Progress update: 60 pages of edits on contemporary thanks to awesome crit partners; all 150 pages printed for final read-through; added 1100 new words on the scifi for a total of 15, 753 / 80,000. Good times.
I’m learning something about myself as I write. I may not be able to write every day but when I do, I find that having that one hour time limit really makes me get the words in. I’m averaging about 1200 words a session. Not bad for one hour. I want it to be more. Sometimes it is when I can get into the zone and get on a roll. That’s when it’s the best feeling.
Knowing I only have an hour, makes me hunker down and get the job done. I ignore email, the Internet, etc. The words may not be good words or easy words, but they’re words nonetheless. And it’s progress. And the more I write, the I feel like the better I get. It’s practice, you know. Like practicing the piano or the guitar or whatever.
My dad used to ask me what the best way to Carnegie Hall was. When I’d shrug, he’d say, “Practice! Practice! Practice!”
That’s what writing is – practice. Every time I sit down at the keyboard, that’s more skill-honing and more progress. I’m proud of myself for finishing the novella in two months. I’m even more proud of myself for busting the 15k mark on the scifi. My goal is to have the draft done by June 1 and the revisions done by July 1. That gives me just over a month to finish.
Ack. I better get busy if I intend to make it. June 1 sounds far away but in reality, it’s not!
And that’s about all I got today! Hope everyone is making as much progress on their own projects!
What is it about tight deadlines that make us so prolific? I had an hour last week to check email and I managed to write two poems. Poems, Michelle! I don’t write poems! LOL But it was the idea that I was stealing the time away from my guests that made me want to write something short. Plus, I’ve been reading Mary Karr’s fantastic poems. Who wouldn’t be inspired?
LOL, Lori! Sometimes poems just come out! 🙂
I seem to work better when I’m on some sort of deadline. It’s that writing pressure to create, I think.
You know, my BEST papers in college were written under duress, like I KNEW I had little time to do them (because I procrastinated, ha ha) and I had to do it quickly. I think when we set deadlines and we have little time to accomplish the project, we do our best work. Because we HAVE to be good. It’s psychological, but for some (clearly YOU!) it works.
You go!!!