20th Sep2010

Mind The Gap

by Aaron

In my previous post I waxed poetically about #1k1hr and the amazing things this meme & writing schedule has done for Sprit Hackers. I have been getting writing done and making real progress in this WIP. Surprisingly, I’ve made some friends along the way via Twitter and this hashtag. That’s been fun too since Becca and I did a session at the same time and then bragged our progress to each other when 60 minutes were up.

All these thoughts of writing and the schedule that I’ve put in place brought me to the scary task of seeing my writing progress on this book since I’ve started. Now it’s no secret that I’ve written on and off for a while as priorities have changed and while I’ve worked on non-writing projects. The surprising thing I found when reviewing my writing stints are the amount of gaps in my writing. If I had just kept going at even a slow pace, this book would be long done!

I am 2-days shy of the re-written draft of Spirit Hackers being TWO YEARS OLD! That’s right. Chapter 1 in my rewrite was created on September 22, 2008. September and October were good for the book since I got 7 chapters written but then HOLY MOLY!! Chapter 8′s creation date is August 12, 2009! I took a year off. Wow. There are 2-3 month gaps from then on, spanning chapter 8 through 20.

Then…. then I began my writing schedule and the world became my oyster. The 21st chapter of my WIP was created on August 4 of this year and I haven’t looked back. I’ve written 17,000 words and I’m mid-way though the 29th chapter. Now of course I’m still a ways off from my goal of 80k but I think it’s incredible that I can have such large gaps in this book’s creation to then come back with a fierce energy to get it done. My output has impressed me and all I can hope now is that it gets me to place I want more than anything: your bookshelf.

11th Sep2010

Back On Schedule

by Aaron

Well I think it’s an improvement from previous entries that I’m back on Copious Notes less than two months since my previous update. I’d say that’s a good move so far! Of course based on what I’ve seen on traffic and lack of comments, I’m more getting my words out there just for the sake of blogging. Right now, that’s okay since I’m not expecting much traffic here. The fantastic people who’s blogs I used to read every day are people I interact with on Facebook & Twitter. Unfortunately life doesn’t allow me to get as involved as I used to.

Anyhow… onto what I am up to. I kept seeing a fantastic Twitter Hashtag from writer Jen that said #1k1hr. This intrigued me and I asked her what exactly it was. What then happened was inspiring: she sits down and writes for one hour. The goal is 1,000 words or 60 minutes, whichever comes first. At that time the writing stops. I was instantly inspired.

Of course you’ve seen the progress (or sometimes lack of) with Spirit Hackers and I felt this was the best way to kick-start a writing schedule of some kind. I made some changes in my podcast and then rearranged some time in my personal life so I could make time to write. Soon, 9:30 PM – 10:30 PM were declared ‘writing time’. My writing schedule was born.

I am insanely impressed with my progress in just a short amount of time. Previous to #1k1hr, I had written only 3-4 chapters of my book. Since then, I wrote six chapters in six weeks totaling approximately 12,000 words. Amazing. My progress has me in a groove and something great has happened: my mind has been ‘trained’ to be ready for creative time when I need it.

I cannot stress enough the productivity a writing schedule allows. There’s been plenty of times where I went over 60 minutes to keep a thought going and some times where I fell a little short. This is fine though because I’m writing more than I did ever before. At my current pace, this book will be done by the end of this year. THAT is exciting.

Before I wrap up this post I wanted to write up some big updates happening:

-I’ve completely overhauled my website and I think it looks pretty cool.

-While my time with Demand Media was good, that freelancing thing takes up WAYY more time than I can devote. That and I exhausted most of their tech articles they were offering.

-I once again MUST stress that if you’re on a Mac, you should be using Scrivener to get your writing done. It is the best program ever for writing.

-I’m hoping to blog slightly more often but I did update the description of this place to reflect my sporadic nature.

Here’s my word count update since my last entry:

June 5th: 36,148 words

September 11th: 50,890 words

Progress: 14,742 words

Average: 150 words per day

Oh, and by the way: I’m more than half-way done!!! 80k here I come!