My writing Journey so Far

It started with an idea. An idea that made me want to aimlessly type away and get lost in a world I created. Adventure, mystery and a group of children characters to remind us of the joys of childhood.

But the snowball of life was growing and I didn’t have the time to write. When I did write, when I did visit this world of my own, I would spend most of the time editing and reworking scenes. Sometimes an entire year would pass without me looking at my manuscript.

I gave up and walked away from my story. I was no longer in love with it.

Years later I found myself depressed and the only safe cure for it, was writing. I stumbled upon a writer’s website called, “The Write Practice.” A place where you could post your short stories or chapters and other writers will give you helpful feedback. But only if you are fair in return and read and critique the work of three other people.

Having another writer give you feedback is essential. I work-shopped some short stories and in just a few weeks I learned what my strengths and weaknesses were in my own writing.

Then I saw a program that is offered through the site about how to write a complete first draft of your “Book in 100 Days.” There were pictures of authors holding their completed published books. It was their smiles that caught my attention. Faces beaming with delight. I want that. I want to be holding a physical copy of my own book one day. I signed up and within 100 days, I had completed the first draft of my manuscript. It was really, really hard work but I have no regrets for doing so. It was worth the money.

 

How I wrote a Complete First Draft in just 100 days…

First I want to say, that you will get the most out of this program if you start with a fresh, new idea. I cheated in a way by working with a story I already had started. This story was the loudest in my mind so I picked it. Even though I rewrote most of what I had, I think I would have learned more had I started from square one. However, if I did choose to write one of the quieter stories in my mind, I may not have finished. Really, the choice is yours on what project to work on.

The 100 Day course starts with homework: Instructions on how to write a complete Outline, Synopsis, Premise, Deadline & Consequence, Reader Avatar and more.

  “Homework? Isn’t that overkill? I’m not a planner, see, I work best when I am free to let the story follow its own path.”

Maybe thoughts like that, is the reason why I was sitting on an uncompleted manuscript for 8 years. This first part is hard but mandatory. Once finished, I personally looked at my homework many times when I got stuck while writing. This homework is called your road map. Just like a real car trip going someplace new, you don’t have to look at a map but rather, you can drive aimlessly in the right direction. You may find the best scenic route, the best hidden shops and restaurants, or you may spend hours backtracking to the main road. Doing your homework and posting it for all to see is step one.

Like I said, it had clear instructions on how to write that first outline.

“But I don’t have the time to write.”

Everyday, I had to make the time to write. Some weeks I didn’t watch any TV, or YouTube, or play video games. I spent a few Friday nights writing until 1:45 a.m. (For my time zone, the weekly deadline was to post our chapter before 2 a.m. Friday night.)

When the 100 days began, we were put into groups and told where to post our weekly chapters. The weekly goal was around 3,000+ words and the total goal at the end was to have 65,000 words. These numbers were encouraged but not mandatory. By the end I was just shy of 60,000 words.

I received weekly check-ins/high-fives by another writer, as they check to see if you posted your weekly submission. Knowing someone is watching for your next chapter each week, knowing I would be held accountable, was the key for me to continue to the finish line. I had to pay for this course, but the beautiful part is, if I met the weekly deadlines all the way to the end, I would get $100 credited back. It worked. Accountability is a strong force.

Daily e-mails were sent out, with writing advice and writing prompts. These emails helped me think outside the box. They taught me how to strap my character to a chair, and interrogate them until they tell me what they want and what their back-story truly is.

I received Weekly emails with the link to teaching videos. They taught things like world building or explaining different points of view. We always had access to the videos and could watch them in order, or not. I personally jumped all over the place.

We were invited to weekly webinars, where different writers were interviewed. These are men and women who have published their works and there was always a Q & A at the end.

For my class, us students were repeatedly reminded to give feedback to three people in their assigned group. Now most people were posting 3,000-5,000 word chapters weekly. In the first few weeks I tried very hard to read and comment on 3 people. But I soon noticed my own writing for that week, suffered because of the time I was spending on reading. I ended up just following two stories during the course and finished reading a third story after the course was over.

I usually only had one or two comments each week. Other people average 0 comments most of the way through. But the goal of this course is to finish your first draft, not to be the most popular. I believe there were over 120 people who sign up, but only 40ish actually finished.

After the 100th day, you get access to the Write Practice Workshop. This is separate from the 100 days students. This is where writers are posting their random chapters, blog posts, poems or anything they want. Here is a place we can give and receive feedback. I am looking forward to posting one chapter a week there and working my way through my second draft.

I highly recommend this course. But if it’s not for you, then I hope you keep going any ways! Don’t give up on your dream, whatever that may be. One day I hope to have a picture of myself holding my own book.

Thanks for reading, have a great day!