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Thursday, November 29, 2007
Done. But not finished.I reached the 50,000-word mark around 10:30 pm on Monday. Compared to last year's mad sprint to the finish line, it felt incredibly anti-climatic. Maybe because it wasn't even close to the 30th? I don't know. Yes, I still felt a faint glow of pride that I had hit the mark. 50,000 words in less than 30 days is an even more admirable feat, I suppose?The writing process itself was better this week than during Weeks 2 and 3. I had several long bursts of creativity, even hitting a word count that exceeded 2,700 words on one day. (I just checked: that was Thanksgiving Day. I guess I had much to be thankful for that day! :) )I have continued on and will record my final word count at some point Friday night. The story is not yet over and I'm not ready for it to end.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
This week has been only slightly less painful than Week 2. I've gotten a much better feel for the characters who I felt were not that well developed before, and most of them have taken some interesting turns in terms of their insights and actions. The story itself has started picking up in its pacing, but at this moment I don't know who did it or why. (I remember now why I don't write straight mysteries . . .)Despite the muse's reluctance, I have managed to average more than my personal goal each day, so I should be in really good shape for the home stretch next week. (I also looked at my progress last year and I had reached this week's word count on the 28th, so things are progressing much, much better this year.)I can see now that this will turn into a much longer novel than last year's effort (in the end). At the 40,000-word mark, things are only now starting to get interesting--and one of the sub-plots has barely been explored. It feels better structured than last year's effort, but I'm also finding that I'm getting bogged down with the same sort of issues as last year in terms of keepinig the plot advancing. I think it's a side effect of having to write, write, write without being able to take the time to really plot things out, so I resort to more inner examination of the characters. (It's also, as I told a friend, a way of making notes to myself of things to remember or explore later in a future draft or story.)Okay, okay, I will admit that it is much nicer this year to not be 8,000 words behind my goal, and it's very nice to be 5,000 words ahead of where I should be.We'll see what next week brings . . .
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Groan.I've (somehow) managed to keep up the pace this week, staying well ahead of my personal goals and where I realistically needed to be in order to complete 50,000 words by November 30.It was a tough week. The muse seemed determined to sit there with her arms wrapped tightly around each sentence, unwilling to surrender them to me. Each one that she gave me, she did so grudgingly. I'm sure the writing reflects it, but the goal is words, words, words--quantity over quality. (Yeah, sure, just try to tell a Virgo that!)There's been a few interesting twists and turns this week, both in terms of plot and character. More than once, I've thought back and wondered, "Why did she decide to have that happen?"Over the past two days I've also hit upon an interesting insight: even "evil" characters have hopes, fears, and dreams, just like the good guys do. The difference, sometimes, is only the context in which they occur.Okay. Back at it for Week Three . . .
Thursday, November 08, 2007
It has been a good week!I set myself a goal of a minimum of 1,700 words a day as a hedge against those days when the muse balks and decides to give me the silent treatment. So far (and I choose that phrase with great care), I have managed an average of more than 1,800 words each day.I ended up doing the project this year that I really wanted to do, but needed the insistence of a friend and the toss of a three-sided die to settle on. It's a bit of an experiment for me, as I don't think I've ever tried to sustain something with this tone and perspective before. (I find it mildly disturbing how well most of it is flowing, but that's an issue for therapy, not here . . . or perhaps next year's NaNoWriMo. Hmmmm.)Stay tuned to this station for next week's report . . .
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