Monday, November 8, 2010

set-back

It may sound obvious, but this novel thing is H-A-R-D! I mean, I knew it would be, but I guess unless you've done it before, you don't know the exact ways it will prove toughest.

For me, I think it's proving tricky in the following ways:
  • I'm doing too much rewrite as I write (for every 2 words I write, I feel like I rewrite them each 4 times--time waster!)
  • I'm not totally sure how solid my story is (and I find myself distracted in research in the middle of a paragraph--time destroyer!)
  • And probably because of the lack of solidity, I'm having trouble understanding my characters (although I did just discover an unplanned character & I'm quite smitten with him, but it's making rethink the first 2K words & one of the main characters that lives in them...and who is sort of the catalyst for my main character's decisions--time annihilator!)

My goal by Sunday eve was 12,500 words...I have less than 1/2 of that at barely over 5K. Listen closely--can you hear it--my tears of defeat dripping down onto the keyboard? Yeah I can't hear it either because I'm not crying, but I am pissed because I spent ALOT of time writing this weekend, and yet, I have very little to show for it. On the page anyway. I guess the biggest part is the learning & hopefully that will show up on the page as I continue.

Because I'm not going to let my word count set back defeat me. I'm not going to say "well I'm already behind & there's no way I can catch up, so I might as well not even bother with the other 45,000 words," even though I'm not gonna lie, I've thought it. I'm just going to buckle down, aim for daily writing (instead of saving so much up for the weekend like I thought was a good idea last weekend), learn from my mistakes, and hope that the more I write, the more I will write!

xoxo!

3 comments:

  1. Writing is so, so much more a process than a goal. Don't stop doping what you are doing--keep writing what comes to mind. It will either come together, or it won't.

    Often, when you get to the end, it may not have been where you thought you were going...but that doesn't mean it's not ok.

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  2. Don't give up! We're all rooting for you :) Yes, writing is hard but I know you have something worth saying!

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  3. Thanks for the encouragement guys...I'm trying. I knew it'd be hard, but I'm letting my "behindness" get the better of me. Will keep plugging along though. I must...

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