Dagger's Progress as a Nomad

[fiddle-on]

5 hours ago, Dagger said:

Summer Challenge

 

So one of my writing mentors for a lark decided to open up a novel challenge this year, where he'd accept five writers max and he'd act as their beta reader (he calls them first readers but most people haven't heard that term) if they finished one novel each month of the summer (June, July, August). Actually just go ahead and read his blog post about it: A Novel Challenge.

 

I decided to be one of the five. So I signed up in early May and told almost no one.

 

This is my way to kick start my writing on my travels. This is also the reason I decided that after my plans for June and July (which have been planned since March), I'd be staying still in London so I'd have an easier time finishing the August novel. (Check out roam.co if you are interested in see the place I'm staying at in London.)

 

To give people who don't know word counts a lot some perspective of how long 30 000 words is...

A category romance (aka those romances you find in most supermarkets) is generally between 40k-50k words.

A typical novel (such as mystery, thriller, sci fi) is around 90k words.

A fantasy novel is somewhere between 90k (more urban fantasy) to 250k (epic fantasy) words.

 

So 30k words is fairly short by today's standards, but! But fairly normal before the '90s and maybe even the '80s. So if you don't know a lot about publishing history, 30k word long novels sounds super short by today's standards, but it really was very common for most of the 20th century. (And for this short paragraph I had to look up how you write the '90s and '80s, and I had to double check if 20th century meant 1901 to 1999 (or 2000 apparently...). Why not just call it by the number it actually has? *le sigh* (btw, I know the reason, I just think it is stupid ))

 

I have a jump off point if I don't think I can finish the first novel in time. At June 15th, I can decide to bow out if it isn't working. My goal is to be fairly sure I can get it done in June at that time.

 

And this will definitely be a challenge!

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Btw, this is the post where I will track whether I finish or not.

 

June novel: 

 

July novel: 

 

August novel: 

 

Wow, this is exciting. And really impressive.

My trick for remember centuries is that the 1st century started in 0001, so everything counts from there.

[Dagger]

41 minutes ago, fiddle-on said:

Wow, this is exciting. And really impressive.

My trick for remember centuries is that the 1st century started in 0001, so everything counts from there.

Thank you. We'll see how I do, eh?

 

Yeah, I know how to count them but I still usually double check because in Swedish we don't do that silliness. 19th century is 1900-1999 or 1901-2000 if you want to count that way, which is also silly to me. I follow the rules because people get what I say if I do, but I really do think them rather silly.  *rebel at heart*

[Dagger]

Goals for Italy

 

I will get to Italy on May 29 and stay in Florence until June 1. This will be Pre-Resort Time.

 

From June 1 to July 13 I will stay at a fitness resort (aka 6 weeks; goals will apply from June 2 until July 12). Basically they have daily yoga, circuit training/barre training, and hiking. They also have healthy food although I don't remember if I read their philosophy on what was healthy. This is to get ready for all my adventures plus who wouldn't want to spend six weeks hiking around Tuscany? I will call this Resort Time.

 

I will stay in Italy until July 17. July 13-14 I will be in Pisa. From July 14-16, I will be in Massa staying at a friend's place (she is a writer and is also in the novel challenge; so I'll probably have writing time!). Then I go back to Pisa for July 16-17, but will basically just sleep a night there because I fly out early morning on the 17th. This will be called Post-Resort Time.

 

I'm dividing up the Italy time a little, because my goals won't look exactly the same. I also think I won't count the half days at the resort as resort time. Basically, I expect my days at the resort to look very similar to each other. Do the training as it is scheduled, the rest of the time will be spent writing or relaxing (pool... reading... meditating while looking at Tuscany landscape... etc.). There might be a couple of variances depending if they have extra excursion you can go on or if they plan in long hikes every now and then (the daily hikes are up to 3 hours if I understood it right).

 

Ah! One more thing. I'll have two lists you could say. One will be a general to-do list that spans the whole time in Italy (and beyond if I don't finish it); these tasks are to keep my life in balance and make sure I take care of all areas that a life needs to be taken care of in. I'll probably put them in a spoiler so this post doesn't become a monster in visual length as well as in actual length.

 

Without further ado...

