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Sunday, October 21, 2007

What's a gal to do?


Well, day three of the two-week challenge is moving along swiftly. I discovered something a little while ago. If I post word count on the zokutou meter, the percentage is much less than if I post page count. And if I use Courier font vs. Times, the page count goes even higher. I've wrestled with my conscience, and my ability to rationalize seems to be winning. :)

I mean, many pubs want things in Courier, right? So it should be okay to use that. And my original goal was 280 pages, right? I only estimated that it would be around 70K when I finished with the 280 pages--I didn't make the 70K my initial goal--isn't that true? And besides, if it's less than 70K, most e-pubs consider 60K and above to be full novels, don't they?

Honestly, how can you expect me to be satisfied with a rating of 15.8% finished when I can have 22.1% right now, and the day isn't even over? That's just unreasonable. :)

So how's it going for you LaDonna, Steve, Edie, Marcia, Spy? Any little tips or tricks to keep you going?

17 comments:

  1. I say go with whatever makes you feel the best and keeps you writing.

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  2. LOL, you crack me up. Either way you add it up, you've gotten a lot done in three days! You're off to a great start!

    Saturday and Sunday, I took the days off. (Students have a recital and Sunday, I always take off.) I'm back to writing a ton on Monday, though. I'm actually looking forward to it!

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  3. Thanks for dropping in, Travis and for the good advice. :)

    Spy, going by the method that gives me the highest percentage (because that is what makes me feel best and keeps me going per Travis's excellent advice), the numbers stand thus:

    68 pages or 24.3% finished. Going by 20p/day original goal, that means I'm actually 8 pages ahead at this point. Now I can go watch The Simpsons with a clean conscience. :)

    I look forward to hearing about your progress.

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  4. Kate, I'm taking my laptop in for service tomorrow morning. But, I'll be working off hard copy for revisions, and writing new stuff the old fashioned way. lol. Who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself. I think my modem is fried, or at least scrambled. hehe.

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  5. You're so funny. I'm with Travis. Use whichever works for you. My goal is very reasonable for me, 50 pages a week minimum. Today I worked on an old ms. I got an idea on how to fix something that bothered me, so I went with it. Tomorrow I'll be back to my wip.

    It's going so well, I'm having fun with it. And I love watching my wordmeter go up. This is the easiest book I've written in a long time. Knock on wood. lol

    Great going with your pages. You rock!

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  6. You've been flying, Edie. Great to hear you've been having fun with it.

    I can see already that today is not going to go as well as I'd like. The morning started thus:

    5:00am - woke, decided to get up and write. 5:10, daughter (who was still awake from being up all night talking on the phone - sheesh) decides to cook herself some chorizo. 5:20 fire alarm goes off.

    Now, in our building, the alarm isn't just in your unit, it rings throughout the whole building and into the fire station. We try frantically to turn it off, but no luck. Neighbors begin to stir, pouring down the steps.

    The firemen arrive about 15 minutes later and bang on my door. Embarrassed, wearing no makeup, bedhead, and a Harry Potter t-shirt, I try to tell them all is well. They storm my apartment anyway, looking in each room. I keep saying, "It's ok, just burned food." Finally, they stop, look (glare) at me and ask, "Cooking smoke?" "Yes!!!"

    Then they take my name, number and address and put it in a little notebook--the one I'm assuming they use to know who to let die the next time the alarm rings.

    I'm thinking I should say my farewells now, because if that alarm ever goes off for real, I'm toast.

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  7. Oh, hey, LaDonna - somehow I missed you!

    Sorry to hear about your computer woes. Mine seems to be on the brink too.

    Well, if Rowling could write all seven volumes of Harry Potter in notebooks, who are we to say we're too good for pen & paper? :)

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  8. Wow, I was just checking in to see when we start, turns out we're on Day 3!

    Pretty much like being back in school!!

    I'll figure out word count and get a post up AT ONCE!!!

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  9. Okay, Day 3: 3511.

    Any tips or tricks come up, I'll try to mention them in the Word-o-Meter... :)

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  10. Wow, I was just checking in to see when we start, turns out we're on Day 3!
    Pretty much like being back in school!!


    LOL, I can relate, Steve. I'm always a day late and a dollar short.

    I've only managed two pages today because I've been dealing with one thing after another all day. I'm just not going to stress about it.

    I may not make my 280 pages by 11/1, but I still plan on having plenty done by then. God willing and the creek don't rise...

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  11. Becky, the cooking fire incident sounds like something you can use in a book. :)

    I didn't get anything done on my wip today yet. I'll try for 5 pages (I'll watch Heroes tonight yet). I ended up revising the other book this morning too as well as yesterday. But I'm so happy with the way it turned out that I don't mind falling behind.

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  12. Possibly, Edie. Only I think I'd make one of the firemen look like Hugh Jackman. ;)

    Well, at least you're still making progress, and happy with it to boot so it all sounds good. :)

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  13. I don't think I have enough plotted in advance to write for two weeks straight, but, I think I'll play along for a bit. I need to start the first couple of chapters, and what better way to make sure I do it than with everyone else watching?

    So, if you don't mind, I'll pop in a little late and be the dog running alongside the cars; I'll keep up as long as I can, but eventually I'll run out of steam. It'll be fun while I'm doing it, though.

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  14. By switching to 48pt Old English with 2" margins, my page count has increased dramatically!

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  15. We'd love to have you, Avery!

    Excellent idea, Steve! I'll have to try that since I'm much farther behind than I'd like to be.

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  16. I'm still plugging along. Not 5K a day, yet, but I've done 2K yesterday and 3K today. I'm hoping to hit the 5K rhythm tomorrow. :-)

    How are you doing?

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  17. Hey, that's still pretty good and more than I managed yesterday or today. Onward and upward! :)

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