An hour on the train each way seemed pretty daunting at the start. But if you remember I got myself a Netbook and now I write on the train.
Now to be sure Melbourne’s train system is old and falling apart at the seams. Last week my 1 hour trip turned into 2½ hours on the train due to a signal fault. Normally I’d be steamed about such a delay but I just took it in my stride and thought “More writing time.”
All this time on the train is doing wonders for my WIP Veiled in Storms. As well as the sections I have posted about Valentina and Ronnie I have written tens of thousands of other words.
I am now past 80,000 words on my first draft which is about two thirds of my target. Most days I am adding 600 – 1,000 words. If I keep steaming at my current rate I will finish my first draft in another month or two!
Now a first draft is a long way from a finished novel, but this feels amazing. I’m working full time, getting out and about on the weekends and blogging (although I must say I don’t spend nearly enough time visiting other blogs) and the book is progressing!
The only hole in all of this is I have been largely neglecting promotion of my first novel Veiled in Shadows, and with me being my marketing campaign nothing is happening. Ah well you can’t have it all.
SO how about you. How is your writing going? How do you manage to fit it all in?
Now a photo from my archive: Wilson's Promontory after the 2009 bush fires
11 comments:
I've been so lazy lately! Between learning to drive and helping to edit a friend's book my free time is just getting eroded. The netbook is coming to work again though, and I'll be spending lunchtime writing (my commute is too short to get much done - I walk fifteen minutes to my bus, and once I'm on the bus I'd only have the netbook booted up and it would be time to shut it down again!).
Sounds like you're really making some traditionally 'dead time' work for you - well done :)
So much to do, so little time. I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up with you as much as I'd like. Did you get that job you wanted?
Promotion, writing, working, blogging, traveling, where do you even find the time for one, never mind five. Spring break this week for the Monster Child and I'm already overwhelmed, and it's only Tuesday.
You are a better commuter than me!! My blood pressure soars so much when my trains are delayed, late, non-existent due to signaling problems, broken down trains, vandalism, no staff... that I end up falling into a deep sleep!!! LOL!!!!
Yay for your first draft and your writing!!!!! Well done you! Take care
x
I love my netbook. I got one to take to Las Vegas for my brother's wedding last year. The flight was the most productive I've ever had. lol.
Yay for the first draft. I'm not doing too bad with writing, but I'm in edit mode at the moment. When I write a first draft, I do a chapter a day in the evening. That way I try to fit the other stuff I have to do around it. :)
not a lot of writing, but have done well with my revisions and edits.
I would love to get a Netbook. I think I could get a lot more work done, but then I think it will just make me more chained to my desk in another way. I look forward to the second book!
Alyssa Ast
www.alyssaast.com
Sounds like the commute has been the best thing to happen to you. It is hard to squeeze everything in.
My full-time job ended and I'm off this week. So I hope to finish my manuscripts. I'm about 4 scenes away. YaY! Of course, I'm social networking instead of working on my WIP.
My commute is approx 2 and a half hours each day (there and back) and I never can usually find a seat, or some space, in order to write. But I do daydream, and let my thoughts wander, and sometimes they come back with a new plot twist, or a story. So it's never really wasted. It sounds like you have managed to make the best of your journey!
Love the idea of writing on the train - I only get ten minutes each way, though, and sometimes end up sitting at the station, writing.
love that photo! And hooray! multitasking wins!! :D best of luck, Al~
I've learned to turn time waiting at soccer practice or guitar lessons into writing time - it really helps keep the progress going!
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