Hey Folks,
Well, both yesterday and this morning I thought I’d finish this short novel today. Ain’t gonna happen. It’ll wrap tomorrow, though, no problem.
This is kind of a “pulp detective” novel. A lot of tension, a lot of detail. So a lot of cycling. Thank goodness for computers, eh?
The old pulp guys wrote on typewriters and they were paid by the word. So they learned their craft.
They didn’t have cycling, and they didn’t do “drafts.”
They wrote straight through, shipped it off, and got a check. Otherwise they couldn’t make a living. And some of them (on typewriters!) made a very good living at 1 cent per word.
Anyway, I wanted to practice a couple of techniques, and this story lent itself perfectly to those techniques.
I’m very happy with this one, both as a writer and a reader, both from a learning standpoint and from a productivity standpoint.
Can’t ask for much more than that.
But I’ll be happier when this one is finished so I can start the next one.
When I started this challenge, I hoped to wrap this one by the 15th (so 11 writing days since I started on the 5th) so I’d have two calendar weeks to get the next one finished.
Now I’m annoyed this one took 10 days (counting tomorrow). And that was with several slack days of writing. Go figure.
Today, and Writing
Rolled out at 3 this morning. Spent the first few hours doing the usual. Unfortunately, I was also dragged into some family drama. Ptah.
NOT unfortunately, at least it was several hundred miles away so I don’t have to deal with it minute by minute. You know.
Finally to the novel at about 8. Cycling first, then new stuff.
By 11 I’d had two good “new” sessions and a couple of breaks. All told just over 2300 words on the day.
Now (a little after 11) Heading for town to help my grandson open a bank account, then to drop off his direct deposit form, then (I hope) back here to finish the novel.
Finally got back around 2. Fixed a couple sandwiches for lunch, then back out here to work. Kind of a messed up day.
Back tomorrow.
Of Interest
For a nice article on conflict and being sure the focus is on how the conflict affects the main character, see http://thefederalist.com/2017/03/13/marvel-villains-need-learn-logans-wolverine/.
Especially see “What ‘Logan’ Can Teach the Marvel Universe” and below that, “A Human Narrative We Can All Relate To.” Excellent stuff.
Fiction Words: 2766
Nonfiction Words: 420 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 3186
Writing of Novel One (tentative title, natch)
Day 1…… 3442 words. Total words to date…… 3442
Day 2…… 2089 words. Total words to date…… 5531
Day 3…… 3018 words. Total words to date…… 8549
Day 4…… 2882 words. Total words to date…… 11431
Day 5…… 5117 words. Total words to date…… 16548
Day 6…… 3985 words. Total words to date…… 20533
Day 7…… 1434 words. Total words to date…… 21967
Day 8…… 2610 words. Total words to date…… 24577
Day 9…… 2766 words. Total words to date…… 27343
Total fiction words for the month……… 27343
Total fiction words for the year………… 179209
Total nonfiction words for the month… 6470
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 43060
Total words for the year (fiction and nonfiction)…… 222269