First Published: 2022 February 15
This is the first1 post in what I’m expecting to be a fairly repetitive series of posts. More or less, I’ve worked on the novel2 I’m writing for too much time today for me to have the urge to create a whole new writing prompt and write from it. Instead, I get to write about how I’m writing that novel.
Currently, I have been doing a timed3 mostly linear4 word vomit5 to generate content, then going back through on later days and revising that text into something vaguely in the shape I want. An analogy I’m creating right now is that the first pass is throwing clay onto a block, and the second pass shapes it into vaguely what I’m looking for. Of course, since I’m adding more clay every day, I’ll likely need to add more and more refinement so that the new clump of clay doesn’t destroy the shape I’m building. What that means extra-metaphorically6 is that I’ll likely try to add another set of passes before I start publishing it.
Publishing is another point I should discuss here. I’m currently planning to publish it on an online web-serial site, for a variety of reasons, most of which being that I like the site and would like the flexibility of not having to finish the book before I put it out for people to see. Of course, that does limit how much I can work on the revisions, but that’s ok with me, because at some point you have to present a sculpture, regardless of if you want to keep editing it.
I’ve had a couple of people read the approximately 2000 words I’ve done the first pass of the editing through. The word vomit right now consists of about another 3000 words, but I’ve noticed that I add far more words on the first revision of each section, which probably says a lot about the way that I write in general.
As I think about that last sentence, it is 100 percent true. Whenever I write papers I find that I have to use the first few drafts as practically outlines, making paragraphs out of each sentence.7 Today I wrote about 1700 words, which would put me solidly in NaNoWriMo writing pace.8 In the word vomit period of my writing, I find that I’m generally putting between 60 and 70 words on the page per minute, which would imply a time of 25 to 30 minutes of writing to get to my 1700 today.
However, I don’t really time the editing portion, for the reasons of:
I don’t like being timed for things I want to do
My goal isn’t speed but quality
idk I just haven’t been yet9
But I think I probably spent around one and a half hours on the editing today, which may not be the most sustainable for me longterm. Who knows, though, maybe I’ll become more efficient with both, especially since I think a day of word vomiting gets me one or two days of editing, so eventually I’ll just have a story to edit, rather than also generate.
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by definition novel (new)↩︎
book thing, since I get to call it what I want↩︎
I set a timer and write for that amount of time, both to monitor writing speed and so that I have external control on my time↩︎
I try to just continue the plot forward, though occasionally make notes about what I should edit later↩︎
I just spew words onto the page, planning on them being really awful, because I’m going to edit them later↩︎
meaning outside of the metaphor, not making the metaphor moreso↩︎
sometimes literally more than one paragraph per sentence, those are the fun ones↩︎
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writer’s Month, and has a goal of 50000 words in November, which averages out to just under 1700 words a day↩︎
I hate that I have this need to have all lists be in groupings of three↩︎
First Published: 2022 February 14
Today was my first Valentine’s Day in a relationship, and it was really fantastic! I spent the day at work, but then got to come home and make nice homemade meal for my significant other and I to enjoy. For those curious, the meal was:
a Salad1
Homemade herb-laminated fettuccini with red pepper and tomato in a parmesan sauce
Chocolate cake2
But, far more than the food, the company was incredible!
purchased from the store↩︎
First Published: 2022 February 13
Luke 6:21B: “ Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.”
This week is a beatitudes week, which is really nice. Unlike many weeks, I don’t really see the readings totally differently this year. I guess the one that is sticking out to me most right now is the one addressed towards the weeping, saying that they will laugh. As the priest in the sermon tonight pointed out, this is not saying that it is better to be hungry or weeping, but rather a consolation that joy will enter our lives again, even if it isn’t there now. Some days I really should just write that down at the beginning of my day so I’m forced to remember.
First Published: 2022 February 11
Apparently I’ve only had writer’s block once before writing this blog, which is really nice. It’s very sad that I have it right now, though.
Last time I had it, I apparently debated doing some class notes, so maybe that’s not a bad idea. Then again, I’ve already decided on the title and url for today, which means I cannot really do that anymore. So instead of writing anything that could have come up before I had writer’s block1, I will instead be musing on the nature of writer’s block.
Last time I had this issue, I apparently did some of this above complaining and griping about my own self-imposed issues. I then followed a creative writing prompt. This time, however, I lack any creative writing prompts.
