Friday 28 March 2014

Lonely Susan First Draft Finished!


Wow!

I've done it. Wrote the wonderful words 'THE END' on Wednesday 26 of March 2014. I've written a novel. Not a long novel, just over 50000 words, but a novel.

Here are the final numbers:

Novel Length: 50364
Words written in last eighty days: 33718
Average words per day during the eighty days: 415

So, I feel that my commitment to write every day, do daily tweets and weekly blogs, and kept myself publicly accountable has paid off.

I'm very Happy. :)

So, where to now?

My plan is to give it a rest for a few weeks and write some other stuff; some short stories I have in mind. Then I'm going to go through the book chapter by chapter and work on anything I think needs fixing. I'm mainly going to look at the dialogue and descriptions, because I think that is where I'm weakest.

After that I might see if I can get some professional editing, and get feed back from some people, family friends,other writers, etc.

If I'm happy after that, it's submit time.

I'm fairly sure things will not go to plan, but if you aim for nothing that is what you get.

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Monday 24 March 2014

Target April fool Week Eleven Report


#targetalprilfool #writing
I did not finish this week as I thought I would, I’m using all my best procrastination skills to stop myself from finishing. (I just spelt procrastination right in one go. Wow!) However, unless I manage to stop writing all together, I cannot help but finish this week.

Here are the numbers:
Start of week Eleven, 17/3/14, 47049words
Finish of week Eleven, 23/3/14, 49086 words
Total words for the week 2037

The end goal remains, that by 1st April I have finished first draft of my first novel, Lonely Susan.
Can I do this? Yes I can, I’m almost there.

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Sunday 23 March 2014

Some Stats on My Short Story Writing


In an attempt to put of finishing 'Lonely Susan' I've decided that I needed to update my submissions records for my short stories, including flash fiction.

 From this I waisted some more time coming up with a few stats. Here they are:

  • Eight stories written
  • Fifteen rejections
  • Most rejections for one story, six
  • Three stories published
  • one story paid
  • Two contest results, 7th place both times
  • Contests entered, six
  • Decisions currently pending on submissions, four
I'm not sure how I feel about these stats. There is one sense that I'm not doing to bad as a beginning writer, there is some success there. But I look at the numbers and think that in two or so years I should have done more. But maybe not.

I like the fact that I have four stories out there being considered. This is the most I've had at any one time as I usually struggle to submit more than one story at a time.

If anyone has any thoughts on these stats, please leave a comment, I would love to know.

Thursday 20 March 2014

The story of the Backworlds continues, and the story of Earth begins.




Worlds on Edge
by M. Pax
Fifth book in the Backworlds series


War is coming. A horde of merciless aliens poise just beyond the Edge. In a matter of weeks they will devour the worlds.
Racing ahead of the apocalypse, Craze returns to the Backworlds to warn them and plan a defense. Only he can’t go home. Banned from Pardeep Station, he must wage a more urgent battle. His moon is under siege, and his friends are dying.
Bad things come in threes, and the galaxy is no exception. An old enemy returns, attacking moons and defenseless globes, leaving a wake of destruction. Worse than that, they threaten to join forces with the alien horde.
Defeat seems inevitable. Craze may not be able to stop it. Yet home is worth the fight.





Fantasy, science fiction, and the weird beckons to M. Pax, and she blames Oregon for that, a source of endless inspiration. She docents at Pine Mountain Observatory in the summers, teaching the public about the stars and the galaxy. A Bachelors of Science in Journalism, she had former lives in marketing and television before settling down to write. Want to know more? mpaxauthor.com

Monday 17 March 2014

Target April fool Week Ten Report


#targetalprilfool #writing
Week ten saw me miss a day of writing for the first time since I started target April Fool. Sad, but I was (mostly) in bed for 24 hours with a really bad stomach bug. So I also fell well short of my 3000 word goal.

Here are the numbers:
Start of week Ten, 3/3/14, 45082 words
Finish of week Ten, 9/3/14, 47049 words
Total words for the week 1967

This outcome is okay, I wrote for 67 days in a row; which is very good actually.

I’m now very near the end. I fully expect to finish the first draft this coming week. I look forward to saying, ‘It is finished’, next week.

The end goal remains, that by 1st April I have finished first draft of my first novel, Lonely Susan.
Can I do this? Yes I can, I’m almost there.

If you liked (or disliked) this post please leave a comment. You could also like my page on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.


Sunday 16 March 2014

Review: Stopover at the Backworld’s Edge


A Nice Little Stay.

Having read and enjoyed the first book in M Pax’s Backworlds series, (my review can be found here) I was looking forward to book two, Stopover at the Backworld’s Edge. I also enjoyed book two, but it wasn’t what I was expecting.

Book one introduced Craze, a genetically altered human especially designed to survive on certain types of worlds. He lives in a part of the galaxy that has many different genetically altered people called the Backworld’s. There was once a war with the Foreworlds, but little is learn about them. In book one Craze flies from world to world having all kinds of misadventures, I was expecting the same in book two.

However, it was not to be. Instead, Craze has settle on a moon called Pardeep. Here he has set up a bar at it’s space dock and dreams of making a fortune as revenge against his father who betrayed him in book one. All Craze’s friends have found a roll on the moon (except one, read the books and find out why.) and some new characters are introduced.

The action starts with a foreworld’s space ship lands with a mysterious passenger and doesn’t stop for the whole book. All the action in this book takes place on Pardeep, but there is plenty of it. Amongst the action we learn more about the universe that M Pax is creating.

P Max is still setting up her universe for the long running series ( Book five is now out.), but she does a fine job of giving you a good action story whiles doing so. I’m a little behind in the series, I’m reading book three right now, but I’m committed to reading it through the the end. Whenever that is.

The Backworlds Series is one worth exploring.

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Monday 10 March 2014

Target April fool Week Nine Report


#targetalprilfool #writing

I did not make 3000 words in week nine, but it’s not surprising as I was away for three days on a camp. What is surprising is that I still managed to write something each day. I’ve written nine weeks straight without missing a day. For me, that is an amazing achievement.

Here are the numbers:
Start of week Nine, 3/3/14, 42830 words
Finish of week Nine, 9/3/14, 45082 words
Total words for the week 2252

I’m very happy with this result, I’m I will be out to pass 3000 words again this week.

The end goal remains, that by 1st April I have finished first draft of my first novel, Lonely Susan.
Can I do this? I don’t know, but I’m going to try really hard.

If you liked (or disliked) this post please leave a comment. You could also like my page on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.


Monday 3 March 2014

Target April fool Week Eight Report


#targetalprilfool #writing

I had my slow week. Here is how the numbers broke down.

Start of week Eight, 24/2/14, 41038 words
Finish of week Eight, 23/2/14, 42830 words
Total words for the week 1792

I’m really happy with how much I wrote in a slow week. However, It’s time to get moving again. I have to get the word count back over 3000 again if I’m to be sure of finishing by the end of the month. So, I have to average about 430 words a day. Let the fun begin.

The end goal remains, that by week 13 (1st April) I have finished first draft of my first novel, Lonely Susan.
Can I do this? I don’t know, but I’m going to try really hard.

If you liked (or disliked) this post please leave a comment. You could also like my page on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.