Month: April 2014

The Writing Mode

Normally I’ve been writing these blog posts after having written a good chunk of the novel first draft so this is a first as I haven’t written anything yet today.  I’m getting closer to being about a third of the way through it (hey what’s another 5 %) but my original plan of writing methodically in the mornings hasn’t really materialized.

I’m not sure if this has more to do with my day job or my writing preferences, but since I started I’ve never actually grabbed a couple of hours in the morning to write.  I’ve mostly been grabbing blocks of times in some evenings and on the weekends as it worked out.  I just need to know I’ll have that block of time and won’t get into writing for 20 minutes and then we have to go or do something.  I have to feel I have a block of time so that I can enter a sort of “writing mode” where I won’t be mentally interupted in any great way for a period of time.

If I were someday blessed to be a professional writer, it would be much easier to block off writing time and seclude myself for what would then be my full time job.  Writing would have it’s own set time to be done with no other competing occupation.  That would seem a dream job to me, although I’d miss the interaction with others, but it’s not a realistic dream job unless you have some measure of success as a writer.  But to have that, you have to write, so time for me to stop pontificating about writing my novel and get back to it.  I’ll put myself in writing mode right now as I think I have a little block of time ahead.

April 19th, 2014:
Current Novel Word Count:  23,990 Words
Percentage towards 1st Draft Goal:  28.2%

Progress

While my writing sessions have been a bit limited lately, I’m still showing some respectable progress as I close in on an estimate of 25% done with the first draft.  Well,.. 24.7% to be exact.  The spreadsheet has helped to keep me on track and has been surprisingly encouraging.  (See my last blog post on details)

As the numbers go higher, the end goals seems more attainable.  I really have to concentrate more on making time to write, but my day job work schedule has been somewhat sporadic.  I could work there less, not putting in so much unpaid overtime, but I’m the boss and have a responsibility to make sure things get done, so that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

The story I’m working on is getting into some interesting parts to write, so it’s been challenging and fun at the same time.  For this particular tale, the farther I go into the novel, the more complex the interactions become between the characters.  The story also escalates in to more spectacular details which I hope will work well once it all comes together.

That hope that your story will be fun, entertaining and exciting is what both drives me, and frightens me.  I’m hoping everyone else will enjoy the story as much as I do, but that’s really the big unknown when writing.  From everything I’ve heard, you just have to approach the first draft and make it the best you can, allowing your imagination to go wherever it wants, and that’s what I’m attempting to do.  Only time will tell if I’ve succeeded. 

As I get into the sections of the novel that are really stretching boundaries, I’ll need to stay vigilant to allow myself the freedom to be creative.  In my last session I actually changed part of my outline for an additional scene I needed to add and thus strayed from the original plan, but I know it will work.  I just need to keep at it. 

April 6th, 2014:
Current Novel Word Count: 20,999 Words (Should have written 1 more word!)
Percentage towards 1st Draft Goal: 24.7%