... Ahem.
I've worked almost every day over the last week (as well as having to help my dad as he goes on his annual obsessive-compulsive house-cleaning spree), but I had yesterday off. Even though most of it was spent bludging and wasting time with my iPod, I did get some writing done; enough to nudge my word count for my novel to just over 32,000. I tried editing my thesis today before work, but that pretty much consisted of me opening the Word document, staring at it balefully for half an hour and then closing it again. I'll set that aside for when I have a full day or two to myself (and when I'm in less of a foul mood). I also started outlining some other random idea for a story I had, getting about two pages of character junk and vague plot lines. And when I say random, I mean random; this story seriously doesn't know what genre it is. It's like fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, Western, historical fiction (Feudal Japan) and war. I think the Genre Fairy just hurled one of everything at me and left me to do the cleaning up (bitch).
Anyway, back to my fantasy novel: Though I've written heaps over the last fortnight or so, I'm still struggling to finish the damn second chapter. I know what needs to happen, but the two or three scenes that still need to be written just refuse to translate themselves into words. I'm one of those pepole who would love to be able to write in chronological order (and theoretically I should be able to with this novel, since it has a full outline), but generally my brain just picks a scene at random and decides that's what it will write. Plus, I've been looking over my outline, digging through it like a chimpanzee looking for fleas, and I can't shake the growing sense of dread that I've tried cramming too much into several of the chapters. The way it stands, I think that if I try writing according to the outline, several important scenes will be rushed, so I'm thinking a good chunk of outline revision is in order (consider that added to this round's goals). Also, my third chapter (which is more or less finished) is basically taking a giant expository dump on the reader's head, so it's going to need a serious rewrite.
I'm having the writers' equivalent of a mid-life crisis (mid-novel crisis?). Send chocolate.
Two bits of good news, though. One: Boris (my car) has not yet exploded or attempted to kill or impoverish me in any way (I suspect he's trying to lull me into a false sense of security). And two: After next week my rosters will be changing, so I'll no longer be working on Saturdays. Which means I'll be able to go to my writing workshop meetings again! Yay! :D
I know we're only two days into this round of ROW80, but it seems like time is already rushing away from me. I wrote almost 10,000 words in the week or so before New Year, so maybe I've just burnt myself out, but I feel like I could have got more done over the last few days, if I'd had more time to myself. In fact, I'm convinced the Time Goblins have been sneaking around behind me and stealing all my spare time when I'm not looking (Time Goblins are distant cousins of the Desk Goblins, who are responsible for making sure I'm unable to locate a specific piece of stationery on my desk when I need it). I read most of the goal posts by other ROW80ers but didn't get a chance to comment on nearly as many as I would have liked. Still, I'll try to get around to more ROW80 blogs later in the week. But for now, time for writing O_O
Judgemental Dog resorts to bribery to get some more writing out of his mistress:
See how other ROW80ers are going here.
Hello Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI've heard that the 30,000 mark area usually stumps a lot of writers. It happened to me too and I think it was because I started to think about what I had written. Was it good? Bad? Should I keep writing. What helps me during these stumps is to read a book by the favorite author for inspiration or look to craft books or other bloggers to get the fingers moving again.
Sounds like your doing well so far.
My current WIP is the first thing I've ever written out of order. I only have a loose outline, so it has been a very interesting experience. I don't know why I didn't try writing like this earlier.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your thesis and finishing Chapter two!
Mid-novel crisis. That's exactly what happens! We need to make that a thing so we can extort chocolate out of people.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're going to be able to go back to your writing group. It's great to have in person writer friends.
See you at the next check-in!
*sends lots and lots of chocolate* Mid-novel crisis sounds tough, but you're doing great. Keep up the good work, and good luck with the tricky Chapter.
ReplyDeleteI wrote my current wip totally out of sequence. I'd work on a scene, move on to another, go back and forth. It was quite interesting. So understand completely. Sending commiserating chocolate vibes your way.
ReplyDeleteYour workshop buddies are just as excited that you can join us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with others about the "mid-novel crisis." It happens to the best of us. THe best way to get through it is to just work through it, just slog on, my friend!
ReplyDelete