Diane Wordsworth: freelance writer ● novelist ● editor ● ghostwriter ● book reviewer ● member of the CWA ● world-famous nutter-magnet
With me falling quite a way behind, I finally managed to crack on with some NaNo, hopefully in time to rescue the situation. On Friday, Day 26, I had just under 18,000 words to go, which gave me 5 days at 3,600 words per day. I wrote 3,667 words (35,842). 35,842/50,000 words. 72% done! I also had ghostwriting to do and the plan was to work at the weekend. Saturday was very busy, though, and I didn’t get around to […]
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Day 25, I think. And I can’t say Days 19 – 25, because I only seem to have done something yesterday, which was Day 25. So I’ll just claim that one. On Wednesday I submitted the final part of Ghostwriting (1) gig Book 7, and before the day was over, the client was asking if I could start a new story yet. I told him I could start on Monday, and he sent over the next storyline and some tentative […]
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On Thursday evening I received a message via the contact form. It was from QueryLetter.com and it was to let me know that they’d given me an award. I receive a lot of spam via the contact form, so the first thing I did was go and check that this was a genuine organisation. It involved some searching, but the upshot is that they are. So, thank you very much to QueryLetter.com for awarding Words Worth Writing a Top Writing […]
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It’s been a whole week since I updated everyone on my NaNoWriMo progress. This is mostly because I took some time off. I took two days to catch up with and clear a ghostwriting instalment, and then I took two days holiday. Day 12 Last Friday, then, which was Day 12, I wrote a blog post, duplicated a blog post on Medium, raised an invoice (hurrah!), scheduled a blog post for Monday’s publication of Mardi Gras, and I did a load […]
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By the time Day 11 arrived, I was more than a thousand words over where I should be if I’d done 1,667 words every day, and that was before I even did Day 11. Before then, though, there was gig list admin to do. Because the poet came back from his business trip a day early, he was able to do all of the gig-collection and posted it to the website, and he managed to share the list to everywhere […]
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After struggling to get up for several days on the trot, I was finally at my desk by 10am yesterday, with all social media stuff done. I started the next book on my reading list for November, having finished the first one the day before. And I created a new project on Asana for reading. I decided on December’s four books to read and created a new Instagram poster for that, and I updated the Asana project with book cover […]
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Day 9 of NaNoWriMo was another day I went off down a rabbit hole. I’ve been trying to organise my reading, and so this time I was looking for a spreadsheet that collected stats and created nice, pretty charts without me having to learn how to make and position them. Of course, the main aim was to keep a record of the books I’m reading and why I’m reading them. I wouldn’t want to spend time on a book in […]
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This post was going to be a ‘weekend off’ post and it was going to post yesterday. Then I remembered that I also had a publication day post for yesterday, so the weekend off post was added to the NaNoWriMo Day 8 post. Day 5 Day 5, or Friday was supposed to be a day off for me. I was supposed to have a holiday with the poet, but I had a ghostwriting deadline. So I reported to my desk […]
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I had a late start for Day 4 of NaNo. A VERY late start. And I also had a lot of work to do. However, I still wanted to do my NaNo bit for the day and while it wasn’t the first job, I did manage it in the end. I wrote 2,728 words on Day 4. 10,523/50,000 words. 21% done! Before then, though, I had gig list work to do. The poet had already updated the gig list and […]
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I’m in the exciting first few stages of writing and am already at almost 8,000 words after only three days. I hope I can keep the momentum and the rhythm going. I wrote 2,515 words on Day 3. 7,795/50,000 words. 16% done! In other work, I started renegotiating an existing contract. I came close to terminating the contract but the client was really nice and convinced me to have another think. So I am. Because I knew I wouldn’t be […]
