Last week was exceptionally good – a total of 8,358 words including 3,603 words on Sunday which is the most productive single day I’ve ever had. The week was spent on a mix of Glitch revisions and a new story that I haven’t settled on a name for yet. It bounces between Leah’s Story, Scavenger Girl and The Girl in the City. That big push on Sunday took me to the end of the main revisions of Glitch, I just need to go through some final tweaks and then the second draft will be complete. [Metrics Monday – 16th June 2014 by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 17th June 2014]
Metrics Monday – 9th June 2014
Despite packing in over 80km of running, I managed a very productive week. I spent a lot of time working on the revisions for Glitch but Ethel has been bugging me about a new story and I ended up writing the opening sequence and outlining the rest of it. The story’s currently called Leah but I suspect that will change. Total word count for the week was 6,044 which was a lot more than I’d have expected. Glitch is coming along very nicely. As I write this, I’ve got about 11,000 words to revise plus a couple of chapters to rewrite and then the second draft will be done. I still have a bunch of notes I made during this draft that I need to work through and I want to get my first reader (that’s my wife) to read it. That will result in a third draft but that one shouldn’t be as extensive and I’m hoping I can get it done this month. I’ll also be trying to fit some time in to finish Leah. Ethel has really got my attention with this one and I’m having a hard time working on Glitch instead. [Metrics Monday – 9th June 2014 by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 9th June 2014]
Metrics Monday – 2nd June 2014
At first glance, last week was extremely unproductive – I wrote a feeble 2,061 words. But, with the exception of a quick outline on a new idea, all that time was spent on the second draft of Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet. Revising doesn’t result in high word counts and I’m now over 20,000 words into the draft. I’ve got a couple of chapters I need to rewrite but other than that, the heavy lifting is complete. I just need to fix all the thousands of tiny mistakes by the end of June. [Metrics Monday – 2nd June 2014 by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 2nd June 2014]
Metrics Monday – 26th May 2014
Another week, another seven days added to the writing streak (330 days and counting). A real mix of stuff this week. Some revisions of Glitch, a trial chapter on the next novel I’ll be writing and revisions of a couple of short stories Saviour and The Face on Benefit Street. All in all, a total of 3,896 words which is a bit less than I’d have liked but our renovations had a bigger impact than I thought they would. This week will mostly be spent on Glitch. I’ve still got over a month to get it revised but I want to get back to The Ghost Smuggler and on to my next novel as soon as possible. [Metrics Monday – 26th May 2014 by Philip Harris was first posted on Solitary Mindset on 27th May 2014]
Metrics Monday – 19th May 2014
I spent three days at home this week, which meant I got plenty of time to write and clocked up another 6,517 words. I’ve switched to editing Glitch but half of that word count was a new story, tentatively titled The Face in Benefit Park. I finished the first draft on Saturday and I’m really happy with it. I’ll leave it to fester for a few days before revising it and then running it past my first reader – my wife. I’m not expecting this week to be as productive – word counts should be a lot lower while I revise Glitch. [Metrics Monday – 19th May 2014 by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 19th May 2014]
Metrics Monday – 12th May 2014
Another very productive week – 6,324 words. The majority of that was working The Ghost Smuggler but I did also revise Immersion Therapy and outline a new story which doesn’t have a title yet. Unfortunately, The Ghost Smuggler isn’t finished and I need to move on so I’ve put it aside for (hopefully) a couple of weeks to work on the Glitch revisions. I’ve got some time off this week (including a Canadian long weekend) and I’m not back to a full training schedule yet so I’m hoping to make a big dent in it over the next few days. [Metrics Monday – 12th May 2014 by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 13th May 2014]
Metrics Monday – 5th May 2014
This book just keeps getting longer. I wrote another 5,046 words last week and the majority of that was new content for The Ghost Smuggler. I’m happy with that word count – particularly as the weekend was pretty much a write off because of the marathon. But I was originally expecting this draft to come in at around 80,000 words and now I it looks like it will break 100,000. The book’s definitely getting better all the time but I really needed to have finished this draft by now. I don’t want to put it aside until it’s done so I’m getting further and further behind. I did also outline a couple of new short story ideas, both of them horror. I enjoyed writing The Bone Boy so much I’ve decided I need to get back to horror for a while but that will have to wait until I get The Ghost Smuggler out of the way. [Metrics Monday – 5th May 2014 by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 5th May 2014]
Metrics Monday – 28th April 2014
A total of 3,506 words of fiction this week. I spent the whole week working on the second draft of The Ghost Smuggler – inching towards the end. I realised yesterday I need to add another chapter which isn’t helping with my pace but it will make it a better book. I will be very glad when this draft is finished, even though there’s still going to be plenty of work to do on it. [Metrics Monday – 28th April 2014 by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 28th April 2014]
Metrics Monday – 21st April 2014
I’m behind on The Ghost Smuggler. I really need to get this second draft complete by the end of the month and it’s looking increasingly unlikely. I figure I’m a couple of weeks away from finishing. It’s a deadline I set myself but there is an underlying reality to it. I need to move on to editing Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet and that really does have a deadline – I’m sending it to an editor at the beginning of July. Last week’s word count wasn’t too bad – 4,675 words although that does include Friday’s writing exercise and I spent some time revising Immersion Therapy. The reason I’m spending so much more time on The Ghost Smuggler is very simple. I’m still writing a lot of new chapters. Most of them are replacing the old ones and I’m far happier with the new story than I was with the first draft but it means it’s taking a lot longer than I’d originally hoped. Still, it will be worth it in the end. [Metrics Monday – 21st April 2014 by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 22nd April 2014]
Metrics Monday – 14th April 2014
As expected, results last week were pretty mixed but I did manage 4,034 words. The big chunk of words on Monday was due to the flight to San Francisco and some downtime in my hotel. The rest of the week was pretty busy so I wasn’t able to repeat that stellar first day. Still, I did add 3,771 words to The Ghost Smuggler – mostly new scenes. I spent Sunday making some final revisions to Immersion Therapy. I tweaked the opening and expanded the ending and I’m a lot happier with it now. My wife will be proofreading it in the next day or two and then I’ll declare it done and start sending it out. I’m aiming to get The Ghost Smuggler revised by the end of April so that I can get back to Glitch so I’ll need to pick up the pace a bit this week. [Metrics Monday – 14th April 2014 by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 14th April 2014]