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Pre-Resort Time, May 29 to June 1

• Write 500 words per day at least, 0/4
• Allow space for me-time (see "Tasks Outside Goals" for details), 3/4
• Intend to start stretching my wrists daily, no points though.
• Fly to Florence via Frankfurt and check into hotel, May 29, 1/1
• Visit some places with art and/or other touristy things, May 30-31, 2/2
• Check out, take train to nearest station to fitness resort and get situated, June 1, 1/1
• Unpack and set up home/ritual/calm space, June 1, 1/1

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Resort Time, June 2 to July 12

• Write words every day, 37/41
• Allow space for me-time, 19/41
• Spend two hours on any fitness activity/-ies per day: 63/71

The count for fitness is every day except for one day off a week (excluding circuit training). I'll see if I need those; it also gives room for possible other excursions once a week.

 

Further more I don't know the exact schedule for fitness classes when I am there, so the counts might change. I'll probably get info when I arrive on June 1, so I'll try to change it then or shortly after.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Post-Resort Time, July 13 to July 17

• Write words every day, 0/5
• Check out, train to Pisa, and check into hotel, July 13, 0/1
• Visit the Pisa tower, July 14, 0/1
• Check out of hotel, train to Massa, spend weekend in Massa with my friend, train back to Pisa, and check into hotel again, July 14-16, 0/3
• Check out and fly back to Sweden, July 17, 0/1

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Tasks Outside Goals

 

I'll put these goals behind spoilers for length and some of these will be good if I do in Italy, but not necessary.

 

Travel

Spoiler

• Research places to winter in Mexico (suggestions are welcome; I'll be looking for places on either coast as highest likelies)
• Send email for help in renting an apartment in Lincoln City, Oregon, next spring
• Pay for the two workshops I will do in LC, Oregon

 

Me-Time (my new term for self care since I feel it fits better)

I was planing to put a list of things that is me-time to me, but realized that I'm not so sure what is anymore. Like I know some of the staples: walking, meditation and more. But I'm starting to widen it to include things I do from the focus of caring for myself. I'll only put a couple of potential things to do if it fits my me-time on any given day.

• Potentially finish my first run through Kate's meditation course Choose Freedom. I have done 20/30. Would be cool to finish soonish.
• Feel into the four elements: fire, air, water, and earth.
• Intend to get back to drawing daily tarot cards or even explore daily spreads (oh em gee!)

 

The Rest of the Categories of My Life

Here I am pulling in a lot of tasks from a long post done on my last challenge.

Spoiler

• Focus on bringing in peace, connection, trust & vulnerability, and strength into my life
• Read new to me fiction, about one book since I'm aiming for minimum one book per month. 1/1+
• Re-read Big Magic, The War of Art, and The Big Leap. 1/3
• Continue watching video lecture on organization and taking notes. X/X (I'll check the number of videos and how many I've done)
• Transcribe organization lecture notes. 0/1
• Transcribe notes from three different lectures/workshops. 0/3
• Send postcards to K, C, little brother, parents, and Nettan. 5/5
• Send emails to keep friendships going on two occasions (Chuck and ??). 0/2
• Late June/early July, call parents. 0/1
• Post the five finished blog posts about my travels up until after Boston. 5/5
• Write and post three blog posts (Florence and the resort and release news). 1/3

Lol, that was less tasks than I thought I'd have on that list. LOLOLOLOL.

 

Not that I don't think there is enough tasks on the list, but I might actually be able to hit them all! Amazing!

 

EDIT: Review of time in Italy.

[fleaball]

17 hours ago, Dagger said:

To give people who don't know word counts a lot some perspective of how long 30 000 words is...

A category romance (aka those romances you find in most supermarkets) is generally between 40k-50k words.

A typical novel (such as mystery, thriller, sci fi) is around 90k words.

A fantasy novel is somewhere between 90k (more urban fantasy) to 250k (epic fantasy) words.

Hang on, when you're writing do you actually think of it in terms of word count? I've never seen anyone talk about actual books in terms of word count and this pleases me. Because fanfiction is all word counts instead of pages and I've literally had to google the word counts of books to determine how long it will take me now since I've lost all frame of reference thanks to fanfic. 

 

Right. I'll take my nerding somewhere else now. Sorry. 

[Dagger]

5 hours ago, fleaball said:

Hang on, when you're writing do you actually think of it in terms of word count? I've never seen anyone talk about actual books in terms of word count and this pleases me. Because fanfiction is all word counts instead of pages and I've literally had to google the word counts of books to determine how long it will take me now since I've lost all frame of reference thanks to fanfic. 

 

Right. I'll take my nerding somewhere else now. Sorry. 

Well, writers generally work in word counts because it is the easiest to track since every writing program can tell you what your word count is. So to find those numbers I posted, you can find them on some writer blogs or agent/publisher blogs. Also, realize that a lot of those numbers are going out the window since there are more small presses and people who publish themselves now and a few big publishing companies can no longer force a standard length.

