#FirstDraft60 Day 35: Saturday Catch-Up & Review Day #amwriting #nanowrimo
I can’t believe that it’s almost 8 p.m., and this is the first time I’ve had a chance to sit down at the computer to do anything. (It was a day out with my girlfriends—lunch and movie and shopping—which I desperately needed after a whole lot of time with little to no social interaction.)
Just like during the prep portion of this challenge, Saturdays are our days to review what we’ve done during the week, and to catch up on anything we fell behind with. And now that we’re writing, it’s time to catch up with word count if we’ve fallen behind during the previous week, too.
When doing any kind of a challenge like this in which the goals are cumulative, it’s always good to build in a day (or two) to be able to get caught up on anything we’ve fallen behind with. Because most of us work during the week, we have more time to do this on the weekends. So until October 30, be sure to set aside time on your weekend, whether on Saturday or Sunday to stop, update your Story Bible, and get caught up on your word count.
This isn’t permission to slack off during the week. It’s to give you permission to not beat yourself up if you don’t meet your daily word-count goals or if circumstances make it impossible to write on a day you’d planned to. As long as you give it your best effort and the complete it by the end of the week, you’ll be able to stay on track.
So let’s begin.
Assignments for Saturday:
- Review everything you’ve written so far. Remember that we’re draft writing, so don’t spend too much time revising—but making a few corrections or revisions/additions here or there is okay. But it’s better during this process to make notes (in the Revisions section of your Story Bible and/or in comments in your document) of what you’re going to want to change once you finish the first draft and start your rewrites/revisions for your second draft.
- Update your Story Bible and Style Guide based on everything you wrote this week.
- If you’re behind on word count, do some 1k1h sprints this weekend to get caught up (and possibly get ahead).
- Once you’ve caught up and have everything updated, do some “what if” brainstorming and see if you can come up with some additional ideas for either the characters themselves or for your story/plot. Have fun with this. And if you feel inspired to write some more, do it!
- Check in and let us know how you’re doing, what you’ve accomplished, and what you hope to achieve this weekend.
Above all else, have a great weekend!
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KayeDacus.com 
In the past 72 hours, I have written a grand total of 80 words. After a great start to the writing portion of this challenge, there’s just nothing there—no story wants to come. I think part of it is that I’ve allowed myself to cut back the time I was dedicating to prep work to only the time I planned to spend writing (two hours or less) per day. I think it might help if I go back to spending at least half an hour on “story work” before I do any writing, just to get myself in the right mindset to write and hopefully get that creative pump primed and ready to flow!
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My month is turning out to be exactly the opposite of what I’d hoped. It’s bad timing that the busy season of my job unexpectedly kicked in early this year, so what is normally a light month now requires all the time I can give it. Since I don’t have any childcare until my husband’s workday ends, I’m left with only an hour around midnight to write, and sometimes I just can’t stay awake. I’ve only written 2200 words since the challenge began. I’m going to keep plodding along all month, but my hope for a finished first draft is pretty much gone. I’m taking comfort in all the prep work we did. At least it will be there when my job slows down next summer.
I’ll keep following along and doing what I can because it’s been really motivating for me to be part of this. I’m sorry that I won’t have much to contribute to the discussions. But I’ll be cheering you all on!
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Well, I’ve written a stupendous 0 word count in the last 45.5 hours (I have a bit of time left tonight, I’m going to get a cup of tea and write something/anything!)…it’s tough admitting that my determination yesterday morning has amounted to nothing and I’m starting to feel ‘bleh, whatever’ but I know to fix that I need to get some writing down so I’m feeling like I’m making some progress and sticking with it at the least right now because I don’t want to give up. So, off I go before midnight arrives!
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I’m rooting for you from down here in Dallas, Shirley! From one writing toddler-mom to another, you can do it! 🙂
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I’m cheering you on as well! Keep at it and don’t stress if you don’t get any writing done some days or don’t meet your goal! I’m learning to be happy with getting an average solid 500 down (’cause: many interruptions & having to regather my thoughts etc lol) and if it ends up being all I get down for the day then that’s okay. For me, I think the most important thing right now, considering how I felt after 45 hours of not writing and after spending the last 2.5 getting down just under 500 words and how I feel now, is that I just write every day and make that a habit. Yes, my draft will take longer but I can live with that, I can no longer live with not working on it at all and at working towards finishing it! You can do this too! 😀
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Yes, you’re so right! Even a little work is better than none!
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Thank you two so much for coming on here and sharing this. I’ve been feeling so awful that I haven’t written for three days (Wednesday was the last day I wrote). It’s nice to know I’m not alone. I know we’ve experienced setbacks and we might not accomplish all of our goals, but knowing we’re in this together and we’re not alone might be the most beneficial thing to come out of this whole experience in the long run. (But let’s not give up on our drafts yet!)
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Just want to say I’m cheering you on too, Kaye! I so appreciate your openness about your process, wins, and struggles. I’ve really learned a lot through this FirstDraft60 challenge. Thanks for the insight and motivation!
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I too have learned so much through this challenge, Kaye! I love it and will definitely use it again and again to get myself in gear for writing.
I almost didn’t come and read today’s post much less post. After swearing I was going to get in 2000 words yesterday and not succeeding in even 1 and then feeling like today was escaping me too I was so embarrassed and discouraged to admit it. Doing so proved to be cathartic in the end.
I opened up my Scrivener file and it was a rough start and rough going with interruptions (not all of them external as my writer and inner editor were often waging a battle royale) I managed under 500 words. Then coming back here to see such encouraging words from Sarah and you, well that was a lovely bonus!
I don’t expect to get any writing done until we get back from church tomorrow but I’ll take my notebook just in case an opportunity to write or a thought pops up! 🙂
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I had to run to the drug store and get some heavy-duty eyedrops and stuff for sinuses—it has been so dry here that my eyes and nose are so painful it’s hard to want to do anything.
So I’m setting a new challenge for myself for this afternoon—mini-sprints by word count instead of time. I’m challenging myself to sit and write 200 words. Then get up and do something else (laundry, dusting, changing the bed, etc.) for 30 or 45 minutes, then sit down and write another 200 words. As soon as I post this, I’m going to go get a load of laundry started and then do my first 200 words.
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I got a little later of a start than I’d hoped (I procrastinated, yes, and stopped to research upgrading the memory in my laptop from 4GB to 8GB and ended up ordering new RAM so that hopefully it will run faster. And then I ran a backup of the computer so that I don’t have to worry about that when the shipment arrives later this week. (I work on the Microsoft OneDrive cloud these days, so that’s why I don’t have to wait until the new memory arrives before backing up.)
Anyway, I’m at 429 words for the day so far. I’m going to take a quick break to fold laundry (and put the second load in the dryer) and then do another 200 (or so) word sprint.
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Sorry I’m late to the discussion. I’ve been in a hospitality room this weekend: bored out of my mind but not writing as much as I wanted. Today, though, I did better.
I have been writing every day, though, generally from 10pm to midnight. With the exception of Friday and Saturday, I’ve been reaching my word count goals. Kaye, Shirley, and Sarah: I have been in your shoes (minus the kids part) where I can’t squeeze one word out. I also gave up those years. I’m not doing that this year. I finished my first Nano the year my mom died. My dad died this year, and I need to do this for both of us. Writing was something he started late in life, and I’m going to live our dream – no matter the obstacle.
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I’m sorry for your loss, Michelle. What a lovely tribute to your dad!
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Thank you, Sarah. It was unexpected but I’ve learned I can’t wait for my dreams any longer. No one else is going to help me make my wishes a reality; it’s all on me.
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