1k-a-day Day 4

Happy 4th of July!!!! Hope everyone who celebrates has a fun and safe day!

Tami's day 3 word count: 997
Tami's July word count: 3,057
Overall word count: This is hard to calculate because today was a revisions day, so I didn't work on my WIP.
Cups of coffee drank: 0 (and had a headache because of it)
Music: Nothing but the sound of the bullfrogs outside of my bedroom window.
Mindset: Today I had fun...and then I didn't. This morning I was awoken by a wood chipper and that pretty much set the tone. We had fun at the beach, except there were about 1,000 people and it was only 70 degrees. I planned to come home, relax and write. Instead we came home to a broken fridge (as in not cold at all) and most everything gone spoiled. I will say, we knew something was up with it, but didn't have a clue it was this close to dying. The only thing we can hope for at this point is a HUGE 4th of July sale on kitchen appliances and really really fast delivery. :) After the fridge fiasco, we needed a laugh so we watched National Lampoon's Vacation. Then I had some time to do revisions while my husband read the end of Lost and Found (and hopefully didn't have too many notes).

Tracy, let's hope you had a less hectic day. How'd you do on day 3?

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Tracy's day 3 word count: LI - 1123, WS - 974
Tracy's July word count: 6937
Overall word count: LI now at 33 735, WS now at 10 269
Cups of coffee drank: At least a pot of coffee and several cups of chai tea
Music: A lot of angst filled alternative rock - I'm surprised I didn't slit my wrists.
Mindset: Fiercely determined to do anything but WRITE. I was distracted by my dogs, the rain, the sunshine, the return of the rain, vacuuming the carpets, searching for songs on iTunes. Whoa - I was all over the place yesterday, but managed to keep my ass in my chair long enough to meet my 2k goal. Whew - here's to less hyperactivity today!

Enjoy the weekend, kids, but don't forget to write.

1k-a-day Day 3

First off, a BIG congrats on the great word counts for the first day! It's so fun to see a lot of people participating. It's going to be a race for the free books this week!

I hope day two found you all well. Me? Not so much...but I was still able to do it!

Tami's day 2 word count: 1,004
Tami's July word count: 2,060
Overall word count: 2,912
Cups of coffee drank: only one today and a tea...okay and a margarita
Music: Nothing...wasn't in the mood
Mindset: Today was hard. This weekend I'm going to have to kick myself in the butt and write. With the excitement of the long weekend, people at work were very noisy. When I had a free moment to get some words in (I love how I get to write when work is slow), I couldn't concentrate. I have to jump into some research this weekend or my current WIP, Parlor is going to turn into one big pile of mud.

Did you hit your word count on both stories on Day 2, Tracy?

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Tracy's day 2 word count: LI - 497, WS - 981 for a total of: 1478
Tracy's July word count: 4840
Overall word count: LI - 32 612, WS - 9295
Cups of coffee drank: numerous coffees and lots of juice and water (Canada Day hangovers are the official start of summer)
Music: The pounding of my head...lol...that, and an iTunes playlist I created and called "teen crush inspiration", so it's got tunes from The Rescues - Stay Over is my fav!, Hawksley Workman - Oh You Delicate Heart (sigh...so great), etc.
Mindset: Humbled. Yeah, so I knew I wouldn't get the numbers that I did on Day 1, but I didn't think I'd have trouble meeting 1k on each book - like on Day 2! Ugh.

I've decided that I need to turn off my wireless Net connection when writing on my laptop, so I can't flip back and forth between writing, checking emails, surfing for "research on magic" which I don't really need (I spent a small fortune on excellent wicca resources already and they're on the shelf behind me). So, today I'll be Net free for at least 1 hour blocks and then I can do quick checks.

That's the plan anyway. ;)

I love reading about how everyone is fairing....for those of you struggling with family/health issues - chin up, friends, writing is the cheapest therapy I know. Good luck on Day 3!

1k-a-day Day 2

I hope everyone had a great first day! The first week is the easiest as the excitement is contagious. Get as many words as you can down during this time. Good luck on day 2!

Tami's day 1 word count: 107 words on Lost and Found, 950 on Parlor= 1,058
Tami's July word count: 1,058
Overall word count: 1,908 (for Parlor. Won't really track Lost and Found for overall since I'm almost done with revisions).
Cups of coffee drank: 2
Music: Death Cab and also watched the NHL free agent tracking.
Mindset: Today was a little tough for me. I had 50 pages to flip through of Lost and Found with my husband's notes (luckily nothing serious) and was distracted by NHL free agency today. Beyond that, I hadn't touched Parlor, my new WIP, for quite some time. I have a bit of catching up to do in terms of getting the story back in my head. Alas, I hit my goal...but it was a struggle the whole way.

How'd you do on Canada Day, Tracy?

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Tracy's day 1 word count: 1039 words for Losing It, 2323 for Witch's Shadow
Tracy's July word count: 3362
Overall word count: LI now at: 32 115, WS now at: 8314
Cups of coffee drank: 2 pots! (although a few cups went cold - and those were the best ones, too.)
Music: Found this cool free internet radio station: http://music.aol.com/radioguide/alternative-radio I bounced around from alternative '00s to alternative '90s - discovered some new bands (well, new to me).
Mindset: July 1st, despite being Canada Day, was very productive - up until about 6pm - then it was all beach and beer and watching the fireworks from our front step. But I was thrilled with my word count - it was a great way to start the challenge. And I KNOW I probably won't hit those numbers again....lol....

