Much like Weekly Writing Update #1 and Weekly Writing Update #2, this week’s update follows on from the general theme of those progress reports, but there are changes within it, as I will outline below.
The biggest change is my scoring system. Instead of being a score out of ten, I have changed the way I view my writing to be much harsher as a reflection of my progress in my writing schedule. Future Productivity and Time Management scores will be out of 100, though it is not a simple factor of ten increase over the old scale.
- A 10/10 on my old scale is equivalent to a 50/100 on my new scale.
Anything over 50/100 shows improvement over the previous week. A score below represents regression.
Formalities aside, I present Weekly Writing Update #3
Monday, February 12th
Overview: For Chronicles: Ascension today, there was more character development and introductions, but there was also a crucial component of the story introduced and I made the decision to stop the moment before I reveal what the Main Dramatic Question of the novel is, so I have more time to work on it. As such, I did not write more than my 2,500 word minimum, but I did not need to do so today. The work I did today was of a much higher quality than I would normally do in the same time frame, and I attribute it to my writing schedule.
Best Line(s) of the Day: Today’s best lines come from near the end of what I wrote. They are used as a reveal to the focus character, but not so much one to audiences familiar with antagonists like Rainer.
“There, right in the middle of the shot was Rainer. He was unscathed and there was no sadistic smile on his face. His eyes were unfeeling.”
How I Rate This Day: As I mentioned at the end of my Week 2 Progress Report, I would be changing up my template to be more indicative of progress. My Productivity is now rated on a scale of 0-100, and I rate today as a flat 50. On my old scale, that is still a ten out of ten, but I now set myself a baseline, and for today, this was my baseline score, so every other Monday will be based on this one. For my Time Management, I give myself 75 out of 100. I accomplished my goal in quite a short period of time at an average of 900 words per hour, so I am proud of that.
How I Could Improve: As this week was setting a new baseline for myself, I cannot really say what I can improve, but the more I write, the higher I can rate my Productivity.
Tuesday, February 13th
Overview: Today was more work on Crow. Today I found the entire focus lay on more character development of main focal character Ashley, mostly through her actions and by how she reacts to different situations. The main words of today focused on her mindset during an integral scene that helps set up a future plot point at the end of the novel. While I wanted to write more than my 2500 word limit, I felt that I needed to stop and refresh my mind for the next section of the chapter that I am working on.
Best Line(s) of the Day: The best line for today is one that best represents the never-say-die and never give up attitude of focus character, Ashley.
“I hit the button to respond. “I was born ready.”
How I Rate This Day: Today was a day of continued development of my writing plan for each day. For my Productivity, I rate myself a 9 out of ten (on my old scale) but using my new scale and the comparison from yesterday, I rate myself a 60/100. This weeks scores are quite low, but that is because I need to allow room for growth. If I consistently gave myself high scores, then the purpose of these reports would be made redundant. For my Time Management, I give myself a 60/100, because I did not do as well as yesterday, but that was due to the fact I spent a lot of time researching for my novel and got lost in that.
How I Could Improve: The best way for me to improve right now is taking a step back and looking at the broader picture. I have a goal that I wish to break, and I should focus on working towards breaking that goal to the best of my ability.
Wednesday, February 14th
Overview: Crucible is still a weird beast to me, but I am proud of the work I did today, even if I was a little slow compared to Monday and Tuesday of this week, but I did manage to push myself over my minimum word count. Character and world were the focus today, and, though Crucible is still an infant novel that is a little over 10% complete, what I have is shaping up to be something beautiful and some of my best work to date. My mind was a little all over the place today, but that is due to the nature of Crucible. It is a style and a genre I am not used to and the cast of characters is far smaller than my normal.
Best Line(s) of the Day: While my best lines this week best represent the inner feelings of a character, I would kick myself if I did not include this line that best embodies the opening sequences of the novel personified in the world.
“I had to push myself to keep up with Ash as she weaved between stunted trees too poisoned to leaf with any real vigor”
How I Rate This Day: When I look back on today, I do so with a more critical viewpoint. I endeavour to make each of my novels unique from the others, and Crucible is one that has distinguished itself today. That fact bumps my Productivity up to a score of 65 out of 100 for today. I could give myself a much higher score, but I do believe that being overly critical of yourself is the best way to improve. For Time Management, I need to give myself 85 out of 100. While I started work on the novel later than I would have liked, I accomplished more work in the same time frame, so I am confident in meeting my writing goal every day.
How I Could Improve: Today is the best example of my writing schedule turning out a net positive for my whole library of writing. The one issue I still have with Crucible is that I find I stop and start my writing too much as I feel I need to perfect everything before it hits the page. I know my writing is strong enough to stand on its own, and I need to embrace that.
Thursday, February 15th
Overview: The slow burn of Eden continued today and the introduction of the Main Dramatic Question was the prime focus of my work. I am happy with the result I achieved given that last week I mentioned I did not write with a plan. This week I had no idea of where I was going to go from where I left off, but I figured it out and ended up with a weird amalgam of complex and nuanced character development laced with subtle world building. Eden is fast becoming a forerunner for my first novel that is not part of The Elder Ones series to be released. With the work I did this week, I feel I laid a fantastic foundation in the twenty page prologue itself for the novel to carry off the back of that herculean effort for me.
Best Line(s) of the Day: The best lines for today might not represent who I am as a person, but there is no doubt the effect the lines would have on a large portion of readers. It gives a highlight of the underlying hope present in the novel.
