On the First Day of Writing … (Imagine a certain 12-day-themed song playing in your head)
Even though “Live, Read, Write” is supposed to inspire writers to find balance, I confess I’ve used the “live” and “read” excuses too often to delay serious work on Book 4 (sometimes called Frama-4) of my fantasy series, Winnie and the “Wizard.” That doesn’t mean I had nothing written. By mid-December, I’d completed eleven chapters and had scads of notes, but I needed to work faster.
Since I had time off from Saturday, December 21, 2024, through Wednesday, January 1, 2025 (exactly 12 days), I decided to use that time to write and finally get the Book 4 train back on the tracks.
Day One – December 21, 2024 (Saturday)
Felt pretty good. I probably put in a solid five hours of writing.
Day Two – December 22, 2024 (Sunday)
An idea came to me in the middle of the night. I scribbled notes on the clipboard beside my bed. Now I have to translate them into readable text. LOL
Didn’t officially start writing until after lunch. Looking over what I have, I discovered the last chapter is too long. I split it in half. Now I have another chapter that’s too short. An idea is forming on how to lengthen it.
Day Three – December 23, 2024 (Monday)
Got more Frama-4 ideas overnight and added them to Scrivener.
This time, I wrote in the living room, using a lap table, and got a lot done. I added to the “Winnie” chapter and completed it. The next “Kip” chapter is halfway done.
I took time to visit with Antigone, shop, jog, and talk on the phone with my sister, but I still got my writing done! 😊
Day Four – December 24, 2024 (Tuesday) – Christmas Eve
Finished chapter 14 by 10 AM! After lunch, I worked on the next “Winnie” chapter but didn’t get too deep into it.
Day Five – December 25, 2024 (Wednesday) – Christmas Day
I worked on Frama-4 in the morning. We put the turkey in the oven, but I got so involved writing, that the turkey was practically cooked before I realized we needed to cook the stuffing, the veggies, and to heat up the mashed yams!
I wrote a little more after supper.
Day Six – December 26, 2024 (Thursday)
In the writing department, I went to town! I finished the “Winnie” chapter and completed the “Krell” chapter. Tomorrow, I’ll start chapter 17 – the banquet.
Day Seven – December 27, 2024 (Friday)
I got serious about writing around 12:30 PM. Spent the majority of my time organizing what will come directly before and directly after the royal banquet. I think it was time well spent.
It’s interesting that I had nuggets of ideas that I put in Scrivener months ago, not understanding the how or why of those scenes. The more I write, the clearer those slightly unformed ideas become. They make better sense.
After supper, I did some actual work on chapter 17.
Day Eight – December 28, 2024 (Saturday)
The more I write about these characters, the more I enjoy their company. 😊
It was rainy, and we had nowhere to go, so I spent most of the day writing.
It happened again. I finished chapter 17 and realized it’s too long. So, I broke it up and started chapter 18 in Kip’s POV.
Day Nine – December 29, 2024 (Sunday)
Yeah, I stayed home from church. Although, I did watch it on livestream.
Wrote the scene with Krell’s appearance and the poisoned dishes. (Until the book is finished, that statement will only make sense to me. 😊)
Day Ten – December 30, 2024 (Monday)
Got a slow start by watching a travel video on my phone. Also, it was Christmas tree undecorating day.
Started with more note-organizing relating to the meeting after the banquet. I have to be careful with all these notes and not accidentally delete paragraphs. Relief! I didn’t delete it after all. It was below another bit of text.
After jogging and then having supper, I went back to work. Finished chapter 18. I’ll begin chapter 19 tomorrow. Feelin’ good!
Day Eleven – December 31, 2024 (Tuesday)
In the morning, started chapter 19 in Winnie’s POV, then let it sit for a bit. After lunch I had the computer read back what I wrote. I remembered something I forgot for chapter 18, so I backtracked and added some clarifying dialog before moving on.
By the end of the day, chapter 19 was complete. Starting chapter 20 tomorrow!
Day Twelve – January 1, 2025 (Wednesday)
Spent most of the morning writing notes for future scenes. It inspired me so much that I kept writing the whole day. Chapter 20 is done, and I’m halfway through chapter 21. I still have more to type, but I’ll keep that for another day.
My momentum is back! And I kept my promise to write every day during break. When I started, I only had about 34,000 words written for Book 4. Day 12 ended with over 50,000. Woot, woot!
Wishing you a happy new year filled with creative writing!!
Wow! You were on a roll. You must have burned off all those holiday calories by writing. I could feel the heat of momentum burning through your blog. I can identify with the dark of night inspiration and trying to capture it on the page. 2025 watch out!
Hi, Stan! Thanks for your comment. If only writing did burn off calories. My inspiration was fueled by Christmas candy! 🤣
BTW. Congrats on your mini-book and on completing your devotional trilogy! Happy 2025 writing!
Wow, Aud — great work! You not only wrote every day, and got a lot done, you wrote on holidays, and after dinner, and between socializing and other stuff. That’s amazing. I’m way impressed! You got a lot more done than I did. 😄 (And I’m pretty pleased with myself that I didn’t have to shelve my writing halfway through December to get Christmas preparations done…)
Organizing notes totally counts as progress (in fact, going forward I’m going to include it in my monthly goals). And I know exactly what you mean about old notes & ideas making more sense as you go forward. Often when I review my random-seeming notes, I start to see how they fit together like a big jigsaw puzzle. Man, that feels good! It gives me some faith when I look at more odd, disconnected ideas and wonder how they’re going to fit into my actual story.
You’re inspiring! Keep up the writing, because I’m eager to read this 4th book and see what’s in store for these guys — I’ve grown very fond of them over the last three books!
Thanks, Gemma! I thought of it as a mini-12-day-longNaNoWriMo. One of the positives is when you focus exclusively on writing, after a while it sinks into the subconscious and you start getting ideas in the middle of the night. That happened when did actual NaNoWriMo and it happened here. 🙂
Of course, with all that said, I was glad to do nothing on January 2. LOL