Because Sundays are our day to take a moment to step back and think about our writing from a wider view, today is a great day to reflect on what we just did. Feel free to answer them here with as much or little detail as you’d like; or answer them on your own blog or on Facebook. Or just write the answers down in a private journal or notebook. The important thing is to actually think through and write down your answers.

• How was your writing going before the challenge’s end date was extended?
• If you weren’t going to meet the original end-date goal and knew you needed more time, but had that date of November 30 hanging over your head, how did that make you feel?
• Now that we’re taking more time for this challenge, how do you think that will affect your writing—both your writing time (work) and your writing craft (story)?
• What are you looking forward to most about having more time to write? What do you think will be most challenging about the extended deadline?

This afternoon, Carol and I got together for our weekly writing session—and neither of us could concentrate. (And then things got a little crazy—thanks for putting up with me, Carol. I really needed that laugh!) Both of us agreed that trying to get a first draft finished by the end of November isn’t going to happen. But neither of us wants to give up, either.

At this point, looking at the days piling up on which I haven’t met my writing goal (and on which I haven’t written at all), it would be so easy to quit. To tell myself that I’ve written all the books I had in me and should just give up. Just stop writing.

But I’m not going to do that. I owe it to myself not to do that.

By extending the deadline to January 31, it not only gives us a chance to write at a more comfortable speed, but it also gives us a chance to build in days off, or to have time to make up for when we miss a day or two due to extenuating circumstances.

And it means we have time to go back and do some of that prep work we might not have finished by October 31. Especially now that we do have a little bit written and we may know more about our characters and/or plot than we did and can go back and restructure, do research, write backstories for new characters, etc.

Since Story Bibles can start to get kind of massive, here are the sections to focus on reviewing/updating today:

• Backstory, GMC, and Description pages for the main character(s).
• Settings section
• Timeline section
• Revisions section
• Style Guide
• Synopsis/Outline (in case your recent writing has made you think of any new scenes/plot points you want to add—or realize that some of the ones you thought of before you started writing no longer work).

1. Let anyone within your household know that you need one uninterrupted hour to try to head off at the pass any interruptions.
2. Set a timer. This is most important. Don’t do this by just watching the clock. You’ll find yourself only watching the clock and not getting anything written. Setting a timer allows you to forget about the time and concentrate fully on writing.
3. Prepare yourself before starting your timer. Re-read the last few pages you wrote (without editing/revising!) to get your head back into the story and figure out where you need to pick up. Review your outline and/or character pages in your Story Bible. And then put all of that away so you don’t use those to procrastinate during the hour.
4. If you listen to music while writing (I recommend instrumental so that you don’t get distracted by the lyrics), have it set up and playing before starting your timer. Use earphones, even if you’re working at home, to block out any sounds that might pull you out of your story.
5. If you can’t listen to music while writing, I recommend wearing the earphones anyway. People are less likely to interrupt you (at home or working somewhere like a coffee shop) if you have them in/on—and they help block out those distracting sounds.
6. Make sure your writing space (both physical and mental) is set up and ready to go before you start your timer.
7. In other words, make sure that about five to ten minutes before you start the 1k1h sprint, you’re in the process of getting ready to write.
8. Silence or turn off your cell phone (unless you’re using it as your timer—then don’t turn it off). Close your Internet browser. Close Facebook and Twitter (as soon as I give the “start” signal, of course). Close your email program if you use something like Outlook that isn’t web-based. Eliminate all distractions!

• Which character had the viewpoint in the last scene you wrote? Start with a different character in this scene.
• Still not sure what to write? Try this prompt:
  Character walked into the room. Character saw a piece of paper tacked to the wall on the other side of the room. Character walked across the room and took the piece of paper down. Character read the piece of paper. The piece of paper said . . .
• If that prompt doesn’t work, try the exercise of making your character face a great fear or come face-to-face with someone they don’t like.
• If you can’t think of what the “next” scene is that comes after the one you just left off with in your previous writing session, start writing something you know comes later in the story that you already have a good idea for. Though I recommend writing your story in linear fashion (from beginning to end) instead of jumping around, sometimes you need to write stuff that comes later if you already have a clear idea of the scene in your head, just to make sure you don’t lose it. And that can also help you figure out what comes between what you’ve written so far and that future scene and help you to fill in the gap next time.

• What have you learned about your main characters so far?
• Are your characters staying on track, or have you already had to make revision notes in your Story Bible for things that will need to change in the revision process for the second draft?
• Do you still look forward to spending time with your characters every day?

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.

1. 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.
2. Update your Story Bible and Style Guide based on everything you wrote this week.
3. If you’re behind on word count, do some 1k1h sprints this weekend to get caught up (and possibly get ahead).
4. 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!
5. Check in and let us know how you’re doing, what you’ve accomplished, and what you hope to achieve this weekend.