So much for ‘The Zone’

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Mark Oetjens

I guess you can only be in The Zone for so long before God or Mother Nature or the Easter Bunny pulls you out. And I’m almost certain that bragging about being there or expecting your stay to last only makes whoever controls The Zone pull you out faster. At least, that’s been my experience over the past few weeks.

I’m currently so far from The Zone that my lofty goal of 1,000 words a day seems like a cruel joke. I managed to write only 1,354 words this week. Sad, I know.

But I’m a writer. And although my mid-June estimate for a completed 1st draft is pretty much history, I will continue to plug away at writing my post-apocalyptic survival story, or the diversionary story or the serial I intend to write.

Writers write. And Zone or no Zone, I am a writer.

It Figures!

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Mark Oetjens

Leave it to me to announce a goal of 7000 words per week and the very next week fail to reach 2500. What can I say? It was a long week and I hit a writing slump at the worst possible time. Shit happens.

*This was supposed to post on Sunday, May 5th. For some reason it was only saved as a Draft. But I swear I hit Publish. Really!

Upping the Ante

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Mark Oetjens

Since I started writing again I’ve felt like I’ve been in the Zone. I’ve written every single day over the past two weeks and I feel like I’m becoming a stronger, more effective writer.

Last week I did around 3000 words. This week, 4365 words.

I said a while back that I hoped to have a first draft completed by the middle of June. That’s just seven weeks away. I just did the math. By subtracting how much I’ve written so far, to hit the 50k word mark I’ll have to write just under 5000 words per week. 60k words: just over 6000 words per week. And 80k words: about 9000 words per week.

Based on those numbers, and since I’m not exactly sure how long this manuscript will end up being, I now have a new output goal: 7000 words per week. That’s right, a thousand words a day. Almost double what I wrote this week.

Is it possible? I don’t see why not. People average more than that for NaNoWriMo every year. In his blog Hugh Howey says that participating in NaNoWriMo made him a professional writer. Well, I’m calling this MyNoWri7, My Novel Writing Seven Weeks.

It’s Good to be Back

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Mark Oetjens

Well, I’m back writing again. And it feels great! Netflix is a memory. Other distractions are being managed. And I think I’ve found a schedule that fits me. 3,000 words in six days! Not my best output, but for my first week back… I’ll take it.

BTW, the Word Meter estimates my next project (the one I’m working on now) at 50,000 words. Considering how far along in the story I am and how much I have left to write, 50,000 words is a lowball estimate. I’m thinking somewhere between 60 and 80,000 words. But until I hit 50,000 words and can accurately gauge how much of the story I have left to write, I’m going to leave the Word Meter at 50k.

I’ve Kinda Been Busy

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Mark Oetjens

I got my iPad about a month ago and as expected all the distractions threatened to destroy my writing career. I’ve spent the last month playing Angry Birds and doing research for my upcoming serial. And by research I mean watching several episodic TV series in their entirety on Netflix. Add to that a handful of movies and a few other distracting apps and you get an idea of how I’ve spent the last month.

Of course, I knew it would happen. I even said so in my last post. But, alas, I’ve gone as far as I can in Angry Birds, my free month of Netflix ended yesterday and many of the other distracting apps have lost their luster. Which means this morning I woke up early and started writing again.

The going was slow and I didn’t get much written in the two hours before work. I’m still trying to get used to using this onscreen keyboard. I’m still trying to get used to Pages (I was writing on Word 97, if you can believe that!). And of course, not writing a damn word in the last month didn’t help my output.

I figure if I write everyday before work and make a serious attempt to write again after, I should have a first draft of my Post-Apoc novel relatively soon. I’ve decided to use the Pomodoro Method of writing for 25 minutes followed by a 5 minute break. And yes, there is an app for that. Anyway, I’m pushing for mid-June to have the rough draft completed.

I am, however, a HUGE Chicago Blackhawks fan. They are having an amazing season and I know watching their charge for the Stanley Cup will probably set my mid-June projection back a bit. Just a warning.