Making Progress

I had a really good two hours of fiction today, alas it involved mostly editing, story structure and outlining, which means that not only do I have no additional words to report, but that I actually ended up deleting some, which brings me down in my grand total for the novel.

I like seeing my totals go up, but this is all part of the process and since I’m editing as I go along, it’s to be expected. I have a feeling that I’m going to clock far more than 80,000 words on this book and then am going to have to go back in with a sharp cutter and knock some of those buggers out. I feel attached to every word I’ve written so far, even though I know not all of them are necessary, so once I’ve finished writing, I will go into killer editing mode. For now, though, I’m making progress. And that’s all that matters.

Quality Vs. Quantity

What do you worry about more when you’re writing? The quality of the words you’re putting down or the quantity? Or perhaps even the time? My goal, so far, has always been to hit the 1,000-day mark, no matter the quality of the words I’m writing. I can always go back and fix later, right? But lately, I’ve found that if the quality of my words is good, I find it easier to go back and finish the scene, the chapter, the story. If the quality is bad, I beat myself up about how incredibly shit I am at writing fiction and that I’ll never amount to anything when it comes to novels.

 So a good writing day for me is one in which I’ve made a substantial dent in my word count but I’ve also written good words.

 It was a good writing day today. Not a large amount of words written, but I like them. I’ll keep them. They remind me that writing is a process and that the more I do it, the better I’ll get at it. The 60,000-word mark is so close now, I can almost touch it. I’d be thrilled if I could get there by the end of this week. Stay tuned!

 

It’s Time to Get Cracking

April 1. A new financial year in some parts of the world. A new beginning for many. No fool’s day, this. It’s time to get to work.

I’m on a normal 9-5 routine starting today. After I had a baby last year, I fell into the 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there style of working, but this morning I’m back to full-time work. 

Not as much progress on the novel as I would have hoped for, but I managed to clock two hours and 614 words today. I can live with that.