Personal Writing Challenge

I’ve decided to do a personal challenge and commit to writing each day for the next 30 days on my novel.

Currently I have 33 pages and 11,000 words already written and each time I write my story builds. My novel is already “written” in my head and I’ve got an outline so all I really need to do is write it down. However I find excuses why I’m skipping a day and then it gets me off track.

The average novel published traditionally which accounts for books in print are between 60,000 – 80,000 words. This is an industry standard so the correct number of books will fit on a given store’s shelves. I need to not only ensure that my novel is within that word range but that the storyline has introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Data Points Collection:

• Daily writings
• Time of day
• Location
• Number of words
• Quality of work
• Rewrites

Each day I write will be tracked so lets see how many day out of 30 I can actually get to work. Blogging doesn’t count only work on my novel can be counted.

The time of day will be used for tracking purposes only and maybe to identify if I tend to write longer early in the day or at night.

Location of where I write could for example be “kitchen table” or “coffee-house” this may also provide information on what environment is best to stimulate my writings.

Number of word count will be tracked each day and only for new word count not rewrites.

For my quality of work data I will assign a ranking of 1, 2, or 3 being the highest of output. Which in my mind means solid writing day to follow and should peak a reader’s interest. It’s a bit subjective but if I feel that I the work was sloppy or doesn’t add value to the story then I’ll strike it or re-write it.

Rewrites that occur on the same day of the original  writing will only count towards the data points. Rewrites that occur on the next day and thus require a clear head will not count as a day of writing until I go past the rewrite section.

Okay so I think I understand my rules but now it’s time to put myself to the challenge and see what comes out.

If you want to join me in this personal challenge then get started and let us know how you did! My update will be posted on March 25th. Good luck to all!

Cheers