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Welcome!
This is the new and updated website for author and storyteller Aaron Achartz. Here you will find posts about NaNoWriMo, thoughts on writing, and updates to all of his available work.
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Goals for 2024
I am not one for resolutions. They are typically made quickly, without any planning or concrete expectations. I want a better job. I want to lose weight. I want to be rich and famous. Instead, I take time every few months to set concrete, acheivable goals. I also, importantly, see how I did on past…
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Project River – Print Copy
A printed copy of the rough draft of my 2023 NaNoWriMo novel arrived in the mail today! When I finish a project like this, I always make a printed copy for my own shelf. Even if I never get around to editing it, I’ll have a reminder of what I accomplished and learned while writing…
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Project River – Day 30 – Finished!
I am finished! The final word count for the rough draft of Project River is 93,284 words, made with 506,000 keystrokes over the course of about 39 hours of drafting, for an average speed of about 40 words per minute. That’s 237 pages of double-spaced 11-point text. My lowest day was November 1st with 1,993…
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Project River – Day 29 – One Day Left
With 91,000 words, I have managed to beat my personal goal of 90k for this year. But my novel is not yet finished. There is still the final confrontation with the antagonist and the denoument to write. For the other writers out there, stay with it! We can finish this month strong!
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Project River – Day 27 – Word Sprints
I am now at 82,000 words, with daily average of 3,000 words. However, the amount I write each day varies from 2k to 6k depending on how much free time I have. What works for me to get all of those words down quickly is word sprints. A word sprint is a timed period where…
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Project River – Day 23 – 1 Week Left
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you’ve been able to spend time with those you are thankful for today. There’s just a week left of NaNoWriMo, and I’m at 66,500 words. I’m a little behind par, but close enough that I am not worried about it. I know that as long as I can write something everyday,…
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Project River – Day 19 – Too Many Words
So far, I’ve written 56,680 words. Which is good, but I’ve only written half of the scenes that I have planned for this novel. Running the numbers, that means that if I keep at the same pace for over-running my estimated length of a scene, the final word count will end up being closer to…
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Project River – Day 17 – NaNoWriMo Goal Complete!
I’m done! Kind of. With 51,301 words total, I’ve managed to beat the official NaNoWriMo goal! Now just to get to my personal goal of 90k by the end of the month. Things continue at a steady pace, though I am over-running my word goals for each each scene, and therefore slowly falling behind on…
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Project River – Day 15 – Manuskript
I am now half-way to my goal, both in terms of days and words, with a total of 46,762. I’ve gotten a free questions on the software that I use to write. I use Manuskript, which is free and open-source. It has several sections for managing characters, plots, world building, outlining, and writing.