I’ve managed another 234 words in my manuscript. Not bad after spending the entire day at work in front of a computer. This is about the time I tend to crash and burn on weeknights so the more I get written by this time, the better.
I’ve got a few ideas percolating for upcoming scenes but at the same time, I’m going to end up deleting a great chunk. What can I say other than it’s just the direction this revision is taking me in. When I get to that point, I’ll try to document the word count in the new material as well as the same in what I end up chopping. All those lovely words… hitting the cutting room floor.
But in this revision of my novel, my heroine is a far more likeable person… even if she does have the occasional “all about me” moment.
After having a couple of lean days (still managed to write though), I succeeded in getting 644 words committed to “paper” yesterday. Hoping for about half that for today. Time will tell if I’m successful.
Well I wrote for a bit, but deleted a lot too so am calling tonight a word-count neutral night. With the changes, I could even end up in a deficit situation. Oh well, will remedy that over the weekend,
In the meantime my computer needs charging so will let it rest and rejuvenate for tomorrow.
It was only 137 words but I wrote! That’s all I’m aiming for. Some days, I accomplish more… other days not so many. Weekend is almost here so hopefully, it will be productive on the writing front.
Since I recorded the actual word count of my progress on Friday, I’ve managed to increase it to 90319! Now this includes anything I managed to complete yesterday plus today’s work.
I can’t believe I’ve managed to add 2589 words in less than 24 hours and it’s not even 2:00 pm yet. I have a file of “cuttings for later” of bits I’ve taken from previous drafts and assembled in one file. So with it, I’ve been able to grab some things before that I want to put back in this draft so that’s saved a lot of time. These scenes have been massaged to fit this latest draft and hopefully, I’ve managed to lasso all the plot bunnies that might be trying to make their escape.
While the word count might not be increasing to thre same degree as yesterday, I have made progress. It just doesn’t look that way because of the chunks from the previous draft I’ve had to remove.
Well, it’s been an excellent day. I finally got to the scene I’ve been aiming for and have it changed. Now working on the follow-up scenes. I didn’t record my word count when I started this morning but when I quit the other night I had 85732 words in the first 21 chapters. I now have a whopping 87413! And when you figure I’ve taken out words, paragraphs and and stuff, that’s not too bad at all. A net gain of 1681 words. I’m feeling rather good about myself and my progress right now.
I need to take a break, get dressed and head off to the supermarket. yippee… I’d rather stay here and write but if the weekly shop doesn’t get done, the natives will get restless. It’s bad enough that the alarm dog looks at me like a pork chop by times.
Besides, I have to get up and walk around. The cushion in the rocking chair isn’t overly thick and my wee arse is feeling numb. And there’s nothing worse than a case of numb bum! LOL!!!
I’ve still not made it to the scene I was planning on working on the last couple of days, but I am in that portion of my novel, so I guess that’s a start. I’ve been told that some of my scene breaks are somewhat abrupt and that a few lines of narration can move me from one to the next.
So as I work my way to the “infamous” scene, making corrections and smoothing transitions as I go along, I’m still achieving my goal of writing every day.
I had a brilliant idea for a very tender scene between my hero and the young girl in the asylum. Unfortunately, between the time it came to me when I was in the loo and when I got back to my document and found where that scene was… it disappeared. The fact that there was a disruption here at the house, didn’t help.
I’m hoping that when things quiet down the idea will come back. I have another idea for later on so maybe I best get it roughed out so it doesn’t disappear, too.
GAWD! I hate it when that happens!
My Scottish roots and writing by Melanie Robertson-King
