brienix

[brienix]

Day 37

Word Count: 600

I have accidentally given my main character a severe fear of heights. I am so...so sorry. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

[brienix]

Day 36

Word Count: 481

Sometimes you end up getting a call from your mother asking if you want her adirondak chairs...and when you get off the phone, it’s already 9 o’clock and you have to get ready for bed because your day job has you getting up at 5 o’clock in the morning. Phooey. So close to my 500 word goal today. I didn’t even want those adirondak chairs...

[brienix]

Day 35

Word Count: 538

If I could go back in time and talk to child me (hypothetically of course), I would tell myself to just keep writing. Don’t stop. Don’t look back. Just go for it.

Then, of course, there are a lot of other things I’d probably tell myself first, but we’re not about to unload that here, because this is purely hypothetical. We’re not being realistic.

[brienix]

Day 34

Word Count: 654

What a great day back! I felt refreshed and ready to go back into working on my character interactions on their journey.

To update on Monty (my dog) - he’s doing much better! He isn’t 100% and he probably never will be, but he’s healing a lot faster than expected and is able to function mostly normal!

[brienix]

Days 32 & 33

I took the weekend off! No editing, no writing!

I got to go swimming and it felt great to wash the last two weeks off - the last week of the month killed me at work, my water tank broke, my dog had some health complications and meetings upon meetings at work! I just needed some time to rest. Now I’m ready to go for this week!

[brienix]

Day 31

Word Count: 541

Time Spent: 30 minutes

Sometimes to get by, you just need to play your comfort anime in the background while you write. Mine is Yu Yu Hakusho.

[brienix]

Day 30

Word Count: 432

Time Spent Working: 30 minutes

As an update, Monty is okay. His back legs aren’t working too well, but he’ll be alright. He needs a little bit of help here and there and we are there for him.

Eventually I will get back into the writing mindset. I’m just glad I’m still writing every day. It’s turning into a habit. I just need to make the time to stick with it for 30 consecutive minutes.

[brienix]

Day 29

Word Count: 328

Pages: 1/2

Time Spent: 20 minutes

Goal Met: No

This week is still not letting up. When I think it’s already difficult, more has to be thrown my way. This morning was a call from home about my dog. He has epilepsy and has already had a ten minute seizure and has suffered brain damage from it. Today was a six minute one. He had recovered well from the last one, but watching him have to start back at square one again is really difficult. He’s frustrated, but persistent. As much as I’d like to write, I have to keep going to the next room when I hear him struggling to stand up just because he wants to pace around the house with all his boundless energy at 14. I’ll never understand it, but I have to be there for him.

I can only wish I had half the amount of strength that he does to keep wanting to get back up.

[brienix]

Day 28

Word Count: 382

Pages: 1/2

Time Spent: 20 minutes

Goal Met: No

At least today was better than yesterday. With writing at least. The scene I’m working on is slow paced and difficult to slog through. I want it to build tension between characters. I want to establish the clear faults between them before they head out on their journey that will ultimately pull them together. Nothing’s better than teamwork. 

[brienix]

Day 27

Word Count: 237

Pages: 1/4

Time Spent Working: 15 minutes

Goal met: No

Not every day is going to be a good day. I have a feeling this week isn’t going to be a good week. I’m still beat from the end of the month and this month is starting off to be too busy for me to even recover. Excuse me while my day job runs me into the ground. -_-

[brienix]

Days 25 & 26

Rest Days

I had a really lovely weekend off. I hope you all did, too.

[brienix]

Day 24

Word Count: 617

Pages: 1

Time Spent Working: 1 hour

Goal met: Yes

I’ve been trying to change perspectives more so I can get into other characters’ heads. There are six main characters and I want to have them all be significant to the readers so everyone can relate or connect to someone. Making them individuals is important. They are already very unique characters, but they are definitely in need of more depth.

[brienix]

Day 23

Word Count: 735

Pages: 1

Time Spent Working: Intermittent

Goal Met: Probably??

Today was certainly a difficult writing day. My anxiety was acting up and it killed my confidence in my writing - like, “Why bother?” It’s not good.

But I have to remind myself - yeah. It’s not good yet. But it will be one I go back when it’s all done and I edit it.

I really had to force myself to write today, though. I’d sit down for a little bit, get antsy and have to do something else to get my mind off the fact that I couldn’t write.

But I changed the perspective in the story a little bit. That was the trick. I shifted the perspective to another character so it focused on someone else for a little bit. In that moment, that character was also feeling a lot of anxiety and I just needed someone to feel that with me, too, so I wasn’t alone. He helped me through it.

I don’t know if I’ll keep that scene - I probably will, it’s actually quite good and real. But if I don’t, that’s okay because at least for the moment, I wasn’t alone in my anxiety. Thanks, Artie. Can authors have a comfort character in their own characters?

[brienix]

Day 22

Word Count: 777

Pages: 1.5

Time Spent Working: 30 minutes

Goal Met: Yes!

I’m really starting to fall in love with my characters at this point. I’ve definitely gotten a better feel for them...You know - finally after 38 pages. We’ve got the main protagonist and her puppy of a co-worker, the insane string bean boy that’s full of sass, his giant teddy bear younger brother, a tiny, fire powered lesbian, and a large red-headed lesbian with a gun. It’s a real party.

[brienix]

Day 21

Word Count: 1512

Pages: 3

Time Spent Working: 3 hours

Goal Met: Yes

Today I got to write a very emotional scene that developed one of the main characters and it was absolutely heartbreaking. So naturally, I really enjoyed writing it. For whatever reason, if I know the scene is going to absolutely wreck me readers, it’s all the more fun and exciting to write. I’m a naughty author, and I’m okay with that.

[brienix]

Day 20

Word Count: 682

Pages: 1

Time Spent Working: 1 hour

Goal Met: Yes

From one chapter to the next it feels like a rolling hill with action. I have a weird cast of very weak characters that need developing in between the action and it helps the pacing and making sure the reader doesn’t get too swamped with the action.

[brienix]

Days 18 & 19

Editing days! I was a little stuck on where to go, but I took the past couple days to reevaluate how to get to point A to point B and I felt compelled to use my DM skills.

I could never express enough that creating Homebrew campaigns for Dungeons and Dragons made me a better writer. I highly suggest writers give it a try.