Monday, July 12, 2010

Monday Meeting, Tour de Writing Progress!

So, how is everyone doing?  Any major crashes?  Are you keeping up with the peloton (main group of riders in the race)?  Have there been any breakaways?  If you don't know what I am talking about, please review our awesome competitive writing contest here, and here.  And join in! The Tour de Writing needs you!

So, here's how the points system is going to work.

In today's comment section tell me:
1. What Jersey you are competing for.  If you wear this jersey on August 10th, you will win one of the awesome prizes.

  • Green Jersey--drafters.  Count up all your new words.
  • Polka-dot Jersey: King of the Mountain-- revisers. Use total words of passages revised.  If you completely revise a chapter of 3,000 words, then you have 3,000 points in that category.
  • Yellow Jersey: Overall front writer:  If you have combined drafting and revising last week, then put your word counts in this category.
  • White Jersey:  Tell me if you consider yourself a novice writer, and your points could qualify you for the White Jersey.  (But make sure to tell me what category your words are going towards, drafting, revising, or a mixture.)
  • Bonus--you can add 500 bonus points for every Practice Room session that you attended last week.  

2. Add up all your words since last Monday, the 6th.  Okay, for example:  If you wrote a chapter of 3,111 words, and then revised it, you would say, "Yellow Jersey--6,222 words.  And I'm writing my second novel, so I could qualify for the white jersey as well."  Easy, peasy, right??

3. If you can't figure out my convoluted system, then just tell me exactly what you did, and I'll try to figure it out.  Or you can email me.  hegkelly (at) gmail.com

4. Tell me what your goals are for the week, and for the remainder of the contest.  Check in, let me know how things are going.

So here's my breakdown of the week:

I am going after the Polka-dot, King of the Mountain Jersey--I'm revising. I've revised 6,377 words--a slow start.  I've probably revised more (I'm working on the first 10,000) but those last 4,000 aren't where I want them yet.  I've also bounced around to the end and made some changes, but those revisions aren't done either. Bonus--I attended three practice room sessions last week, so that's an extra 1,500 points.  My total for last week is 7,877.  Can any of you revisers beat me?

I'm excited at some of the changes and ideas for making the end work out better--very excited.

This week, I'm going to continue to work on the first fifth of the book, and maybe push forward toward the halfway revision point, if I can.  I'll continue to work on revising the end, since I'm excited about that part, and it's great to strike while the iron is hot.

So--leave your point totals and goals in the comments, and Wednesday, I will post standings, and unveil the surprise prize.  And, please let others know that they can join in the contest whenever they like!  Newcomers welcome!

15 comments:

  1. See, here's the problem: I wrote roughly 2,000 new words yesterday. Over the past week I probably added another 100 to that total. However, I also tend to edit as I go along, especially when I've written something that means a change must be made earlier on in the story (for consistency). I also have a section of a chapter I've pulled from the first version of the story that I'm salvaging. I've edited out the obvious earlier story references and added in some new story references to have the chapter fit properly.

    Not only am I not sure how this tallys up in your system, I'm not clear how many words I've edited. *sigh*

    will you take best guesses?

    ...

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  2. In revision mode: edited 1,658 words out of three chapters. Phew...

    Love this, Heather.

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  3. I'm going for the green jersey this week. New words written since the 6th: 3,994 on one book and 2,058 on another.

    And TPR points collected this week: 40,000

    My grand total: 46,052

    And my goal this week: Finish my chapter! Which will also be the end of my book!

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  4. Good luck to you who are trying to win. I'm just trying to write a bit each day. I don't have a word count goal. Just writing for at least 15 minutes.

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  5. I think I'll join Natalie in the spectators circle. My goal is to just try to some words on paper a bit every day. 15 minutes sounds good. My problem? I've to read mountains of resources for my nonfic book--so not much word count this week or next. Outlining and organizing. But good luck to all you hard-core racers. Marissa sounds hard to beat. :)

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  6. ER - newcomer here. Do we get a handy calculator to work out our points? I'm kind of mathematically challenged - although I can count to 10 in 5 different languages...!

