I’ve started, which means now I have to finish. Right now any forward momentum is good, because I’m still intimidated by this project, so much so that I caught myself cat-waxing to avoid actually writing. That has to stop. I need to be held accountable. I don’t do daily word count goals anymore; they simple don’t work for me because of the job and how my life has changed since I became serious about my writing a dozen years ago. But I still need to be held accountable for getting the work done. I’d like to write the first draft in 90 days or so, a goal I’ve hit easily in the past, but that might not be realistic in this case.
So my plan is to inflict weekly progress updates on you, dear readers. This could include word counts, what kind of brainstorming and outlining I did, and any research I stopped to do. This will let me see a bigger picture and understand where my writing time for this project is going. I’ll probably start posting them on Sunday nights, since I treat Sunday as end-of-the-week. But in order to start holding myself accountable in public, I’ll go ahead and post my metrics for the last week.
This week I have:
1. Written new words and reworked some previously written scenes from a now dead project that I’m picking over for spare parts. See word count meter below.
2. Received my pricey copy of A History of the Oney Community: 1901 to 1980 in the mail (I’m treating it as a Christmas present to myself. It has already proven useful as a research tool) and given the whole thing a close read.
3. Spent some time researching the Dust Bowl and collecting a handful of reference photographs of dust storms, displaced people, and destroyed crops.
4. Read A Swiftly Tilting Planet on the recommendation of Beloved Spouse as an example of how actions can reverberate and have repercussions both up and down a timeline, drastically changing everything that came before, after, and during.
5. Played around with the music playlist, adding about a dozen songs and discarding a couple.
6. Set up folders and documents for and outlined several chapters, including making a major change in the motivation and desires of one character.
Sounds like good progress to me. Expect the next update around 16 February.
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Ghosts Of the Places We Live
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Originally posted at michaelmerriam.net. You can comment here or there.
GOOD LUCK, MICHAEL!!!!!!!
Thanks Monica!