The Mighty Pen Writing Club discussion

First of all, do you set goals for yourself when writing?
I tried the "2,000 words a day!" goal, but most of the time my writing is really sporadic: sometimes I do 40000, sometimes I do 100.
What about you?

Sure. When writing a new manuscript, I'll set a goal. Revisions are different. Instead of word goal, it's more content goal. ";-)

Do you just flesh out a story, and then go back and revise when it's finished, or do you revise as you go along?

I kind of revise as I go along, and maybe that's why I take forever!

Guilt. But, honesty, the ideal is to JUST.GET.IT.OUT. I'm sure you've heard that before. But it really is true. My first ms was a major...ugh. I learned. This second one was written in about 9 weeks. I just wrote. Yeah was some of it crappy, sure. But the main plot was out and three or four subplots. Now, for the last 5 months I've been re-writing, working on my query and synopsis, and blogging. When I feel...ugh...with that, I move onto my newer project.

My problem is that I second-guess what I want to happen, like "oh, nobody will want to read this! It's not _____ enough" and that distracts me :S

My first goal is always to finish the novel (unless I realize I'm going in the totally wrong direction for it, and decide to give it a breather). Then the goal is to edit the crap out of it until I am not embarrassed to at least waste paper printing it. I'll let you know when I get farther than that ;)

(My revision strategy so far has involved removing entire chapters or blocks of text or sometimes even the entire beginning/middle/ending, and rewriting, and then revising from there. Rinse and repeat as needed.)

I don't set word-count goals, because if I tell myself I need to write such-and-such number of words in a day, it just doesn't feel natural to me. I don't think it's like that for everyone, it might just be like that for me.. I more set a goal like, "Okay, today I need to finish this plot point." That's just how I do things. :)

Hope wrote: "I don't set word-count goals, because if I tell myself I need to write such-and-such number of words in a day, it just doesn't feel natural to me. I don't think it's like that for everyone, it mig..."

That sounds like a good strategy. I've read some authors' quotes that say that it's sometimes hard to always write 'XXX" words a day because you revise as you go along--so sometimes you might only write "x" words but you've revised a whole segment... idk

I think writing "XXX" number of words in a day is only useful when you're doing something like NaNoWriMo and you want to have a certain length by the end of a certain time period. It works for people like me, who don't revise first drafts until they're finished (unless I decide to change something HUGE in the plot) but I know a lot of people who revise as they write, so doing the word count goals isn't always a good thing.

I think what's better is maybe to set aside a certain amount of TIME each day for writing. Like half an hour or an hour--and in that time, if you revise or if you write, it doesn't matter. :)

Isis wrote: "I think writing "XXX" number of words in a day is only useful when you're doing something like NaNoWriMo and you want to have a certain length by the end of a certain time period. It works for peop..."

Very good point!
Because then if you fall form the mood, all the rest is just slosh.

Nah, I mostly write something and all I want is to get it out of my head because it otherwise distracts me from whatever else it is that I have to do... Then I will probably revise it, or I'll think about it during algebra and make small notes and stuff...

I split things up in my head so I know how much I want to get done in this amount like, for example, a chapter on here, but I have to have it all outlined somewhere so I know what I'm writing.
I don't write every day either, only when I'm confident in what I have. I tried writing every day for the story I had last summer but then I realized it was terrible because I was just trying to make my friends happy with it.
My goal this summer is to finish a whole decent story!!

Catherine wrote: "I split things up in my head so I know how much I want to get done in this amount like, for example, a chapter on here, but I have to have it all outlined somewhere so I know what I'm writing.
I d..."

Gah! Me too! But it was my goal last summer too (about Heart Seeker) but I was rushing things and now I have to make SO many corrections... From now on I'll do things on my pace...

Ya this guy in my class then found the story and started teasing me about it (rightfully deserved, it was pretty bad) but it was super embarrassing so im like 'im never doing that again!'

That was not nice of him! No matter how bad it was (couldn't be that be that bad... could it?)

It wasn't terrible writing (most of it at least) but it was one of those things that i started writing for fun and only rly kept going cuz my friends on here wanted me to, and so it was super cheesy and unrealistic and something that i would never have even wanted to read myself so i dont thhink itll b gng back up here anytime soon. Letters is my replacement for it and it shall officially be a million times better!!

Go for it! ^^

I am! :D

My goal this year is to publish a book. I haven't even finished the book, but I'm still trying hard :)

That's my goal for 2011.
Or 2012...
Or something...
>_<

I'm rooting for ya girl :D
I wanted to have a novel published by 25, but then I read a book by a 20something and it was HORRIBLE. Her writing style was just really amateur, her plot was all over the place, and her characters weren't well defined. She's just fresh on my mind, but I think the more life experience incurred, the better the manuscript will sound. But on the opposite end, Christopher Paolini proves me wrong - he was like what - 21? - and ERAGON was a fine story, very well-written, and everything one would expect from a more mature author.
The 2 novels a year would definitely be doable - hello, Rick Riordan! - and if you were writing full-time, that would be a pretty fun schedule :]

My goal is to publish a novel.
Sooner rather then later, but id love to have a few books to my name :)

I know, right?