Density Studios

2010-11-14T15:23:00.003-08:00

2010-11-14T15:23:00.001-08:00

2010-11-13T10:28:00.001-08:00

2010-11-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

2010-11-05T18:53:00.001-07:00

2010-11-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

Still trucking!

2010-11-02T20:12:00.001-07:00

More writing

2010-11-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

I was trying to get a little more story under my belt, to have some sort of cushion in case something happened later on. I'm 3567 words in now.

2010-11-01T13:58:00.001-07:00

I'm on my way.

Off to a slow start

2010-04-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

ScriptFrenzy began yesterday, and in the days leading up to the start I was looking forward to getting to write out the story I had been brainstorming and outlining for more than a month.
But once it was time to sit down and actually get some writing done last night, I just didn't feel I had the urge or the ability to put anything to keyboard. I forced myself to do 5 pages, which for me is pretty much nothing. But it was all I could do to get that far.
I'm glad that I was able to work a little harder it at this evening. I got another 8 pages finished, which brings my grand total up to 13 now. I've still got plenty of hours left int he day, and I'd like to get a little more writing done to be honest. I'd actually like to get to the 25 page mark today. I know that it's doable, it took me a little less than a half an hour to do the 8 pages earlier. I've still got 11 to go? That's doable. Easily.

The start of ScriptFrenzy

2010-04-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

Something different

2010-02-04T19:41:00.000-08:00

I'm trying a different approach, my hands have been hurting quite a bit, so I was trying to come up with a shorthand to get the ideas down. I think I've found something that works. Now granted, this is something between and outline and a zero draft, but it's fast and it's dialog and action and so it basically resembles a script.

And since I generally do around 3 passes before i give anyone something to look at, I figure I might as well make the first one as easy on me as possible.

Morning Total To Date

2010-01-31T13:49:00.000-08:00

NHZ Week

2010-01-31T13:16:00.000-08:00

For some reason I've set the nearly impossible goal of writing an zero draft of the entire first season of Nursing Home Zombies in a week. Just to be clear, that's Sunday through Sunday. So it will be a total of 8 days, but a page count of around 230 pages. Which means I'll have to average around 30 pages a day.

Luckily, I have the first two episodes outlined, but that's about it. I've got notes and reminders and possible ideas for the rest of them, but no real solid plot. Plus, once I get going I'm sure things will morph and change along the way.

I'm sure in order to do this I'm going to have to fore go probably all television or other distractions this week. Luckily, I've got more than enough music to play in the background to keep me going.

Back to the novel

2010-01-19T22:04:00.000-08:00

I had really meant to do some work on the novel over Christmas break since I was going to have almost two weeks away from work. I didn't do any writing at all. Never even opened the document. So I guess you could say I wasted that opportunity.
I'm back at home, and back in the whole "get to work" mindset so I'm going to force myself to finish this thing. At least for a first draft. I hate having projects I've started just hanging out there incomplete. I'm not going to let this one be part of that category.

Total To Date

2009-11-29T22:11:00.001-08:00

I DID IT!

2009-11-29T22:10:00.000-08:00

I'm surprised that I'm actually as proud as I am. I knew that it would be an accomplishment, and I knew that it was something I could be proud of when I completed it. But to sit here and realize that I've actually finished it? I think that's pretty amazing. I wrote 50,000 words in 30 days.
Actually, I did it in a little less than 30 days, but that's neither here nor there.

I'm just really proud of myself for doing it!

Total To Date

2009-11-29T18:41:00.002-08:00

The Home Stretch

2009-11-29T18:41:00.000-08:00

Just tonight and tomorrow and then we'll be done. I can't believe it's nearly over. I've done pretty well this month I think. I had good days and bad, word count wise. There were a number of days where I just didn't want to write, but I never really got to the point where I didn't care about the story. Maybe writing it on the fly like this is the reason why. I sat down with no firm outline for what to write each day, so the story just kept evolving on its own.

I've got less then 900 words to go. I can't decide if I should go for it all tonight, or write the last 900 words tomorrow.

Total To Date

2009-11-28T12:01:00.001-08:00

I can't beleive it's almost over

2009-11-28T11:43:00.000-08:00

I've been pretty good over the holiday break of getting my writing done. We're almost at the finish line, and there's still a few thousand words to go. But I'm almost there and it feels amazing.

2009-11-27T13:23:00.001-08:00

Total To Date

2009-11-26T13:10:00.002-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving, now get to writing.

