Becoming the writer I want to be

I'm now up to 3,055 words in the novel. I kept the final section of the first chapter rather short intentionally and I hope that it'll work out, but I'm not writing any more today since I've got classwork to do before I go somewhere this evening. I intend to spend the rest of the week tackling the two sections I've not yet finished and hope to complete the prologue around this weekend.

 

2672 words today. It's flowing. I didn't write any poetry today but the novel is coming along. It's strange reliving the past and seeing it happen again as I'm writing it.

 

Great work! May I ask how long you spend writing a day?

 

Probably about three hours on average on the main novel. But poetry can vary as I'll often sit at the lake or outside somewhere and just write as it comes. It was just flowing today. Also I just wrote a poem as well. Am just heading to bed so goodnight or good day

 

Thats a good pace. Back when I was writing book 1 I used to have that much time but sadly I dont anymore, I have to squeeze the time in-between other stuff and its made me realise at the pace I'm going book 2 will be done next year but book 3 wont be. I suppose a novel a year is still a good result, but the obsessive part of me wants to write much more even though I know doing that would be harmful in the long run. Goodnight!

 

Just read a twitter thread from some progressive whiner talking about writing tips. Gave it a read before they got clowned on and deleted it all, and my word, my reaction was just



Serious advice for everyone who reads this; if a progressive type gives you writing advice, dont just ignore it, go out of your way to do the opposite. I did that and it felt liberating not feeling beholden to agenda driven killjoys who will complain no matter what you do.

 

Just didn't have the time to get a lot done today, 851 words. I did however have two new haiku to share.

A storm is brewing.
Angry skies churn and turn black.
Yet I remain still.

Raindrops form a cage.
The world outside shines so bright.
Within I remain.

 

How many haikus have you written so far? @AtomicTango

 

Well, I'm up to 3,150 words for the chapter. I've mostly spent the morning polishing up some sections that I'd wrote in snippets but wasn't able to connect. I'm going to try and aim for a 4000-word chapter with this prologue, which gives me about 850 words to work with and I can make that happen. After that's complete, I'll work on some more notes and then try to start on the next chapter around Thanksgiving or so, but I've also got an article I'll be working on soon and some tests to take during the holidays. This revision and rewriting are going slowly, but it's also setting up for a darker beginning and gradual transition I think. Once when 2021 comes around, I'll have more to devote to writing and getting better.

 

Off the top of my head, around ten or so I think?

 

That's impressive! I've written probably 70 for the entire year, but only about 30 have been gathered into a bundle. I hope that when I get to around 100-120 haikus that I'll find a publisher, but that's a long ways off and I'm hoping to have a challenge come the new year to write anywhere between 2-5 haikus a day (or week) and then once a month, take all of the haikus I've written, go through them and add the ones that are good while discarded the poorly written ones.

To write 10 beautifully haikus in such a short span of time is really impressive. They're all so beautiful. I wrote a haiku yesterday but I'm trying to rewrite it since I'm not happy with the first version (because it uses too many one-word syllables). I could show it to you guys and see if it's actually good or if I'm overthinking it and allowing my inner perfectionist to get in the way.

 

Thank you for the kind words. You definitely should post it, even if you dont think its good I'm sure we can offer some input on it.

 

I have to move on
We have to forget our love
Those days are long gone

This is the haiku I'm talking about. Forget's the only word that uses more than one syllable and I love this one because it's a rare one that has a rhyme to it, but I'm just not happy with how it's turned out. Am I overthinking this or is this actually good?

 

I definitely see what you mean. I feel like perhaps it is too literal? Most haiku I read seem to have a vague quality to them to some extent, or obfuscate the point with some sort of imagery. If I were to attempt something somewhat similar, I might instead write something like

Our love turns to naught,
like a castle made of sand,
on the shores of time.

 

I think that's the problem with it. My intentions are good but it's too literal and there's not enough imagery there. It's lacking a creative pulse to make it stand up on its own. See what you did was much better. So I'll probably discard that one and try again or come back to it at another point down the road.

 

I think the "point" of haiku, at least originally, is that they tend to relate back to nature in some way. I tend to find inspiration by combining something nature related with a feeling or mood.

 

bountiful jasmine
entrance into the heavens
a holy flower

 

1757 words today, which finishes the chapter. I think I will use my working time tomorrow to read the weeks work, but other than that I am done for the week, I really need a break longer than just one day.