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just when you thought it was safe to go back to the keyboard . . . |
FINAL Word Count 94,100 |
Lisa Silverthorne | Linda J. Dunn | Kurt Roth | Diana Davenport |  |
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| Nov 30 | 
10:25 a.m. -- 2,450 words I'm sitting here trying to find words to write. Bottom line . . . this baby's done! It closed out at 94,100 words, thundering to an end with tons of good action and what I hope are a couple good messages.
I'm left with one of those "is this it?" feelings. You know?
Lisa's web site says writing is more a journey than a destination, and that's what I feel like right now. I'm pleased to be done, but somehow uncomfortable with it. For a solid month I've been carrying this beast along beside me. People would stop me and ask how it was coming, would I finish? The process became an entity in itself--perhaps it's as close to being pregnant as I can personally come!
And now it's done. The book is complete. The child is born.
Is this it?
I'll post my own "Dare in Review" in a short while--probably later tonight--that will discuss my thoughts in detail. But right now, I'm in full wind-down mode.
Let me stop here, though, and say how impressed I am with Diana. She started this Dare out going like gangbusters. Real life interrupted, and she stayed focused. Sickness hit and she stayed focused. My impression throughout the first 20 days of the month was that she used the Dare as a mini-shelter to help deal with things. Then her father went into the hospital and she was faced with a choice. Without batting an eye, she made the right decision, dropping her Dare novel and leaving it where it lie in order to be with her family.
I admire that.
And then I come back from Thanksgiving day holiday and find that she's got her feet back under her and is back at it, doggedly chasing the 60,000 words she needs to "finish".
Congratulations, Diana. I hope you make your 60K. But it doesn't matter.
We've been telling each other that there is no "winning" and no "losing" the Dare. But we are wrong, of course. The Dare is not a single competition, however. It is an individual battle--five of them in this case. Kurt won his by calling the Flea Flicker. Linda won hers with a blazing start. Lisa won hers with the determiniation of a true champion. I wrestled mine to the ground a little bit at a time. And you won yours with persistence and grace under intense fire.
You've beaten the Dare, Diana. Your choice to put your priorities in order slew the ugly beast. You're a winner in my book.
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| Nov 29 |
10:08 a.m. -- 1,950 words We've drawn to the end of the main conflict. Has the world been saved? Has Garrick survived? Well . . . you'll have to read the novel to find out! I'm sure you'll be able to find it in any local big bookstore in about three years!
This was a really fun part to write. Action, adventure, characters doing what they needed to do. Good stuff. Now we roll into a short section to bring together a few loose ends, and I think we'll call it a novel!
Going to take my shower and get ready to go to Lisa's parents' place.
See ya tomorrow for what I hope is the last installment!
7:52 a.m. -- 0 words Down to two days . . . will it happen, or will it not. We'll just have to see. I'm just starting now after staying up until midnight playing cards with Papa and Mingo. We're going to Lisa's parent's place this afternoon, then back home tonight.
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| Nov 28 |
12:06 p.m. -- 2,700 words Things have really come together nicely. I realize now that I need to make one fairly major plot change when I get home. But the good news is that it shouldn't be too difficult to pull off. I've got Garrick into heap-big trouble, and the world looks like it's in dire shape.
Got to go eat lunch now, then watch the Cards take on Illinois. Marcus Maybin looked like the real deal last night, and Camron Murry looked smooth as long as his shoulder stayed healthy. With any luck I'll get a few K more words in tomorrow morning, then bring it home Sunday!
Looks like we're gonna top out at roughly 93-95K words.
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| Nov 27 |
12:15 p.m. -- 5,650 total words Lisa drove, and I got another 1,200 words. The story is really gearing up for me now.
10:22 a.m. -- 4,450 total words Being a newbie writer, I have already suffered through the question "Where do you get your ideas?" a time or two. I never know how to answer. But if I could, I would bottle this morning and show it to the next person who asks me.
Somethings are beyond understanding.
