Tag Archives: scrivener

Morning Pages Entry – June 27, 2014

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So, I did a bit more outlining with Scrivener yesterday, and I was getting a bit of the hang of it. It’s still a bit of a process at this point, and not totally 100% natural, but it’s like anything else you know, the more you do, the easier it gets. I think it’s a good process though, and I like the way I’ve got Scrivener setup to capture some of the meta data related to scenes and sequels with POV, goal, conflict, disaster for the scenes and then reaction, dilemma, decision for the scenes. It’s the first time, that I’ve ever laid out new scenes that way, and I did get a few of them done … 6 I think. Which, I believe, should give you at least 10K words to write. I do need some more scenes. I still don’t quite have the feel for how long the scenes will be, or how specific I want them to be in the outline. I think, putting down as much info and ideas as you can when coming up with the scenes will help during the writing process, but I don’t want to hem myself in too much during the writing process. And I don’t think I will, with the way I’ve got them set up. I will still I think have the ability to come up with new ideas and diverge from the path while writing, but that Scrivener will be a good tool for keep the new stuff organized and allowing be to see the bigger picture of where the story is flowing to. And all, without being restricted. I like that. I like the idea of being able to just free flow write, kind of like I am now. But, this time, I will have some guidelines to go with the writing. I will have a goal (much like the characters) and a purpose for writing each scene. I won’t feel, like I’m meandering too much like I did for the first 75K words or so. And, I think, that is a good thing. Knowing what your trying to accomplish when writing the scene can only be helpful, and fun too I think. It’s sort of like a little challenge or puzzle your trying to fit the pieces into, and the creativity kicks in when you come up with all the little steps, that get’s your character from A to B. It’s going to be fun. I watched a documentary yesterday called tiny house, which was on the surface about people who build and live in very small homes of around 100 square feet. But, what it was really about, was the life decisions that people can make, about what is important in their lives, and how material acquisitions can come to mean so much in our society. And the question they were asking, is do you really need those things, to live a fufilling life. And of course the answer they were coming up with, was no … you really don’t. I could relate totally to a lot of what they were saying, in that how they feel living in the little houses, was much the feeling I get from living on the boat during the summer. It’s so removed from all the responsibilities and time consuming activities, that goes into owing a full sized home, and the work and time and effort that goes into it. Not to mention the expense of it all. I think it’s part of the appeal that many people experience living on sailboats, but I’ve never heard it articulated quite so succinctley the way the documentary did. The homes were about the size of sailboats, when you think about it, and they even used the same heaters you find in many sailboats. I think, that sailboats were even actually a bit smaller. Living in that way, really sort of highlights what’s important in your life, and time had to be one of the bigger. How would you use your time, if you weren’t using it to pay off a mortgage, and making the banks richer? It wasn’t lost on me, that a number of them were writers, and that they obviously found their fufillment in life from their life of writing. And, it ocured to me, that you could live in a very small physical house, but that their writing put them in a much bigger space. When your writing, you can go anywhere, and are not hemed in by four walls of any sized house. So, you could sort of have the best of both worlds. The benefits of a small footprint and less time sucked from you by your house, and the vastness of putting your head in a bigger world during your writing. Sort of cool. Although, I would prefer for my tiny house to have a sail and a keel. Oh yes, and the other thing I did yesterday, was commit to send to Emily 50K words for editing every 3 weeks. Basically, what that means, is I’ve commited to approximately an almost 200 pages novel in your series every 3 weeks. Better get to writing

TIGERBLOOD: yep DAILYMOOD: pretty good LOCATION: home office WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: 5:00 wall sit TODO: outline write TV: Tiny Houses documentary BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: bacon sausage, hamburger, shrimp, carrots, bell peppers, brocolli SNACKS: orange, lara bar ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 12:45 AWAKE: 7:00

 

