Writing Update #2

Writing Updates is a feature on Wonderland's Reader in which I  update readers about my writing journey, share writing tips and tricks I've found helpful, link to cool writing videos or blog posts, and share the occasional snippet from my current work in progress!

Happy Friday, friends! How's this week been for you and your writing? For me, this week has been amazing -- though not exactly for writing. I only wrote about one thousand words this week but I had a lot of other really amazing things happen! After having a bit of a rough summer, I can already tell that fall is going to be an amazing season and I'm so excited to write more and move forward with a couple exciting opportunities that I've found out about!

But! This is a writing update so let's get to the writing -- I wrote 1,078 words this week! That's not a whole lot but I'm actually really happy with all the words and think that I'm moving in the right direction with this story and these characters. I'm still firmly in the first act of this story -- I haven't passed 5K yet so very early stages still. But the more I dive into the world and learn about the characters, the more excited I get to continue working on it!

This week, I also discovered a new writing strategy that is really working for me! I've always been a fan of word sprints -- a thing on twitter where you time your and try to get as many words written in a specific amount of time! I sometimes do this with some friends but I've decided to start doing it myself using an app called Forest. Basically, this is a productivity app that motivates you to stay off your phone while you work for a certain amount of time. You set a time you want to work for -- I usually pick 20 minutes -- and at the start of that time, a tree or a bush is planted in your digital forest! If you exit out of the app and start using your phone, the tree or bush dies. So, basically, not killing your digital plant motivates you to stay off your phone and focus on whatever task you're trying to complete. 

Woo, that was a long explanation. But I use this app for my writing routine now! I try to write for at least three twenty minute sprints and use the app to keep track of the time and to keep me off my phone. That's one of my biggest challenges when writing -- remaining focused on the task! It's a nice challenge and I'm a total plant lady -- even digital plants -- so not killing the trees and bushes I plant in the app has been a good incentive for staying on task. 

This week, I also watched a writing video by Booktuber, Katytastic! In it, she explains how she outlines her novels! As someone who has always been a pantser, it's interesting to me to see the way people plot and outline! I've decided to loosely follow her outline plan but still stay true to the pantser in me. So, I only (very, very vaguely) outlined the first act of my book. Once I've finished writing that, I'll outline the second act and so on. It's been working for me so far and I'm excited to see how it changes me writing! I'll post the video below so anyone who's interested can watch:

Now, I want to start setting writing goals for myself every week! I love having something to work toward and I think this will help me make sure I sit down to write every single day a week. So, I think this next week my goal will be to hit the 6K mark! That will mean writing about 4K words this week which is totally doable! 

Even though there hasn't been a whole lot of words written this week, it was still a really productive few days and has made me excited to go into this next week and meet the goals I've set for myself! Now, to wrap up this update, I'm going to share another song from my writing playlist!

Castle by Halsey

So, that's been my writing week! I'm really hopeful and excited about the weeks to come and I can't wait to see where this story and these characters lead me. I hope you all have had productive and exciting weeks. I'd love to hear from fellow writers about their writing strategies and routines and maybe even do some writing sprints together! If you're a writer, connect with me in the comments below!

Writing Update #1

Writing Updates is a weekly feature on Wonderland's Reader in which I  update readers about my writing journey, share writing tips and tricks I've found helpful, link to cool writing videos or blog posts, and share the occasional snippet from my current work in progress!

Hi, guys! I don't know if you know this or not but along with being a reader, I'm also a writer! I've been writing seriously for a long time -- since I was eleven or twelve -- and have always been full of stories. I remember hoarding notebooks and filling them with short stories and character ideas when I was little and any time there was a creative writing assignment in school, I was thrilled. It was really no surprise that when I went to college, I wanted to pursue my love of stories even more! Just this past June, I graduated with a BA in Creative Writing. But, of course, now that I'm out of school, I want to push myself and my writing farther -- and I plan to do this by finishing my novel and *hopefully* getting it published!

The story that I'm currently working on stems from an idea I've been wrestling with for nearly five years.  It's constantly evolving and I'm always working on it and thinking about it to try to get it right. It's been through many incomplete drafts and just recently decided to start fresh from a draft that had a little over 50,000 words written in it. 

Yeah, I know.  That was painful. 

Unfortunately, the draft just wasn't working and I figured out something very crucial in the beginning that needed to be changed. So, I've decided to start fresh and have a new document open and ready for all the words! 

5 Facts About My WIP

1. It's a high fantasy set in a dangerous, wild, and dark world. 

2. It follows a 20-year-old girl who is part human, part faerie.

3. It focuses a lot on found families. 

4. The main character is quite stabby. 

5. The Wild Hunt is involved!

I absolutely love this story. The more I work on it, the farther I fall for it! I love the magic involved, the characters, and strong female friendships -- all of it makes me so happy and I'm excited to really work on it and spit it out onto the page! But my biggest problem with writing is my perfectionist nature -- I tend to get discouraged when the first draft doesn't fit the image of the story I have in my head and start it over and over until it's where I want it to be. Of course, the first draft absolutely will not be what I imagined -- that's what editing is for. But I think sharing these writing updates with you guys will keep me going with the first draft and hold me more accountable with meeting my word count every day! 

So, my plan is that I'm going to update you all with my writing stats each week, my word counts, share some of my favorite lines, songs from my WIP playlist, etc. I hope this is a type of post you all will enjoy! I'm really excited about it and I really think it will help me stick to a more structured writing schedule.

To finish out this post, I'm going to share a song from my playlist!

This post has made me excited to get writing! I love this story and I hope you guys don't mind hearing about it and my process! Do you write? If so, what are you currently working on? I'd love to hear updates from you guys on your own writing journey! It'd be fun to have a couple of buddies to work together with. 

I hope you all have a good weekend!