I actually did some writing today, for the first time in a little while. I am still stuck on “Graveyard Shift” so I switched to another story. I rewrote the first 1,000 words of “If By Reason of Strength…” and I am pleased with what I wrote. While writing that, I jogged loose some ideas…
16,500 words into “Graveyard Shift” and I’m having trouble. It’s a complicated story with a large cast of unrelated characters, who, through a central mystery, are brought together. I have the ending worked out and in first draft, it seems okay, but the more I work on it in second draft, the more trouble I…
I edited the first 19 pages of “Graveyard Shift” and also wrote the first of several new sections, which adds an important subplot to the story. All told, I added about 500 words of new material to the story, but I also trimmed a little from the first 19 pages. I think the second draft…
I started a new story this afternoon, a mainstream story with a working title of “Muscle Memory” (a title that will definitely change in the final draft) and wrote about 1,300 words. I was eager to get this story written since it’s short and since I didn’t write a new story in March. In the…
It’s 9:30 and I just got home. I hung out after work and waited for Todd and Karl to finish up and then we headed over to Champs to have some beers, and eventually ended up eating dinner. Last night, I gave my story “Wake Me When We Get There” to Todd and he read…
Spending the last month reading Gotham left no time for writing. Now that I’ve finished the book, it’s back to writing. I got started on the train ride home this evening, finally getting around to proofing the first draft of “The Graveyard Shift”. I got through 10 of 78 manuscript pages on the train. More…
I can never remember whether “occasional” has two C’s and two S’s, two C’s and one S, or just one of each. I look up the word every time, and no matter how many times I tell myself that the word has 2 C’s and 1 S, it never sticks and I always have to…
I finished the first draft of “The Graveyard Shift” just a few minutes ago and at 16,500 words, it’s about the longest story that I’ve ever written. About 85 manuscript pages. It also needs a lot of work, especially in pacing, character development and the resolution to the story at the end. But all-in-all, I…
One more session and I will be done with the first draft. I did about 2,000 words tonight, putting the story right at 15,000 words. I figure another 1,500 or so will finish it up, at least of the first draft. I reached the climax tonight, but I had to stop in the middle of…
I just did another 1,650 words of “The Graveyard Shift”, covering three more parts, through part 13. The parts are getting shorter because the pace of the story is now picking up. I think I will end up finishing the story this weekend and it will end up somewhere right around 15,000 words, like I…
Just completed a session where I wrote an additional 1,700 words of “The Graveyard Shift”. Things are definitely starting to come together now. I’m into part 11 of section III and the story is continuing to unfold. I think I see some spots where I’ll break some of these sections into smaller parts for speeding…
I just got about 1,600 words written on the bus ride back to D.C. I wrote section 9 of “The Graveyard Shift”, which is the beginning of Part III of the story. This part of the story begins to tie the various characters together as the mystery deepens. I was surprised I was able to…