Monday, January 31, 2011

Day 1

Mission accomplished. Poorly accomplished, but accomplished.

Sunday's bedtime: 10:30 p.m. (as opposed to my regular 12:30 or 1 a.m. bedtime) Made it to my desk by 5:33 a.m. Read over my old files... the old narrative summary and outline and the three measley passages I'd written more than six years ago. Copied and pasted the passages of text into a new document and—Elena cries. I go get her a little bottle of milk. Return to desk. Reread text. Revise a paragraph. Stare at screen. Reread text. Contemplate how story should open. Eat a donut. Stare at screen. Type a sentence. Go back to beginning and reread. Elena cries. Go change her diaper. Come back to desk. Eat another donut. Ban donuts from my office. Check time. Write a paragraph. Write another paragraph. 7:00 arrives.

So, for day 1, my "new words" count is something like 165. Later this morning, I went back to the beginning (I know, this rereading crap has got to stop) and revised one final time, now I will be proceeding forward with the story. I am not allowing myself to revise again until I'm at least five chapters into the novel. With old content and new content, my 'Day 1' word count is 1,616 words. Lots of room for improvement, but at least I sat here and did something.


Sunday, January 30, 2011

ahem...



I'm reading one of my many how-to books, PLOT & STRUCTURE by James Scott Bell, who wrote the following:

I remember the exact date that I decided I was going to be a writer. I jotted this in my journal: "Today I resolve to take writing seriously, to keep going and never stop, to learn everything I can and make it as a writer."

Ok. I'm making a public declaration about how I'm finally going to start writing, for real and with consistency. Every morning from 5:30-7 a.m. I will park myself at my desk and wait for awesomeness to descend upon me... or, try to actually write the novel I extensively outlined about 6 years ago.

Wait, scratch that TRY TO. That's pathetic. I am not going to try to write it. I'm going to write it. I need to overcome the whole "wanting it to be great" fantasy and just write it. Even if it turns out kinda lame, at least when I finish it, I will have learned that I CAN FOLLOW THROUGH and write a novel. Even a lackluster novel is better than no novel.


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

reading reading reading reading :-)


Good stuff I've been reading lately...