2009-11-26T13:10:00.000-08:00

I didn't do any writing yesterday. We got let out of work early, and I did some shopping and then just didn't feel like putting in any work when I got home. I was still slightly ahead of the pace because of the work I got done on Monday.
Today I wanted to make sure that I was at least still on pace. I got that done and a little more. I can't believe it's almost over. It's been a quick 26 days, and there's still a lot of words left to do in the next 4 days. I can see the end coming though, and I'm not going to give up now.

2009-11-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

I just keep sitting myself down at the desk and pushing through. I've had my fair share of stumbling blocks and writers blocks this month, but I'm still barreling ahead as efficiently and productively as possible.

Total To Date

2009-11-23T20:01:00.002-08:00

My best day by far

2009-11-23T20:01:00.000-08:00

It was another night of me wanting to sit here and write, but forcing myself to at least get 800 words in. I was going to do half of tonight's word count, and then have dinner and come back for the second half.
Instead I just kept writing until I got to 1600, and then kept writing until I got 2000, and then thought I should try and get two days worth of words done in one sitting.
After I passed that benchmark, I thought I'd just keep going and see how far I could actually get. I guess 4214 is the answer. I probably could have gone a little longer, but I'm really hungry now.

Total To Date

2009-11-22T21:47:00.001-08:00

Final burst, back on pace

2009-11-22T21:46:00.001-08:00

If I didn't keep skipping days, this probably wouldn't be so difficult. And at this rate, if I were to just put in the 3000 words I already did today every other day, I would have finished the 50,000 word goal quite awhile ago.

Oh well.

Two bursts down, one to go.

2009-11-22T20:48:00.001-08:00

Lots to do

2009-11-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

I've got nearly 3000 words to write tonight, so I'm going to try and do them in short 1000 word segments. Slow and steady wins the race right?

Total To Date

2009-11-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

More than I bargained for

2009-11-19T21:02:00.000-08:00

I was definitely not feeling it tonight. I was dreading turning around and putting the proverbial digital ink to screen, but I was going to force myself to at least get 1200 words done. Somehow, 1200 has become the acceptable half-assed goal.

Instead, I got the 1200 mark and kept going until I got to the 1700 mark, and still kept going, until I eventually finished up at 2417. And even then I only stopped because it was time for some dinner.

And I'm still trucking along

2009-11-18T21:13:00.000-08:00

Good advice

2009-11-18T19:38:00.001-08:00

Neil Gaiman's an author I've followed for a long time, as I'm sure many people on the internet have. He's offered some advice and pepping up for the NaNoWriMo crowd.

Sharp Right Ahead

2009-11-18T19:07:00.000-08:00

I realized tonight that the character I had initially thought I would relate to the most, Logan, has become the character I can relate to the least. I spent a good amount of effort outlining and fleshing out a number of who I would I thought the main characters in this novel would be. Logan and Chaney being the 2 male leads. As it turns out, Logan is a great character, but not who I thought he was. And two characters I created on the fly because the story birthed them, Sam and Claire, are my two favorite characters.

It's interesting how that evolution takes pace when you're crafting a story. It's a common practice that shows up in all of my writing. It's become part of my process at this point.
I still really like Logan and who he is and what he's going to have to do, it's just become clear that he's not "me".

As well as meeting new characters, I've realized a few other key logic and strategy points need to be investigated further. All of which is just building blocks for the rest of the story.

Total To Date

2009-11-17T23:22:00.001-08:00

Sleep is my friend, but words are my...lovers?

2009-11-17T23:21:00.001-08:00

Yeah, I don't know either. I was going to do just a couple hundred more words and then go to bed, but I got kind of into the groove and didn't want to stop, next thing I knew, I was almost 500 words ahead of today's pace. Of course, now I'm exhausted and I still have a full day ahead of me tomorrow.

Day 17, and we're behind. Again.

2009-11-17T19:56:00.000-08:00

I did a little bit of writing last night, and that's caused me to fall behind again. I'm going to try and get caught up tonight, but I'm going to have to split it up in smaller sections. So, section one is finished.

Section two will have to wait until after dinner. Thankfully, Tuesday night is void of any television worth watching, so I won't have that distraction. Not new tv anyway. I've still got to finish off the stuff that's already on my dvr.

Stupid temptation and diversions.

