Monday, September 7, 2009

Novel Slow Going - thank you life

Thanks to stressors in my life over which I have no control, Ravaged Heart is still going incredibly slowly...mostly because I've had a hard time making time to write, and when I do my brain is so scattered I have a hard time focusing on anything. I'm currently at 43,000 words, which not even half of what I want the finished novel to be. Yes, I know, write to tell a story, not to make a certain word count, but let's face it, novels typically need to be a certain length if they are going to be marketable. So I need about 90,000 words, give or take (preferably give) a few. I wanted to finish this before NaNoWriMo, which is less than 2 months away. I'm not sure that's going to happen. However, the weekend before NaNo begins is my writing group's weekend retreat, so I'm not giving up yet. A full weekend of writing should lend itself to massive word count.

Two weeks ago I printed out what I have written and read through it on paper. Sometimes helps to do that rather than read on the screen. Made some minor edits, but mostly just reread to refresh my memory and hopefully get the juices flowing again. I think it worked, but I'd know better if I had more time. There are scenes/plot points I need to add. I'm currently in the middle of a fight scene, so I should be able to pick up and keep going with it. Stopping in the middle of a scene often helps, because at least I can just continue what I was working on the day or week before, rather than starting a whole new chapter with a blank page staring at me.

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