Nathan Bransford - The Forums

I challenge you to set a word count goal for July and work hard to reach it. The general word count goal is always 30K, but if you've met that in previous months, try 35K.

Standard format: One post per person, updated with new word counts/goal info daily, weekly, whenever. Please consider posting for the first time when you're ready to keep track.

Want to chat, offer words of encouragement, or get your frustrations off your chest? Join us over at The Coffee Shop - JULY thread!

Who's with me?
May the word counts be ever in your favor.
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7/1/2012: 0
7/2/2012: 748 - which I then deleted. OFF TO A GOOD JULY CLEARLY.
7/3/2012: 0
7/4/2012: 0
7/5/2012: 1200
7/6/2012: 5682
7/7/2012: 7214
7/8/2012: 0
7/9/2012:

Total: 14,844

Update 7/9: I'm not even going to admit how many words I wrote and deleted this weekend. Oh, mojo, where hast thou gone?

I'm determined to get my WIP edited by the end of this month. My progress won't be on word count but will be on the amount of editing I've managed to do. It's a weird one, I know, but I need all the motivation I can get.

Goal 1: Fix all plot holes
Goal 2: Get some major rewrites done for the entire thing

7/1/2012: Fixed plot holes in chapters 1 - 9
7/2/2012: Edited chapter 1
7/3/2012: Edited chapter 2 (but the day is not over yet!) (The day was over.)
7/4/2012: Edited chapter 3
7/5/2012: Edited chapter 4 + FINALLY found the perfect beginning
7/6/2012 - 7/15/2012: I was away and did no writing. Urgh... I'm not going to make it!

OK, I did not meet my goal of 20k in June, and I know for certain that July is going to be just as busy for me as June was, so I'm aiming for 15k... I might be spending some time in the coffee shop thread complaining about my lack of time to write, but who knows, maybe I'll get my mojo back soon! I tend to have bouts of productivity followed by a week or two of absolutely nothing, followed by another bout of productivity. I'm on a writing roller coaster...

7/1: 0
7/2: 417
7/3: 498
7/4: 606
7/5: 186
7/6: 334 (Taking it slow and steady this month it appears.)
7/7: 361
7/8: 0
7/9: 857
7/10: 0
7/11: 0 (ALL OF THE EDITING. I literally sat down with my manuscript and a pen and edited the ENTIRE thing.)
7/12: 671 (Made the corrections to the manuscript on the screen from the stuff I edited yesterday. Plus I wrote some more.)
7/13: 90
7/14: 623
7/15: 0
7/16: 0
7/17: 433
7/18: 164
7/19: 572
7/20: 182
7/21: 451

Total: 6445

I'm trying to finish my draft by August first. I want it to be around 75K. I have 30-something. I hope y'all don't mind, it would be weird to start my count from zero, so I'll just start where I'm at and work upwards. Also, I'm really bad about updating daily.

July 2: 34,238
July 3: 34,602
a whole mess of crap in here.
July 15: 39, 857
July 24: 52, 250

CV

Hmm, no word counts for me this time. I've only got about 2 weeks to work with in July, but here are a few goals I came up with:

1. Finish reading Story by Robert McKee and use the principles for (2) -- Completed on 7/9
2. Layer in the subtext for my main theme/meaning
3. Perfect my pitch (verbal and written) - Completed 7/19

Updates:
7/16: I've at least brainstormed what needs to be tightened up and I've revised a little over 1/3 of the book
7/19: perfected pitch (verbal and written). okay so it can never be perfected but i feel good about it. Also revised over 1/2 the book

Back for another round!

Goal 1 - Finish Part 2 and 3
Goal 2 - Write 30k (which, mostly, should get me to finish Part 2 and 3)
Goal 3 - Edit Part 1

Yep. I didn't do my 25k goal last month, but I'm cranking this one up again. Reason? I've been on a roll these last days, I no longer spend all my weekends in Montreal (2 more days a week to write!) and, well, I aim to be done with this draft by the time school starts again (Aug 27th) because when it does, I kind of do two semesters in one. Which will be total crazy.

July 1st to 5th: 5199
July 6th to 10th: 4553
July 11th-12th: 2188
July 13th: 1213
July 14th: 908
July 15th to 17th: 2321
July 18th: 1142
July 19th: 1041
July 20th: 1041
July 21st: 1014
July 22nd-23rd: 0 and... 0
July 24th: 1569
July 25th: 1608
July 26th: 852
July 27th: 1881
July 28th-29th: 2423

Total: 29,043 words

EDIT July 14th: I have internet. Hurray!
EDIT July 17th: Maan, I don't think 30k will be enough to finish Part 2 AND 3. More like 35-40k. I need to speed up.
EDIT July 25th: Not sure I'll finish Part 3 in time, but hitting 30k still looks good. I'd love that.

How's everyone doing this month? It seems very quiet.

I'm trying to take off at least most of July to get myself clear of any "lingering bad ideas" and allow some new ones to filter in. Then, it's off to rewrite hell.

A wise forum member suggested that I do still write, so I'm going to create a "bonus" or novelette, not in any of the books in this series, of a couple of important side characters. That way, I can use it as a promo item later on .

I'm quiet because I have no internet, but I've been writing at a good and steady pace! Enough that I'm almost on track for 30k this month! I finished Part 2 today, which is great because that's exactly when I'd marked that goal on the Calendar. Now there's a star sticker on that day to celebrate my achievement. So it seems I'm halfway through, after starting in January (well, late December) but the plan is to be done by August 26th, before school starts and life takes over. Which means I've got LOTS of work to do still!

I've had my nephews visiting us for two weeks. I've done exactly ZERO writing. But I've done some editing and critiquing, so I'm not completely out of touch. After the boys have left, I'll be able to concentrate on writing again. Can't wait!

bumpity bump. Don't forget to update, people!

I did this last month and, sadly, didn't reach my goal of completing the novel I had hoped to complete. So this month, I have two goals this month - though it's nearly over. Crap.

Anyway, I've switched directions from the novel I was working on and have started a completely separate one. Maybe I shouldn't admit this to the public. I've written 15K on this other story in four days and I'm totally excited about it.

So goal #1 - keep writing on new novel, every day.
Goal #2 - write at least 5k on the other one by the end of the month - hopefully finishing it up.

7/19- 7/24: 15,301
7/25: 2,411
7/26: 2,657
7/27: 1,100
7/28: 2,330
7/29: 180
7/30: 4,047
7/31: 3,451

TOTAL WORD COUNT FOR JULY: 31,695

~Kristie