First Week Progress Report

This is what I have done in the past week in relation to Mr. Palmer's advice:

1. I have created a situation and characters for a children's novel, complete with outline and notes on characters and settings. Michael Palmer would have completed a proposal and a more extensive outline. In fact, he wouldn't have written word one without his agent's feedback on the proposal. Check out his detailed writing tips page for the reason why. I don't have any external constraints before I start my novel because I don't have an agent or publisher. I can only guess whether my story will be of interest to a large number of readers.

2. I've set aside time from 8-10 each night to write, but I have to confess I haven't done it every night. In fact, I've had trouble using the whole two hours just for my novel. I've journaled and researched and procrastinated for much of that time. Last night I went to bed early because I felt like crap and haven't made up the time yet.

3. This has very little to do with Palmer's explicit advice but it works well as a support for my goals. I downloaded the program CopyWrite which has a few features I really like. I can create different documents (for chapters, characters, premise, places, outline...) under one project name and write notes in the margin of each of them so I don't have to go back through the text of the novel to see what I had in mind. It keeps track of stats like word count, page count, and character count as I type. Best of all, it has a full-screen mode so I can type without being distracted by any other programs or toolbars. It sounds like a minimal feature, but boy does it work for me!


What I need to do moving forward:

1. I must stick to a writing schedule every day. Looking back at past successes, I know the "magic" formula: Put in the time. I'll force myself to at least sit at my computer with the document up for an hour and a half of the two-hour time slot. The other half hour I'll allow for journaling, which helps me get the ideas rolling.

2. Let go of the idea that everything I type has to be gold. I need to get my novel down on paper before I worry about editing, even in my mind.

3. Write, write, write.