7:30 a.m. coffee & read "wall street journal" (one of my goals to further expand my knowledge base)
8:30 a.m. drive to starbucks on 90th s & 13th e to meet with D (purchase MORE coffee. YUM)
***D and I are both working on books- totally different types- and have decided to commit to meeting once a week to work on our books together. We have dubbed our get-togethers "Famous Fridays" which is totally corny, but its fun to have a ridiculous name to alliterate Friday. Plus, we both want to be best sellers, of course, so we figured it was fitting.
9:00-9:30 a.m. We take turns sharing where we are with our books, any frustrations, and where our plan of how to get where we want to be. We also discuss some details of the chapters and our Current Status-
My current status: I have about 150 pages written. I have rewritten large sections twice-
- 80 pages in: I decided that I no longer wanted to write it from the 1st person perspective. I wanted the readers to be able to get insights into more than just my main character's head. I was kicking myself the whole rewrite but I guess it was a good learning experience.
- 110 pages in: I decided to take the book in a completely different direction. Originally my main character, Maya, was an advertising exec. in LA and the story-line was more of a crazy love triangle with some interesting twists. But, after some discussion with my husband, I decided that I wanted it to be a mystery, because that is the type of books that I read and love. Soooo I changed the location to San Francisco, and my main character is now a detective who is going to be trying to solve a complex serial killer mystery.
Then not too long after that, I decided that I wanted to add in a murder to the beginning of the book. So that wasn't a total rewrite, but I have had to add things in throughout what I have written to tie in the first murder. That was about where I was when I began working for my last company.
My job was pretty demanding and it left little time and no creative energy for me to work on my book. I was also feeling like at this point, I needed a very CLEAR direction to take the book.
I typically write and write and write- letting the characters take me where they take me. I've never been one to effectively use outlines. In fact in high school and college, if I ever had to turn in an outline, I WROTE the paper first, and then outlined what I'd written. However, what I've learned is that with a plotline as complex as Im making it, I NEED to outline in order to have a cohesive and compelling story. So, right now Im working on the outline and making sure I am completely CLEAR on where I am, where my characters are going, and the timing of moving the plot forward.
9:30- 11:30 a.m. Write. Work on solidifying outline. So far I have Chapters 1-21 outlined.
11:30a.m.-12:00p.m. Discuss what we worked on. Read each other small excerpts. Gave feedback.
Things to work on: Develop timeline for completion of book. Establish a writing pattern.
My writing pattern:
- Read paper
- Work out
- 30 minutes to blog (this will float times throughout the day)
- 30 min-1 hour: READ. Commitment to always be reading something in my genre and something out of my genre.
- Work on the rewrite for the bulk of the day
- Write something new to keep it exciting
- Observation- Once a week I will go to a public place and just observe people's behavior. I will write for 1/2 hour on my observation.
- Famous Fridays with D
I am really excited about having a PLAN and finally getting back to something I love. One of the things D and I talked about today is just believing in yourself and not giving up. Everyone that has ever had a major accomplishment will tell you that there were many times when they wanted to give up, but that the key to success was, in the words of the great Michael Scott "never ever, EVER give up."
Have a good one!
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