I woke up early today, and got right to it. Things happened. Characters moved on me. They surprised me, truly coming alive in what I see now as true to their form--it was there the whole time, right under the skin. They had been building to this for the whole story, but still they surprised me with a wonderful twist that plays directly into the plot I had in mind. Where had I been? Why was this such a surprise?
Who cares! It was great fun.
Three chapters remain. The final battle ensues. Will Garrick defeat the bad guys and save the world? If so, what price will it come with? And will Garrick pay it? I think I know . . . but Garrick and his friends have turned on me before, so I'm not betting the ranch!
On the home front, we're heading down to Louisville here in a few minutes. I'll be working on this in fits and starts for the next couple days, and if I can, I'll load progress from there. If not, I'll be back late Saturday night.
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| Nov 26 |
CONGRATULATIONS TO LINDA DUNN FOR BRINGING HER NOVEL TO AN IMPRESSIVE CLOSE!!! Linda finished at 86,000 words and change. An excellent effort!
6:25 p.m. -- 6,300 total words Not a terrible day, all things considered. This portion of the book is good stuff, but it's basically stitching together the two really exciting parts of the story that will hopefully carry it through to its satisfying conclusion. A sub-plotline with Darien has come to closure during this time period, and Garrick comes to total commitment to the course of action that carries us to the end.
It's good stuff. But connective tissue, rather than heart-stopping action. So, it's taken a little gritting it out because I would rather be writing the next 5,000 words! Given that it's a 4,000 word chunk, I may have to bring a bit of it up earlier in the story in the "final" draft, or risk boring the reader a bit.
No things gear up for the climax, however. I'm really looking forward to it. We'll see how Garrick fares as he tries to save the world!
10:46 a.m. -- 2,150 total words Breaking for lunch. Ready to move into Chapter 23.
10:46 a.m. -- 1,000 words I think I actually have a title. I was taking a shower this morning, and something hit me. I'll let it brew for a day or so, and post it if I still like it.
I got a really late start to the day. Guess I've been burning both ends a little too deep the past few days, because I basically ignored the alarm clock and slept until 8:30 this morning. [how DECADENT of me, eh?] Managed 1 thousand words before showertime, though. We'll see how the rest of the day goes. I would like to get by the 80,000 word mark. before calling it quits.
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| Nov 25 |
CONGRATULATIONS TO LISA SILVERTHORNE FOR HER ROUSING FINISH!!! Heart of the Labyrinth finished at just over 96,000 words. Wow!
5:26 p.m. -- 6,550 total words Wow. The outline is back together again, and ready for the homestretch. Really powerful scene just finished. Garrick has just been severed completely from his past life. I've got to stop and catch my breath!
1:39 p.m. -- 3,550 words Things are going slow today. I'm at a place in my outline where I know what I'm trying to do at the high-level, but didn't go into detail, so I've found myself taking 10 and 20 minute segments of time to decide what happens next.
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| Nov 24 | 6:33 p.m. -- 450 words Bottom line, I couldn't get the heck out of bed. Call it a rebound morning, call it a lack of motivation, call it what you will.
The good news, however, is that in those 450 words, as minimal as they were, I managed to give the plot an interesting twist that really augments the outline well. so, while I could certainly have been more productive this morning, I'll still consider it a success.
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| Nov 23 |
3:33 p.m. -- 7,000 total words Yep. There's time left in the day. And I could certainly pound out a few more words. But I'm losing it now, and after nearly 18,000 words in two days, I think I need to take a little breather and get my head on straight. Like I said before, I'm not going to mail in words I don't believe in just to push the bar up a little higher.
Lisa and Brigid should return from Indy in a short while, and we'll be taking Brigid to Sunday school as usual. So I think I'm through for the day.
The weekend has been pretty good, if I do say so myself. At 68,000 total words, it's put me in a position where I can almost certainly finish the thing by the end of the month, something I wasn't sure of a couple days ago!
2:12 p.m. -- 6,550 total words Changed the outline and added 300 more words. Time for a break. The ending is actually quite a bit different than I had first envisioned it now. Interesting. I think it'll end just short of 90K words.
