A Little More, A Little Less

Hey how ya doin'?

Yesterday I wrapped up a pleasant writing result of 3018 words. I know it's not what the writing is all about, but as far as keeping some kind of progress check going: it's a good thing. It's not always like this of course. For every day I write way over my 2000 a day goal, there are four or five days I write far less, if anything at all. I won't go into the why's - read my previous posts. I am however fascinated by what makes it possible for me to just pour it all on the screen after I hit a certain number of words.

It is always a struggle to get going, and then when I finally hit some sort of magical barrier it just goes and I can't seem to stop until the chapter is finished. Well, chapter 19 is finished and it took me about 9 days to do it. If I keep that speed up I'll finish the remaining 11 chapters around the end of May. That is unacceptable. I already am not going to make my own projected deadline of 15 February, but the end of May? Sure, it includes a funky period where nothing gets written and lasts about 5 days, but still...there are things planned outside of me just writing. Weekends are it seems a bust: I can never get any time behind the computer - nor should I want too as I'd like to spend time with my wife and son. Then there's at least 2 small trips planned that will take me to technology-challenged areas (4-day Thai beach trip and 4-day Malaysian jungle-hike, both in April!!).

I guess I'll just put on the blinds and try to type 2000 each day that I can. Isn't that what professional writers do? Lock themselves up and refuse to come out until they have a book? It certainly doesn't take them years to plot and over a year to write. Oh well. 110,000 words down, hopefully not as many to go (or I'll really give Harry a run for his money). Chapter 19 was over 10,000 words long, certainly one of the larger chapters. Each previous one was roughly 3,000-5,000 words, with a couple of chapters nearing the 10,000 as well. Nancy will have her hands full dissecting the chapters into smaller, more palatable ones. And in the meantime, I'll definitely try to do a little less, rather than a little more. Isn't that what they say after all? Less is more?