Day 2 begins, and from the numbers people posted last night, we're all keen - let's see if we can keep our energy up all month! Go us!

1k-a-day Day 1

And we're off! Don't forget to post your starting word count in today's comment section. Tracy and I will be updating our stats once we complete each day's challenge in a new post for that day.

If you are interested in participating in 1k-a-day, please check the rules.

I look forward to writing with you and giving books away for the next 30 days! I will post the available books for this week's winner to choose from this weekend. Good luck!

Word counts for day 1 will be posted by Tami and Tracy in tomorrow's post.

Flash Fiction - Flash Contest

Are you up for a bit of flash fiction? In light of our July 1k-a-day challenge, I thought I’d get us all ready for the big show with a warm-up exercise. Here’s a one word story prompt to spark a 100 word “story”, remember to work in setting, character, plot and conflict. This is flash fiction at its finest.

You can use the word directly in your story, or use it as a theme, or launching point for your conflict. As long as the word sparks the story – you’re in the game. Post your entry in a comment by Wednesday, July 1st.

The prize? First place will get a gently used copy of Melissa Marr’s “Ink Exchange”. [Tami met the awesome Marr recently, perhaps she'll share the details.]

Since this contest is just to get those writerly muscles twitching - we won't be judging really, we'll put everyone's entry into a draw. So feel free to participate - it's fun, it will get you pumped for 1k-a-day, and you might win a great book!

Don't forget the deadline for entries is July 1st.

Here’s your prompt: LEAVING

Now get writing those stellar 100 words!

Preparing for 1k-a-day

We're five days away from the 2nd semi-annual 1k-a-day here on YAedge. Are you prepared? For those of you who do NaNoWrimo every November, 1,000 words a day shouldn't be too hard, but don't take 1k-a-day lightly. To consistently write every day for a full month can become grueling. Here are a few tips to make sure that you're ready.

1. Know your story. I can't stress that enough. Try and write a rough synopsis or have some kind of map to follow on the days the words don't flow. Instead of staring at the blinking cursor, you will be able to move around your plot if you know your story.
   
2. Know your characters. Try to make note cards based on their characteristics so you don't spend a lot of time flipping through pages trying to find what color your main character's eyes are or what their favorite food is.
3. Be prepared to let the words flow. Don't worry about edits, the goal here is to write 1,000 words a day, not make them perfect. Editing is for August.
   
4. Motivation. If YAedge giving away books from our own home libraries for free isn't enough, why not make a deal with yourself. If you write 7,000 each week you can go out to dinner or buy a new book. Whatever works for you.
5. Get the word out. The more people, the more fun 1k-a-day will be. If you have a blog or website and want to share the info, please do! You can right click (or drag to your desktop if you're on a mac) the image above to advertise 1k-a-day (please be sure to link it back to http://yaedge.blogspot.com). Also, if it helps, you can blog about 1k-a-day, too! Feel free to post the links to your posts in your daily word count comments on YAedge.
6. Remember, the most important thing is to end up with 30,000 words by August 1. You'll have half a book written in just a month!
   

1k-a-day Rules and Contest Info

Tracy has announced YAedge's July writing challenge, now here are the rules! Those of you who participated in November of 2008 know what it's all about, but here's the info for the newbies.

1,000 words a day, no more or less (well, unless you’re on a roll and would like to bump up the word count…more on that later) from July 1-31. You may work on a book you've already started, work on something new or switch it up. We don't care, as long as it's 1,000 words or more. We'll be posting our word counts each day by 11:59pm PDT and we’d like you to do the same. Just post your word count in the comments section of each day’s post.

Now, down to the super cool part…free books. That’s right…FREE BOOKS! We'll be giving away YA books from our own collections at the end of each week.

"What do I do to win FREE books?" you ask. Just post your starting word count in July 1st blog post. It can be 0…it can be 40,000. We don't care. Whatever your word count is to start, we just need you to document it. From there, you can either post your word count daily, or by Friday evening. What is most important is your end word count each week.

For those of you who are unable to start July 1st, no problem! That is the beauty of 1k-a-day. We don't care about hitting an end of the month word count. It's all about your daily goal of 1,000 words!

This is where the overachievers come in. We will announce the winner who write the most words the previous week each Monday! We have a selection of books to choose from and will slowly “leak” the books up for grabs. How easy is that? Write a book…win a book!

Make sure to check the blog each day starting July 1st for inspiration and read our ups and downs of the challenge. Plus, you never know when we will decide to give a book out on a whim!

So, get your thinking caps on, your writing notes out and dust off your keyboards. Oh yeah, don't forget the coffee! It’s time to get down to business and write 1K-a-day! All of us here at YAedge are in the heat of the moment with our current work-in-progress and don’t want to put them down! The excitement is brewing. Make sure you don't miss it!

Don’t forget to post your word counts everyone. Make sure to tell all your writer friends and family. The more the merrier.

July 1st can't come soon enough! See you all then!