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I’ve been using my own 10-project planner for over a year and it really works. But it’s also really basic as well as being really high maintenance. While I was looking for a word-count progress meter (see below and in sidebar… also below on mobile devices), I think I found a new one. On Monday, Day 1 of NaNoWriMo, I finally got around to trying it out. And it really is lovely. Seamless. Easy to use. And all I have […]
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Day 1 of this year’s NaNoWriMo was actually yesterday, and today is Day 2. However, I’m a day behind on the blog posts as they’re usually a round-up of the day before (or days before if other posts have sneaked in). The story I’m working on for this year’s NaNo is The Fool: a Stevie Becks mystery. This is a series of novella-length stories. I was supposed to be doing proper prep work last week, but I was so busy I […]
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I had a late start on Thursday due to working very late into Wednesday night. I finished one of the ghostwriting gigs, though, and by the time I got up on Thursday, payment had been approved and the contract for the next instalment had arrived. Because I was slogging away at the ghostwriting, and because it was peeing down with rain, I didn’t get to walk home from work on Wednesday. That means that, technically, me and the dog were still […]
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Prep Day Zero is actually all of the prep work for the prep work. For me, it’s reminding myself of the steps that work when I outline a project, and this week I’ve created tasks in my Asana project file. Including Day Zero, there are actually six prep days rather than five, but the last one is Day Five. What’s the difference? Well, one to five are actually writing work. Or jotting things down. Zero is just setting up reminders, […]
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Yup, looks like I’ve signed up to do NaNo again this year. If there’s one thing walking to work and back every day does, it gives you time to think things through. I’m very busy doing a lot of work. I’m currently ghostwriting not one but two novels. One is a Regency romance, the other is a contemporary story. Both need a certain amount of research doing, although I’m getting quite familiar with the Regency era. I’m also editing for […]
Read moreCongratulations to all of my fellow NaNoWriMoErs who hit their target this year. Commiserations if you didn’t reach your target, but don’t worry. I failed for far too many years to mention before finally finding my NaNoMoJo, and now I’ve won 4 years on the trot. Well done to everyone who took part. It can be a big decision and it can take a lot out of your working week – or even your personal time. Here are my own […]
Read moreWell, I made it. Despite taking several days off, including an unplanned additional 6 days sick, I reached the finish line once again with a total of 50,270 words. I still have a way to go. The novel isn’t finished and I’m going to keep it up. But after years and years of failing at NaNoWriMo, I’m delighted to be a winner for the past 4 years on the trot. Writertopia still isn’t working properly. Perhaps in a day or […]
Read moreWe had a very busy weekend with Monkey Dust playing both Friday and Saturday evenings. Two very late nights on the trot automatically mean two very late lie-ins the next day too. I also had a massive proofreading job I wanted to finish, and I ended up finishing it at the gig on Saturday evening so that we could drop it in by hand on the way home. Plus, we needed to do our weekly shopping and we took MiL […]
Read moreI didn’t mean to take another day off. But yesterday I did a new assignment and by the time I got home something else happened to distract me from my writing: My book was published! The book was supposed to be published next year some time, but we did so well getting it ready, publication was brought forward to 30 November. The eagle-eyed will notice that yesterday was not 30 November either. It was 20 November. Another 10 days early. […]
Read moreThe weekend just gone was planned time off. I had 2 of my 5 days off together, as I prefer to have days off at the weekend than midweek. Saturday was a shopping and housework day, and a recce for two more assignments that have come in for me this Friday. Sunday was a run out to Derwent Reservoir to get some photographs of the usually flooded village that’s currently exposed. The area was rammed and there were thousands of […]
Read moreOops-a-daisy! I seem to have had another inadvertent day off. I’m not beating myself up about it, though. I’m currently very busy and next week is looking busier. And anyway, I’m not really lagging behind either. Yesterday was spent arranging two new assignments for next week that involve (shock! horror!) leaving the house! 😱 There’s also not a lot I can say at this stage either, as it’s quite confidential. 🤫 But the two appointments will take me out of the house for most […]