“Her hand slipped into mine and we turned to face Lincoln. His stony form sat there, majestic and powerful. He inspired a nation once. He would continue to inspire us.”
How I Rate This Day: Today was a good day for me, if a little slow to start. When I compare to last week, Eden this week is by far my most productive novel, even if I only rate my Productivity a 65/100. I find myself getting more effective with how I write the more I do it and that reflects in my continued improvements in my productivity. For my Time Management, today was my best day and I have to rate myself a 90/100. I made significant strides over last week in terms of my timing and that improved my confidence.
How I Could Improve: While my Timing is improving, my Productivity still lags behind, but that is through no fault of my schedule or my novels. My standards are the main thing that stand in the way of my productivity increasing.
Friday, February 16th
Overview: I will admit that this week has not been my best, but I recognise I have good days and bad days. For the first time, The Elder Ones was the victim of a bad day. My writing did not suffer, but my psyche was not quite in the right spot. A lot of it comes down to me being a little rushed last week and I needed to take a step back. I did so, and I am proud that I managed to break the hump of last week and continue the scenery porn tradition. This week was also one that sent chills into my core as I wrote a sequence that tapped into primal fears in order to shed new light on a character that does not really have a to shine elsewhere in the novel.
Best Line(s) of the Day: This week the lines I have chosen constitute a portion of the fear sequence I wrote and showcases that, like my tutors in University said, I can write fantastic torture and horror sequences while retaining the feel of the piece of writing.
“Dané feels light-headed and the world around her begins to spin. The walls close in around her and push her closer to the skull. The clack of bones rings out and hoarse laughter fills the room. Dané sees the colours drain from the world and it becomes hot. So hot, she wobbles on her feet. The temperature does not max out. It gets hotter and hotter the closer she gets to that rotten skull. Dané wants to open her mouth to scream, but when she does, she feels a million legs scurry across her face as thousands of bugs crawl out of every orifice. She scrabbles and scratches her face to try to brush them off. Her nails rake her eyes and the world becomes dark. The floor gives way underneath Dané. The laughter from the skull becomes insidious and Dané feels herself fall through a frozen void. The legs never stop.”
How I Rate This Day: As I mentioned, today was not a good day for me in the personal sense, but I funnelled how I felt to write some of the best paragraphs I have ever put down. For my Productivity, based on what I wrote, I still can only give myself a 75/100. This is still much higher than my perfect score on my old scale, and I do recognise what I did today as some of my best work to date. My Time Management is what let me down today. I need to rate myself a very low 45/100. When I compare to last week, I wrote far slower than I should have, but my focus this week was not on quantity of words, but the quality of my words. I can write fast most days and maintain a high level of quality, but when I take a step back, I can really excel with the words I put down.
How I Could Improve: My mindset played the biggest factor in my work today and it is not something I can necessarily control, but I can endeavour to utilise my time better. I do not start my time management score until I put down my first word, so that gives you an idea that I was all over the place until later in the day.
Saturday, February 17th
Overview: Today was a milestone for Reality. For the first time in three years, I added new material to the novel. It was a difficult task, given the Adult nature of what I wrote, but I enjoyed being able to free myself from the confines of already completed work and see my vision become more complete and advance towards the ending. I felt a lot better about today’s work in terms of my mood and my psyche as I was able to focus much better. A lot of today focused on character and adding in very subtle clues as to the nature of the ending. I say I do not plan a lot, but I do recognise the need to leave enough nuance for observant readers to look back from the ending and piece the dots together.
Best Line(s) of the Day: This was a very raunchy week for Reality, so I am thankful that this is in no way a family friendly blog, because my best writing from today, while it avoids censorship, is not something suited for those of us who are not adults.
“I avoided kissing the spot where her legs met until I was finished elsewhere. I did allow my nose to brush against her skin and she shuddered and whined for me to give attention there.”
How I Rate This Day: For today, I found it a rather tricky but progressive day for my writing. I score my Productivity for today an 85/100, given that for Reality, this has been my most productive day ever in the history of this novel. My Time Management, though up from Friday’s attempt, is still a rather low 70/100. A lot of the time I was writing I had to take breaks to ensure my mindset stayed in the right place and did not go to an overly raunchy place, which is not the intent of Reality.
How I Could Improve: My improvements for today are few and far between. I felt I had great pacing and perfect form, but I can always better those two factors and I will endeavour to improve for next week.
Week Overall
Overview: This week was a strange week for me. My writing mindset was all over the place, and while most of the day was positive, there were a lot of moments I wrote that tried to track me on a tangent and distracted me from accomplishing the best work I could do in the limited time frame I want to set myself.
Productivity: 66.67/100 – While this seems like a degradation from last week, I changed up how I interpreted my writing and was a much harsher judge on what I did. This score reflects that I made a significant leap over last week, which, on my harsh scale, would be a paltry 42/100.
Time Management: 70.8/100 – I see this score as me doing my writing right. The new scale brings my time management and productivity much closer together and reduces error discrepancies present in my individual day scores. This is the score that needs to be counted to show how I really performed over the 6 days I write.
Area to Improve: My area for improvement comes not from my writing, but from my progress reports. The current format is not as good as I envisioned it to be, and from next week, I plan to utilise a revamped and more in-depth report for every day, as well as posting those reports every day. I will still post an overall weekly report, but my format will change considerably.
My next Weekly Writing Update will be much shorter and serve as a concise look back at my week as it progressed.
I look forward to continuing to improve how I do things, and I hope you enjoy what I do as well. After all, that is Why I Write. I write for you.
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