Hmm, just who will snack on whom?
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. We can’t catch that eagle unless we try. Do we want to settle for the sparrows in life or take a chance and bag an eagle? But what if we fail?
What if it’s fun? What if we succeed?
What if I can finally finish the d*mn book?
Saturday I was sitting here contemplating the daily word count I need to reach for the Mayke It Happen challenge over at Liberty States Fiction Writers. Mayke It Happen is Liberty ’s writing challenge to complete 60,000 words by May 31, 2009.
I have an unfinished paranormal romance novel, Deeper Than Bone, that I want to complete and I think it will take the 60k words or so to do it properly. I love my hero and heroine, my antagonist and my premise, but I’ve been stalled out on this novel since last fall and I’m feeling overwhelmed by the contemporary portions of the story. I’m also trying to finish another story that’s been demanding my attention and I’m feeling split in two directions. I need to finish the other story, but DTB might be the better choice to focus on.
I know I can do 60k by May 31. I’ve won National Novel Writing Month five years in a row now, and that challenge is 50k in 30 days. So I have 92 days starting on 3/1, that makes 653 words a day. Spilling out wordcount in itself is easy enough. I did 780 yesterday and I have a snow day today so I can get more writing hours in. But to make that 60k fix the plot and logic problems and do DTB’s story justice, still pay attention to the other nagging story, get through Lent, Easter and report cards? Oy. 
But if I don’t try, it won’t get done. Simple.
How do you juggle two (or more) different stories that want to be written at the same time?
For more info on Liberty’s challenge, visit Mayke It Happen.
babettejames.com 
daily word count… boy there’s a concept that i’m not tuned to. i’m just happy to be posting a new chapter(11) this week. i write, then edit and rewrite each chapter. then my wife goes over it and hopefully it’s pretty clean by then. but i usually sit and write out a rough of a chapter in one sitting. now i need to edit and expand ch 12. i don’t think i could do a timed writing contest. our book( my wife and i) is kind of open ended on due date. thanks for showing me a higher bar of writing diligence.
Steven
Hi Steven. Thanks for visiting.
I like setting myself a daily goal. It lets me see progress even when my stories are giving me fits. I’m still trying to train myself to write the first draft straight though without stopping to edit/polish. I do love to nitpick my work. Working with a time deadline always gets me to buckle down a little harder, ignore the cranky internal editor, and push through.