I managed another writing session today. There’s something about the Sun that seems to make me more productive! I’m sure I’m not the only one, but when that silky sunshine is raining down I feel like I can conquer the world, one book at a time!
Last week I was on half-term and managed a whopping 4,225-word frenzy. I started today’s session by re-reading that chunk and I feel that it’s relatively secure in terms of moving the story on and introducing a little of the back story to the reader. After tweaking it a little (and noticing some missed words – the brain does like to see order and can miss things like that so easily!) I felt as though it should be a new chapter, so began chapter 3.
I’ve always disliked trying to describe parties. I mean, people can imagine what a party is like, but everyone has a slightly different view, so trying to get across exactly the right “vibe” of the party you’re describing can be difficult. Plus, I have the difficulty of trying to give my party a futuristic twist. No mean feat when you’ve not actually been to the future. Perhaps I should ask Marty McFly?
Today’s word count was 1,678 which isn’t, I feel, too bad. However, it’s about 2,000 short of what I wanted to write; if I’m aiming for an 80,000-word manuscript then at 4,000 words-a-week it’ll take me 20 weeks. That sounds about right, as I’ll want to get my manuscript off to an agent in July, because I’m assuming they’ll want to meet me once they’ve agreed to take the book on (hey, I’m allowed to dream) and by the end of July I’ll be on summer holidays (hurrah!) so can meet my to-be agent on a beautiful summer’s day for a nice cup of coffee at Starbucks (where else?) and a chat.
So less than 2,000 words today is not impressive. At this rate it’ll be a year before I’m finished and I’ll have squandered all my hard-earned cash on lattes, panini and cakes at my local coffee shop and/or Starbucks. Which will be very tasty and enjoyable, but no good for my waistline or my wallet.
I suppose the only good thing is that my book is currently in its third chapter, as well as a prologue, and is currently at nearly 11,000 words. I feel as though I’m developing as a writer; I can remember chapters of my first book, The Sillow Orb, being short and feeling the book needed more to feel like a “real” book, whereas this time, I am anxious to actually writing the historical part of the book but keep finding more things to write about in the future. The book feels slightly out of my control and seems to be writing itself, if that isn’t too much of a cliché.
The answer, I suppose, is that the book will be finished when it’s good and ready, and not before. While I sit and think about the historical part and how it’s all going to fit together, my brain is developing the future and my fingers fleshing out a semi-decent book.
Now, if only I could get my brain and fingers to work a bit harder, the whole thing might be finished before the summer after all. Perhaps another latte will help…