Total To Date

2009-11-16T22:19:00.001-08:00

Failure

2009-11-16T22:18:00.001-08:00

I did my best to stay up to pace today, but it just didn't happen. I did half of my word count tonight, but that's the most you're getting out of me.

Total To Date

2009-11-15T21:00:00.002-08:00

Still going strong?

2009-11-15T21:00:00.000-08:00

I did a lot to catch up yesterday, and today I'm still finishing a few words ahead of the pace. I'm trying to stay on top of this, and just keep pushing. Parts of this story I even like. Who knows, there might be a few hundred words worth keeping when it's all said and done.

Day 14

2009-11-14T21:03:00.000-08:00

I skipped writing last night, that was a bad idea. Now I've got 2 days to make up again. I had finally gotten myself caught up, and then just passed the buck and didn't even try. Way to go me!

Total To Date

2009-11-14T17:07:00.001-08:00

Total To Date

2009-11-12T22:14:00.000-08:00

Day 12

2009-11-12T22:13:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's easy to know the story in your head. Other days, it's like trying to pull a tractor trailer out of the tar pits with a Vespa. Today was one of the easier days.
I started out in the middle of the wrong scene though. Once I got that all straightened out and put the pieces in the right places, it was smooth sailing from there. I don't think today's word count was the fastest word count production, but felt fast.
I'm sure that had a lot to do with the fact that I was really enjoying it.

Total To Date

2009-11-11T23:01:00.003-08:00

Too distracted

2009-11-11T23:01:00.001-08:00

I admit I maybe played a little too much MW2 yesterday, but tonight I essentially wasted the entire evening. And so I had to force myself to get some writing done again. I was tempted to just avoid it and go to bed. Maybe int he morning we'll see if I should have done that. But I put in another 2000 words or so. I'm almost caught up to the daily pace marker.

Total To Date

2009-11-11T00:16:00.001-08:00

Distractions and Commitment

2009-11-11T00:15:00.001-08:00

Modern Warfare 2 was released today, and like any good video game fan, I went out and picked up me pre-ordered copy and spent a couple of hours playing tonight. I was foregoing my mandatory writing for the first day game play experience.

But as I realized that if I didn't do any writing tonight, I'd have to do almost 5000 words tomorrow, I forced myself to at least get to 16k words tonight. Starting at 11:24 wasn't the smartest move, and it's going to make for a very early morning tomorrow.

I did hit the 16,000 word mark though, so I at least accomplished that. Go team!

Total To Date

2009-11-09T22:20:00.002-08:00

Day 9, still trudging along

2009-11-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

Still trying to do my best and stay up to pace for NaNoWriMo. Didn't get any writing done Saturday as I was out all day. Yesterday I did around 2100 words, tonight I've done the daily 1700+, but I'm still trying to catch up for Saturday's zero day.

Not giving up yet though. This is still doable.

If I hadn't wasted so much time watching reruns of "Numbers" earlier I probably could have gotten all caught up. But now I'm tired, and I think I'm going to watch some "Castle" and then off to bed.

My progress so far

2009-11-06T19:47:00.000-08:00

I'm supposed to be at 10,200 words by the end of the night. I didn't write at all on Wednesday, so I'm still trying to catch up on that. Still, I'm making progress a little at a time.

Currently:

NaNoWriMo 2009

2009-11-06T19:40:00.000-08:00

It's November 6th, so we're 6 days in and I've fallen a little behind. I've got a lot to try and get done tonight to get back up on track. But, I've just found an interesting new tool. Write or Die.

I put in the goal of 1000 words, and it forced me to sit there and really make my brain focus, and apparently, I did 1183 words in 16 minutes. I'd say that's a fairly decent accomplish. I need to write about 3000 tonight to get caught up. At that kind of speed, I could probably manage to get caught up in one evening. Provided I can stay committed to the writing.

1st Draft Publications

2009-02-25T08:30:00.000-08:00

Every week, on Friday, I am going to post 10 pages of a story, that is a first draft version. This being the case, spelling will probably be off, the story may not make a lot of sense, and I have the feeling characters will change drastically over the course of the project.

I got the idea after listening to Jonathan Coulton's Song a Week Volume 1 the other day and thought, if he can do a song a week, I can certainly do 10 pages a week. I mean, how hard could that really be?

Anyway, it's just an experiment, not only in writing ability, but also consistency and follow through.

If you like it, please keep coming back, and comments or feedback are always welcome.

See you friday.