Hit a new personal best today in terms of words written: 7,146. 22 pages. Like whaaaaaaat. And this was on a day that had its share of distractions!
Guys…it feels so, SO good, but I finally finally finally have a groove back with my writing. I don’t know HOW it clicked, but it did finally click. Something changed going into this week where everything made sense and I just had that feeling in the pit of my stomach that I could do this, I could finish this thing.
Now, I’m not done yet. I’m at 36,000 words, so we’re not even quite at the halfway mark (though we should get there -almost- by tomorrow). The story is flowing apace, things are being uncovered as I go, and I have less and less of this feeling of “what if this isn’t my best idea?” angst. It doesn’t have to be my best idea. Not yet. It just needs to be written.
See, I’ve learned in just my first book that I cannot properly rewrite a book until it’s been written. That SOUNDS like a no-brainer, but believe me, it’s not. The temptation to stop writing, in particular, because the existing idea just sounds flat or false is soooooo friggin tempting. And, hey, I know that Hemmingway preaches “one true sentence.” I get that. He was a fucking genius. But, I’ve learned that if I STOP writing (and to a much lesser extent, go back and rewrite what I’ve written), I don’t ever have my “one true sentence” come out of me. I have to keep plowing forward to reach my best ideas, and I usually find that if I just stop censoring the bad idea, it generally works itself into a good one by the time I get to the end of it.
That happened probably five or six times today; moments where in the weeks before I would have stopped and wanted to go back to my outline and work it out that way. Not today. Today, we embraced the suck, and goddamnit if the suck didn’t turn into something worth keeping by the end of it. It makes me realize that I really HAVE been studying stories and the ways they work for quite a while now, and I should listen to my instincts more often when first-drafting.
It does mean, I think, that this first draft is going to be a bit rough…but, hopefully I can handle that. First drafting is fun for me. I had fun today. Rewriting is NOT fun for me. Those are going to be hard weeks…at least until they aren’t. Oh, yes, I shall master that part of the craft, too, just watch me. “Master” is too strong a word there. “Get by,” is more accurate, and good enough for me.
That’s all for tonight. It’s sleep time.
Tomorrow: a new all-time high is what I’m shooting for. Wish me luck!
Artwork tonight is “Astral Oasis” by Andrew Forrest.