Having just received some more great crit from a crit buddy *waves* there’s a word on my mind. I do tend to say people “jump” in surprise a lot. I think it’s a valid word, but I probably do need to vary it.

The problem is I’m not exactly sure what other words I can use. I don’t like “flinched” in situations of surprise, that’s more of a sick shock/pain word to me. Does anyone have any good suggestions? This is definitely a weakness of mine.

On the flipside, I’ve had critiques before from others that question that usage of the word “jump” altogether. I thought it was fairly well-known. Any comments on that?

My monthly goals are coming along nicely; I only need to actually update my word bars. I need to think of a better system of tracking my total words. Or at least remember to write it down every time after I work.

Filed under: Technique by Eliza | 2 Comments »

I’m feeling pretty productive lately, though when I look, I see I’m really only a little bit ahead of par for the goal of 20,000 words, so I need to step things up a little bit. I accidentally forgot to save my draft of Circle of Many Faces back onto the floppy disk that I use to transfer files to and from my temporary laptop, the “brick.” Thus, I can only work on it on that machine… and so, I think I’ll take a break and work on Rainbow Covey or the project that still needs a title.

One might think that my sprained ankle would be a motivator to sit down and write, but now that it’s there, I just want to get up and run around.

Filed under: 20k goal, The Circle of Many Faces, WIPs by Eliza | No Comments »

A few nights ago, during a discussion about the 20,000-words-per-month goal, we brought up the subject of the need to edit, instead of write.

At my normal pace–and by that I mean not rushed, not blocked, but constant, reasonably inspired writing–I do about 1000 words an hour, at which page 20 hours of editing would be the equivalent amount to do for the goal. It was commented, however, that that is a lot of time to spend editing, crossing words out, etc, especially since in most cases it takes only a fraction of the time it takes to write a chapter to edit one.

So, what would a reasonable goal be? To edit 10,000 words of material, regardless of time input? 20,000? Or perhaps simply 10 hours of editing? What do you think?

Filed under: Miscellaneous by Eliza | No Comments »