Writer’s block is definitely something that I’ve been told all writers need to work past. Since I’m not a writer, I shouldn’t have to worry about this issue, but I will operate under the assumption that having a daily writing goal is enough for the same issue to occur.2 Failing to write has struck me the past few days. I managed to work on the novel3 that I wanted to write only for two days. Coincidentally, those two days were the first two days I was writing the novel. At this point I’m really wondering whether it’s better to keep free-writing or whether I should try editing for a few minutes before I write any day, so that I know where I’m trying to work forward from in a given day’s writing. I have to assume that the amount of time it will take me is going to increase linearly, though one must wonder whether it’ll increase more than linearly because of something that I cannot think of, or slower than linearly because each day’s editing work will go faster due to my knowing and having already made the edits that it needs. Who can say, but I guess I should work on it now, if only because I think I can find the energy to do my creative fiction writing even if my creative nonfiction won’t work.
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very much a chicken and egg problem? in that I don’t really believe someone can have writer’s block before they try writing↩︎
I don’t really know if anyone cares about whether or not I’m a writer, but if you’re curious what about me isn’t a writer, please do let me know↩︎
since I would like to be very generous↩︎
First Published: 2022 February 11
I’ve written a few posts about how I’m trying to reschedule my life so that time flows how I want it. One aspect of this that I’m trying to work more on now is the meta-scheduling aspect of it. That is, the way of scheduling my time so that it self schedules.
The concept stretches a bit further as well. I think the concept of activation energy in chemistry or gravitational potential energy in physics is a fair example as well. In removing bad habits, it’s better to set up your day so that they become harder to do. As an example, if I’m trying to eat less potato chips1, I could try to just say no every time that I see them on my counter while I’m hungry. But, the path of least resistance is to have some chips.
Conversely, if I avoid buying them, I only have to have willpower one time, rather than every time. Building better habits is a little harder, but is moreso about reducing the activation energy, rather than increasing.
For instance, I want to play guitar more, so I leave my guitar set up by my bed so I see it every morning when I wake up.
less because I could never count how many I eat↩
First Published: 2022 February 10
Today we got our ion experiment running!1 I had a plan for what I might write about here, talking about delays and future projects, but something came up and so I didn’t write this earlier. It’s now late, so this is as long as I will write today.2
First Published: 2022 February 9
A part of me feels like this isn’t really a fair article to write, because I’m not totally sure how this essay will differ from yesterday’s. I guess one major difference is that yesterday was looking forward at what a writing habit might look like and internally at what’s preventing me from having a good writing habit as I am currently. Today’s, on the other hand, will be moreso focused on what writing looked like yesterday and how I think I can continue it looking forward. With this disclaimer out of the way, on to the meat of the document.
First,1 I was shocked at my writing rate yesterday. I started just free writing a book idea I have had floating around for a little while,2 and set a ten minute timer. At the end of ten minutes, I found that I had written around seven hundred words. That was really shocking to me. I didn’t even know that my typing speed was seventy words a minute, let alone my creative writing3 speed.
Second, it was a nice reminder that some skills are like the metaphorical riding of bicycles. I had a major struggle trying to fix the part of my voice that wants me to constantly go back and fix the grammar and spelling4 mistakes that I make while typing so quickly. When I started writing yesterday, though, it was really easy for me to shut off the voice that said I should go back and fix the typos. That made the writing time go by much more quickly, and it certainly helped me get more words on the page.
Third, it was a little harder than I thought to stop writing. I read somewhere that it’s really helpful to stop writing whenever your timer goes off, because if you were slogging to get through he minutes, it prevents some amount of burnout. Conversely, if the words are flowing really easily for you, it makes it easier to want to write the next day. It definitely worked, because I really want to write today, but I’m just not sure if I can find the time to write with the rest of my night being what it is.
In conclusion5, I really liked restarting writing yesterday, even if I’m unsure how sustainable the quick high will be. I’m wondering if I can do the additive, increasing my writing time by a minute a day until I get to a word count I’m happy with. At some point I will also need to add some editing time, because wow the rough draft is incredibly rough.
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Wow a part of me still really thinks about putting firstly whenever I make these lists, but that habit has been beaten (metaphorically of course) out of me↩︎
also while generating the document, I realized that there were a few other books I’d started in the past and just immediately given up on↩︎
albeit at free flowing consciousness rather than well edited↩︎
and ideas, though that’s less relevant↩︎
wow look a five paragraph essay, habits do die hard↩︎
First Published: 2022 February 8
Prereading note:1 this is really rambly, but helped me organize my thoughts. I apologize to my readers.
