Having set myself the challenge to produce 10,000 polished words each month (see here), things weren't looking too good in the Factory of the Imagination this month. In fact, I called the Time & Motion crew in at one point on to see what was going on. By 16th June - over half-way through the month - I'd only got 3,333 words down, and the following day only managed another 333 words (I kid not, the Time & Motion crew made a note of these figures), so it seemed like the whole idea was going to glurp down the gurgler.
Never mind, I told myself, it was an interesting motivational idea, but quality is what I'm after, not words at any cost. And then, as if to prove this to the Shop Steward, I actually went backwards for a day. I polished and polished, until there were finer but fewer words on the factory floor.
Never mind, I told myself again (having used up every original phrase on the production line), if I can produce 333 words every day for 29 days and 343 on the 30th day, that's a sweet 10,000, but if I write nothing on some days, then surely 666 isn't too much to aim for, by way of catching up. I just have a lot of catching up to do, that's all. Who needs sleep after all?
Anyway, having taken the liberty of pushing the deadline back to this first day of a fortnight's holiday from my other workplace (yes, I'm moonlighting, so sack me!), I think I can save face by reporting that I've covered just over 9,000 words this last month, having reached 49,167. Phew! It was a close thing, but that's close enough.
Now to see if I can shape 10,833 words in the next 27 days. Hmm.
I have to get this novel finished before I go mad.
I have to get this novel finished before I go mad.
4 comments:
"I have to get this novel finished before I go mad."
I think the ship has already sailed on that one Paul !
And I think you're right. Spot on, Mike! Oh well, the lunatics look like they have more fun.
I couldn't agree more! Locking ourselves away in a room talking to people that don't exist? Madness! Sounds like you're having fun, Paul, which is what it's all about.
I'm still on a writing break, the first in 12 years, and enjoying it. There re 95 000 words waiting to be edited when I get back, gulp!
Hi Gary. Great to hear from you. The storyteller in me is intrigued by this absence of yours and I'm beginning to develop a range of plot-lines to suit... and have conversations with people that don't exist to explore each one even more fully. You're not on the run from the Russian mafia though, are you?
Get back to those 95,000 words! Can't you hear them screaming for attention?
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