Which I actually didn’t do until yesterday, or maybe it was Friday. I’ve lost track.
THE DAY
Here’s the dilemma: when I slow down and the writing’s bad and you feel like you’re pulling words out with a fork, that should be an indication to me that I’ve not thought through where things are headed.
What I notice is that my head gets a little empty. I know what I want to say, but I can’t find the words and the images don’t come either. You’d think I’d recognize this by now, and yet I never seem to. So I fret; I get frustrated; I start to grump and then EVERYTHING comes to a screeching halt.
I wish I understood this better. I think it has something to do with when I’m rethinking a character arc. I listened to a tiny bit of an interview of another author today and the interviewer asked if the guy avoided certain books while he was writing. Well, he did; I think probably all authors do because you don’t want your voice or vision contaminated by someone else’s finished product which will ALWAYS seem so much better and more polished than anything you’re writing at the time.
I went back to a book I know very well and started to re-read it and thought, Wow, this book has heart. And one of my characters is/was still looking for his. So this book showed me a way in, but it also meant a massive rethinking.
Now the husband is okay with thinking; his opinion is that a day of heavy thinking or planning counts for at least as much as writing, and to a certain extent, he’s right…unless thinking becomes avoidance, which I think it has the potential to be for me. The downside, of course, is that if I don’t think, I flounder and when I flounder, I start using a fork to dig out the words, and then everything just goes to hell in a hand basket.
Anyway…before yesterday and today, it was an okay week. Sometimes I also think I do myself a disservice by NOT taking a day off once a week. But I don’t. Getting started again and back in the groove is tough.
WRITING OUT LOUD
Stay Dead (started 5/05; Days 1-4, false start)
Day 1: 1000 Day 23-26: 9450 Day 51-52: 4500
Day 2: 1200 Day 27: (novella) 2000 Day 53-57: 6000
Day 3: 1800 Day 28: 2500 Day 58-61: 10,200
Day 4: 1350 Day 29-32: 8850 Day 62-67: 11,250
Day 5: 1000 Day 33: 3400
Day 6: 2000 LONDON HIATUS (13 days)
Day 7-10: ~4500 Day 34: 3000
Day 11-12: ~5000 Day 35-39: 9,800
Day 13: 1600 Day 40-43: 10,500
Day 14: 2300 Day 44: 2000
Day 15-17: 4450 Day 45-47: 6000
Day 18-19: 4500 Day 48: 4000
Day 20-22: 5220 Day 49-50: 3500
Blog Post: 535
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What I’m Watching:
Finished up Peaky Blinders. Well done. Then started in on Trumbo, a surprisingly good movie so far. The Olympics off and on. I just don’t have the time to devote to them that I would like.
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What I’m Reading:
A gammisch: Missing, Presumed for relaxation; taking a look back at some Stephen King (and noticing just how clunky some of this early stuff is, so that gives me hope). Have I read anything else? I’m sure I have; just nothing jumps to mind at the moment.
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What I’m Listening to:
You know, I’ve downloaded several books and listened to none yet. I’m too conflicted. Like…stop, I know you wrote a good book; go away.
