Novel revelations

I had a revelation about my novel the other day. It was while I was doing something else though - polishing up an article for a pitch to The Age (the Melbourne broadsheet, we'll see, fingers crossed).

I wrote the article, 640 words, in about 2 hours, but then spent at least another hour tidying it up, making it catchier, taking out all the cliched phrases and all that. As I added the final touches and sent it off to the editor, I thought, 'Cripes, if I just spent that long editing a 640-word article, how much work has to be done on my novel??'

That was one part of the revelation - how much work there will still be once I've finished it! (Say my novel comes out at around 60 000 words, at 1 hour per 640 words, that's 94 hours, = 4 days, or 12 working days!)

The other part was: all those parts that are a bit crap now are going to be so much better after a decent edit!

Kind of daunting and comforting at the same time.

[Word count for this week, 470, but I've still got a Sunday arvo up my sleeve...]

Pat on the back

So I might not have acheived 100 words a day, but on average, with 735 words for the week, I did it!

I'm pleased, because it's difficult doing work at home when I've been at work all day, particularly since my work during the day is also writing (of a much-less-fun, writing-about-stuff-that-doesn't-involve-character-development-or-evil-villains variety).

For now, I'm sticking with the 100-a-day challenge, and hoping I can keep it up!

Hmmm

Well, that was never going to happen. First day at a new job, and then someone suggested going to see a band in the city . . . somehow I just didn't manage to get time at the 'puter to do my 100 words.

However, I've made up for it today, writing 287 words as soon as I got home. Straight away. That way, I don't have a chance to sit or eat or get distracted or realise how zonked I am from learning all the new stuff at work.

So, so far, so good!

100 words a day

Oh gosh, is that the time? For the last couple of months I've been thinking, 'I must do a blog post, I should just sit down and write a few words . . . oh stuff it, I'm too busy.'

Yes, between getting shingles (unpleasant), finishing my writing course, looking for work, coping with Christmas, and lying on the beach for a week, my writing has suffered a little. And as of next week I have a full-time job, which is good for the bank balance, but perhaps not so good for the novel.

So my belated new year's resolution is to write 100 words a day. It's not much, but hopefully it's achievable, and it adds up to 700 words a week, which is more than I've been doing lately! I was inspired while catching up on my blog reading after the aforementioned week on the beach - Lindsey at Dangerous with a Pen has resolved to do 100 words a day and kindly offered this button to anyone else looking to commit:

If I have time after grinding out my 100+ words a day, I'll be jumping on blogger to brag discreetly about my word count.

Happy new year everyone, hope it's a fruitful year for writing!