A Lot of Work

If I had realized how much work it was going to be to write this book, I am not sure if I would have had the courage to start it. Even now, more than 76,000 words into it, I am not sure I have what it takes to finish it. Somewhere along the way I began to enjoy part of the process, though, and I can only hope that with more practice, it will get easier and I can spend more time enjoying the writing and less time agonizing over every word.

Every time I think I have the end of the book planned out, I realize that I need to add or change some of the details. Each time I do that, I am positive that THIS time I have it, this time I am ready to finish the book. Then, I write a few thousand words and realize something is missing or isn't going to work. Tonight I'm in the positive end of that cycle. I sat down with my mom, then my dad, and then with my bestest friend, Chris, and outlined the ending. I still have to actually write it, but now I have a definite plan and I am feeling good about it. To celebrate, I took the evening off and watched TV and played Freecell. Word count, schmerd count, right?

More Plotting More Writing

I thought last Saturday that I had worked out all of the plotting I would need to finish the book. But in the last couple of days I realized that my pacing was off. When I finished last night's section with them stopping to take a nap only a sections from the climax, I knew that I had a problem. Mom and I went out to Olive Garden and talked about the problems. She claims she is not a writer, but my mom is clever and creative and we managed to rethink the ending sequence. I am excited because I think this ending is going to work well.

I have had trouble getting my butt in the chair and my hands on the keyboard, but I finally started writing about 6 tonight. I got 3,845 words written, bringing the total for this month to 14,152. I am only 3,705 words behind schedule. If I manage to get more than 4,000 words done tomorrow, I will be less than a full day's writing behind. It would take 5,491 to get my completely caught up. I know, too many numbers. Did I mention that I used to be an accountant?

The story is getting pretty exciting. I wish I could share it with you, I would love your feedback, but you may have to wait until it goes on sale to read it. At the rate I work, that could be a decade or so. You won't mind waiting, will you?

I put a little content on the 30Stories30Days.com website, but I am just testing out some applications. I may move it to this server, I have to talk to my friend and see if he has room for another of my websites. I am pretty sure I will be doing that challenge in April. Any of you thinking about joining me? It is less of a volume commitment than NaNoWriMo, but it will take more creativity as you will have to come up with 30 plots, 30 sets of characters, 30 settings, etc. You might want to start jotting down ideas but remember, you shouldn't start writing until the day the challenge starts. There are no prizes if you finish, but I would be happy to give you a certificate showing that you did it. :)

I should be getting to bed, I have a lot of writing to do tomorrow, but I am waiting for my dad to get home. He's been in Cuba all week and should be home in about ten minutes. Mom and I have missed him, but maybe not as much as the dogs have. They love their grandpa.

Plotting the Ending

Writing has been moving really slowly on this book since the end of November. When I first sat down at the beginning of November and started this book, I spent almost a week plotting it out, section by section, chapter by chapter. The only problem is, I left the final third or so of the book unplotted. It just so happens that when November ended, I had gotten right to the end of the plotted portion of the book. Ever since I have been writing less and less effectively. I am not good at the jump off the cliff and see what happens kind of writing. I need to know what the major (and minor) plot developments will be, what everyone is supposed to be doing and where they are all going. Without that safety net, I don't write much at all. That's fine with short stories maybe, but with something as long as a novel, it's not happening.

This morning I sat down to write and nothing was happening. So, I went in and found my mom and we talked about the ending of the book. (Mom just called me into her room to yell at me. I had given her the four pages I wrote this weekend and she wasn't happy because I left it at a cliffhanger. Oops!) Now the book is planned all the way through the end and all I have to do is write it. Writing takes time and can be tough, but I find it infinitely easier than plotting. Characters, dialogue, setting, all of these things are fairly simple stuff. It's figuring out why they are doing what they are doing and how it all works together that I struggle with.

In other news... Harley and I went on a bike ride tonight. That dog only weighs 14 pounds or so but he can easily run faster than I can pedal. He just flies down the road, ears flapping in the breeze. I thought I would have to buy him a trailer for the bike, but now I'm thinking I'll just harness him to the bike and let him pull me.