I was watching a moth flail itself against one of our kitchen can lights. “Moths aren’t very smart,” I observed. “They keep going for the light like some crazy compulsion.” In the other room, my daughter said, “At least they’re going towards light and not darkness.”
Wise words. If the moth were an analogy to writing, I hope I can still chase the light without getting myself in an unproductive tizzy. I need to work like a smart moth.
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In that regard, I think I am getting smarter with this writing gig. I’ve said before that I don’t want to measure my worth by my output, and I don’t want to be in a rat race, but my 3,474 words today (towards a 2,000 word goal) for Book 3 were produced in four sprints: one in the morning, and three in the afternoon, with two different sprint groups.
By the way, I do believe this word count is a personal record. When I would do National Novel Writing Month (where you produce a work of 50k per month), my goal then was 2k every day.
I’ll admit, I love seeing how fast my fingers can fly, and I like racing against the clock with other people. It’s a fun, instant gratification to be able to log a word count right after the sprint, and to tell others who understand my accomplishment. I also like getting the story down fast and furious, so that the thought is whole, and the story is zipping along. Frankly, I want to know what happens, too.
The faster I tell my story, the faster my mind spins the story, too. I love the habit I am cultivating, thinking on my feet. Best of all, I am done producing this amount of story in like a quarter of the time I used to take. It means I free up my evenings, I can sit on the porch talking with my daughter at sunset, I can go on dates with my hubby during the day without guilt, because I have already reached my word count goal. The only drawback is I’m starting to feel it in my right wrist.
I suppose you could say this is a complete rewrite of the original story. I already drafted it once before, and I know the ending. However, that version was not satisfying, and the characterization was off. So this is a first-not-first draft.
I sprinted a bullfighting scene today. Having done no prior research on bullfighting, I had no idea how to proceed. So I just took a deep breath, tried to recall the vibes of watching bulls attack rodeo clowns (without the funny), and made it all up. Someday, I will confirm how it really goes down, probably on YouTube.
At this point, I have a loose outline. I kind of know what’s happening next towards a preconceived ending, and tweak a little summary per chapter before my sprints, so that I stay on course. Otherwise, it’s exciting. I am discovering a lot as I write.
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