Teen Author Challenge, Week 9 – First draft, here we come!

For the last eight weeks, we’ve talked about different aspects of preparing a manuscript. We’ve covered creating a story concept that pops, understanding hooks, character development, and plotting vs. pantsing. This week, it’s time to put our money where our collective mouths are.

It’s time to dive into your first draft. And that’s where our inspiration for the week comes in.

Exclusive TAC Quote of the Week

“For all the advice you get, there’s only one piece that is immutable and universal. The only way to write a book is to write it. So no matter what buts or ifs, distractions or attractions catch your eye, abandon them all. The only way to write a book is to write it–so sit down and get to work!”

~ Saundra Mitchell
Shadowed Summer
(Random House Children’s, 2/09)

Teen Author Challenge, Week 9

Okay, deep breath… here we go. Are you ready? This is your chance to prove to yourself that you CAN write this book. You might be starting from page one or you might be continuing a work-in-progress. Both of those are perfectly fine. You’ll simply pick up wherever you are and Go like Flo.

Because we’re working our way through the entire process of writing and polishing a book from start to finish during this year-long challenge, we don’t have the luxury of taking all the time in the world to write our first draft. And that’s actually a good thing. Once you become a published author, especially if you sell in a multi-book contract, you’re going to have to write to deadline. If you’re in this for the long haul, you might as well start things off right and learn how to write regularly.

Writing regularly means different things to different people. For our purposes, it means writing to honor a schedule that we have set for ourselves. Deciding what that schedule should be is entirely up to you. But today’s post is all about setting production goals for your writing. There are tons of different ways to set production goals, so I’ll highlight a few of the more common methods used by professional writers.

Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan

The first thing you’re going to do for this portion of the Teen Author Challenge is set a goal for how much work you’re going to do. Since this is a weekly challenge, you’re going to be checking in with your progress every week. (Makes sense, right?) But how you’re going to track your progress is your choice. Here are a few of the many ways you can track your first draft progress.

1. Track by hours

Some writers keep a time log of hours spent actually working on the story. This means BICHOK time only (Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard). Time spent out on the deck thinking about your book doesn’t count. This is strictly time that your fingers are moving on the keyboard and words are spilling out onto the screen.

If you choose this method, you’ll set a certain amount of time you will spend BICHOKing every week. It might be five hours, it might be twenty hours. Whatever you feel like you can consistently accomplish. Consistency is key. Treat this like a job, and it’ll treat you like a real bonafide writer in return.

2. Track by pages

Some authors track by new pages written each week. They’ll either keep a written log by their computer or have a spreadsheet where they track each day’s ending page count. If you choose this method, you’ll set a certain number of pages to write every week.

The page count method is ONLY for new writing. Deleting a six-page scene and rewriting it does not count as six new pages toward your page count goal. That’s editing. It doesn’t count for your production goal here because there are writers who could spend years rewriting the same scene over and over and never reach the end of the book. But that’s not you, right? You’re here to get the job done. That means writing new pages and reaching The End.

3. Track by word count

Most word processing programs make this easy. There’s either a toolbar option for showing your word count or even a running total of your word count on the bottom status bar. Again, the key here is tracking your daily total so you can tally it up at the end of the week. You would need to write a certain number of new words every week (remember, new first draft words only, no rewriting).

4. Track by scenes

Tracking by scenes means you need to write a certain number of complete scenes each week. This is actually how I work. I discovered that if I tracked by page count or word count, it was easy for me to throw down pages of meaningless fluff or banter just to hit my goal for the day. That kind of defeats the purpose, right?

Since I’m a plotter and know in advance what scenes I need to write, I figure out how long I have to finish the first draft and then divide the number of scenes I have to go by the number of days I have left in my goal. That’s how many scenes I need to write each day. I do a little finessing to make my weekend workload lighter (to accommodate having an actual life while I’m first drafting) and then tally it up. That’s my weekly scenes goal. If you choose this method, you’ll set a goal for how many complete scenes you will write each week.

A note about goal setting:

I’ve taught goal setting workshops professionally–for corporate professionals and for writers–so I could wax philosophical about the need to create meaningful and realistic goals. But instead, I’ll just ask you to remember one thing:

Always set yourself up for success.

