Weather: balmy
Listening to: Kasey Chambers
It is done! I finished today at about quarter past three. I'll need to do a little fixing up, but it should be good to email tomorrow afternoon. So, yes, I finished it on its due date. What can I say? I take deadlines seriously.
I was wracked with the usual self-doubts at the end, but ploughed ahead anyway. I wrote 6000 words today, so the total word count for the novel is now just over 162 000 words. I'm in the strange position of not having discussed the ending with anyone, so I have no idea if I've misjudged it. In my nightmares, it's melodramatic rubbish with lots of people shouting. In my dreams, it's a clever twist that will create amazing word-of-mouth. The truth lies in between, I'm sure.
It's been hard to concentrate this week, with my little boy starting school on Tuesday, and then the discovery of a possible funnel web spider in our house (turned out to be a mouse spider... they look very similar).
What I'm looking forward to most of all: just hanging out with the kids on the weekend. And then... starting to think about the next book. No deadline.
Don't know if I'll keep posting here. We'll see. I'm going to try to be a little less frantic from here on in.
Yours
FW
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The thirteenth one
Weather: overcast and breezy
Listening to: Blondie
Refreshed. That's how I feel. Four days staring at the ocean, forbidden from looking at my notebook or thinking about my story. And I sat down this morning and it flowed out nice and easy. I reckon there's only about 15 000 words left in it. I reckon I might be finished in about a week, in other words EXACTLY ON TIME.
But we'll see. Will duly report back if (a) I have a blogworthy crisis or (b) I finish the book.
FW
Listening to: Blondie
Refreshed. That's how I feel. Four days staring at the ocean, forbidden from looking at my notebook or thinking about my story. And I sat down this morning and it flowed out nice and easy. I reckon there's only about 15 000 words left in it. I reckon I might be finished in about a week, in other words EXACTLY ON TIME.
But we'll see. Will duly report back if (a) I have a blogworthy crisis or (b) I finish the book.
FW
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The twelfth one
Weather: raining, will probably never be sunny again
Music: "Unaccountable Effect", Liz Story
I suppose you think that my long silence means I have been writing. Perhaps (!) even finishing early. Well, no, in fact. I have been quiet because it is hard to blog from the Slough of Despond. Part four of this book turned into a long, dragging nightmare. I would plan a chapter, then it would stretch out to two, or three. Scenes were missing, they had to go in. I'd hoped to rein it in under 1250 000 words, but it will go closer to 135 000. BUT there is good news too. Light, even, at the end of the tunnel (weighs about as much as the Atlantic). I finally fought my way out of the story! I finally worked out precisely how I'm going to get from the end of part four to the end of part five (which is the end of the book). Now I know which direction to head in, I feel all light and bubbly, though the bubbly feeling may be sleep deprivation.
I am, at this exact moment, finishing up part four. It's a big scene, I've been building to it for a while, and from that point the story should fall away like a sand dune collapsing under my feet. Hmmm... that actually doesn't sound so good. I mean it will have a fierce inevitability about it, that will make it easy to finish. So, I intend to polish off this scene, then actually (no, wait for it) have a break for about a week (no, really) to read the story so far and do some quick fixing up. Then, next week, I shall sit down and finish the first draft, hopefully by the 29th when my boy starts school, then that will give me two days to fix up part five (only about 15 000 words) and stick the whole thing in an envelope to post to Sydney.
So, I will need to get on with it, won't I?
Estimated total length of the book: 150 - 155 000 words.
Music: "Unaccountable Effect", Liz Story
I suppose you think that my long silence means I have been writing. Perhaps (!) even finishing early. Well, no, in fact. I have been quiet because it is hard to blog from the Slough of Despond. Part four of this book turned into a long, dragging nightmare. I would plan a chapter, then it would stretch out to two, or three. Scenes were missing, they had to go in. I'd hoped to rein it in under 1250 000 words, but it will go closer to 135 000. BUT there is good news too. Light, even, at the end of the tunnel (weighs about as much as the Atlantic). I finally fought my way out of the story! I finally worked out precisely how I'm going to get from the end of part four to the end of part five (which is the end of the book). Now I know which direction to head in, I feel all light and bubbly, though the bubbly feeling may be sleep deprivation.
