1000 words today. Not only did I hit the target I set (500), I exceeded it.
You all know that I don’t like to set quotas, but this is one time I’m breaking that rule.
Right now, I’m in a very vulnerable spot. I wrote 25K toward this novel, I had no idea what I wrote before, it’s a Book 2, I’m on the go this weekend, and I’m writing on my phone. All of that is a recipe for not getting anything done. So I’ve got to be very diligent the next few days until I can get some momentum going. It’s not easy to pick up a story where you left off when you’ve written this much after 3 months. I’ve only ever done this once or twice.
Here’s what I did to build my momentum.
Last night, I reviewed the outline I wrote for Dead Rat Walking (Book 1). As many of you know, I write my outlines while I’m writing. Rather than using it to plan to story, I outline as a way to document what I’m writing…for reasons like this, when I have to pick up the story after a while. That’s the beauty of writing into the dark.
Anyhoo, I reviewed my outline for Book 1 to remember what happened as I was lying in bed. That took about 15-20 minutes.
Next, I reviewed the outline of what I wrote so far in Book 2. That didn’t take long.
Now, I was somewhat up-to-speed with what I wrote. Then, I went to bed and slept on it.
Boy, did I have some interesting dreams. I’ll probably end up using some of them in future writing sessions for this book. Sleeping on the story definitely got my brain working.
When I woke up, I followed this cadence:
- I read the first chapter of what I wrote.
- I jumped to the current chapter (Chapter 15) where I left off and wrote 500ish words.
- Then, I read Chapter 14. That gave me enough info to pick up with Chapter 16.
- Then, I wrote ONLY 500 words toward Chapter 16, enough to establish the scene.
- Then, I read Chapter 2.
- Repeat.
As you can see, it’s a delicate dance, and I’ll keep this pace until I’ve read everything. Then I’ll charge onward and work my way up to full speed. So the next few days will probably be low counts but they’ll be productive low counts. Once I get up to speed it’ll have been worth it.
It feels good to be back in novel territory again.
Have a good Saturday. Stay tuned tomorrow for an interesting plot twist……..
PROGRESS SO FAR:
Rat City (Chicago Rat Shifter Book 2): approx 25,000 words.
Writing App Book: 16,900 words. Drafted and needs final touches.
Writing App Tool: 10% complete
Indie Author Confidential Vol. 6: Ready to publish.
