As you know, Bob... Umm, uhh... As you know, I was having a difficult time getting back into writing Cinder Ugly. I was stuck at 19K words and just couldn't seem to get over that hump. So, once again, I set the damn thing aside so I could focus on editing Ugly and the Beast. As the end of editing approached, though, the fear of what the hell would happen when I sat down to write again rolled over me like a herd of frightened buffalo.
What's a gal to do?
Well, I'm not sure I did this consciously, but I got the hell out of my own way. I sidestepped the herd. When I sat down to write again, I did NOT go back and read what I'd already written. I didn't check to make sure I had everything in line. Which is good because I already knew I'd backed myself into the corner of boring and meh, so going back over that crap again wasn't doing me any good.
At first, the writing was slow and kind of crappy. Then I hit a stride and the fingers were flying. I pounded out almost 3K words and I felt really good about them. Then I had a flash of insight for what would happen next and I've been writing on that ever since. To the tune of around 7K words so far this week. Woohoo.
Sure, I'll have to go back and fix a bunch of stuff in that muddy part. But that's what edits are for.
I have to remind myself of that fact more often than I'd like to admit. Write crap, edit it later. Everything can be fixed in edits. Except blank pages.
So, as always, getting out of my own was the trick. I wish I'd figured that out sometime in the last year, so I would've gotten more work out, but better late than never, eh?
Right now, Cinder Ugly is sitting at around 26K words. Onward and upward. The plan is to have this first drafted by the end of the month, edited in April, and out not too awfully long after I get Ugly and the Beast into the world. :fingers crossed:
Feeling good about it all. Yay.
Yay for progress and feeling good!
ReplyDeleteYa know, Bob, the best thing that ever happened to my writing was National Novel Writing Month. Before the first year I participated, I'd start each writing session with reading what I'd written before. And then I'd edit. And edit. And revise. And edit. And...ad infinitum, ad nauseum. And I hadn't finished a book in ten years. So I did NaNoWriMo and learned that if I wanted to hit my daily word count, I couldn't do that. So I taught myself to "Just Write It." And I've tried very hard for the past 11 years to do just that. And now I have almost 50 books. The last year was a bust but yeah...sometimes my brain (stupid depression!) gets in the way. I'm working on that.
UGLY AND THE BEAST isn't that ugly. It's made me smile and laugh and bite my nails. I'll get it back to you soon.
Have a great weekend, and yeah, glad you're getting out of your own way! *high fives*
Yay for new words and new methods! Double yay for new inspirations and insights!
ReplyDeleteI'm still trying to get out of my own way. Maybe tomorrow...