The Journal, Friday, 5/26

Hey Folks,

Well, the good news is, barring any major tragedies, I’ll finish the novel this month. The sort-of bad news is that I know the ending already.

I hadn’t created a reverse outline for it yet, so I started the day by doing that.

But as I developed the reverse outline, the storyline became clearer than it usually is at this point. And the ending stood up and waved at me.

Did I use that to make an outline of future events?

No. But I did jot down a few notes.

If anything in the novel varies from any of those notes, of course, I’ll let my subconscious rule.

But if the writing runs the way I think it’s going to, today will be a very good writing day and I’ll finish the novel in the next day or two with a couple of days to spare.

Before anyone jumps all over this, in defense either of outlining or of writing off into the dark or some hybrid of the two, remember that every novel writes differently.

And as Forrest Gump once said, that’s all I have to say about that. (grin)

***

Glad I moved back out to the Hovel. It’s too hot outside to write in the morning (and the sun is over my shoulder). And in the house, there are too many distractions.

This morning, my wife’s at her job and the boys are on the road having fun. (Yes, they’re up there to work, but you could strand those two on a desert island at daybreak, and by noon they’d find a way to have a good time.)

And I’m in the Hovel, writing my butt off. It’s all good.

***

I recommend you check out Writerology at https://www.writerology.net/. It isn’t all good, but some of it will pertain to you and help you. For that reason, I added a link to this resource the Writers’ Resources on the left sidebar of my website.

Today, and Writing

Rolled out at 3 with the express purpose of getting my son and grandson up. I did that around 3:30, and by 4 they were headed north via Tucson and Phoenix (early and avoiding rush-hour traffic) to my son’s rented storage unit in Camp Verde south of Flagstaff.

I dawdled for the next couple of hours, getting dressed, eating breakfast, photographing the sunrise, etc. And being both sad and very glad that cross-country moves more than likely are all behind me.

To the Adobe Hovel at around 6:30 to write. I started by cycling through parts of the novel, mostly adding a bit here and there and moving chapter heads. By 8:30 I’d added only a couple hundred words.

Took a break to the house and found out the boys made it to their destination fine. So one less thing to worry about. (grin)

Another break turned into a longer thing and I ended up trying to repair a staple gun and some other stuff. Annoying. Stuff that should take less than a minute and turns into over an hour and a half.

Well, not as good a day as I’d hoped. But I’ll take it.

Back tomorrow.

Of Interest

Via The Passive Voice, at Writerology, “7 Signs You’re Stuck in Research Hell” at https://www.writerology.net/blog/post/2016/10/7-signs-youre-stuck-in-research-hell/. Just sayin’.

Also from Writerology, “10 Productivity Secrets from Very Prolific Writers” at https://www.writerology.net/blog/post/2015/12/10-productivity-secrets-from-very-prolific-writers/. I like this one. Well, parts of it.

Frankly, I was a little surprised they didn’t include Stephen King in their list of Very Prolific Writers.

Fiction Words: 3239
Nonfiction Words: 590 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 3829

Writing of A Fresh Kill (tentative title, novel)

Day 1…… 2751 words. Total words to date…… 2751
Day 2…… 2986 words. Total words to date…… 5737
Day 3…… 2961 words. Total words to date…… 8698
Day 4…… 2612 words. Total words to date…… 11310
Day 5…… 2205 words. Total words to date…… 13515
Day 6…… 3739 words. Total words to date…… 17254
Day 7…… 2988 words. Total words to date…… 20242
Day 8…… 3239 words. Total words to date…… 23481

Total fiction words for the month……… 38895
Total fiction words for the year………… 286489
Total nonfiction words for the month… 12720
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 87410

Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 373899

The Daily Journal blog streak……………………………………… 548 days
Calendar Year 2017 Novel Goal (15 novels)………………… 4 novels
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 24
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 3
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 167