I realize that I haven't posted here for 3 days now. Life interferes. In fact, I had no real chance of doing the hour a day every day. That wasn't my goal with this dare, but instead to reform a habit that had been lost. Oh, I'm expecting myself to get caught up - right now I 'owe' myself two hours of writing plus today. And I've done half an hour before the kids started waking themselves up. The most useful skill I have is to write in the sudden breaks one gets during the day.
Anyway, I'm stealing a bit of time to give my 1/24/30 status.

First rule for a dare (this is my first): Have a general outline of what you want to write. Mine wasn't ready. I had the right characters in the wrong jobs and started at almost the right place. Three days ago I felt myself forcing the story along and knew that sooner or later it was going to fall apart. So two days of not writing but thinking more indepth about the characters help.
Two days later I got 2000 words. Not as much as I'd like but it feels better, everything seems to flow. The initial threat is now out in the open with a nasty fight being stopped before anyone gets really hurt.

So I'm back on track, I think. I'm still a very poor writer. I'm trying to really understand characters and plot right now. If I could get these outlines to work better, to do more prewriting in my head and lay out the story I'd be much more productive. (One side goal of the dare is to outline the NEXT story as I'm writing this one).

A bit more background: This is a colony founded around some SOL like star about 500 years ago. Which one? Does it matter? How often do you think about the sun? My thinking is the colonies are founded by STL craft and are usually sent out by rich countries, National Geographic (thank you Niven, Pournelle, Barnes), major religions, and so forth. I choose Finland for this one partly at random and part because the planet is hot and dry. I wanted the colonies to a) have a harder time than most, 2) didn't want an Eden 3) use the planet as part of the story. Now the colonists always seem like they don't belong. A lot of Cultures would have worked.

Well, the Crew saw their new planet and instead of building the colony they set it up with themselves in charge. The crew are the aristocrats of the planet. Rich, comfortable, spoiled. Think prerevolutionary France.

Of course there are a lot of people who hate them and their are many small underground groups who want to touple them. Most get caught sooner or later when they try something and are banished. The colony can't affort prisons and don't want these people wandering back so they are send someplace they can't leave.

So today, so far 1/2 hour with a bit to post this. I'll get at least another hour or so in tonight.

Ya know, this is the darkest pit of writing. Rock bottom. I want to write this story, Orchard. I like the world, the
general premise is sound. But taking the story and making it specific, figuring out what happens and making it interesting
is just pulling teeth. Of course, its always this way. I've always thought of it as the hump, the place where I'm still
plotting out what happens and why.

I started after getting back from the A's game last night and open the document and froze. Almost every story I write has
a 1000 words of a false starts. I was sitting there and realizing that there it was, 1000 words of false start. Sigh, I
know I can get beyond this problem. Its what kept me from writing for so long, getting the entire piece rolling. Enough
whining - I feel better already. So I'm not sure how to count this, but I knew it was coming.

So here are my notes from the past few days when I started this story.

The society is separated between Passenger and Crew. They were a colony ship that when they arrived the crew rebelled and
decided that they liked the high tech life. Control of knowledge, technology separates the two people. You have maybe 200
people (Crew) who live better than we do. The remaining 100,000 or so live very poorly, maybe 18th century. This is
several hundred years after the landing so most just know the history. High infant mortality, accidents, etc has kept
their numbers from exploding.

To most of the crew, the passengars are their charge but few deal with them directly. Mostly the peace milita which
consists of a dozen or so that help the local authorties run the place and keep order. Of course they also have access to
high tech spies such as hummingbird cameras, remote mikes, and so forth.

Jeffords is third generation crew. (Several high ranking crew are original crew and make up the ruling elite). He is
quite used to the comforts of home. Food, drink, lots of cool toys and luxuries. But lower ranking members must work to
keep the place running. He was trained as an gene -engineer. Now he builds plants that grow on a harsh, dry world. (The
planets oceans are smaller and shallower, closer to the sun, but a tad smaller than earth). Jeffords believes that the
relationship to passenger and crew is correct. The crew protects, gives them the technology they need, new plants,
protects the fresh water from pollution. He doesn't question the policies...why whould he.
he has always seen himself as a nice guy, really wanting the colony to improve and loves his part in it. His work is
praised often.
Jeffords is short, slightly overweight (as is many of the crew). Black hair cut close to the scalp.
Tends to speak carefully, as his standing in the crew is fairly low and there is a unspoken pecking order. When relaxed he
speaks loudly, with a tendency to wave his arms as he explains.