 

As I am writing, I definitely work in word counts. Like the difference between a short story, novelette, novella and novel is all in the word count.

 

But writers almost never talk in word counts publicly because 95% or more of readers have no idea what it means. And even using the very, very rough estimate of 250-300 words per page doesn't really tell them page count either (which is usually what readers would have wanted, not sure now with ebooks).

 

Now, when I am reading and I read about 99% on my kindle. I now talk in hours when it comes to how much is left and percentages for how much I've read.

 

PS. Feel free to nerd here anytime.

[Dagger]

An enormous spider just suddenly walked on the floor in my parents' house. I caught it but it didn't die in the catching. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW? Apparently the bigger the spider, the more terrified I feel. I wouldn't say I have arachnophobia, but only because I can function with my fear.

[Dagger]

It is now very, very, very dead. *shudders*

[Dagger]

Finally sat down and scheduled the first three blog posts about my travels. I have two more written that I'll probably schedule after I get to Italy.

[Lara]

16 hours ago, Dagger said:

It is now very, very, very dead. *shudders*

But.. but spiders are good. They kill nasty bugs 

[Dagger]

1 hour ago, zenLara said:

But.. but spiders are good. They kill nasty bugs 

I know. I just can't stand them. They may live if they never show themselves to me wherever I am sleeping. If I see them outside, they get to live. Even showing themselves during the day as long as they aren't in my bedroom and they have a pretty good chance to stay alive despite me seeing them.

 

But... being huge and right about the time I was going to bed? Oh noes... My childhood nightmares were about spiders climbing inside my mouth while I was sleeping, or perhaps into my ear or so. And now some other lovely people may have my nightmares too. You're welcome.

[Lara]

43 minutes ago, Dagger said:

My childhood nightmares were about spiders climbing inside my mouth while I was sleeping, or perhaps into my ear or so.

I thought for a while whether I should press like for that post...

[Dagger]

1 hour ago, zenLara said:

I thought for a while whether I should press like for that post...

I haven't had the nightmares while sleeping since I was a kid (if I even had them then or I only had an active imagination), but it is hard to shake those images even two decades later.

[fleaball]

I'm with you. When I was a kid I had a spider crawl out of my bed as I was getting in and since then, NOPE. Bye spider.

[Dagger]

33 minutes ago, fleaball said:

I'm with you. When I was a kid I had a spider crawl out of my bed as I was getting in and since then, NOPE. Bye spider.

I'll have you one better. I woke up in the middle of the night as a kid with a spider crawling on me (technically on top of the covers, but like that made a difference!). Ever since then...

 

Your post actually reminded me of that. Probably why I have problems with spiders...

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

On 5/26/2017 at 9:30 PM, fleaball said:

Hang on, when you're writing do you actually think of it in terms of word count? I've never seen anyone talk about actual books in terms of word count and this pleases me. Because fanfiction is all word counts instead of pages and I've literally had to google the word counts of books to determine how long it will take me now since I've lost all frame of reference thanks to fanfic. 

 

Right. I'll take my nerding somewhere else now. Sorry. 

 

Just wanted to chime in that you're not alone in this - fanfiction and ebooks have pretty much converted my ability to judge "time to read" into word count

 

Dagger sounds like you have an exciting June ahead. Good luck with the writing and Resort adventure   I really liked your breakdown of typical genre-wordcount amounts. Out of curiosity (if you don't mind sharing) what genre stories do you tend to write??

[Dagger]

It is hard to pack when you can't decide which bags to take...

[Dagger]

39 minutes ago, Rebel Pilot Gar said:

 

Just wanted to chime in that you're not alone in this - fanfiction and ebooks have pretty much converted my ability to judge "time to read" into word count

 

Dagger sounds like you have an exciting June ahead. Good luck with the writing and Resort adventure   I really liked your breakdown of typical genre-wordcount amounts. Out of curiosity (if you don't mind sharing) what genre stories do you tend to write??

Longer works tend to be fantasy. Short fiction can be more or less any genre. Although I am not sure I'll be a door stopper length fantasy writer. 30'000-90'000 is more likely. So far I have three will-never-see-the-light-off-day-novels, two were 50k and the other was 70k.

[Dagger]

Finally decided and I am packed. Also re-packed all the extra bags. It is almost 1 am here now and I get up at 5:30... wiii...

 

Maybe eventually I get better at scheduling packing...

[Dagger]

Sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. Boring...

[Dagger]

May is cursed when it comes to flying... I am in Florance with two planes delayed but not enough to be a problem. My bagage is who knows where...