Read moreI’ve not had much time again today, as I’ve been pitching for some new and different jobs as well as continuing with the existing work I have in. I only managed to add around 700 words to my running total. But I have a few more very short scenes and Act II Part II is possibly complete, with some scenes that may need editing out. I seem to have won the new work – possibly 4 jobs for next week that […]
Read moreI didn’t get around to NaNo until quite late on this afternoon. I’ve been in correspondence with various people, including editing and proofreading clients as well as the publisher of my Cadbury book. The great news is, my book has arrived on the publisher’s desk! And they’re very happy with the result. I can hardly wait until I see my own copies and can feel them in my hands! We also discussed a few other things, and I’m going to […]
Read moreI hit my weekly target by the end of Thursday evening. I’d planned to take Sunday off, but as things transpired, I had 3 days off! But as I’d hit my weekly target by the end of Thursday, I didn’t beat myself up too much over it. Friday was a sad day as one of our chickens died. We’d been nursing her for several weeks, so it wasn’t a surprise. It was just so very sad. On Friday evening until […]
Read moreSo now I’m thinking, if I can do this in November for NaNoWriMo, why can’t I do it the rest of the year as well? My daily target is 2,000 words, which means I can also have 5 days off. My usual daily target is around 1,000 words per writing day. If I upped that to 2,000 words, and still had the whole weekend off, that would give me around 40,000 words per 4-week month. NaNoWriMo advocates 30 days of […]
Read moreI was quite tired yesterday following the shenanigans of the previous evening, but by 5pm I’d completed my day’s work quota. I’d added more than 3,000 words and I reached my first 100 pages on a proofreading job. I always like to hit the first 100 pages. At 5pm, I checked on the chickens, put them away, and settled down to read a Robert Goddard, a real book, with real pages, and a real light to read it by. I was looking forward […]
Read moreIt was a long day yesterday. We visited Mom last night – she was great and in fine form – and we were set to be home at a fairly reasonable time, around 10pm. On our way down we’d seen an accident on the M42 that had just happened. One lorry had stopped, a car was on the central reservation facing the wrong way, and the traffic hadn’t started to back-up yet. By the time we were on our way […]
Read moreWe were going to visit my mom on Saturday and then stop off at Sherwood Forest, or similar, on the way back as it was going to be such a nice day. However, there was a stomach bug at the home, and visitors were asked to stay away. So we stayed in and baked instead. I’ve called the home this morning, and we can go and visit Mom this evening. Therefore, I’ve cracked on with work a little earlier than […]
Read moreThe plan always was to work yesterday, and take today off as my first day off. Then the plan changed because the weather was supposed to be nicest yesterday. We were going to go out for the day. Then that plan changed as well and we decided to stay in. However, I decided to keep it as my day off and work today instead, negotiating this with the poet, who naturally agreed. I did nip onto the NaNo website to […]
Read moreDay 2 and I’m still planning a bit while writing a bit, although my word-count did go up quite considerably this morning. NaNoWriMo is my first “job” of the day. Whether I’m planning or writing, it’s the first thing to get my attention, after about an hour of admin/household stuff. The day before yesterday I delivered a proofreading job. They were so happy with the work, the following day they asked if I could do another 13,000 words by the […]
Read moreAnd so it begins again … I was a little late to the party this year. For the past few years I’ve been ready to go by the end of play on 31 October. This year, I finished most of the prep at around 1:30pm today. Eek! When I say prep, I mean my Scrivener binder – it’s currently mostly blank, but at least all the bits are there waiting to be filled in. I’m being a rebel this year. […]
Read moreFor the third year running, I tackled NaNoWriMo, making it a priority instead of an also-ran. For the third year running, I tackled it using Scrivener. For the third year running, I won! Of a fashion … I’d like to say I think I’ve cracked it, but it was still very, very hard work. It was still hard to make my own writing a priority, even though it was for a contracted book, when I have paid editing and proofreading […]
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