Monday, August 22, 2011

More Madness!--#WIPMADNESS Check-in Week 4

NEWSFLASH!!!
Our house sold!!! So if all goes well, we'll soon be on our way home to sunny, Flagstaff, Arizona!
San Francisco Peaks--Love this town!
Okay, now that I've gotten that off my chest, I can turn my attention to the more important stuff, like all the progress that I've heard about on the WIPs this week. From what I can tell, there's a whole lot of writing going on in our group. How's your week been? Chaotic? If so, you're in good company.

Staying focused while in the midst of a move is going to be my biggest challenge. Right now, I'm 7500 words away from reaching my 20K goal for August. Yesterday I read this post from Laurie Halse Anderson about staying calm in the center of chaos. Seems appropriate. I'm going to do my best to keep up my early morning writing routine. We'll see what happens.

Anybody ever have to write through chaos? How do you do it?

26 comments:

  1. Congrats on your house selling!!!

    I had a good writing week, too, only about 6500 words from my 15k monthly goal and I've got lots of writing time scheduled for this week.

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  2. That's great, Jennifer. Sounds like you'll make and probably exceed your goals. Happy writing ^_^!

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  3. Super congrats on selling your house! Not an easy feat during these economic times so WOW WOW WOW!!!

    I'm creeping closer to hitting my goals, good thing there's still more days before the end of the month, I will need them, lol.

    Here's hoping you find some time during the move to finish that 7500! That's like 834 words each day. You can do it!!! :) WOO HOO!

    Again, congrats on selling your house :)

    Marie

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  4. You know I'm doing a RIP right now (revision in progess). Oh, dear. That's a scary acronym, now isn't it?

    Huge congrats on the house selling. I'll bet that's such a huge relief! Get your lizardy self ready for all that sun and HOT weather.

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  5. Hurray! Congrats on getting your house sold!

    Yes, I know all too well about writing through the chaos. I blogged about it HERE and HERE and a few more places I'm sure. In some ways, writing was my escape from the chaos and the chaos was my inspiration to write.

    Maybe I need a little more chaos! I only wrote about 400 words a day, but I still made progress. I'm at 48k now and working through the big stuff. I have no idea where I am as far as my goals (LOL), but I'm still moving forward and that's good enough for me...for now anyway.

    KLM, I love the RIP acronym!

    Good luck everyone!

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  6. I have to say first OMG YOU ARE MOVING TO AZ! :) That's my home state, anyway....

    As far as writing, I've totally sucked at keeping my goal. I can see myself doing one of those all nighters to try and churn the words out and meet half of my goal.

    This month has been chaotic. Between my eldest wanting loads of attention, and my baby getting into everything and wanting loads of attention... you see where I'm going with this? At least, I have a clearer picture of what is holding my writing up in terms of the wip. I am missing an important scene, which I'll be adding today and hopefully after that, it'll be plain sailing... or rather plain writing.

    I hope everyone else is doing better than I am. :)

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  7. Note to Marilyn: Don't give up!! No sooner do I get into a good routine and something messes it up. You'll get through this.

    This last week was a good one for me. I averaged 350 words every day, except yesterday, which was a zip. But for me, any semblance of regular writing is the battle. I may not make 10,000 this month, but if I get a SOLID routine, I'll consider the battle won.

    Angi -- YOU ARE MOVING!!!! I want you to repeat that three times per hour. =) Loads of hugs!!

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  8. You'll love living in Flagstaff! I lived there for seven years before the ocean called me back to the coast.

    What I'm in the middle of chaos I take lots of deep breaths and grind away at whatever is the most urgent. And I remind myself that "this too shall pass."

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  9. Marie, thank for breaking it down. I'll do my best.

    KLM, may your RIP bring you joy and peace.

    Progress is progress, Mary Ann. That's great!

    Kids come first, Marilyn. Good for you.

    Girl Parker, I'm proud of you for writing steady.

    MG Higgins, welcome and thanks for following. I went to NAU and am excited to move back, 20 years later.

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  10. Congrats on the sale! Selling and moving can be a huge drain on time and resources. Best of luck with your wipmadness goal.