[Dagger]

Daily Report, Pre-Resort Time, 2017-05-29

• Write 500 words per day at least, 0/4
• Allow space for me-time (see "Tasks Outside Goals" for details), 0/4
• Intend to start stretching my wrists daily, no points though.
• Fly to Florence via Frankfurt and check into hotel, May 29, 1/1
• Visit some places with art and/or other touristy things, May 30-31, 0/2
• Check out, take train to nearest station to fitness resort and get situated, June 1, 0/1
• Unpack and set up home/ritual/calm space, June 1, 0/1

Woooow, my first day in Italy was sooooo productive. LOLOLOLOL.

 

Well, I had actual Italian food cooked in Italy and it was glorious. Not to mention the hazelnut ice cream I had with my dessert... it was to die for. I will be having that at least once more you can bet on it!

 

I need to do a thing for writing, or I have two options: either read the 5000 words I have and write one line per scene so I know what happens or choose another project to write because you know I have to finish a novel in June and I didn't write today or yesterday or the day before that or really any day in May except for non-fiction.

 

Btw, anyone who is interested: My first blog about my nomadic travels goes live on my blog tomorrow, PM me for a link to it. (I'm trying to not have this connected too much to my name since I am very open here. ) Tomorrow is just the introduction but I can also tell you how to subscribe by email or rss if you use that (but then you probably know how to do it yourself).

 

Although I could better my score for today by letting my shower become me time (it is about the focus while doing the activity more than the specific activity).

 

On a loose tracking point, I did get a nice walk today to get dinner and I looked at market stalls that sold mostly leather things and bags. Not that I was planing to buy anything, but I thought it could be fun to walk along. So I am technically tracking movement, but that should be easy come resort time unless I specifically blow it off.

 

Btw, it was 34 C here today. After I got to the hotel I hid until around 5-6-ish pm, which would be about 2-3 hours because man, that was hot and I didn't have no other clothes than my flying clothes because baggage was on the run. Oh, and an update on that: baggage is found. So hopefully I'll get it tomorrow, the earlier the better.

[Dagger]

My baggage arrived about an hour ago! (Around 10 am) Yay!

 

Also, the windows in my room have old style wood shutters on the inside that I closed last night, and damn... They kept it night dark even with the sun shining outside. I got a text that my suitcase was on the way at 8:00, so I checked the phone and was so freaking surprised it was 8! I could have sworn it was still the middle of the night.

 

Tonight I'll either not close it or set an alarm because otherwise I'll check the phone periodically throughout the night or sleep waaaaay too long. ^____^

[Dagger]

Ugh, the wifi in this hotel is so inconsistent. It'll say I'm connected and everything is fine, but nothing happens. Blargh.

So this is me saying I probably won't check the forum again until I get to my next place on June 1. But I'll probably still post here, because tracking! Sorry about that, but it takes me ages to read, like and reply because I need to turn on and off the wifi and wait and all the silly stuff.

[Dagger]

Daily Report, Pre-Resort Time, 2017-05-30

• Write 500 words per day at least, 0/4
• Allow space for me-time (see "Tasks Outside Goals" for details), 2/4
• Intend to start stretching my wrists daily, no points though.
• Fly to Florence via Frankfurt and check into hotel, May 29, 1/1
• Visit some places with art and/or other touristy things, May 30-31, 1/2
• Check out, take train to nearest station to fitness resort and get situated, June 1, 0/1
• Unpack and set up home/ritual/calm space, June 1, 0/1

I did btw count my shower last night as some me-time.

 

Today I visited a big park which I don't remember the name off after I got my luggage back. So very grateful for that since there were items in it I could not replace (memories and such). I also had some more hazelnut ice cream from another place. Can report it was just as good and I look forward to more ice cream tomorrow. It is however not cheap, it is rather expensive in my opinion. But wooorth it.

 

Otherwise I don't know what to say about today. I had me-time in the park even if I was rather distractible.

 

I also met/saw two spiders today. One of them died, it was climbing up my bed as I was reading this evening and... yeah... Not only in my bedroom, but climbing my bed... Sorrynotsorry.

 

The other one (that I met earlier) got to live, because I just saw it in the park. I did encourage it to stay away from me, but I did not kill it, merely pushed it away with a leaf.

[Dagger]

On 01/01/2017 at 3:31 PM, Dagger said:

7 8/12 new-to-me fiction books

Just finished Laura Resnick's Disappearing Nightly. It is urban fantasy and I recommend it. I've read a lot of UF and this was different in a great way, I could mot predict what would happen because it didn't follow now ingrained UF genre paths.