Morning Pages Entry – June 26, 2014

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Started brainstorming a bit yesterday, using the corkboard screen on Scrivener, it worked pretty good. Had some good new ideas springing up. It’s the first step in the outlining process I think. I’m trying actually to take parts of the ending of the first book, and use it as the start for the third book in the series. It should work pretty well, based on some of the ideas I came up with. Some, are the suggestions that Emily made, which were a number of plot points that I had sort of left hanging in the first novel. It could make more sense to elaborate on them while our heroes are hanging around Fort Knox. I had meant, to elaborate on some of these things, when I initially came up with up with Fort Knox as a destination, but I never really got around to using them. I think, I rushed things a bit, when I got to that part of the story. Kind of like, I felt I had gone over the limit in terms of words, and just needed to finish things off. Now, that’s not the case. I actually need to tell more of the story, and I think there is a lot more hidden behind and under the walls at Fort Knox worth telling. Perhaps, some secrets in the lower level especially, that I never elaborated on. Like who is really in charge down there. And maybe tie them in to the bombing on the white house and pentagon that happened earlier in the story. I think, this could be an opportunity to have a few sub plots going on at the same time. One could be, who is in the deepest level, and the other could be about the growing threat of zombies encroaching on the Fort. Perhaps, it could end with being on the verge of being overrun. Perhaps, someone down in the lower level, allows for the zombies to get into the fort. What would be their motivation. Would they be zombie, or human, or perhaps someone in between. Maybe, their being controlled by the remains of patient zero. Patient zero is an intersting idea. The original zombie … half alive, but barely under controlled … maybe like the very first vampire is very powerful. Would they be sentient? Probably crude, but strong. Christa, would actually have more evolved mutations. Would patient zero, be more like a frankenstien monster? Lot’s of possibilities here … need to play around with the corkboard a little more. At first when I saw that, I thought it was a bit hokey, but now that I spent a little time with it, I sort of like it. It does sort of help to see the whole picture. I wonder, if there’s a way to print all the index cards off, and use them like real index cards on a wall. That could be sort of fun. Then, make up your own as you go along. We’ll have to check that out. I think, I could really grow to like using scrivener as an organizing tool. That is it’s entire purpose really. I still haven’t contacted Emily yet, and I need to do that. I could have 25K new words or more written by the end of next week, which would be good. Monday is a holiday, but if I get some words done today, which there is no reason why I shouldn’t and tommorow, that would give me a potential of 10K before the start of next week. Need to move on that. I really would like, to have a small but fast laptop, with a screen that’s good outside … and is a touch screen, that works good for windows 8. I still sold another book yesterday. I think, I’ve only sold one of the books … the very first one … in the US, and all the rest have been in the UK. Need to work on that. If I can get the first one to go free, that should really help. I need to send a note to Emily today, and book some more time with here. Why am I more fearless in the morning? I seem to have more ambitions and a better attitude about getting things done then, than any other time during the day. During the rest of the day, all the other stupid things that clutter up my life seem to start weighing me down. I don’t like that. Combined with the nagging feeling that I didn’t get any real work down can be depressing. You need to get back in the habit of writing your 5K before lunch.

TIGERBLOOD: some DAILYMOOD: average LOCATION: home office WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: 2:15 plank TODO: outline, write TV: not much BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: 1 hour walk WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: salmon, brussel sprouts SNACKS: orange, grapes, 2 lara bars ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 11:30 AWAKE: 6:15

 

Morning Pages Entry – June 11, 2014

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Again, here’s another morning where I don’t have a whole lot I want to say to my morning journal, that hasn’t already been said before. Other than this … you need to start writing more, and today, the number one goal, is to outline some more scenes either for my current novel, or a new one, and start writing those scenes in my morning journal … period. That’s it. Starting tomorrow, your going to start a new habit, and enforce it for 30 days minimum – and that habit is to write a new scene every morning in your morning journal. At least 750 words, but more likely to be 1000 words. If you want to add personal stuff afterwards that’s fine, but the main reason for your journal going forward is to be for writing a new series or adding to the old series. So, get working on those outlines today. It should be fun. Let’s see, how big of an outline you can come up with. And, a thousand or more words in the journal, will guarantee you a short novel every month. That’s pretty cool I think. And, we should put it into scrivener I suppose. That will be a bit of a learning curve again, but that’s ok. Or, I suppose, we could even put it in EverNote … nah, probably outlining in Scrivener is the way to go … you can likely use the meta data to make that work, or maybe the scene notes. We want to sue scenes and sequels, and conflict as we outline. Reread some of Jim Butchers stuff, and Dwight V Swains stuff as well. That should get you on the right track for it. So, something new it is? I’m not sure yet. Something new is good, but I do really like the world I’ve started creating in my current novel. You could explore that one some more. Some authors would advise that. Find your one serial, and stick to it. But, your not even sure if the novel you’ve already written is going to attract a readership. You could work on adding more to the ending of that one. That’s likely the way to go. If you broke it into 3, the way you were looking at it, then writing a few more scenes at the end, or somewhere in the middle wouldn’t be a bad idea. It would have to be in yWriter still, so you wouldn’t get to play much in Scrivener, but that’s ok. Playing with new software, is not really the point of all this. And, on another note, I really need to find a better place, to get my almound flour from. Maybe, I’ll run over to Costco, and see if they carry any of it. I can’t remember, how much BulkBarn sells it for, but it couldn’t me more than what Loblaws was selling it for yesterday. You could make it cheaper on your own, with a food processor. I don’t think, I saved that article in EverNote yesterday. I’ll have to do that. I’m usually just used to bookmarking things in chrome. Why don’t I use chrome on my phone? I’m sure, it works in there. Then you’d have all the bookmarks from your desktop in there? So, you need to have more he said, she said going on in these morning journals. You can write well over a thousand words in a half hour, if you just take the same mental approach to writing as you currently use for these journals. Just write and don’t worry about it till afterwards. Get the words out, and edit it the next day. That would likely be the way to go. It wouldn’t take very long to do 1500 or so words. That would be a good goal. You used to do 1250 in 45 minutes the week you did 25K words. And, what the hell! You were so hooked on reading the bird by bird book by Anne Lammot over the weekend at the swim meet, but you haven’t read any of it since you came back. That’s a great book. What’s up with that? There certainly is, something going on here at home where your focus is the shit, and the distractions are plentiful. That’s something that really needs work. You need to recreate that mindset from the swim meet at Brock, where you had all kinds of new and interesting thoughts about life and stuff. Don’t forget that feeling … how do I get that back? Reading new stuff … going somewhere new all the time? Changing your scenery more often? My mind was so much more open and receptive to new stuff … maybe hang out at the university and write more? I don’t know, but that’s something you really need to work on.

