Friday Update

Last Week's Goals
I ended up with 8,500 words in my outline, 5,100 for the first 25% that I will attempt to write this weekend. I don't have all of the scenes as detailed as I would like but I feel I have enough to start.

My goals for next week

• Write during my "writer's retreat"

Write. For this weekend that's it. :) Yesterday, the first day of my writer's retreat, I was able to write 4,600 words. My wife and I went to lunch for a couple hours so that took away from the "retreat," but I'm not complaining. :) I think I can handle a 5,000 count per day pace should I ever be able to do more full-time writing (as long as my outline is detailed enough). I just don't know how long I would be able to sustaining that sort of pace, however. That's a lot of words. I'll find out today if I can handle 5,000 words. With experience I hope to increase the quality of those words as well. Right now I'm just getting words to the page.

Now, most of the scenes I've written so far have "white room syndrome" because I do not have the world building details that I would like. After this weekend I may try and expand the details on a few scenes to see how the writing process goes when I have those extra details.

What did I learn this week?
One thing I learned so far during the first day of my writer's retreat is what details I would prefer to have in my outline before writing straight like I am doing this weekend. What I will do for future versions is detail the settings where characters are performing so that I can get more details in the first draft.

Another thing I learned yesterday is that I feel that I am a morning writer. Late last night I tried to get that 5,000 word count and it was extremely difficult for me to concentrate. Often I will work on the outline or book in the evening and have found that I do not get much done. I think I work better early in the day.