I’m still here.
It’s been a busy time with work…and a busy time writing. (Also, it’s been remarkably rainy for August in Texas.)
I cannot complain…especially about the rain and being busy writing.
A Change in Schedule
I normally wake up very early to write. I still wake up early, but I’ve not been writing in the mornings. August has found me writing during lunch breaks and sometimes again in the evenings.
It’s strange to be up early and not writing, but…I’ve not been up as early as usual this month. (I’ve been waking up between 6:00 and 6:30, instead of the usual 3:30 to 5:00). It’s been nice easing into new days reading the previous day’s writing and plotting where to go next.
The Book
The ridiculous optimist in me still thinks, “This draft will be done by Labor Day!” but the realist in me is more like, “It will be done in later September.”
Right now, as new ideas hit, I’m running with them. Each week in August, I’ve thought, “I’ll be into the already-written stuff by week’s end,” but new chapters keep happening.
It’s felt good to be writing daily and seeing an end in sight.
So…if you don’t hear from me until September, you know why…
Whether August or September, it’s always wonderful to read your work!
In some distant-past post on my blog I wrote about how I didn’t want to quantify my writing efforts, fearing that if I knew it too well I would kill the intuitive part where the writing sprang from. I’m still rising early, and if I’m not writing, I’m transcribing notes or otherwise at my computer, but I’m not going to keep track of what and when. I guess my creativity is a fragile thing.
Thank you, Sue! I hope you had a great birthday 🙂
I’m with you on not tracking things. Spreadsheets and programs for word counts. Writing challenges. And even word processors that show you in real-time if you’re hitting your daily and long-term goals.
I feel books written in a fast manner like that show it in the final drafts. They might click along and be enjoyable at best, but they rarely have the depth I enjoy when sitting down to read.
This month, though, I did set a goal: to write daily from August 1 to Labor Day…in the hope of having this draft done by then. But…creativity being the thing it is — and me answering its call, rather than trying to force it to do my bidding, I’m writing new chapters and running with it.
I’m not tracking word counts or shooting for any other goal than, “Write daily.” Typically, I shoot for more days in a week writing than not. Or…if I write daily for a bit, it might not be much writing some days.
I’m sure some would say, “See? This worked for you! Now…keep this up — look how much you got done!” But I only gave myself this goal because I know exactly where I am with things at this point in the rewrite…even the new stuff popping up out of nowhere. When I’m not so sure, I’m fine giving myself the necessary time to let things roll around in my head until the best stuff makes itself known. While I’ve written a novella and plenty of short stories in the time I’ve worked on this book, I think somewhere in September of this year I’ll have been knocking this thing around for 8 years.
And while I won’t tell myself to write daily when I start on the next book, I do intend to not spend that long before the next one 🙂