    Just got back from kiddy camp where I managed to revise 5000 words in 2 weeks. I also brushed my teeth morning and night and washed behind my ears daily...any extra brownie points for good deeds?

    LOOKING FORWARD TO CATCHING UP!

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  7. Okay, I'm going for the Green Jersey, because I am drafting a novel. I didn't jump in with a goal last Monday, so I'm not sure where I was at that time.

    But last Wednesday, when I officially joined the race, I was at 22,000 words. As of this second, I am at 30,800. So, that's 8,800 words!

    And I totally credit you, Heather, for inviting me to join The Practice Room on Friday night. It pushed me to start a tricky chapter, which catapulted me into an action scene, followed by a romantic scene, followed by essential clues to the mystery of the novel.

    I don't know a bike metaphor for this, but you pushed me off the top of the hill and I really started rolling! Thank you!

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  8. Tom--Best guesses are perfect. Plus, since you edit as you go, I think you get drafting credit and edit credit. :) So--double what you have, and estimate what revising you did on the earlier stuff to make this last bit fit. Sounds like a productive week! You saw how all over the place my revisions were--if it were linear, it would be way too easy...

    Sheri--awesome progress!!

    Marisa--OMG--did you live in the Practice Room??? Woo-hoo for all that work! And almost FINISHING! THE BOOK!! Yay! Congrats on an awesome writing week.

    Natalie--a little each day is so wonderful. To keep that momentum going... YAY!

    Kris--hmmm. Is there a way you can quantify the research? I would love to find a way to count that for you!

    Ann Marie--Let me know how many of your words were since last monday--we've been keeping track for a week. Yay! And, everyone is still in the competition--you never know what is going to happen on any given day in the Tour de Writing!!

    Dianne--woo-hoo! The Practice Room is so great for jump starting that momentum! Thanks so much for coming by. It was so great to hang with you that night! And, you get 500 bonus for TPR, so that's 9,300--YAY!!

    Alright, how is everyone else doing? Jump in anytime until Wednesday, when I post the standings!!

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  9. I'm chomping at the bit to join in. As soon as my editing letter gets here, I'm starting!

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  10. Uh...

    uh...

    So, I wrote 2600 words last week (I know!) and attended I have no idea how many TPR's. I think it's 6, but I did homework during one and the other was going to be a half attempt, but instead I blogged. So, We'll go with 4 TPR sessions. I have abso no idea how many goddamn point that gives me. 8600?

    Why did I have to develop an IRL social life this week?

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  11. Glad to hear you're excited about a new ending! Awesome!

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  12. Polka dotting my way through 6 chapters which are now 4 chapters? Dunno. Lost that chapter count, but it's now 6922 words.

    And that's how I count my editing. I rip a chapter to shreds, tighten, rearrange, write some new and when I finish, I count the words that are still on the page.

    Looks like you've beat me as the only other new words I've written total 47.

    Thanks for this push. It's helping immensely.

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  13. I sadly am not winning. Last week I wrote 3000 words and attened two Practice Room sessions. So that's 4000 points. This week, I'll do better, I promise.

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  14. I'm totally a novice.
    I'm revising right now.
    My WIP is 38,000 and I hope to get it to 50,000 by the end of August.
    I've edited over 6,000 words this week!

    Summer's been hard to get into a writing routine but suddenly, Monday, I got excited again. I bought the kids cold cereal which they can eat every meal for the next 2-3 weeks ;)

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  15. Terry--can't wait for you to join!

    J-- :)

    Laura--it's always good when things come together on a revision!

    Sarah--I'm so glad the push is helping others as well. I'm finding it really motivating for me. :)

    Kate--I have faith! Can't wait to see your word count next week!

    Taffy--welcome! I'm so glad you're joining in! 6,000 words revised is AWESOME! My kids are fending for themselves a bit as we speak. Cold cereal is masterful! :)

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