Category: Progress

Is There Progress In The Work In Progress?

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Procrastination, Progress6 Comments

I last wrote about the WIP on the 8th of August. How is it possible I’ve allowed all those days to pass without a single catch-up piece?At that time, the MS stood at 122,237 words over 282 pages. As I write this, it stands at 120,705 words over 280 pages, having been through a number …

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Technology: Why, Oh Why Those Constant Updates?

On By stuartakenIn Author, Organisation, Progress, question, opinion13 Comments

Sure, we all know sometimes tech needs to be updated to flow in synchronicity with other tech, and that’s an accepted necessary evil. But why, oh why, these constant changes in style, appearance, and especially, connections to bloody AI? We are the customers, the consumers of your products. We BUY them. Don’t we deserve a …

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How Goes the WIP?

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress, Reading9 Comments

This is my seventh post on the progress of my WIP. I suspect it won’t be the last. But I feel I’ve made real progress.The last post was on 19th July, when I was about to start work on Chapter 24 of 40, and the MS stood at 121,716 words over 280 pages. Today, it …

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More Progress on the #WIP.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress, question9 Comments

Author Stuart Aken with his published work. So, how’s the WIP progressing? I think the best description is ‘not as quickly as I would wish’. But I do have an excuse. A few weeks ago, I was diagnosed with a small hernia. Having been advised the waiting list for the necessary op was currently at …

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Further Progress on the #WIP.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress, Reading14 Comments

Jacques Louis David “Love of Paris and Helen”, from the Louvre Museum in Paris. 22nd June 2025 When I last reported on progress, in May, the book in its developing form, stood as follows: 270 pages, a word count of 116,291, and 40 chapters. As I pen this update after my writing has been much …

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Further Progress on the #WIP

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress4 Comments

The pile of diaries and journals used for some of the background to the novel. Writing is an odd business. In fact, for me, ‘business’ is a misnomer, since I'm told I do far too little to promote my work. I much prefer to spend my time and energy creating stories for others to enjoy.The …

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A Spot of Serendipity

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress, Reading4 Comments

Writers Need Good Luck Sometimes. There you are, busily editing the first draft of your amazing, soon-to-be best seller WIP, hoping to move on toward that goal of publication when, from some inexplicable, unrecognised source, two new and unrelated ideas pop into your head. The question then is whether to give these intruders room to …

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Further Progress on the #WIP.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, opinion, Procrastination, Progress7 Comments

Wordcloud selectively based on part of the WIP as it is at present. Writing a book. What does it mean? What does it entail?Fiction, in particular, engages or should engage all the senses. Otherwise, it’s a part story, an incomplete account, a limping, meandering path of words strung together without true feeling. But what does …

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Further Progress on the #WIP.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, opinion, Progress19 Comments

One of three notebooks, gift of my daughter's mother-in-law, Chris. For which, many thanks! It is a long time since I reported on my WIP. 19th January, to be precise.So, how’s it going?Inevitably, a touch of illness, advancing years, the state of the world since the orange clown was placed in a position of power …

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Further Progress on the #WIP

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Procrastination, Progress, Reading, Review8 Comments

It surely can’t be this long since I reported on my WIP, can it? But it appears my last post was way back on 23rd November 2024. How can that be?Well, I’ve some excuses. It’s possible some of you may consider them reasons, which would be better for my conscience.First excuse: I’m suffering from an …

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Further Progress on the #WIP.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress, Reading2 Comments

I last updated progress on 28th of October, so a little late with this one. Sorry. At that time, the first draft was up to 80,840 words and I’d started editing to include a new character and had got as far as chapter 14. The old word count was 33,454 and the new to that …

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More Progress on the #WIP.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress, Reading12 Comments

I last updated progress on 8th of this month, when I reported that I’d experienced a strange epiphany not uncommon for pantsters. It meant I needed a new character, and that new person had to appear right at the beginning of the story. He also has an intimate connection to the original main protagonist, replacing …

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Further Progress on the #WIP, 8/10/24

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, opinion, Organisation, Progress

I’m still working on the first edit of the initial draft I finished, at 84,141 words, on 14th May. On 7th September I let you know I was well into the first edit of the WIP, when the word count had reached 57,341. On 15th September I let you know I was up to chapter …

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Further Progress on the #WIP

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress2 Comments

Still working on the first edit of the initial draft that I finished, at 84,141 words, on 14th May. On 7th September I let you know I was well into the first edit of the WIP, when the word count had reached 57,341. I also promised to keep you up to date with progress at …

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Further Progress on the #WIP

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, opinion, Progress11 Comments

Hard to believe, but I first posted about the new novel in progress on 11th March this year, when the word count for the actual book had reached 4443 words. By 17th March the count was 20,293 words at Chapter 8. And, on that date, I ‘promised’ to keep you informed of progress. Those with …

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