Progress on the WIP: SciFi in the Making.

On 26/06/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress2 Comments

This week I’ve moved up to 65,572 words in the second rewrite, so another 32,290 words forced through the processor. With luck, and application, I should start on the next phase at the end of the coming week. That’s the part where I make sure exactly the right words are in place and check that …

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Progress on the WIP: Sci-Fi in the Making.

On 19/06/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

This week’s progress report reveals I’m now 33282 words into the second rewrite, so only 13,483 words pushed through the mincer this week. It’s been a bit busy on other fronts, but I’m getting there. Some interesting twists and turns occurring in the story, making it tighter and more tense. Looking forward to finishing this …

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Progress on the WIP: SciFi in the Making.

On 12/06/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress7 Comments

This week’s progress report reveals I’m now 19799 words into the second rewrite. It’s been a bit of a bitty week with various appointments here and there as well as necessary work in the garden, so the writing has not been the only draw on my time. I’m still enjoying the process, and hope to …

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Progress on the WIP: SciFi in the Making.

On 05/06/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress3 Comments

This week’s progress report reveals I’m now 71847 words into the first rewrite, which takes me 8302 words further than last week, most of this is new work, as the story needed revision due to research. In fact, I’m now writing the final chapter of the current version. However, I was struck by an idea …

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Progress on the WIP. SciFi in the Making.

On 29/05/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress

This week’s progress report reveals that I’m now 63545 words into the first rewrite, which takes me 17762 words further than last week at this time. I’ve had to take out some of the original story as a result of additional information I’ve gathered from the last lot of research. It’s actually given the story …

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Progress on the WIP

On 21/05/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress10 Comments

Another week has passed and I've been prodding those keys with vigour. The WIP is now up to 45783, with 4865 of those words new to the story. Several developments are emerging following my research, and the story is twisting and turning with a life of its own. This is the first rewrite, so there …

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Progress on the WIP

On 14/05/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress6 Comments

12 days since I last gave you an update on the scifi novel I’m currently writing. I’ve been quite busy on a number of things, both domestic and in the writing arena since. Suffice it to say that progress hasn’t been as rapid as I’d hoped. But I’m not beating myself up over that: life …

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Research Done: Re-Writing Begun!

On 02/05/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress2 Comments

Following on from my post on research a couple of days ago, I thought I’d quickly update you with progress so far. I started what is effectively a re-write, rather than an edit, on Saturday. It was late in the day when I began, but I was determined to get something down, something started as …

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Research or Write? That is the Question.

On 30/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress11 Comments

How much research should a novelist undertake before setting out on the creative journey? How much should be done before editing to produce the final work? These are questions that probably occur to most of us at some time during the writing process. I was inspired to visit these questions this week when I finally …

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First Draft of the Mars Book Finished.

On 09/03/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress10 Comments

Much to my surprise, I finished the first draft of the current WIP, yesterday. This science fiction novel set on Mars currently has no title, other than ‘the Mars book’, which, let’s face it, isn’t exactly inspiring! Why was I surprised? I write as a pantster, so I don’t work to a plot, merely a …

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2015: The Blog in Review

On 31/12/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Organisation, Progress7 Comments

It's that time of the year when we like to review our activities and see what we've done over the last 365 days. Was it effective? Did it help people? Has that time been spent usefully? Well, the WordPress.com stats helper monkeys have prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog and I'm sharing it …

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There is No Other Way.

On 16/11/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Procrastination, Progress6 Comments

This year has been one of change and adaptation. We moved home at the beginning of 2015 and that meant certain changes were inevitable, of course. It also meant many distractions took my mind off my writing. The house and garden needed, and continue to need, attention to make this our home rather than a …

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Running for ME/CFS no. 56: The End

On 17/09/201511/09/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, charity, Fundraising, ME/CFS, Progress, Running1 Comment

So, how went the event? In case you didn't know, I completed the course in 2 hours, 47 minutes and 50 seconds. That simple fact is for those without the time to read a longer account, but I'd encourage you to drop to the foot of this post for some other information. For everyone else, …

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Running for ME/CFS no. 55

On 15/09/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, charity, Fundraising, ME/CFS, Progress, Running5 Comments

A very brief update. I did it! I'll fill you in on the details over the next couple of days. For the moment, let me simply tell you that I completed the race in 2 hours, 47 minutes an 50 seconds. I'll provide the gory details in the next post. If you’re so minded, now …

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Running for #ME/CFS no. 54

On 11/09/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, charity, Fundraising, ME/CFS, Progress, Running2 Comments

This is the penultimate post on the run. I've completed the programmed exercise for this week. Tuesday (my usual Wednesday session was programmed for Tuesday this week) required a 30-minute easy walk. So, Valerie and I took a lengthy walk amongst the hills of the forest. Lovely to watch the squirrels, songbirds and buzzards. Today …

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