Edit 7/4/13: This blog originally started as a daily writing log for me to track progress in my first novel. The daily log posts have since been hidden since they're of little interest to anyone but me.
Well, hullo there. My name is Renee Melton and I am writing a novel.
No, I am not an alcoholic, but I do think that the things we believe become our reality. I figure if I say "I am writing a novel" enough times, I'll eventually start taking this mess of notes on my laptop seriously.
Here's the thing. I'm a sophomore in college and, at the beginning of the semester, I changed my major from Music Education to Creative Writing. It was kind of a major thing for me because I've always wanted to be a writer, but I never wanted to jump for it because it's not exactly a stable career. (I do have career plans - grad school for library science - but this was still a huge step towards what I really want.) A lot of last-minute shuffling and a bit of a fluke landed me with only thirteen credits - which, considering I originally had 20 credits and 23 hours of class time, means I have a HELL of a lot of free time this semester. For the last two weeks I've been doing a lot of flailing around trying to figure out what on earth to do with all this time.
Then I realized something. I could write a novel.
Seriously. I'm at the brink of my working life; I'll never have another opportunity like this. I have hours of free time and a college library at my disposal. I've been writing almost every day of my life since I was twelve or thirteen -- Crazy Freshman Year excepted -- and all I really lack is experience in how to tame a great big word-beast so it makes sense and makes you think. This thing I've been dreaming about all my life -- I could do it right now.
The thought scared me shitless. And that was when I realized the real reason I never got around to finishing anything I started: I never really accepted the fact that I can.
If I don't do this now, I'm never going to.
So here's the deal, friends: this blog is here to keep me honest. My goal is to work on this novel EVERY DAY for the next 111 days: starting tomorrow, Monday October 3rd, until move-in day for spring semester. I'm going to spend an hour in the morning and two hours in the evening, plus five hours on the weekend; my goal is to write 1000 words a day, although of course I have a lot of shaping to do before I even get to the writing part. Goodness knows if I'll even get to writing in the time I'm giving myself - but I'm going to try.
Starting tomorrow, I'm going to post every day letting you know just what I've gotten done. Here's what you get to know:
Time Spent Working:
Word Count: (or what I spent my time on, if I'm still fleshing things out)
50 Fun Words: (a snippet from the day's writing. Or, if I'm not doing writing-writing, then "5 New Discoveries" - 5 things I've learned or accomplished.)
Occasionally I might post fun odds and ends from the writer's den in my brain. Maybe you'll get to see an odd scene from what I'm writing -- although I make no promises. :p
What, you ask, am I writing? Ahhhh. That's my secret. ;) You'll have to be content with my daily snippet - I don't want to post big parts of my writing in a public blog. Also, I like to torture people. :]
Well, I'll tell you this much: it's a fantasy. But if you know anything at all about my writing, you could have guessed that.
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