I am currently in the midst of the 15k in May Writing Challenge.
Despite posting another zero day on Day 9 and a miniscule 177 words on Day 11, I am currently ahead of schedule and am happy to be writing most days. Even though my 15k is only words written on my novel, I am still writing blog posts and flash fiction, including my 2 latest posts:
The Other Woman – 150 Word Flash
Don of The Dead Ep3 – Don Goes Shopping
Speaking of Flash Fiction – this week’s top tip is to use writing prompts, photographs or anything else and simply WRITE. ANYTHING. I was rapidly losing momentum with a particular chapter and yet after spending a short break working on some flash fiction I had recharged my creative batteries and had my biggest word count of the week. If you have read my blog before, you will know this is something I am passionate about and you can read more tips on how to ‘beat the block’ here.
Other inspirations this week have come from the always entertaining Chuck Wendig and his excellent book ‘500 Ways To Be A Better Writer’. It’s jam packed full with useful, motivational and occasionally very sweary writing tips. His blog is also good to dip in to for his thoughts on writing, publishing and lots more. Purely coincidentally I am also reading one of his fiction novels, the urban fantasy, ‘Blackbird’ which is proving to be a great little page-turner and keeping my creative fires stoked.
Another tip is to join the challenge or just surround yourself with like minded people who want to help you achieve your goals. There is definitely strength in numbers and our little group has now grown to include:
Maria Smith
Dee Kirkby
Ileandra Young
Ruth Livingstone
Lynne Collins
Rinelle Grey
Alison Wells
Lisa Redmond
Make sure you swing by their blogs to see what they have been up to during the challenge.
So . . . 2 weeks of the 15k in May Challenge down and here are my word count stats for this week:
Day 8 – 444
Day 9 – ZERO
Day 10 – 724
Day 11 – 177
Day 12 – 905
Day 13 – 685
Day 14 – 500 (exactly – weird!)
TOTAL FOR WEEK 2: 3435 words
Total for Challenge: 8890 words
First Draft Total Word Count: 70,808
We may be half way through the challenge but it’s never too late to join in, so follow #15kinmay on Twitter, comment below or follow the blog.
Wayne Kelly Writes 
Excellent progress! I’m pleased to hear your first draft is moving along, and you’ve regained that discipline of actually sitting down and ‘doing’ it. The reconnecting after a longish break is painful isn’t it?
Thank you for the mention, and good luck with the week ahead. 🙂
Yes, Maria – reconnecting after a break can be like pulling teeth. You sort of have to fall in love with it again and remind yourself why you wanted to write it in the first place. Good luck with the second half of the challenge.
Great to hear that you are zipping along. This morning I was thinking more than writing but still okay on the word count.
Hi Alison, thanks. Yes, you are doing great and thinking time is something we sometimes forget to consider – it’s vital to our writing.
When you say that reading Blackbird is stoking your creative fires, what are you getting from it? Do you adopt ideas from it? Do you ride emotional highs from his fiction to help you compose things that are utterly different?
Hi John. No, not so much adopting ideas from it – more being inspired by the terse, punchy style and complete focus on driving the story along. It feels like it’s heavily influenced by Tarantino in it’s dialogue, but I love the way the fantasy/paranormal elements are treated in such a matter-of-fact way. Gives it a gritty realism not always present in that type of fiction. Any good fiction just inspires me to want to get back to the keyboard and write. What gets you going?
You’re doing well Wayne! I don’t seem to be able to gain any traction right now, but as soon as my promotion is done, I’ll be doing some major focus on writing! Hopefully I can catch up, and get this novel finished.
You’ve obviously got your hands full with the promotion and that is vital for the success of your books, so it’s bound to take precedence at the moment. I know you will pull it back. Keep going!
Glad to see you’re making progress – will we be getting to hear some of it at Phoenix Writers?
Hi Sally, thanks. I’m not sure I dare inflict my first draft on you yet! It’s very rough around the edges!