So, I’ve written fifteen thousand words this week. And that’s forty-five thousand words over three weeks…which is rather incredible to me. Just a few months ago, I would have set a goal like that and utterly failed. I’d have beaten myself up over the failure, more than I’d have admitted, I think.
But no longer.
I’ve finally found a routine that works for me, a schedule that I can rely on, and goals that I can reach. I can now draft a novel in four weeks, or a longer novel in six. Finally.
The next step: getting the same schedule and routine down when it comes to rewrites. And outlining. For me, those will be a challenge.
I thrive on knowing exactly how long it takes me to do something. In order to figure that out, I have to know what my output is per time to produce it. Drafting is easy, I have a word-count, like I detailed above. With rewriting and outlining…the output is a bit more murky, and the GOALS become even murkier.
See, every novel has a “goal” word count. This one I’m on right now, for example, is 90,000 words. I’m at 67,000 currently, which means I have about 27,000 words to go. That’s just over two weeks’ worth of work. I know that because I know I can write about 15,000 words a week, and I know that there’s a definable limit of words till the end of the manuscript.
But…with rewriting and outlining…there *is* no definable end point. Nor is there a quantifiable word count to aim for per hour. I must outline until I have sufficiently built the story up in my head to sit down and start writing. I must rewrite until the particular story in my hands meets with my standards of execution. And every story is different. Every story will present its own challenges at each stage. It’s not quantifiable, and it doesn’t have a definite end point.
Except…
Except that I *can* inject a structure into their processes, and I *have*, at least with the rewriting. There is a step-by-step process I used to rewrite Starstuff, one that made that book immeasurably better, and I’m going to use it again for all of these books. Pare it down a bit, perhaps, but essentially it will be the same. And once I’ve done THAT process enough times, and kept track of my output–however I can manage to measure it–and the time spent…well, then I can at least get an idea of how long shit is going to take me.
Outlining…that’s still a work in progress, but I will say this: at the very least, it is less daunting to me than rewriting. Outlining is immaculate conception. Rewriting is where everything has to be fixed, or it will stay forever broken. Much more pressure inherent in the latter.
Yeah. So, that’s what’s running through my head tonight as I stare down the barrel of the next step in the never-ending process of being a writer. It really never stops. There’s stress and exhaustion in that, yes…but there’s also comfort. There will always be something to do.
REALLY, however, I need to purge these thoughts for now. I still have two solid weeks of work ahead of me. I need to focus on THAT.
Words complete: here I come.
Good night.