Yesterday, inspired by my impending2 deadline of sleep, my musing on the topic of reading was markedly shorter than a normal post from me. Today, since I’m writing in a bit of self-created downtime during my day3, I have a bit more time to consider this topic.
Lately I’ve rediscovered my desire to become a writer. The urge has ebbed and flowed over the years, but definitely flows4 more and more as time goes on. It’s also something very difficult for me to get into.
For one, I think that I mostly want to write fantasy. Unfortunately, fantasy comes with a wide array of issues. In part, the market is saturated with stories by people who look and live like me5, and my voice my not have anything special to say. In part, it seem so intimidating to get into, because where would I even begin. On that same vein, where would I stop? Editing and revising has always been a bane of my existence.
As I’ve noted before, I often will go through double digits of drafts for big papers and essays. If I’m writing a 500 page book6, going over it 10 times means that I have just read the equivalent of 5000 pages, many of which are going to be bad, at least in my own view. I guess I could try to edit less, which is likely what I would have to do.
I also feel like I set bad self goals. It’s really disheartening to not meet a self-imposed goal, but I also need my goals to be something that requires effort, or there’s no real gain to meeting them. I learned recently that Terry Pratchett7 allegedly wrote only 400 words a day, which is less than my postings here try to be. On the other hand, I also remember reading that he would often fully rewrite novels once the first draft was finished, which I can’t imagine counted towards that number. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are web-novel authors I read who put out 2000 words a day 5 days a week. From this, it seems like a goal of 2800 good words or 10000 decent words a week would be what I would need to be a full time author.8 If I want to keep this blog going9, then those words would need to be in addition to the writing I already do here, since I don’t want to turn this blog into a web serial.
I’ve been reading recently about how to live a more productive life, and how to read more10. Both point out the same issue: everyone is currently using all 24 hours of their day, so in order to add something, something needs to be removed. I definitely have habits I would be ok with removing, which mostly pertain to the mindless scrolling I do on the internet, but the issue is that I also have lots of awkward time gaps where I use that hobby. For example, if I have three hours at work where I have like a minute off every five, that translates to 18 minutes I could do something else, which is more time than I have currently spent writing these 600ish words.11 But, there’s also the startup and cooldown time I have in every activity. Mindlessly browsing is just a few seconds on either direction, but in general writing has much more of each for me. Maybe if I just deleted my mindless scrolling apps I would find more time in my day, especially if I tried to make writing more accessible.
Conversely, since writing fantasy might hit the same primal feeling as reading it does, maybe some of my reading time could become writing time. The issue there is that I read in non-planned or scheduled times, so it doesn’t help me to build a new habit. Especially since I’m already trying to rebuild the habits of writing poetry and having a healthy sleep schedule, trying to make a healthy writing habit appear out of nowhere seems a little optimistic. But, who knows, I’ve just deleted one of my time consuming apps, and we’ll see if I can write more in the future.
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not included in word counts (neither is this)↩︎
if self imposed and slightly ignored↩︎
also far earlier than normal writing hours↩︎
I guess since ebb means go out flow must mean increase↩︎
within error bars of course↩︎
since that’s a nice pretty number↩︎
GNU Terry Pratchett↩︎
I guess I don’t know for certain if the web authors are full time, but I’m going to assume that they are↩︎
and I do↩︎
two different topics↩︎
hey nice I could stop my blog for the day here and be good↩︎
First Published: 2022 February 7
Sometimes I forget why reading is both a great and terrible idea for me to do. On the great side, I get to expand my creativity and whatever other benefits reading has. On the terrible side, I lose track of time. I got home today at around six, and told myself I had plenty of time to do the many tasks that I should do in a day. Instead, I read until it was time for me to sleep. C’est la vie.
First Published: 2022 February 6
Isaiah 6:5: “Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!””
As always, my relationship with the Gospel has changed a lot in the past three years. In the past, I focused on the fact that we should be fearful and trusting. Now I look at the readings and see that even the saints and prophets themselves were not perfect.
Isaiah is a massive figure in the theological development of the Jewish and Christian faiths. And yet, he says that he is “a man of unclean lips”. Paul too, whose readings I used to not like a lot, points out that he once persecuted the faithful. The future first Pope himself says that he is a sinner.1
Something about that really speaks to me right now. The Lord doesn’t only speak to or call the perfect. Rather, it is in being called and accepting our calls that we can turn away from our sinful natures.
Luke 5:8 “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, ‘Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.’”↩︎