Hello March (well second post of march) and here we are another week behind us on this journey to finish the book. So for this first week of March the biggest focus on writing is chapter 11. Spend this coming week working on this chapter. But first things first. Review your outline book...again mine is on a story board and on my phone for easy review. Read through things slowly on your outline. Jot down ideas you need to add, change or delete from your story. Just make notes there that would enhance your story and you can work on those at the editing phase of this FINISH THE BOOK IDEA. As you make note you need think about the story arc. Is there conflict? Is there suspence...even if you are not writing Suspense you need to have this in your story. Think about the hero and heroine in your story and their arcs. You should clearly find in your writing each have clearly define goals, motivations and conflicts. The reader should know who they are, what they want, why they want it and what is standing in their way. Use this week to make sure these things are happening and are understandable to the reader. Again no going back to earlier chapters to tweak things. Use your outline to note what you need to deal with later. So begin Chapter 11 this week. I challenge you to sit and write this chapter as fast as possible no matter where you are in your story. These first 2 months we worked on completing a chapter or scene a week. So now we have the hang of things. Now we should have our family trained to leave us alone for an hour and our brains should get the idea this is time to Write. Move fast. I sometimes type dialogue without quotations or grand action tags. I just let them talk back and forth and later I go back and add the tags. That makes for faster getting it down. That works for me. I hope plotters are learning to not have to write in order and not to make sure everything is perfect as you go. You will complete novels faster if you don't slow down for perfections. And pansters while it is OK to write out of order you still need to review that plot on your notebook to make sure you are not off on a tangent and losing your story. Focus is key. So Work through chapter 10 this week but be thinking about the next few chapters or scenes that follow. What do you need to add in chapter 10 to make sure you meet the mark in chapters 11 through 13. You can do that this week too. Tell everyone here a report on your and your progress so we csn encourage each other. I am making good progress staying true to the chapter we need to tackle. I do well with finding an hour a night. The family gets it. That is my time. But...I am still battling fatigue due to thyroid issues. So I am doing better since it's winter finding time to Write weekends and evenings. But I have to stay discipline. I make myself work on my story before I can collapse in bed on week nights after the real job. But I also have to make sure I have chores done ahead. But ya know I give myself a break when I don't get everything done but I do not skip my writing hour because something else didn't get done. Sometimes my fatigue is enough I tell the family I am done. Going to write. Some chores can wait. Don't forget to check out my FB page for more hints and links. Author Kim Turner