Too often, people set outrageously high goals for themselves because, in the excitement of the moment, they believe they can conquer the world in 17 days. And then they have a bad day, and they stumble, and they convince themselves they’ll never be able to catch up.

Always set yourself up for success.

As you work on this week’s challenge below, remember that your goal should be something you can absolutely achieve. You can always exceed your goal (and celebrate with donuts… or maybe that’s just me), but you should be able to meet your goal even when life throws you a minor league curve ball. (We’ll talk about dealing with major league curve balls later.)

Your Weekly Challenge

So this is it. Time for you to tell the world, “World? I am a writer. And writers write. I am committed to finishing this manuscript and will write [insert your goal here] every week until this manuscript is finished.”

And here’s how you’re going to do just that.

For the next four months, you will be writing new pages in your manuscript. Depending on your goals and where you are in the story right now, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will have a completed manuscript by the end of four months. What it means is that you will have four solid months’ worth of new pages written on your story and conditioned yourself to write consistently in the process. Two huge wins by any writer’s measuring stick. By then, the habit of writing regularly will be deeply ingrained in you and you’ll be able to continue on with your weekly goal until you type The End.

So let’s get to goal setting, shall we?

1. Choose your method

Choose the method you will use to track your progress every week. And yes, I mean EVERY week. You might choose one of the common methods above or use your own. As long as you can quantify it by saying “I wrote X number of blah blah units” for your weekly check-in, you’re golden.

2. Set your goal

Decide how many hours (or pages or words or scenes or whatever) you’re going to write every week until the manuscript is completely finished. If you want to finish the manuscript in a given amount of time, you may want to ballpark how many pages/words/scenes you have to go and work backward to figure out how much you need to write each week to finish on time.

3. Give yourself a reality check

Now imagine the worst week you’ve had this year. When things were crazy, life intruded on your best laid plans… how much do you think you could reasonably have written during that time if you were committed to this challenge? I hope you would’ve still found time to write, but chances are it might be much less than the goal you set for yourself in step #2. Take the time to think about some common obstacles you might face–travel plans, upcoming projects, etc.–and adjust your goal if needed. You’ll thank me for it later, I promise.

4. Share your goal and become an official Teen Author Challenger!

Ah, the moment of truth. For this week’s participation, you’re going to share the weekly goal you’ve set for the next four months. This is your moment to prove you’re serious about this writing gig and become a full-fledged Teen Author Challenger!

Beginning next Tuesday, you’ll be checking in every week for the next four months and sharing your progress on the previous week’s goal. That’s part of committing to the Teen Author Challenge and being a real and true participant. So make sure it’s a goal you’re truly comfortable with, one that keeps you making steady progress but leaves your sanity intact!

Special Productivity Contest!!!

I’ll be cheering on your progress every week, but I’m going to be doing something extra super amazing cool for Challengers who share their goal and check in every single week for the next four months. Plus, I’ll be doing impromptu giveaways throughout the four-month productivity challenge… but only for people who are actually doing the work of writing new words (and checking in to let us know)!

Getting tons of work done PLUS getting cool perks? What’s not to love, right? So let’s get rolling!

And, of course, that’s in addition to the regular…

The Teen Author Challenge Contest

Throughout the year-long Teen Author Challenge (TAC ends June 2010!), I’ll be giving away a book of the winner’s choice from my personal writing shelf. Why am I doing this? Because becoming a skilled writer has two important parts: learning about your craft and practicing your craft. That’s why active participation in each weekly challenge is so important!

So what can you win? Books to choose from include:

1. The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler
2. Your Novel Proposal: From Creation to Contract by Blythe Camenson and Marshall J. Cook
3. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing by Evan Marshall
4. The Career Novelist by Donald Maass
5. Writing Dialogue by Tom Chiarella
6. Creating Characters Kids Will Love by Elaine Marie Alphin
7. Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass
8. Building Believable Characters by Marc McCutcheon

Everyone who participates via the comments on the Teen Author Challenge posts will be entered into this monthly contest.

Let’s see those goals, Challengers! It’s time for you to show the world what you’re made of!

Entry Filed under: Paying It Forward,Teen Author Challenge