40% of 100k is 80k? :hscratch:

40% of the WHOLE story... i.e. part b comprises 40% of the story and part a comprises 60% of the story... so if the story is 180k words, part a is 100k words and part b would be 80k.

What is it with people and nitpicking... I'll make sure to have a statistics book and calculator next time I post.

Let's put it in non-mathematical terms - part B will be slightly smaller than part A, but not by much, and together they comprise the whole story as it stands now.

In other news, did quite a bit of progress today and got up to 12,367 words (and no, I'm not going to post daily updates, just every 10k words... but since I'm already posting...).

After 29 years of wanting to write something and finally getting to actually write something, it's the best feeling in the world. Around 50 pages in Wordpad, 12 font, double spaced. This is the most I've ever written in my life that has been one story.

On a related note, my work pays up to $2k a year in tuition and books, so I take classes online for the fun of it. I signed up for my two Spring classes before the story idea came to me and it turns out one class is directly related to it and another has something to do with it, although not related. I've been keeping my eyes open to see if anything sparks any further creativity.

You've been wanting to write a book since you were born? Even though you couldn't read until you were 4 or 5?

You could always be a part of Dawn's forth coming book Cherry Pop

Typo. 20 years.

Seems to me you are STILL concentrating on word and page count. You should JUST concentrate on writing and see where it takes you.

I haven't focused on page count for weeks now, so that's out of the window.

I like word count because it's something I can quantify. Each 10,000th word is a milestone for me. So it's not the word count itself, it's what it signifies: I created something.

:thumbsup:

Overall quantity does not equal actual quality.

I think you're missing the point a LOT of folks have been trying to make. Reading your posts here, it sounds like this is almost entirely an exercise in vanity. The whole bit about you mailing this thing to yourself and holding it out for everyone to see ... I'm sorry. It's just odd. Typing something up, printing it, and having it bound does not make you a writer. Reaching some arbitrary number of words does not make you a writer. WRITING makes you a writer (without comment on quality, of course - anyone can be a writer, but few can be a good one).

If this is an exercise you want to do, that's great. But ... posting about it here is inviting comment, and everything about this is just weird. I really hope you do learn to write for the sake of writing. It seems like you're focused on all the wrong things and writing for all the wrong reasons. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope so.

Who said anything about mailing it to myself... I was going to order a physical copy from one of those places that bind them for $8 or so. This is a life-long dream. Once I have a copy in my hand, it will be complete. Who cares if it sells or not. I want to hold something I wrote. My family has been hearing me talk about writing a book for ages... of course it'd be a great moment for me to show them something physical - it's not all talk, I went and -did- it. So for me this is about making a dream into a reality.

I also do better with steps. "Write a book" is too daunting and overwhelming. Write this part, write that part, etc., is more manageable. A good analogy is to be able to lift 100 lbs. You start with 10, then 20, then 30, etc. It's just a way to measure progress.

I have never written 10k words about one thing in my life, which is why it is a big deal for me. Once I read 20k, it will be the same, and so on, and so on, until I finish the story, however long that is. If you go on a 600-mile trip you tend to look at the signs that show how many miles are left. The miles is not the essence of the trip, the destination is. But you keep track of the miles because it makes you feel like you're making progress towards the goal.

Will this book help you get out of debt?

Sounds like you just described almost every novelist in the world.

I think it's great that you're writing a book and are gonna get it bound and are happy with that. What kind of process are you going to go through to edit it? Will you tackle it all at once or break it down? Get someone else to do it? I've always found the hardest part of writing to be the going back and reworking everything.

I've always wanted to write a book, too. I went through a stage where I wrote and wrote and wrote. Some of it might have been alright, but not enough. I was never content with writing a book, I would only be happy to be actually published. After writing as much as I did and not accomplishing much, I realized that was probably never gonna happen...

First I just want to get it all on paper. Then I'll worry about editing :D If I edit 10 pages a day that's a month's work, so the editing shouldn't take long time-wise. All I want is to have a bound story I wrote in my hands. Anything other than that is gravy.

Let me assure you that being published isn't going to satisfy all your writing desires. If you don't love the process itself, being published isn't going to make you enjoy the writing any more.

I'll always love writing and do it often. Growing up, I wanted to write to be published. Now I write because I have to.

This thread has inspired me to write a book about all of the eccentric people I've met on DVD Talk. I'll be sure to include their quotes, ranging from inane to insane to slight impressionable, along with trichromatic paintings. Take that as you will.

Congrats on working towards a dream, Deb.

I think that is how everyones job eventually turns out.

I actually did this sort of thing because I was inspired by Stephen King sending "The Plant" as Christmas presents to his friends. Well, I wrote a story, didn't matter how long it was. It turned out to be 66 double spaced pages but it was only a 2nd draft. I didn't care. I went to a Minute Press and had them make 10 copies and bound with just those plastic coily rings. I gave out 9 as Christmas presents and kept one for myself. It was fun (and costly).

So, I guess what I am trying to say is, it doesn't matter how long the book turns out. Bind it anyway. Just be true to the story and let it lead.

Well, I ran out of steam at right around 15,000 words, so I'm leaving that story for now. I'm going to work on it slowly when the inspiration hits. I have it roughly outlined to be able to fill in parts and pieces here and there.

There was another story that I had been throwing around (I'd say I have five distinct story lines I've created) and it resurfaced these past few days. I went to see a show and my inspiration for the 15k word story sang a song there and he got me all inspired again. He's my muse :D The show ended about half an hour after midnight early Monday morning and I got home and wrote a little over 2,000 words on Monday. I want to set a goal of 1,000 words a day for 100 days. 2% finished ! :D This thread is for inspiration to keep writing. I have the story pretty much outlined, all I have to do is fill in the details. At least I'm writing again! I've found that when I run out of steam, I run out of steam. So if I run out of steam with this one I'll just start one of the remaining three storylines and bounce back and forth between the five. But 2,000 words in one day is a good day for me so maybe I'll ride this one out.