Hello! Welcome to my project. I'm so glad you're here! Read below for an introduction to this site.
I hope to one day become a published author, and because I love to write, I have spent the past two summers trying to write a novel. Two summers ago, I set out with a goal of writing 1000 words every single day. This generally worked, though I took some days off when my family was in town or I had plans that took up most of the day. I ended up with an almost-complete draft of a novel that was 56,000 words long (about 75% of the way done). I had tried to make it a goal of mine that I wouldn’t go back and read writing from previous days as I went along, because I knew that the first draft was bound to be messy and have plot holes, and I also knew that, being a perfectionist, seeing how messed up the beginning of the book was would make it harder for me to keep trudging through. Once I got as far as I did, I made the mistake of reading some passages, and I realized that I didn’t love the premise of the novel anymore and wasn’t as passionate about the story I’d created as I had been. I also was starting to realize that having a set word count for every day made it so I would elongate scenes or write filler just so that I could get to the stopping point each day, and I knew a good novel shouldn’t have any filler in it. I stopped writing, and the book still remains uncompleted in a giant Google Doc on my computer.
This summer, I tried (with less of a systematic approach) to write something new. The idea of completing a novel before graduating really pushed me to get started right away. I knew that trying to hit a daily word count wouldn’t work for me, so I tried to just write when I felt like it, but that made it so I wouldn’t write at all. Toward the end of the summer I started writing a possible new novel that I really liked the premise of, but I really took my time with it, and I eventually stopped working on it. At the end of the summer, I had about 9,000 words (around 30 pages) of that project complete.
All of this trial and error got me thinking about the process of writing itself. While I’ve always felt an inherent pull to become a writer, I often find it difficult to actually sit down and write, and that seems a little backwards to me. So, I decided to create and partake in a 9-week writing experiment, where I tried out 8 established authors’ writing routines, and then created my own writing routine for the final week based on what I learned works for me.
I hope that this project will become a space for other writers who feel a similar urge to me to devote their lives to writing but have yet to complete a large project. While the routines of the authors I’ve selected aren’t too difficult to find online if one reads their interviews, I haven’t been able to find a space that presents authors’ routines for the public to explore and try for themselves. Writers are always seeking community, and I hope to play a part in cultivating a community of writers wanting to investigate what about the writing process is/isn’t working for them, and how to better the experience of writing.
Each week for 8 weeks in a row, I devoted 4 days to writing while following a specific author's writing routine. I selected 8 authors whose work I admire, and who have spoken publicly about their daily process of writing. I'd like to clarify that through this experiment, I did not manipulate my writing style to imitate the style of my selected authors. I merely adjusted my daily routine to match theirs, as what I was aiming to explore through this project is what routines would work best for me and allow me to enjoy the process of writing as much as possible.
At the end of each day, I updated my progress tracker with how many words I wrote, how long I spent writing, and how I felt about my writing on a scale of 1-5. I determined each day's rating based on how focused I was on my writing, and how productive I was able to be using the author's routine. On days rated a 4 or 5, I felt very focused and was excited to sit down and continue my novel, whereas days with lower scores were ones where I was either dreading the process of writing or didn't feel as though I was able to add much to my book. At the end of each week following an author's routine, I evaluated the routine as a whole, writing up a reflection that goes more in-depth about my thoughts on whether or not the routine worked for me.
At the end of the 8 weeks, I created a writing routine of my own that I felt would work best for me. I then reflected on the experiment as a whole, describing what I learned throughout this process and where I feel my writing will go from here.
The novel I spent the nine weeks of this experiment working on is a work-in-progress. What I focused on throughout this experiment was just getting my ideas/each scene down in writing, so that I'm able to have a clearer picture of what the novel will hopefully someday become. Thus, all of the writing on this website is a first draft, filled with imperfections. If you'd like to take a look at my writing and want to have a general understanding of the novel's premise, below is a blurb:
The novel (which is still untitled as of now) follows a nineteen-year-old college dropout named Nell who spends her free time going on Tinder dates with older men. She lives with her two best friends, Bonnie and Dani, who have been dating since they met a year ago. Nell is a perpetual third wheel, which would be fine if it weren't for the fact that she's hopelessly in love with Bonnie. She's a bit of a mess, to say the least. Toward the beginning of the novel, she goes on a date with a man named Gary, who is different from the other older men she's met. A friendship develops between the two, which at first seems like an unexpected blessing for Nell, but later becomes more complicated and causes her to face parts of her past that she hasn't yet fully processed. Nell's story is one of transitioning into adulthood and figuring out who you want to be, while making an embarrassing amount of mistakes along the way.