Crit finished now

Just finished the crit... that means I can make a start on my own MG MS tomorrow 'cos I've forgotten literally everything about it, can't even remember the title or MC names!

It's times like this that I'm grateful for my brain damage and my memory being shot to pieces!

Started critting a friends MS yesterday

Could have sworn I'd already critted it but then realised it wasn't the full MS!  lol

Some bits are confusing but when she got into it, it's sparkling!

Gonna do another 10 chapters tonight and try and remember to take my prescriptions then head to bed straight away 'cos I've got dark circles under my eyes now!

*sigh*

Pretty good editing afternoon

Got 11 manuscripts left to edit now!  They are the novel length ones, so I'll do them the rest of this week, ready to start writing again at the weekend... I've forgotten everything I planned out last week now which is really good news, means I can start writing from nothing. 

Just gotta remember that I've got 3 scenes planned out in every chapter and there's only 250 words per scene!  lol

Gonna be an edit-athon today

Got loads of manuscripts waiting to be edited, so that's what I'm going to do this afternoon... wish me luck!  👍 👌

Something I posted to SCBWI this morning

Question for the writers here and it's not a SpaG or pondering for a change.

The hubby is a computer programmer and I've just asked him about how easy or otherwise it'd be to create an app that takes the best bits from yWriter and Scrivener etc but taking out the bulkiness and complexity of Scrivener and using the simplicity of yWriter to come up with a programme aimed at children's writers.

He said it'd be easy enough to programme it, but it'd need a database of ideas and characters and scenes and stuff.

So, other than ideas, characters and scenes, what else do my fellow children's writers want in their ideal writers block beating planning and organising piece of software and do you want to be able to write the manuscript within the software or keep it separate like with yWriter?

How easy would you want it to be to add your own ideas to the database? Would you just want first name suggestions or surnames too? Would you want a different programme for each age range (PB, early reader, easy reader, early chapter book, MG, YA) or would you prefer to just have one piece of software and you choose the age you want the software to use?

Would you prefer it to be a free trial first (with limited usage available) then a small fee at the end as an upgrade to the full version if you decide to keep using it or a slightly more expensive full version right from the start?

Any thoughts welcome!

So come on, reply to this post and give me the information you want in the app... everything from idea generator to synopsis writer, character names to scene creation.  This is your chance to get involved in a totally new idea!

I'm liking yWriter more and more!

I thought yWriter was a fantastic programme anyway 'cos it helped me remember character names, make notes of phone numbers and stuff as well as planning out each chapter.

SCBWI explained about how scenes were used in Scrivener et al so I thought I'd give it a go in yWriter.

So glad I did 'cos I planned out a whole novel in 5 days and I didn't forget to put in anything I thought of and I could make sure I tied up all the loose ends instead of forgetting about them!

If you're a writer who frequently suffers from writers block and you've got scraps of paper all over your computer with ideas that have come to you just before you fall asleep, get yourself yWriter... you won't regret it!

Gonna try out the synopsis writer bits of it today... I tried when I first downloaded it but because I wasn't using the scenes, it couldn't give me as much detail as possible, understandably.  Now that I'm using the scenes part though, I want to give it another go and see what happens!

And it's finished!

All 55 chapters planned out now, so I can spend tomorrow just relaxing and forgetting what I've spent the last 5 days planning!  lol

10 down, 5 to go

It's Alex's birthday and KT has just given him his gift and told him to open his eyes.

Just starting to tie up any loose ends now... I'm definitely liking the Scenes part of yWriter!

10 to go

Just finished planning out 45 of the 55 chapters in the novel.

Andrew is coming over tomorrow so I'm gonna take me laptop upstairs with me tonight to be ready for the planning as soon as I wake up and walked Mitzi tomorrow morning... wish me luck!

15 chapters left to plan now

Disappointingly I've only managed to plan out 5 chapters today, but I'm gonna take me prescriptions and head to bed for an early night then hopefully I'll be able to plan out 10 tomorrow and the last 5 on Saturday.

I know it's only 4.30pm, but I've had several late nights recently so want to catch up on my sleep a bit.

Nite nite orl!

20 chapters left to plan out

Didn't plan out as many chapters as I hoped today, but it's less to do tomorrow I suppose!

I've reached the half way point now

Just finished planning out scene 3 of chapter 27 of 55.

It's tough going thinking up so many ideas and for the first time ever I'm planning it scene by scene instead of chapter by chapter, so I've got to come up with even more ideas than usual.

Hopefully having everything planned out will make it easier to write and stop the dreaded writer's block I usually have with MG and YA novels, purely because they are so much longer than ECB's!

