A Work in Progress

Current word count: 60,750
Average words per day: 2,323

Those numbers represent a new personal record for total word count at this point—by a significant margin. I missed a new record for average words per day by 6 words. Oh well. I’ve already passed by record for total words for the month as well, so any words beyond these just pad the overall word count to my advantage.

Looking at these numbers, I do now begin to wonder if a 100,000-word year might not actually be possible at some point. Granted, all the stars would need to align, and it would require the complete cooperation of my muse, but it’s looking quite a bit less impossible than I had believed.

All this also tells me that it is possible for me to get a book out there at least every six months. It’s just a matter of doing it. And finishing it.

Okay, back to it. Let’s see what these last two days bring . . .

Current word count: 44,490
Average words per day: 2,060

Not quite as strong a performance as last week, but still well above all previous years at this point. Although my average number of words per day was down slightly, my daily word count was more consistent—and still well above my personal goal of 1,800 words.

The characters are doing some very interesting things. So far, there’s only one that appears to suffer from my typical issue of possibly being a little “too good”. The rest of them of showing some nice human flaws.

I’m still not entirely sure where the story is going just yet. There’s a key, probably pivotal, event coming up that I think will bring all of that into alignment. We’ll know for sure by this time next week . . . I hope!

The tone of the book can’t quite decide what it wants to be yet. There are times when it feels like a Heinlein juvenile, times when it feels like latter Heinlein (e.g. Friday), and others when it feels like something else entirely—not quite like The Legacy of Heorot, but something else entirely.

I suspect I should be able to report that I reached the 50,000-word mark some day early next week. At this point, reaching that goal requires me to write barely more words each day than I typically do during the rest of the year.

Well, back to it . . .

Current word count: 30,067
Average words per day: 2,173

Still going steady. These word count numbers are new personal bests for Week 2 by a significant margin.

It’s still not clear where this story is heading. The characters are all doing things. A potentially key, pivotal event is coming up. There is much intrigue. As a whole, though, I’m not yet sure what it’s all leading up to.

I’ve barely touched on the underlying themes that I wanted to present in this story. I’m not sure why I’m shying away from them. It might be that I know what I want to do there, so I’m holding them back in reserve for days later in the month when I’m truly stuck or don’t have enough time to wait on the muse.

I’ve had a few ideas of how to structure the characters better within the context of the story. I suspect that will help drive some of the action in the writing days ahead.

Well, back at it . . .

Current word count: 14,859
Average words per day: 2,123

This week—and year—started off to a very strong start, despite my misgivings over the lack of a full understanding of the story’s plot and structure. These word counts are a new personal best for me at the end of Week 1—well above my previous records (in 2010, for those of you might be counting).

The story and characters have already taken some interesting turns. One of what has become one of my main viewpoint characters was not even in my original planned list of characters for the story. She was originally intended just to open the scene, but then quickly—very quickly—acquired a life of her own.

I’m noticing an interesting trend this year: I’m having a much easier time writing the scenes for the female characters than for the male ones. I’m not entirely sure what’s driving this. I’ll ponder it more deeply later if I get stuck.

I’ve been forcing myself to try to alternate between the two. This is probably a bad strategy, but the word count is currently holding up, so I’m not going to worry on that too much for now. I have little doubt that I will break it as the weeks progress.

Back to it . . . and hoping the Week 2 is as productive!