It took me over fifteen years to write my first book ... and it really wasn't very good. I wrote it in my typical slapdash fashion, pulling writing all-nighters for days, even weeks, at a time and then ignoring it for weeks, even months. I finally ended it just so I could say it was done, so I could put both of us out of our misery, so to speak.
I want to do it right this time around.
And so I pondered over what it was that I wanted to write, getting it down to two options. I then wisely asked for input on Facebook and from my blog readers, and the historical mystery won out by a large margin.
I have been doing a lot of writing (just blogging, yes, but getting myself re-acclimated to the physical act of writing as it had been a distressingly long time), and I've also been thinking a lot about the story I want to write. I've been (wait for it, friends and neighbors, and if you know me at all, prepare yourselves for a laugh ... I mean it, now is not the time to take a sip of your drink) researching.
And this morning, I woke up ready to write, so I did.
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I wrote for an hour (674 words), then I made myself stop.
You might be wondering why I forced myself to stop when I was on a writing roll, in a writing place, feeling the writing groove.
It's pretty simple, really ... writing is like crack to me. The way I feel when I'm really rocking my own stuff is, other than my family, the best feeling ever. I do not want to stop, but it's like I burn myself out and have to recharge, and as a result, the story is choppy and lacks flow and cohesion and such because I am usually at such a different place when I go back to it after weeks or often months.
I have no idea of what the appropriate process is, what a typical word count is, how often is typical to spend writing over the course of a day. I would really like to try to be more traditional about it, though, because my goal is to have this story (which is already written in my head, something that I've never had before, either ... I am usually as surprised by how my writing ends up as anyone else because I just sort of write and let it go where it will) finished before school starts back up.
When I stopped myself from writing my WIP, I needed a "cool down", which is what this post is, I suppose.
Anyway, I have to take Belle to the dentist in a bit, so I'll probably hold off on writing anymore (oh, but I want to so badly ...) until we get back.
Hopefully I'm approaching writing the right way this time around :-)
I want to do it right this time around.
And so I pondered over what it was that I wanted to write, getting it down to two options. I then wisely asked for input on Facebook and from my blog readers, and the historical mystery won out by a large margin.
I have been doing a lot of writing (just blogging, yes, but getting myself re-acclimated to the physical act of writing as it had been a distressingly long time), and I've also been thinking a lot about the story I want to write. I've been (wait for it, friends and neighbors, and if you know me at all, prepare yourselves for a laugh ... I mean it, now is not the time to take a sip of your drink) researching.
And this morning, I woke up ready to write, so I did.
.JPG)
I wrote for an hour (674 words), then I made myself stop.
You might be wondering why I forced myself to stop when I was on a writing roll, in a writing place, feeling the writing groove.
It's pretty simple, really ... writing is like crack to me. The way I feel when I'm really rocking my own stuff is, other than my family, the best feeling ever. I do not want to stop, but it's like I burn myself out and have to recharge, and as a result, the story is choppy and lacks flow and cohesion and such because I am usually at such a different place when I go back to it after weeks or often months.
I have no idea of what the appropriate process is, what a typical word count is, how often is typical to spend writing over the course of a day. I would really like to try to be more traditional about it, though, because my goal is to have this story (which is already written in my head, something that I've never had before, either ... I am usually as surprised by how my writing ends up as anyone else because I just sort of write and let it go where it will) finished before school starts back up.
When I stopped myself from writing my WIP, I needed a "cool down", which is what this post is, I suppose.
Anyway, I have to take Belle to the dentist in a bit, so I'll probably hold off on writing anymore (oh, but I want to so badly ...) until we get back.
Hopefully I'm approaching writing the right way this time around :-)
.JPG)
I know what it's like to write a lot and then just not touch a story. It happens to me so much it's the main reason I started posting a story once a week by the chapter on my blog. Even so I still have trouble writing every week. My first story hasn't been written in for months now :(
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the writing.
ReplyDelete