Couldn't have planned out so many chapters without the help of SCBWI though - especially today!

Need to come up with some more words that the bullies can call KT though!  I've got a few, but I'm not comfortable with using them so am on the lookout for some others for KT who is in the bottom set for every lesson except music... can you help me out pretty please?

Over a third of my next novel planned out this afternoon

I've planned out up to chapter 20 today and there will be 53 chapters at 750 words per chapter and three scenes in each chapter to hopefully make just under 45k words!

Gonna leave it until next week before I start writing it though, so that I can forget the ECB that I finished yesterday!

And it's finished!

Just put in the final full stop of the manuscript!  Took me 3 days and I didn't have a single hot drink this morning but still managed it!

Yaaay!

4 chapters written since 1pm!

Just finished my 4th chapter of the day and I've taken me pills, so I'm off to bed now... nite nite orl!

That's the 3rd chapter done and dusted

Finished chapter 6 and started chapter 7 now... not bad going considering I didn't start at all before I had me lunch!  lol

2nd chapter of the day

I'm now exactly half way through the ECB!  Yay!

Gonna write one more chapter then head to bed... I think I deserve it!

One chapter written so far today

It's taken 3 hours, but I've just finished chapter 4 and treated myself to a can of J2O as a reward.

I'll be half way through it by the end of chapter 5, which ain't so bad considering I've only written on three afternoons so far!

Two chapters written today

I was pondering on my muse needing sugar to wake it up, but I've just worked out that it's either a hot meal or hot drink that it needs.  Within minutes of the first hot drink/finishing the hot meal, I'm writing like a good 'un!

Written more in the last 6 hours than I did all morning!

Want to read books for free in exchange for a review?

Just seen this on my Twitter feed so you know as much as me now!  If you enjoy reading then you could seemingly do a lot worse than sign up for this!

Feeling lost and alone now!

Been writing all day, every day for 12 days and it was such a huge part of my life but now that I've finished it, I'm back to feeling lost, alone and bored now!

I was wrong

I started writing the novel I've just finished on the 27th May.

It's 7th June today.

That's 12 days so nowhere near the three weeks I was thinking... not even 2 weeks!

Yesterday's 6 chapters definitely helped me finish it so quickly!

And it's finished!

Just put in the final full stop, so it's now, officially, no longer a WIP but it's been promoted to a first draft now!  Yay!

Next up is planning out another chapter book to take me until the end of June then I'll take it from there.

30k words in about 3 weeks is pretty good I reckon!

Somewhere between 2k and 7k left to write

After my mammoth writing session yesterday I've got somewhere between 2,000 and 7,000 words left to write in my WIP.

Meeting up with a friend at lunchtime so it'll be finished either by bed time tonight or by bedtime tomorrow... just finishing it off now.

Ryan and Emily will be rushing through their holiday homework and going back to school, talking and writing about the experience at every opportunity!

Yay!

6 chapters written today!

I was hoping for 4 chapters but the extra 2 chapters are a big bonus.

Just 2 more chapters to write and it's finished which means that even if I have all of tomorrow off, I'll definitely be finished on Thursday.  Not bad, eh?  👍

5th chapter of the day written

Just written the 5th chapter of the day and started on the 6th.

Not tired yet, so gonna keep writing until I'm tired otherwise I'll be tossing and turning and getting stressed for hours in bed!

4 chapters written and the 5th started, so...

I'm gonna take me prescriptions and write the 5th chapter, but if my pills kick in before it's finished then that's totally OK, I'll just carry on with it in the morning.

I can so do this!

That's the 4th chapter written, so...

Just finished writing my 4th chapter of the day and my prescriptions are really kicking in so I'm heading to bed!

Nite nite orl!

3 chapters written today

Hoping for the fourth before I go to bed, but it's not a major disaster if I don't manage it.

Grammar

I used to be good at the names of things and their descriptions and usage but since getting brain damage in 2002/2003 I've lost the ability to recognise which are verbs, adverbs, nouns etc.

I swallowed my pride and admitted my difficulties with grammar since coming out of ICU in 2002/2003 to SCBWI and I got 3 URLs to go to so that I could download things that described what each of the grammar words meant and gave some simple examples.

This page had exactly what I was after... just need to read it every day until my brain remembers my GCSE English and it's all sorted then.

It's things like this that make it so worth the annual fee!

Second chapter finished

I'm at 20,999 words now so only got 9,001 words left to write and then it's finished.

Not bad going I don't reckon.

Going to write the third chapter of the day now then take me pills and hope I can sneak in the fourth chapter of the day before taking the recycling out and heading to bed.

