Writing with the End in Mind
I haven’t added anything to this blog in a while, so let me bring the blogosphere up to date. As I stand now, I’m approaching a 62% completion rate, which isn’t very impressive given the time I’ve been working on this project, but it is progress. At times, it’s a little hard to see what the end result will be. It’s hard to imagine that my humble little story will end up as a novel that hopefully at least some people will enjoy. I don’t take the commitment of someone to read a novel lightly and I want my book to be an enjoyable experience that they find worthwhile of the decision to read it.
That vision is where I’d like this novel I’m writing to end, but having never done this before, I really don’t know if it’s realistic given the kind of writer I am.
Perhaps it’s not good for an aspiring novelist to document all his hopes and worries in a blog like this. It may not be the best way to build a “platform” as much of the literary world indicates I need, but I have faith in God that He’ll lead me in the right direction. My status recording spreadsheet has the words “Pray before you write,. Honor God” written in a bold, yellow highlighted box so that it can’t be missed when I log in a session. This, I think, helps me to keep me on track and moving, although slowly, towards the ultimate goal.
I pray that this book will be well received and that many people will like it, but in a sense, that’s really out of my hands. I can only write the novel I feel is the right story, the story that has to come out of me. The rest, I’ll leave in God’s hands. That’s not to say I’ll just blindly put something out there without trying to make sure it’s the best it can be, or that I won’t look for ways to promote it, but ultimately, it’s up to God if its a success or not. My life is in His hands, so if it’s an activity that He wants me to be encouraged in, something that truly honors Him, then it will work out.
I do realize that I need to step up my efforts to complete this first draft. Sure,.. there are things going on in normal life that get in the way and have distracted me from completing this goal, but by God, I will complete this book, God willing. What makes this even more important is that I’ve come up with an idea for my next book. Ironic that this would come when I haven’t even finished the first one, so it gives me an even greater sense of urgency to get this story out.
I had purchased, late last year, the voice dictation program called Naturally Speaking from Dragon. I’d gotten it to see if it would be helpful for my mom who is having sight issues lately, but in testing it, I found that one of their claims for the software is quite true. Using it with my Scrivener writing program I realized that it significantly increased my writing speed. I’m not sure if this is because it forces me to really concentrate on what I’m writing, or it’s the increased speed at which my thoughts go from my mind onto the document, but it makes me faster. This may be a great thing that allows me to increase my productivity, although it’s not always possible to use since I have to basically speak my book into the headset microphone. If I’m writing on the couch, next to my wife who’s trying to concentrate on a show she’s watching, or a game she’s playing, this isn’t practical. Whatever the true reason that it makes me faster, this is a good tool that I plan on using in the future.
So here I go, trying to make another push to get this first draft done. I’m entering into another very pivital scene which will take my heroes into a whole new realm within the story. Things are getting very dramatic and there is about to be a lot of action. Should anyone out there be checking out my humble blog, reading this recent post, please pray for me to complete this project and in a great way that honors God. I can ask for no better thing, whether a handful of people read it, or it becomes a bestseller. That’s what I really want to complete and I thank God for the ability to test my dreams in this way and for allowing me to pursue it.
March 8th, 2015:
Current Novel Word Count: 52,559 Words
Percentage towards 1st Draft Goal: 61.8%