    Writing through chaos has been something I do a lot of. Family drama is huge and draining in my life. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's how to shut off that part of my life. I am also grateful to the universe for such a fantastic husband! He keeps me sane.

    For me, I made great progess on a plot level, as I figured out how to tease apart some of the glommed bits. Adding a few characters really helped. I still have to make those changes properly, but I am feeling a lot more optimistic about it now. Looking forward to the write-in tonight!

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  11. I agree. Fantastic husbands help tremendously. Happy to hear you've worked through some plot issues. Your excitement is showing. . .

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  12. Congrats on the sale of your house! ((( hugs )))

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  13. @Angelina Re: Fantastic husbands. Oh, good! I'm glad you'll have help with the moving. And what better way to escape from chaos than to write through it! Writing itself can be centering.

    Flagstaff is a gorgeous little town. We were just up there this week, actually, during which time I finished smoothing over the 5K word removal and (yesterday) wrote another 5K. So with week 1, I'm at 7K of my 15K goal. Right with Jennifer :) Good luck, girl!

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  14. My goal was a complete, though rough, draft for August. I still have a chance to get it done. It will probably end up being around 35000 words total. I need to write three scenes per day each day to get done. (And by that I mean getting the basic idea of the scene down)

    Did a lot of writing this weekend, but then came up with a great idea to up the ante for the protagonist and rewrote the plan for the second half. That set me back a bit, but I'm excited with the direction it's going.

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  15. Thanks, Eden. You'll have to come show Froy the Grand Canyon one day.

    Many of us willl be pushing with you for the rest of this month, Lora.

    Sounds like a lot of progress, Ruth. Yay!

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  16. Congrats on the house sale! No rainy NW winter for you this year, huh! Unless you count our summer.

    I sent in my revisions last week, which was one of my August goals. The other one, to get going on my blog, well, there are still nine days left in the month.

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  17. Love Arizona! Congrats on the sell of your house!!!

    I'm a ton short of my 20,000-word goal, but I'm still plucking away at the keyboard. I'm just a bit distracted writing other stuff! I refuse to stop and count just how low I am, but I will step on the gas and get my butt in gear.
    Congrats on everyone's week. :))

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  18. When there is chaos, the writing is that much more important. It's usually what keeps me sane!

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  19. Go, Candy, Go!

    Inluv, I will do my best to keep writing and stay sane. Thanks for the reminder.

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  20. Congrats on the house sale and best wishes on the move! How exciting!

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  21. Angelina! So psyched for you that your house sold! How thrilling that you have a new adventure coming your way!

    As for my progress, I've been starting to get a little bogged down in the history of my historical fiction (next WIP) so I really appreciate the feedback you and Mary Ann had on that on my blog last week. I hope I can strike the right balance! In the meantime, I finished a draft outline, and am now refining it while doing a little research. I'm hoping I'll be happy enough with it at the end of this week that I can launch back into drafting for next month!

    Cheers to everyone on a month well done!

    Kip

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  22. Thanks, Amber.

    Seems like you're making lots of progress, Kip. Research is so much fun, but can also be a big distraction. Best wishes for next week's draft launch!

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  23. From reading through your blog, I don't think you will have any problem staying focused. Good luck with the move and the writing.

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  24. Wrote until the wee morning hours last night, playing catch up. I have to say, I had a blast with the chapter I wrote!

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  25. Wow, great news on the house! I love Flagstaff - so close to warmth yet still real winter. You'll love it!

    My big news is that I finished my draft, I started May 20th and finished August 21st. I'll be busy revising this one and my YA over the next couple of months. The one I just finished has additional books, perhaps, but I also have a sassy new YA idea for winter - but I am not allowing myself to do anything more than jot down little ideas until revisions are done, done, done. Need to get these babies out to be shopped!

    I think you're probably close behind me from your tweets.

    I'll be happy to host next month. Starting Friday, the 2nd? www.jayerobinbrown.blogspot.com

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  26. Yay! Congrats on your house selling. We'll miss you in Bellingham though...

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