Monday Before TurboWriting


ARE YOU PREPARED, MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY, FOR THIIIIS?

For most of you the THIIIIS in question will be ignoring my blog for four days of bullshit.  But still.  Writing event, weekend that culminates with MLK Day, January twentieth.  As I have Fridays off, I’m going to try to write 12,500 words a day for 4 days straight, and finish a novel in a long weekend, basically.  Anybody who wants to try to keep up with that, or just invest a few days of that time in a more modest goal, you are welcome to join.

I’ve done this kind of thing before, but not publicly, and never hit my 50k goal in that short period of time.  My hope is that doing it in public (snicker snicker) will cause me more shame if I’m not sticking with it, doing my best, and motivate me to get it did.  So this is the countdown, the 5,370 minute warning.  Y’all been warned.

If you participate, what will your goals be and how will you achieve them?  Poetry?  Prose?  Essays?  Non-fiction?  Journaling?  Screenplay?  Five words or a hundred thousand?  Gonna live off microwave food?  Get a loved one to do all your chores for you?  Eat caffeine and dookie lightning?

For my part, gonna try to get more detail into my outline.  Been having a hard time focusing on it.  Life’s a little raw, but we abide.  Today is a work day for me; this post was written last Friday and queued.  So as you’re reading this, I’m probably working my ass off, beating up my brains and my heart, for the betterment of humanity and not enough money to pay the mortgage.  U kno, I keep doing crap like this, and maybe I get the gold star sticker from crapitalism, the book deal, and I’m on easy street 4eva.  Yeeaah.

During the event I actually have two goals: to get at least 50k, and to finish the story.  I may succeed at neither, either, or both.  Finishing the story may mean going over 50k words, and apologies to anyone who intends to read it but doesn’t have that kind of time.  If it takes you a while to wade through and you comment a month from now, I’ll still appreciate it.  If you don’t read first drafts on principle, that’s probably wise, and I’m not offended.

Alright, my fellow auteurs, eat your granolas and push up your sleeves.  It’s coming…

 

Comments

  1. says

    I’m going to try to write 12,500 words a day for 4 days straight

    I don’t think I’ve ever written that many words of first draft trash in one day, much less written something that I’d be willing to let other people see. And for four days in a row?

    I wish you luck. You’re braver than I am.

  2. Jazzlet says

    I’ll be away on our annual ‘hey it’s 38* years since we first fucked’ holiday, which being very much an ‘us’ holiday won’t involve any online reading. I’ll try and catch up with what you write when I return.

    * Yup I’ve been with the same bloke for very nearly 37 years. Yes indeed. Good grief.

  3. flex says

    Since I’ve volunteered to join you in this mad exercise I’ve been putting little post-it notes with topics around my monitor. My plan is to have 2 or 3 open Word files at once and write on one topic until I get stuck then switch to another one. Since that’s how I read, it may work for writing. We’ll find out.

    Oh, and my sister sent me a bottle of single malt for Christmas, which will help to keep me company, and lubricated. It’s a Highland and I prefer Speyside, so I don’t feel like I’m wasting anything. Don’t worry, as a life-long toper, I know how to drink, so you won’t get drunken prose (or poetry either), and I’ll have enough soda to stay hydrated (not in the whisky, of course).

    It would still be nice to fine another volunteer. Any takers? There is still time. Come and Go Mad! (Which is, incidentally, a great Fredric Brown story about who really controls the world.) Cheerio!

  4. says

    Lyke – I know, I’m so cool.
    Jazz – Nice, and thank you. Give him a bloke job one time in my honor, if u please.
    Flex – I love to see it! Dennis K said he might show for a lesser goal. We’ll see! Very slight chance of Marcus contributing some AI foolery.

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