Ever since I've dreamed up the plot for the story that I'm working on, it has centered around a pivotal point in which the heroine finds out that her fiancé is leaving her. I knew exactly how they were going to act, how they were going to yell at each other, what was going to happen (don't worry - happy ending!) But somehow I managed to get to that point already, and I'm, like, a fifth of the way through my goal of 50,000 words! So, now I'm like, what the hell?
I'm also nervous that I won't be able to reach my goal. I've got 61 days to write 39000 words - that's 639 words a day, but I certainly don't have enough time to write every day. I'm a busy girl. I sell pants! I know that some days I'll have to really buckle down and get a fire lit but I don't think I'll be happy until I'm in the clear.
I always thought that my birthday took soooooo long to get here after my brother's in May. Now it's coming too fast!
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
10,000 words!
Yippee! I'm so excited - last night/ early this morning I hit the 10,000 word mark in the novel. Not only that, I finished the first part of three, so I'm well on my way. With 40,000 words to go, and about 2,500 words per chapter, that's another 16 chapters. I'm going to sit down later and sketch out exactly what's going to happen during those remaining chapters. I like to plan out so that I know what's going to happen when and not leave some things hanging.
I was worried for awhile that I was becoming too focused on the word count rather than the quality of the work that I was producing. But now I can see that it's a goal for me to beef up what I've written. Take last night's work for example. I had a chapter to write in which I knew exactly what was going to happen. I also figured that I should keep to the 2,500 word-per-chapter length, which is what the other chapters have ended up at. But when I got what I wanted written, I was short about 700 words. So, I went back and read and thought to myself, what can I add here? How can I describe this more accurately? And before I knew it - bam! Another 1,000 words without even thinking about it. Wahoo!
Wow. That was so interesting. Sorry. I just woke up. Never blog on an empty stomach.
So now I get to fly my character to a popular American tourist destination, where the majority of the novel will take place. Since I've only been to this place once, I hope that I will be able to remember enough to use it as a backdrop for my little story. Of course, I'll have to make up a bunch of it - I'm not sure how to hotel names and tourist locations without stepping on toes. I guess since this story is for my own pleasure I won't have to worry about it much.
I was worried for awhile that I was becoming too focused on the word count rather than the quality of the work that I was producing. But now I can see that it's a goal for me to beef up what I've written. Take last night's work for example. I had a chapter to write in which I knew exactly what was going to happen. I also figured that I should keep to the 2,500 word-per-chapter length, which is what the other chapters have ended up at. But when I got what I wanted written, I was short about 700 words. So, I went back and read and thought to myself, what can I add here? How can I describe this more accurately? And before I knew it - bam! Another 1,000 words without even thinking about it. Wahoo!
Wow. That was so interesting. Sorry. I just woke up. Never blog on an empty stomach.
So now I get to fly my character to a popular American tourist destination, where the majority of the novel will take place. Since I've only been to this place once, I hope that I will be able to remember enough to use it as a backdrop for my little story. Of course, I'll have to make up a bunch of it - I'm not sure how to hotel names and tourist locations without stepping on toes. I guess since this story is for my own pleasure I won't have to worry about it much.
Monday, May 14, 2007
7500 words!
Hello all!
I'm at 7500 words - that's 15% of my 50,000 word goal. With 75 days to go, that's about 566 words a day! I'm so excited ... I'm hoping to have 15,000 by the end of this week.
Luckily, my 11:00pm genius stretched out to past midnight - I've got such a crazy busy week that I'll be writing late into the night. Good thing I've got no late shifts this week! :)
I'm at 7500 words - that's 15% of my 50,000 word goal. With 75 days to go, that's about 566 words a day! I'm so excited ... I'm hoping to have 15,000 by the end of this week.
Luckily, my 11:00pm genius stretched out to past midnight - I've got such a crazy busy week that I'll be writing late into the night. Good thing I've got no late shifts this week! :)
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Writing while working
I work in retail; I sell pants to ladies who complain. No, that's not quite true - they don't all complain. Some of them are appreciative of the effort that I put to finding them the perfect pair of pants, and to those I tip my hat. If it we're for you, ladies, I'd probably be writing full time by now.
But since I'm one of those girls who don't have a wealthy fiancé to pay all my bills for me, I have to split my time between working and writing. Of course, I have a few chores to fill in the spaces - due to my dust allergy, I can't just leave piles of stuff all over my house. But once in a while, I am blessed with a few moments here and there to jot down a few paragraphs and accelerate toward the 50,000-by-25 mark.
There are two chances that I have to write: the first being my day off - OFF - that means no work other than to park it at the computer and writewritewrite for six to eight hours. Surprisingly enough, that produces quantity but I spend a lot more time thinking and trying to product quality. The second is a lovely space of time between nine and eleven in the evening where the genius flows smoother than wine and I don't worry so much about the quality of my writing as I know it's good. (If you couldn't guess by my extensive run-on sentences, I'm not anywhere near that sweet nine-pm spot.)
And so I pose this question to you, dear reader, who have found my little blog to be somewhat amusing: when is your best time to write?
But since I'm one of those girls who don't have a wealthy fiancé to pay all my bills for me, I have to split my time between working and writing. Of course, I have a few chores to fill in the spaces - due to my dust allergy, I can't just leave piles of stuff all over my house. But once in a while, I am blessed with a few moments here and there to jot down a few paragraphs and accelerate toward the 50,000-by-25 mark.
There are two chances that I have to write: the first being my day off - OFF - that means no work other than to park it at the computer and writewritewrite for six to eight hours. Surprisingly enough, that produces quantity but I spend a lot more time thinking and trying to product quality. The second is a lovely space of time between nine and eleven in the evening where the genius flows smoother than wine and I don't worry so much about the quality of my writing as I know it's good. (If you couldn't guess by my extensive run-on sentences, I'm not anywhere near that sweet nine-pm spot.)
And so I pose this question to you, dear reader, who have found my little blog to be somewhat amusing: when is your best time to write?
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Am I Crazy?
I started this project about a month ago - I had four months until my birthday, and I honestly thought that if I just SAT DOWN AND WROTE that I'd have no problems .... of course, I forgot to take into account social life, work, and housekeeping. But I'm doing better than I thought that I would. I'm at the 5000 word mark, and my story is even making sense! (insert happy cheering here)
But I'm having trouble staying motivated, especially when I can't help but edit edit edit as I write. I'm second-guessing everything that's typed down. I'm starting to second-guess my talent and ability to write. I know that I'm not going to publish the Novel of the Century - at least not any time soon - but it's awfully discouraging to think that I might not even be able to spit out just one short novel!
I shall keep persevering - writing - exposing my self emotionally on paper. Let's see how I do, eh?
But I'm having trouble staying motivated, especially when I can't help but edit edit edit as I write. I'm second-guessing everything that's typed down. I'm starting to second-guess my talent and ability to write. I know that I'm not going to publish the Novel of the Century - at least not any time soon - but it's awfully discouraging to think that I might not even be able to spit out just one short novel!
I shall keep persevering - writing - exposing my self emotionally on paper. Let's see how I do, eh?
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