Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Lofty Goals

I do not know how the writers who participate in NaNoWriMo every year manage to knock out 50,000 words in a month. My hat is tipped to all the writers who accomplish that feat. Personally, I would like to be at 25,000 words by the end of July. At my current rate I will not be finished with the first draft of my MS by the end of the year. So if I wrote daily that would be roughly 355 words a day. Assuming I cannot write daily it would be 550 words if I managed to write 20 days out of 31. Not too many words to shoot for but considering the ebb and flow of my creativity, this is not as easy as it sounds. Factor in my work schedule and my family commitments and that makes a huge difference.

Wishing I could remember when I started writing this book. I may have set my sights a bit high but I won't know until the story is completely written whether or not that is true. When I started out I believed it would take 50,000 words, give or take, to tell this story. I still think that is accurate considering how far I am and how much I have yet to write. An outline may have given me a more realistic idea of what finished would look like but I am a "pantser" so the outline is not happening.

So my mantra for the month is 500 words a day regardless of what chapter they may fall into. I really want to get to a point where I can go back and polish it until it shines.

I did finally get a pivotal scene written which was a huge relief. The final scene, or nearly final scene is another one I have been picking at, seeing it in pieces. I guess that would be a good place to go next.
~~~~~
I am seriously sending my internal editor on a long vacation. I cannot even get through a blog post without tweaking it at least a dozen times.

4 comments:

  1. I tried NaNoWriMo once. Bowed out after five days XD

    Five hundred words a day is a good goal. It doesn't sound like much, but hey, it all adds up--and the way you write, I know it'll be not only five hundred words, but five hundred quality words.

    As for overall word count... well, that's kind of hard to guess. I know there's something you're supposed to aim for with a novel, but really I think it's unrealistic to slap a target range on a story before it's written. Some stories need more words. Some work better with less. There is no ideal word count.

    Best of luck with the book. I know it'll be awesome :)

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  2. Goals are great, as are schedules. I never keep them. You already know I am a panster, it is how I work best, just sit and let it happen, when it happens. But that is not for everyone. Feel out what works best for you, and you will soon slip into a comfortable writing groove.

    And high five for accomplishing what you have already. Astounding~

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  3. I does seem like a reasonable goal doesn't it? And thank you for that!

    I set the 50,000 goal so I would have something I wanted to shoot for. If it ends up less, that's okay. Considering I am at almost 15,000 and I haven't even gotten to the meat yet, I have a good chance. I just don't want it to take all year o_0

    Thank you!

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  4. Thanks ~Drew! There is a lot of editing to be done on what I have so far but I am patently refusing to go back and look until I am done. I already know I have made changes to the plot that will need to be addressed in the finished drafts but I can get caught up in "fixing" it...I need to keep pushing.

    I need to set goals. I won't ever finish if I don't commit to them.

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