The Word Cloud

I've not been around here for a good couple of weeks now - and I am doing it for a good reason.

I need to write.

I need to write without distraction, without worrying about critique (that can come later!), without fretting over too many adverbs or whether I am using the passive voice. Basically, I need to grow some self discipline, and the way I am going to do it is by going cold turkey; rather than wiling away the hours buggering around on the 'net pretending I am going to write later, I am only going to turn on my laptop to check emails and type things up. So far I have completely re-structured one of my fantasy tales (I'm going to concentrate on that for now. The Pratchett competition was a pipe-dream: there ain't no way I was ever going to get that done, and so I am going for my YA story now, with Black Smokers as my back up. I just think I have a better chance with the YA tale overall) and have written an in-depth outline and character bios (along with their motivations) as well as changing a few key plot lines so they make more sense. I'm 17,000 words in now, and I'm not stopping until I hit at least 70,000.

So no more mucking about. By the time I come back here, I want my first draft done, even if it is just a scrappy piece of shit. No excuses.

Thank you everyone for all your help and support so far - it has been invaluable (and has probably helped me shave a little bit of my editing time down). I hope all of your projects are going well!

Take care and I'll hopefully see you all soon,

Ely

xx