Another November Come and Gone
Tuesday, December 1. 2009
...but I'm closer to finishing a novel!
This November, I chose not to engage in the traditional 50,000 word spew, but instead to work on getting last year's spew closer to a shoppable state. I set a goal of spending 50 hours specifically on the novel this month, and I did (barely) make that goal, hitting the 50-hour mark at 10 pm last night.
Fifty hours doesn't sound like a lot, but dedicating that much time to the novel was more difficult than I'd expected! The novel's now at about 54,000 words, which means I added little in the way of new scenes to it this month. Instead, I trimmed a lot of fat, rewrote much of what was there, and, most importantly, spent a great deal of time staring off into space and ordering this novel's universe and its inhabitants in my mind. This time was invaluable. Now, in place of the "frozen puke fountain" I generated during NaNoWriMo 2008, I have much of a real novel, and copious notes to inform my way as I write it to its conclusion.
I should have done this a long time ago. Real life keeps getting in the way. But this year, rather than taking a break at the end of the writing flurry that is November, I'm pressing on.
In December, I plan to spend sixty hours on writing. The only difference is that I'll allow myself now to spend some time on short stories and Critters, both areas which suffered last month from my novel-centricity. Still, the majority of that time will have to be allocated to Bring Me to Life...if I want to finish it by my next birthday.
Yes, that's the new long-term goal: turn the 54,000-word WIP into an 80,000-word final manuscript by 19 April. I can do it, if I keep at it.
And I'm starting—no, continuing—the process today.
...but I'm closer to finishing a novel!
This November, I chose not to engage in the traditional 50,000 word spew, but instead to work on getting last year's spew closer to a shoppable state. I set a goal of spending 50 hours specifically on the novel this month, and I did (barely) make that goal, hitting the 50-hour mark at 10 pm last night.
Fifty hours doesn't sound like a lot, but dedicating that much time to the novel was more difficult than I'd expected! The novel's now at about 54,000 words, which means I added little in the way of new scenes to it this month. Instead, I trimmed a lot of fat, rewrote much of what was there, and, most importantly, spent a great deal of time staring off into space and ordering this novel's universe and its inhabitants in my mind. This time was invaluable. Now, in place of the "frozen puke fountain" I generated during NaNoWriMo 2008, I have much of a real novel, and copious notes to inform my way as I write it to its conclusion.
I should have done this a long time ago. Real life keeps getting in the way. But this year, rather than taking a break at the end of the writing flurry that is November, I'm pressing on.
In December, I plan to spend sixty hours on writing. The only difference is that I'll allow myself now to spend some time on short stories and Critters, both areas which suffered last month from my novel-centricity. Still, the majority of that time will have to be allocated to Bring Me to Life...if I want to finish it by my next birthday.
Yes, that's the new long-term goal: turn the 54,000-word WIP into an 80,000-word final manuscript by 19 April. I can do it, if I keep at it.
And I'm starting—no, continuing—the process today.
This November, I chose not to engage in the traditional 50,000 word spew, but instead to work on getting last year's spew closer to a shoppable state. I set a goal of spending 50 hours specifically on the novel this month, and I did (barely) make that goal, hitting the 50-hour mark at 10 pm last night.
Fifty hours doesn't sound like a lot, but dedicating that much time to the novel was more difficult than I'd expected! The novel's now at about 54,000 words, which means I added little in the way of new scenes to it this month. Instead, I trimmed a lot of fat, rewrote much of what was there, and, most importantly, spent a great deal of time staring off into space and ordering this novel's universe and its inhabitants in my mind. This time was invaluable. Now, in place of the "frozen puke fountain" I generated during NaNoWriMo 2008, I have much of a real novel, and copious notes to inform my way as I write it to its conclusion.
I should have done this a long time ago. Real life keeps getting in the way. But this year, rather than taking a break at the end of the writing flurry that is November, I'm pressing on.
In December, I plan to spend sixty hours on writing. The only difference is that I'll allow myself now to spend some time on short stories and Critters, both areas which suffered last month from my novel-centricity. Still, the majority of that time will have to be allocated to Bring Me to Life...if I want to finish it by my next birthday.
Yes, that's the new long-term goal: turn the 54,000-word WIP into an 80,000-word final manuscript by 19 April. I can do it, if I keep at it.
And I'm starting—no, continuing—the process today.
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