Sunday 1 January 2012

100k Words In 100 Days Challenge.

Well that step into the New Year of 2012 was a fairly peaceful one for me. No late night partying or over consuming of alcohol and food, but a quiet evening with family and Midnight only just witnessed. I know how to have a good time!

A good start to the first day of a new challenge I'm signed up for. 100 thousand words in 100 days. You can find the details of the challenge over on Sally Quillfords Blog.



It's great timing for me. My first WIP is out on submission and I've had about six weeks to run the second book through my head and make some notes and do some research, so I think I'm about ready to start WIP number two. I love challenges like this one because even though I have to sit down alone at my desk, and I have to come up with the goods on my own, I don't feel quite so alone, knowing there are many of us taking part. If I can get my first draft down in the next three months then I will be thrilled. It may not make a great deal of sense, but neither did the first one when I read it back. There was a plot hole you could have lost a whole village in, never mind fallen into yourself. It's the editing I love. When you can see the framework and you mould it into what you imagined it to be initially. That's if your characters let you go down the initial path and didn't lead you a merry dance into an unknown world.

Anyway, I'm all signed up and I've cleaned my desk space in preparation. What I didn't bank on already, was having massive misgivings about the plot in this WIP. I love the idea, I really want to work the idea, but then I realised I couldn't deal with such a complicated plot as a new writer, so I tweeted that the idea wasn't going to work and that would be the end of that story.



The problem was, after tweeting that it wasn't going to happen, my head had other idea's and just wouldn't let it go. It sent me into the world of research again, told me if I worked hard and allowed the story to flow, we could actually do it. So with no will of my own, it looks as the the story for the challenge is the original one my common sense told me was too big.

Lets see where this challenge takes us shall we?

Is anyone else doing this or something similar?

13 comments:

  1. Good luck! It can't hurt to try and write the challenging plot can it? You'll grow as a writer... Not sure I can write 100k in 100 days but it would tie in well with one of my writing projects for this year so I am heading over to Sally's blog to have a look.

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  2. It can't hurt. I'll just be disappointed if it doesn't work and I have to start from scratch, but it won't leave my head so I have to try.

    I'm not sure whether I will hit the word count either, but again, it's good timing so it's worth a try.

    I look forward to following your progress Denyse. I've always admired your work ethic when it comes to writing. Good luck!

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  3. That sounds like a big challenge to me, but I'm sure you can do it. Good luck!

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  4. It sounds like a big challenge to me!! I can only try and even if I fail, it will have got me motivated and sat down at my desk every day. That can't be bad.

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  5. I'm going to try to keep up with this challenge. Not sure how successful I'll be right now, but we'll see!

    Good luck to you :-)

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  6. And one of these days you'll wake up in the middle of the night with an apiphany that will sort through it all.

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  7. Happy New Year, Rebecca! Best of luck with the 100K and your WIP#2 x

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  8. I'm not doing this challenge but I should be....

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  9. I wish you a ton of luck, but there is no way I could do something like this. I'm luck when a plot carries me over 30K words, so NaNo's 50K was such a struggle. I could never do this new challenge XD Though I wish you tons and tons of luck!

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  10. Sarah - I think it's all in the trying. Even if I don't keep up and meet the incredible number of 1000,000 in that time, I will have made a massive headway into WIP2 and I will be thrilled. Wishing you lots of luck. I will be cheering you on.

    Wendy - I think you're right, the idea is slowly working it's way through my mind and is morphing between different things. I've started but where we morph to isn't so important just yet, so I'll let my head do the work subconsciously while I work.

    Thank you Linda and Happy 2012 to you!

    Karen - It's not too late to join in!

    Thank you Gwen. I'm hoping to complete it, but if not, I will have made a massive start on the WIP so it's a good thing.

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  11. I think goals like this, especially if other people are doing it too, can be really motivational. I think it's a great idea.

    Best of luck with it :)

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  12. Good luck, kiddo. You've done it once, you sure can do it again. I prefer the editing stage to the first draft stage. If you're anything like me, it's like pulling teeth. Yes, I get the words down but oh, the procrastination!

    It's a great challenge, you can do it! x

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  13. All "Best" wishes for you, Rebecca, on getting those 100K words on paper. And good luck with your WIP submission. I've always said you won't land anything if you don't send out the manuscript!

    Have a wonderful New Year!
    Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror & Other Memoirs

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