Not bad, considering that I was still struggling with the first chapter at lunchtime!  lol

Two thirds of the way through now

The winners have literally just been annouced and I'm at 20,000 words right now, aiming for something between 30k and 35k words, but I'm on the home stretch now.

If I keep on at this pace I'll have finished it by the end of next week... not bad going for about 2 weeks!

I thought it would take about a month of writing 3 chapters a day, but I'm doing 4 chapters near enough every day and hit the half way mark after about 6 days which ain't bad going, considering I didn't plan any of it out other than the main character's names and the first names of the 4 runners up, along with literally a couple of sentences about the whole novel.

I usually have a paragraph planned out for each chapter so it's a huge deal that I've been able to hit the two thirds of the way through with pretty much no planning at all!

Yay me!

Taken about 6 hours, but...

Started writing at about 10 o'clock this morning.

It's now pretty much 4pm and I've only just finished writing one chapter!

Hopefully now that I've got that chapter out of the way and I'm into my writing groove, the words will pour out of me until bedtime now, like they did yesterday.

That's the 4th chapter written, so...

After a few late nights recently, I'm having an early one for a change tonight.

Nite nite orl!

3rd chapter written

JUst finished chapter 3 of the day... gonna make a start on the 4th chapter but I'm not going to stay up late to finish it off.

2nd chapter of the day written

I'm thinking I'll only be able to write 3 before bedtime instead of the 4 I was hoping for, but such is life I s'pose!

Another slow morning, but...

Just finished my first chapter of the day.

Seems like it's hard going until I've had me lunch, then I speed through 3 chapters in 4 hours!

I'm not diabetic, but I can't see how it would be anything else!

4 chapters written today

After a really slow start, I managed to write the 4 chapters I wanted to and I'm now officially over half way through it after exactly 2 weeks too, including a couple of days of no writing, which means, in theory, that I'll be finished by the middle of June which ain't bad going, considering that I didn't plan anything other than the main character's names out!

Half way now.

Not bad going for 2 weeks work eh?  👍

3 down, 1 to go

Ended chapter 20 with three philosophical questions!  lol

2 down, 2 to go

I reckon it's definitely a blood sugar thing y'know.  It took me all morning to write one chapter because I didn't have anything to eat, so, I'm guessing, my blood sugar was low, but since having some sugary cakes I've managed to write a new chapter and I'm all set to write my third of the day now too!

1 chapter down, 3 to go

Wanna try and write 4 chapters every day now.  Got my first one written, 3 to go now for the day still to write.

4 chapters done and dusted now

Music definitely gets me writing and blood sugar not being high enough, so having the drinking chocolate, Belvita biscuits and Nutella sandwiches (so basically loads of chocolate lol) I've managed to write my target of 4 chapters today so I can go to bed happy.

Gonna check my email then go upstairs.  I've already taken me pills so I've just got to shut off my laptop and then that's it until tomorrow morning.

😀

3 chapters done now

Gonna finish off chapter 17 then head to bed... had a long day of writing today!

2 chapters written so far

Hoping to do at least one more before I go to bed, but ideally two to make it four chapters written today!

Wish me luck!

10k written in a week... not bad going!

I'm now a third of the way through the MS, which hopefully means I'll be finished by the middle of June!  Yaaay!

It's a young MG novel that I'm aiming towards 9-10 year olds, rather than 11-12 year olds with a final word count of somewhere between 30,000 and 35,000 words.

Ryan and Emily are going to submit their entry to the competition in this chapter then it'll be reviewed and the winners will be announced in a couple of chapters time, then the winners (Emily and Ryan) will collect their prize during the Summer holiday in July 'cos that gives me 5 weeks to write about it, then they'll rush through their Summer homework projects the weekend before they go back to school in September.

Sound tweenish enough?  😊

Blood sugar

I'm not a doc, but I'm thinking that my creativity is based on my blood sugar levels.

I didn't eat anything until lunchtime yesterday and that's when I started writing.

This morning I had a chocolate Belvita biscuit for breakfast and wrote 1 chapter.

Just had Nutella sandwiches for me lunch and I'm ready to write another chapter now.

I've got a drinking chocolate too which will hopefully keep my blood sugar stable this afternoon, which, in theory, will mean I can keep writing... we shall see though!  lol

1 chapter written already today

Unlike yesterday I managed to write this morning after The Bill.

Had Take That playing in me ears which seemed to encourage me.

Having Nutella sarnies for me lunch so that's the chocolate inspiring me this afternoon too and hopefully Steve will make me at least one drinking chocolate today too.

It's definitely a music and early evening start to get me going with multiple mugs of drinking chocolate during the day too that helps me to write more than a couple of chapters... just gotta remember that in November and January now!  lol