1:26 p.m. -- 6,250 total words Stopped for lunch at 5,500 words, and taking a brief break again. I think I'll need to tweak the outline a touch again. But things are going well. Garrick is pointed to the book's closure. He's learned almost all there is to know about his problem (only that last twist of the knife to go).
I'm getting a bit giddy, though. 16,000+ words in a day and a half has got me kinda zoned. :)
10:09 p.m. -- 4,000 words I got started a little early today than I planned. I set the alarm for 6:00, but woke up at 5:00 a.m. It only took me 15-20 minutes to fix up the outline--not nearly as much work as I thought it would last night, but then I was in a fog then, you know?
The story progresses. Garrick is turning into an even more terrific character than I thought he was. Every time I think I know him, he reaches out and surprises me again!
I'm shooting for another thousand or so words before lunch!
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| Nov 22 |
11:27 p.m. -- 10,600 total words Well, I really, really, really wanted to get at least 11,000 words tonight, but I just couldn't make it happen. This marks my highest output point of my career, as best as I can remember though, and I'm pleased. Heck, I think I even like most of those 10,600 puppies. At least a few, anyway!
But unfortunately, the outline will need a little minor tweaking before I progress any further and my brain is on shutdown mode right now. I'll spend the first half hour or so tomorrow morning getting my act back together.
For now, though, it's off to bed.
6:13 p.m. -- 9,000 total words This day has been great. What else can I say. My outline is rock solid, I'm chugging along as fast as ever, and my characters are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing. The plot line has converged, and Garrick is being drawn into a direction that he has actively fought against for the entire book. Relationsips are firming up.
All the dominos are being set for a rousing end.
The evening is not over, either. I'm just breaking for dinner!
2:33 p.m. -- 5,750 total words Working toward 6,000 before I can snack (am I food-motivated today, or what?)
12:00 noon -- 4,350 total words I break for lunch. [grin]
9:59 a.m. -- 2,350 words I started the day out by adding a chapter to my outline. The problem was that I was writing a chapter that was getting a bit bulky, so I found a nice stopping point and broke it up a bit. Most of my chapters hang between 3,000 and 4,000 words, but this one crested 6,000 and I finally said woah!
Last Dare, Lisa sent me on a weekend to Brown county to finish my work. This time, she's taken a different tack. She and Brigid just left to spend the weekend in Indy. Brigid will finally see the Beatles' laser light show (her fav band, you know?), and they' go swimming in the indoor pool.
My wife. I think I'll keep her. :)
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| Nov 21 |
6:30 a.m. -- 3,100 words First things first, since we passed the 20th, I went ahead and archived the past ten days to cut down everyone's download time. You'll still find everything here--just click on the hand-dandy guides.
That said, here's how it went this morning.
I woke up with a monsterous headache. My stomach was a bit uneasy, too (Yeah, I know, more than you wanted to know, right?)
But I'm having so much fun right now, that all those deterents just didn't matter. Garrick has grown. His power is completely discovered, and his understanding of the world has been challenged. He's still trying to decide what's important, but facing world-scoped problems in the process. And as Garrick discovers truth about himself, I, too, discover what is inside me. (no, they are not one and the same)
This is what writing is about. This is why it's fun for me.
That, and the occasional check, of course 3,100 words in two and a half hours. It's as fast as I can write, folks. It doesn't get any "better" than this.
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| Nov 20 thru Nov 1 |
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| Sep 28 | We're at it again. February wasn't enough. Lisa Silverthorne and I have challenged each other to another Novel Dare. As with last time, I'll be posting progress here.
The ground rules: Last time, Lisa ended up with Experiencing Deep Purple, and I ended up with Gene Splice. Both of these have undergone major surgery since our February Dare, and both are about ready for the market. To make it even more challenging, we've got four new Dare-ites, Linda Dunn, Kurt Roth, Diana Davenport, and James Hartley are planning to join us. I'll add links to their pages as soon as I see if they're planning on having one! Tune in to check it out. | |||||