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Closing in on the triple digits

Posted by Frank Cote on June 11, 2013
Posted in: news and views, Novel writing, Writing. Tagged: discovery writing, life, novel, pantsing, word count, writing, writing process.

My consecutive days of writing streak stands at 81.  I’m at 32K in my current WIP.

I’m closing in on 100.

Since day 50:

– I’ve increased my word quota from 250 to 400.

– my average words per day is now: 398  (I want to bring that up)

How’s the writing since 50?

I’m in complete discovery writing mode (Pantsing it…total seat o’ the pants writing).

This is fun, but it’s tripping me up on stressful days.    When I have a bad day and I write at the end of it while tired, stressed and stupid, I tend to extend scenes further than they should go.   Sometimes I lose track of what I’m trying to accomplish.   I actually wrote an info dump/dream sequence running about 1500 words during the week that my wife was operated.   Yay for keeping the streak alive but ugh for making my editing and rewriting a chore later.   This week is the same issue, I’ve got a scene that just won’t end.  Not my best stuff…but it is words.

On the plus side, discovery writing plus my quota means that ideas seem to pop up a lot more and I don’t get stuck or blocked.  I’ve discovered some facets to this story that never occurred to me while I was brainstorming.

I can’t wait to finish it and rewrite it properly (this was always the plan.  I love discovery writing but it rarely gives me a decent first draft.  What it does is show me what the story SHOULD be rather than what I planned it to be.)

Right now, life is kicking my ass again.  Work is a huge mountain on my shoulders and there’s a ton of personal stuff jumping on top of that.  In the very recent past, this would have put my writing on hold for a good long while.

I’m proud that I’ve found a way to keep writing through all of it.  Sure, the actual words are shit, but they’re on the page.  You can’t fix what you don’t write.

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