Between work and NanoWriMo, not a lot of time is left to spare for things like sleep or blogs. Despite some setbacks because of work, I’m currently on track still to finish 50k by the end of the month. Hard to believe it, but I’m already at the 25k mark. I know this novel will exceed 50k before the first draft is done (that’s just the goal for November), but I’m still pretty pleased with this progress.
Some might ask, if I can do 50k in November, why can’t I do it every month? I’d be able to finish multiple novels a year, meaning sooner or later I’d either be able to find a publisher or have a decent enough catalog to start self publishing with.
The first thing to understand is that what I’m writing right now isn’t reader worthy. It’s like a sculptor taking the first pass at a block of granite. When I finish this draft, you’ll be able to see the shape of the story, pick out where the nose, eyes, and torso are, but you won’t be able to tell if the sculpture is winking or not. That level of detail will take a few more passes, whittling and refining.
Anything I produce that quickly is bound to need more work. As for why I don’t do this every month, that’s easy: it’s exhausting. I’ve written 25k in 14 days, namely by squeezing any free time I can find when I’m not working or doing something with the family. If I tried doing this more often, I’m pretty sure I’d either alienate my wife and kids, or keel over in exhaustion. And while I would produce a lot more words leading up to it, death tends to curb future writing. Not always, but usually.
OK, I’m off to get some rest. Many words written this week. Now to rest brain until I write more.