TIGERBLOOD: sure DAILYMOOD: good, hectic, distracted LOCATION: home office WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: 4:00 wall sit TODO: outline, write, covers? TV: game of thrones, scrubs, Secrets of Sugar documentary BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: none DINNER: spaghetti squash SNACKS: orange, grapes, pecans, lara bar ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 10 & 1:30 AWAKE: 6:00

 

Morning Pages Entry – April 14, 2014

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Couldn’t really sleep in this Monday morning. Although, I still got pretty much a full 7 hours sleep anyways. I went to bed at like 10:30, so waking up at 5:15, and getting up around 6am is still pretty much a full 7 hours sleep. I did wake up to many thoughts of worry about the current state of my writing, and lack of income, and possibility of failure with the business. I do often have those concerns when getting up really early, and, I suppose they’re not really anything new. I used to have them, I remember when I used to get up super early to catch flights out of the country when I was consulting. And, to think of it, back then I was making lots of money. So, obviously, money is not the solution to that problem. I suppose doing work that you feel good about, and that you know your making a good effort at, or in other words, doing your best at. That’s where you need to be. Knowing that your in a position of power, and doing something actively that gets you what you want. Knowing, that your able to take care of yourself, and get the work done that needs to be done. I would love to be in a place, where I know that what I write is good enough to draw a fan base. That I can sit down easily, and write as much as I need to, and that it comes easily. That I feel good at my craft. That writing becomes like picking up a pair of drumsticks, and playing whatever flows through me. That’s the best analogy I’ve come up for where I want my writing to be. That it flows through me like drumming does, when I pick up and just play with a pair of drum sticks. I don’t have to think hard about what to play, it just comes out. I could play for hours and hours like that, with all different kinds of rhythms, and tempos, and styles. That’s how my writing should be. It should just flow out of me like music. Cool. I would like for it to be like that. So, I’m up early and a bit wired. I’m a bit at a loss of where to go next with the novel. I’m pretty much finished I think. Maybe a few more words, to tie some stuff out, then write a little more backstory, then start editing. I would like to know, how many words I can edit in a day. That would be nice to know. I know now, that I can crank out 5000 words before lunch every day, but how long does it take me to edit? More then 5000 I’m sure, but now that I’ve gone and written 90000+ words so far of rough draft, how long will it take me to get through that? Can I do it in a week? Maybe, today, that’s what I should start doing. And, where do I edit it? WriteMonkey is sort of nice for writing in, with the spellchecker and all. Maybe in Scrivener? We’ll have to try a couple of different places I suppose and see what happens. Scrivener might be a good one. Get things a bit more organized, and start moving it over there, scene by scene as you edit them. That’s one way to get it organized, and where you need it for formatting as well. It would give you a chance to get used to using the software, and see what the differences are between yWriter and Scrivener. So, today, it’s all about attitude. About getting your head into the write space. I don’t think, I will be writing 25000 words this week, like I did last week. I do think, I need to get some editing done. I do think, I need to flesh out some more back story and descriptive bits of the novel as I go along. Thinking of editing, maybe, I need to try some of those online tools I bookmarked earlier. I suppose, I shouldn’t get out of this journal this morning without mentioning that my eating and fitness and weight loss plans are at least going well. I haven’t been playing a lot of squash, but I have been walking, and I have been sticking to my no process foods and refined sugars regiment. That’s pretty cool. I seem to have hit 170 lbs over the weekend which was pretty awesome as well. Now to try and hit some writing goals as well. Get that damn book out there.

TIGERBLOOD: yes . . . at end of day DAILYMOOD: happy LOCATION: living room WORDSWRITTEN: 0 PUSHUPS: none TODO: write, edit, read TV: none BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: walking 2 – 1 hour walks WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs
LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: steak SNACKS: orange, grapes ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 10:30 AWAKE: 6:00