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You know what's a sign of writer's block? Not updating one's writing journal for over TEN MONTHS. Yeah.
Okay, so though I have been almost totally inactive, I haven't completely dropped off the writing map or anything. I did do (and win) NaNoWriMo last November, as indicated by my spiffy new icon. I also did Script Frenzy this April here in Sydney, and while I didn't finish my script (got about halfway there) I DID meet a bunch of completely awesome people who have, collectively and individually, helped inspire me to write again.
One concept to which I was (re)introduced recently was that of writing a million words. I've heard a few renditions on this one - that your first million words will be crap, so you might as well get them over with... that after you write a million words you will have a firm idea of what kind of a writer you are. And other variations on that theme. The thing that I like the most is that it's a goal - a BIG goal, though not so ridiculous as to be completely implausible. And it's a goal of quantity instead of quality. Like NaNoWriMo, this doesn't require for my words to be "good" - in fact, it's irrelevant whether they are or aren't. What matters is that they happen.
Even just counting my NaNo and Script Frenzy efforts, I have written in excess of 300,000 words. Tallying up my various short stories and unfinished projects I probably have 350,000 words under my belt. Which is not bad. But which can be significantly improved upon.
So I'm using that figure as my starting point, with an eventual goal of 1,000,000 total words. I'm aiming for 500 words per day - getting to a million words will take me about three and a half years at this pace. I might put a quick post up here every day, but it's more likely that I'll just keep track of it on my own most days and slap the graphic up here once a week or so. Expect to see more of me, at any rate.
Today I wrote 1,196 words in just under an hour.
351196 / 1000000 words. 35% done!
I'll talk about WHAT I'm writing later. Suffice it to say that it's an old idea, that it's a hell of a lot of fun, and that it's something I should have made myself finish a long, long time ago.
Okay, so though I have been almost totally inactive, I haven't completely dropped off the writing map or anything. I did do (and win) NaNoWriMo last November, as indicated by my spiffy new icon. I also did Script Frenzy this April here in Sydney, and while I didn't finish my script (got about halfway there) I DID meet a bunch of completely awesome people who have, collectively and individually, helped inspire me to write again.
One concept to which I was (re)introduced recently was that of writing a million words. I've heard a few renditions on this one - that your first million words will be crap, so you might as well get them over with... that after you write a million words you will have a firm idea of what kind of a writer you are. And other variations on that theme. The thing that I like the most is that it's a goal - a BIG goal, though not so ridiculous as to be completely implausible. And it's a goal of quantity instead of quality. Like NaNoWriMo, this doesn't require for my words to be "good" - in fact, it's irrelevant whether they are or aren't. What matters is that they happen.
Even just counting my NaNo and Script Frenzy efforts, I have written in excess of 300,000 words. Tallying up my various short stories and unfinished projects I probably have 350,000 words under my belt. Which is not bad. But which can be significantly improved upon.
So I'm using that figure as my starting point, with an eventual goal of 1,000,000 total words. I'm aiming for 500 words per day - getting to a million words will take me about three and a half years at this pace. I might put a quick post up here every day, but it's more likely that I'll just keep track of it on my own most days and slap the graphic up here once a week or so. Expect to see more of me, at any rate.
Today I wrote 1,196 words in just under an hour.
I'll talk about WHAT I'm writing later. Suffice it to say that it's an old idea, that it's a hell of a lot of fun, and that it's something I should have made myself finish a long, long time ago.
