I kicked some butt. It wasn’t a sweep, but it counts for a win. I reduced to two full screen displays with one hosting the story itself and the second the notes I need to reference to make this epic revision/rewrite. I managed to finish a chapter. It wasn’t two. It wasn’t one I started today. It was progress. 67K in the bag. Likely 25 K till this thing is all over. It is building nicely and I have a solid chunk of new material that needs to be created to form a good ending. I am debating what that last chunk will include, but I won’t say here. Go buy the dang book!
What I am learning from this process is that perfection is never going to be achieved in a 6 month window. Books are, for whatever reason, meant to be pushed out in 6. I have yet to master that process. I recognize the math of the thing–667 words a day gets you a 120K draft if you work about every day. It does not sound that hard on the surface. Try doing it. I’ve stalled out more than a few days as of late. That is just accounting for the draft. I’m in the revision stage, which is another mathematical conundrum I’ve yet to unravel.
I do think I can get better at this–make a professional life of it as the plan originally was. I have a 10K project on the shelf due in September–a 20 day draft if I do 500 a day. I’m pretty sure I can grind that out in my sleep, given the familiarity with the material on it, and the journalistic nature of that specific project. We’ll see how it plays out once this one is put to bed.
Long way to go before I get there.
Some Thoughts:
- Minecrafting is killing my eyes. I gotta slow down or figure out what is going on there.