I am, at this exact moment, finishing up part four. It's a big scene, I've been building to it for a while, and from that point the story should fall away like a sand dune collapsing under my feet. Hmmm... that actually doesn't sound so good. I mean it will have a fierce inevitability about it, that will make it easy to finish. So, I intend to polish off this scene, then actually (no, wait for it) have a break for about a week (no, really) to read the story so far and do some quick fixing up. Then, next week, I shall sit down and finish the first draft, hopefully by the 29th when my boy starts school, then that will give me two days to fix up part five (only about 15 000 words) and stick the whole thing in an envelope to post to Sydney.
So, I will need to get on with it, won't I?
Estimated total length of the book: 150 - 155 000 words.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
The eleventh one
Weather: muggy and overcast
Listening to: Harold Budd "Agua"
What is the magic number? Yes, you guessed it, the magic number is 4251. That's how many words I wrote this morning between 6.30am and 10am. That's also the number of words that got me over the "hump" of the book and onto the downward slide. Should hit 120K tomorrow, not much to go after that.
I hope.
There are two states of being while writing: inside the story and outside the story. Outside is not much fun. You chip at it, feel dislocated, distracted. But you must keep writing, because that's the only way to get inside. Once you're inside the story, everything flows, the world goes away.
Writing that many words in one sitting is actually bad for your health, I think. My arms hurt and I feel kind of twitchy. I'd like to go and sleep for a week now, but it will be right back in the saddle tomorrow morning. 120K, here I come.
Yours ever
FW
Listening to: Harold Budd "Agua"
What is the magic number? Yes, you guessed it, the magic number is 4251. That's how many words I wrote this morning between 6.30am and 10am. That's also the number of words that got me over the "hump" of the book and onto the downward slide. Should hit 120K tomorrow, not much to go after that.
I hope.
There are two states of being while writing: inside the story and outside the story. Outside is not much fun. You chip at it, feel dislocated, distracted. But you must keep writing, because that's the only way to get inside. Once you're inside the story, everything flows, the world goes away.
Writing that many words in one sitting is actually bad for your health, I think. My arms hurt and I feel kind of twitchy. I'd like to go and sleep for a week now, but it will be right back in the saddle tomorrow morning. 120K, here I come.
Yours ever
FW
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
The tenth one
Weather: bizarro; rainy one minute, sunny the next
Music: Vaughn-Williams, "The Lark Ascending"
I can't work in these conditions!!!!
I have had 6 hours sleep, I am sitting at my desk trying to write (should hit 100K today) and a small pink-clad creature is shouting "Mama! Up!" at me over and over, because she wants to play with my mouse. When I don't pick her up, she makes this noise: "Eeeeargh!" I have filled my office with expensive and educational toys, but she wants none of those.
For all of you reading this that don't have children and are struggling to finish a book: shut up! no, shut up!
Excuse my rudeness. I'm tired and emotional.
As the days go by, my ability to meet this deadline becomes a complicated mathematical problem. Divide word count by days remaining; assign word counts to chapters; recalculate projected word count; divide by days remaining again... I have to admit now that I have no idea what I'm doing, or whether I will finish the book on time.
Lord! She has actual tears on her cheeks! Over a mouse! I suppose I'd better go and sing a happy song. Luckily I've got NOTHING MORE PRESSING TO DO.
And she just dumped all my papers on the floor. "Wow!" she said. "Wow."
Music: Vaughn-Williams, "The Lark Ascending"
I can't work in these conditions!!!!
I have had 6 hours sleep, I am sitting at my desk trying to write (should hit 100K today) and a small pink-clad creature is shouting "Mama! Up!" at me over and over, because she wants to play with my mouse. When I don't pick her up, she makes this noise: "Eeeeargh!" I have filled my office with expensive and educational toys, but she wants none of those.
For all of you reading this that don't have children and are struggling to finish a book: shut up! no, shut up!
Excuse my rudeness. I'm tired and emotional.
As the days go by, my ability to meet this deadline becomes a complicated mathematical problem. Divide word count by days remaining; assign word counts to chapters; recalculate projected word count; divide by days remaining again... I have to admit now that I have no idea what I'm doing, or whether I will finish the book on time.
Lord! She has actual tears on her cheeks! Over a mouse! I suppose I'd better go and sing a happy song. Luckily I've got NOTHING MORE PRESSING TO DO.
And she just dumped all my papers on the floor. "Wow!" she said. "Wow."
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