A Race to the Finish Line (...while gasping for a second wind)
I knew when I set out on this adventure it was going to have its fun moments and its challenging moments. Trying to write a multi-part romantic-suspense historical fiction novel while working a pretty demanding (60-hour-a-week demanding -- compounded by a 3-hour daily round-trip commute) full-time job does not leave a lot of time to write, much less, allow yourself to get in the zone and stay there when the creative juices are flowing.
When the first 50,000 words poured out so effortlessly (with a target of 65,000 - 85,000 total words), I thought, sure, I can finish this is six months. No problem. With great irony, when I hit the six-month mark, I had, in fact, written just over 83,000 words. Unfortunately, my book/plot outline had expanded and outgrown my original estimated word count. That 83,000 words only put me at 81% complete.
With every chapter I completed, the outline continued to grow. I am very excited about the storyline, the characters, the twists, the humor, and the real historical ties and settings the reader will be drawn through, but I will confess it has been just a bit disheartening to have written 64,000 additional words in the last 13 weeks and watch my completion counter only move from 81% to 83% because my current estimated word count is 185,000. Realistically, there's a 50/50 chance this first novel will be split into two books (making it a five-part series). In theory, I may have actually finished "Book 1" at this point, but some major editing would be required if that's the ultimate outcome so ... nope, still not done.
So, with seven weeks left in the twelve-month-target-window that I'm trying to finish this novel in, and still 32,000 words to write (that's 653 words a day for those that don't do math in their heads), why am I taking this commercial break to write a 400-word blog post? Because I'm suffering a creative-steam deficit. I won't say "writer's block" because I've had the entire book fleshed out for months - outlined and summarized every chapter and every scene in that chapter. I know what needs to be written next, I'm just lacking the mojo to do it.
Despite the fact that I have pulled back significantly at work and (thanks to COVID-19) I am no longer on the road 15 hours a week commuting to the office, my brain has been stuck in work-mode, doing a significant amount of financial analysis, pouring through excel spreadsheets for hours at a time.
So what happens at the "Intersection" of work-brain and book-brain when you know you need to focus on finishing your novel but can't seem to stop thinking in rows and columns? Voila!
Putting this together did actually give me some encouragement and motivation. I've done a lot of work so far and I'm so close to the finish line. Just one good boost of creative energy will do and I'll be finished!
( ... and then I can start Book 2!)
When the first 50,000 words poured out so effortlessly (with a target of 65,000 - 85,000 total words), I thought, sure, I can finish this is six months. No problem. With great irony, when I hit the six-month mark, I had, in fact, written just over 83,000 words. Unfortunately, my book/plot outline had expanded and outgrown my original estimated word count. That 83,000 words only put me at 81% complete.
With every chapter I completed, the outline continued to grow. I am very excited about the storyline, the characters, the twists, the humor, and the real historical ties and settings the reader will be drawn through, but I will confess it has been just a bit disheartening to have written 64,000 additional words in the last 13 weeks and watch my completion counter only move from 81% to 83% because my current estimated word count is 185,000. Realistically, there's a 50/50 chance this first novel will be split into two books (making it a five-part series). In theory, I may have actually finished "Book 1" at this point, but some major editing would be required if that's the ultimate outcome so ... nope, still not done.
So, with seven weeks left in the twelve-month-target-window that I'm trying to finish this novel in, and still 32,000 words to write (that's 653 words a day for those that don't do math in their heads), why am I taking this commercial break to write a 400-word blog post? Because I'm suffering a creative-steam deficit. I won't say "writer's block" because I've had the entire book fleshed out for months - outlined and summarized every chapter and every scene in that chapter. I know what needs to be written next, I'm just lacking the mojo to do it.
Despite the fact that I have pulled back significantly at work and (thanks to COVID-19) I am no longer on the road 15 hours a week commuting to the office, my brain has been stuck in work-mode, doing a significant amount of financial analysis, pouring through excel spreadsheets for hours at a time.
So what happens at the "Intersection" of work-brain and book-brain when you know you need to focus on finishing your novel but can't seem to stop thinking in rows and columns? Voila!
Putting this together did actually give me some encouragement and motivation. I've done a lot of work so far and I'm so close to the finish line. Just one good boost of creative energy will do and I'll be finished!
( ... and then I can start Book 2!)