Next: His mistake...

(Basicly, this is how I get over the hump - outlining until the story comes together.)

First, two days of check in. Both yesterday and today run right at an hour. My minimum dare requirement (MDR), but it’s more than I might have gotten done any other way. Let’s see, I got about 200 and 400 words respectfully. Tonight I might have gotten more done, but I had to watch the last 45 minutes of Jaws.
Still, I'm thinking that a bit every day is better than random snatches over the week.

I’ve never done more than make notes to myself, and that’s the way this is reading. One thing I’d like to do is make it a bit more fun to read. There must be a style to writing these pages that works. Stringing these words together has a different ring to them than fiction. Something to figure out. Great, one more writing task.

But...I’m struggling with what story I’m writing. This is the productivity killer of mine. I know the characters, the background (enough to flesh out as needed) but not what is going to happen in a way that interests the reader. I need the crux, the major scene where the MC wins or loses.

Here is a bit of character for you all:
Jeffords. He’s a member of the colonies elite. When the colony was set up the ‘crew’ took over and set themselves up in charge. They control the technology and knowledge base. Jeffords is a third generation crew as the power is passed down.
He’s grown up used to privilege and wealth, having never really seen any other side to life.
Recently, he tried to seduce the Captain’s daughter and got caught. Punishment is swift. He’s banished from the colony, sent off to one of the escape proof prisons they have scattered in the countryside.
Why are they escape proof? Jeffords knows, heck he invented it.


Oh, well, it helps me think a bit. Maybe a bit of the colony background tomorrow.

Good night all...

The kids are playing quietly, but not so quiet that it makes me nervous.

I have a wedding to go to in a few hours and just know that this evening will be a near total loss for writing. The Dare has already saved me. One hour on the nose, barring the interruptions that having a family can’t really avoid. Nothing like potty training a three year old for those unavoidable emergencies.

Day 1:
About 450 words on Orchard, for lack of a better title. Got my hour in and really hope to add a bit more later...after the wedding. I can hope. But right now is the ‘pit’ part of writing. I know the setting, the setup, got a decent idea about the characters, but the how I get to the ending is just killing me. Every story has a point where I’m not sure of its direction and then every word is pulling teeth. Like now. This is the place I most often ruin it, forcing characters into plot devices or vice versa.

I’m outta here. Hopefully, I figure out something. Remember it doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be done. That’s the only way I can keep at it.

Welcome! I'm not sure how you find me, but here you are. Make yourself comfortable. Count the spelling errors.

Frankly, this is Mike Jasper's idea (http://www.sff.net/people/michaeljasper/) and my writing group, SFY. Its a longer story than bandwidth really warrants (translation: I'll bore you with it sooner or later). In a nutshell, SFY had a debate on how to get all of us writing more and then Mike comes up with his 1/24/30 DARE. Write one hour every day for a month. Sounds easy, right? We'll see.

You've heard about having to 'make time to write'? It's true, you also have to guard it. Passionately.

Anyway, I'll rant about that later.
If I was going this far I might as well put my progress on the web. Tracking my progress has always help me stay motivated. This is just the next step.

The dare starts tomorrow:
Day 0:
Written 1.5 hours, 400+ new words and some rewriting, a character sketch, a bit of research and a game of freecell. Okay, the freecell doesn't count. And set up this site on BLOGGER.

Snippet that I wrote today.
As Jeffords stepped into the cool, shady depths of the prison orchard, the sweat covering his body left him shivering and clammy. He peeled the damp prisoner smock away from his body and let it fall back with a sticky wet flop. Peering into the prison orchard, he raised the heavy glass canteen to take the last swig of warm water.

Hey, I wrote today. That's better than yesterday.

Okay, I'm going back to it. Maybe get a few more words down tonight.

bye