SEPTEMBER STATS
Days Writing: 18
New Words: 3145
New Chapters: 1
Total Word-count: 56,412
Total Chapters: 15.75
Well 3,000 words-per-month definitely seems to be my pattern of late! Actually, if I’m being honest, I was tracking well below that level until the end of the month, and when I realized it I redoubled my efforts just to be sure I made that mark. I guess 3,000 words unconsciously became a minimum standard for myself.
Also, I wouldn’t have had a chance of hitting that many words if not for a writer’s group that I am a part of. Each meeting we take an hour-and-a-half of uninterrupted writing to get out as many words for our novels as possible. I only attended one of these meetings for the month of September, but from that one session I got 1,200 words. Just by attending more of these (they occur on a weekly basis) I could get a lot more done each month.
For the past while I’ve been realizing that the greatest slow-down to my writing process is that I review each chapter after I finish writing it. I don’t get chapter polished to a perfect state, and there’s still going to be a lot of refactoring and revising to do later, but my work does become markedly improved from this editing-as-I-go approach. I think it is an important process, but it sure does put the brakes on my momentum.
I’m not sure what to do about that yet. I could push myself to edit each chapter for a set number of days only. I could try to be more sparse in smoothing out each rough spot. I could see if it is better to write out three whole chapters, and then edit them as a batch.
Perhaps I’ll implement some of those ideas this month, I’m still not sure. But I will be paying close attention to how things go once I get finished with Chapter 16. Come back on November 1st to hear how it went.
Before I head out, though, here’s a little snippet from my work this month. Enjoy!
An early chill crawls out of the earth that night and the family awakens to several patches of dew that have crystallized into frost.
“Is this a concern?” William asks Eleanor.
“No, not yet. We had a few cooler days last season as well, and none of them were a problem for our test crop.”
The wind picks up, and all of the family pull their blankets more tightly around their shoulders and lean closer to the fire.
“Well that’s a proper sea breeze, isn’t it?!” William exclaims.
“Yes, and a sea sky,” John observes the flat, gray canopy overhead.
“Well I think it’s quite refreshing myself,” Eleanor smiles. The wind picks up once more and she shrinks back into her blanket. “I’ve gotten so used to this hot and humid air that I don’t even notice it anymore. Nice to have a day that you can actually feel once in a while!”
“Well I prefer not feeling the day,” Clara shivers.
“Were you finished with your porridge?”
“Yes.”
“Well then why don’t you and I start on our way. The walk will help thaw you out.”
“But then I won’t be in my blanket anymore.”
“I’d consider letting you keep it around you, but then you’d have to carry it back at the end of day.”
“I’ll carry it!”
“And it will be hot and stuffy this afternoon, and you won’t enjoy having to carry it then.”
“No, I’ll be alright. Thank you, mother.”
“I believe you mean ‘please, mother,'” William cocks an eyebrow.
Clara sighs. “Please, mother?”
“Well, alright.”
“Thank you, mother.”
Give Me Pen and Paper 