either for following several storylines and seeing how they interact or when they happen at the same time; or when writing something against a background of bigger events happening in the wider world. I'm afraid I don't have any suggestions for you, though!

[trobadora]

Thank you for hosting!

Alibi sentence for me. Couldn't scrape up the motivation for more.

[auroracloud]

You're welcome! My pleasure. :)

If you were writing your fic all through Saturday, I don't wonder you didn't have much writing energy left! So alibi sentence sounds just fine. :-)

[cornerofmadness]

forgot to check in last night wrote 233

[auroracloud]

Thanks, and sorry for the late reply! But I edited you into the tally after your comment. :-)

[cornerofmadness]

No problem, thanks

[carenejeans]

Argh! I forgot to check in! I worked on the nonfiction project again (and the spinoff to the nonfiction project, heh).

Thanks for hosting!

[auroracloud]

It's all right, I edited you into the tally after your comment, though I forgot to reply until now. Glad you got some more work done on the nonfiction project, and spinoffs are fun too. :-D

You're welcome, I enjoyed hosting!

[talkingtothesky]

Hiya, I kinda fell off the wagon mid-April? I kept writing I just forgot to come and report back here. I didn't get around to adding sylvan to my circle (only just read this and saw that I needed to), so I don't know who is hosting in May, if anyone? I'd like to try to get back in the habit. Thanks :)

[auroracloud]

No problems, it happens! alexseanchai has volunteered to host May, so it looks like that's where we're heading next. :-)

[talkingtothesky]

Thank you! :)