Oh!

[eimarra]

Minor epiphany about NaNo and writing in general. Yes, I was overbooked and had too much to do, but I was also writing more slowly. Why? Because I wasn't paying attention to the "It doesn't matter if it's crap" aspect of NaNo. I've become more careful about my words as I type them in, and that slows me down. It makes for cleaner first drafts, which should translate to less time editing, but it's definitely more time writing.

Somebody please tell me I'm going to get more comfortable again so my pace will pick back up!

Comments

[touch-of-ink.livejournal.com]

Yes, you will get comfortable again. Your pace will pick up again. And then it starts all over again. It's just a big old spiral that goes round and round.

[eimarra]

Thank you! So does the spiral tend upward or downward?

[touch-of-ink.livejournal.com]

Personally, I find it up and out. (You hit the same issues over and over, but there's more time between hitting them, and you find you're better/faster at learning how to deal with them.)

[hookedoncoffee.livejournal.com]

Erin, I'm soooo happy that it's become clearer for you, and I agree with you. I've always felt that the reason you take your time is because you write carefully, and that's why - you're absolutely right, it does make for cleaner first drafts.

It sounds like you are already getting more comfortable again.

But - I take exception to the "it doesn't matter if it's crap" aspect. :( Sorry. Some do, maybe. Not everyone.

[eimarra]

Well, that's the official line put forth by Chris Baty and the NaNo organizers -- that it's okay to just write crap so long as you're writing. It's related to the "I'll fix it in rewrite" type of thinking.

And I've done that before. I'm a perfectionist, and I know that if I agonize over every word, every sentence, as I'm writing, nothing's going to get finished. So I put some dialogue down and know that I'll be coming back to it later. Now I'm catching myself doing a little more polishing as I actually write, but I still have to give myself permission to put down something that sucks so I can move on.

Thanks for the thoughts!

word count isn't everything

[bonniers.livejournal.com]

You write the way you write. If it's not as fast as somebody else's pace, if you want it right the first time, that's just fine. I hope you get more comfortable with it, but maybe your pace won't pick up. 15K words in a month is still a pretty darn good pace. You'll finish a 90K book in six months at that rate.

And the cleaner first draft makes a big big difference. I write very sprawling sloppy messy first drafts (because that seems to be the only way I can write at all) but that means rewriting is always a lot of effort and often an outright nightmare. It will undoubtedly take me longer to finish the dragons than it will take you to finish the kraken and friends, even though I will have written twice as many words.

--bonnie

Re: word count isn't everything

[eimarra]

But I don't want to do only two books a year! *pout* Especially as that doesn't leave room for short stories. I WANT MORE!

Anyway, I'm still working, struggling, trying to figure out what is the way I write. I am starting to track it, so maybe in a few months, I'll post an update. I've started thinking about my goals for 2006, and you just don't want to know. I think they're realistic if I follow one simple rule (Don't Procrastinate . . . too much.), but we'll see.

Re: word count isn't everything

[bonniers.livejournal.com]

LJ finally got around to notifying me about your reply, sigh. I thought I had checked here, too. Oh, well.

That might be a goal to reach for, but it's like running. You don't start running by saying, "This is fun. I'm going to go out and run a marathon now." You might make it, but you'll be exhausted, take months to recover, and probably be injured. Even Neil, who's been a runner for 30 years, has to build up his mileage and work on speed and strength and all that stuff. In many ways writing is similar. You might eventually get to two big books a year plus a lot of short stories, but first you need to spend some time figuring out what your process is, how you work, what works for you. Pushing yourself too hard too fast is a good way to wear yourself out.

--bonnie

Re: word count isn't everything

[eimarra]

That server migration thing. They just notified me today about a post I'd already responded to.

There you go, being all reasonable and everything again!

And my eventual goal isn't two books a year plus short stories. I want to be more like Sheila -- say, six to eight books a year (plus short stories).

I am not insane. I'm not. I'm not. I can get there. . . . I think.

But if you don't stop being reasonable on me, I may have to stop posting. ;)

Re: word count isn't everything

[bonniers.livejournal.com]

I'd been going through checking most of the places I posted to see whether there were responses, so a lot of my notificiations are things I already knew about. But a few weren't.

I'm not saying that your goals aren't reasonable for you. I imagine you can get there. It's your method I'm worried about. I'm just saying don't start out trying to do six books in a year. Finish one and see how that goes, and what you can change and what works and all the rest. Then finish a second one. Then see how your pace is going and all that.

--bonnie

Re: word count isn't everything

[eimarra]

But I'm not starting out trying to do six books! Really. And the point of the original post would be that I know I'm improving as a writer and I just want reassurance that my speed will increase, too. Not overnight. But the same way my writing has -- one story, one snippet, one chapter at a time.

Re: word count isn't everything

[bonniers.livejournal.com]

Your writing will improve one story, one snippet, one chapter at a time.

And yes, most likely your speed will improve. But not necessarily. I'm trying to be reassuring that even if it doesn't, you're doing fine. And to urge you not to push too hard on the speed thing. And to try to point out that lots of words on the page initially does not necessarily mean an overall faster process. I can dump a first draft out in a couple of months whenever I want to, but the novel still takes years to finish. I would love to be able to plan ahead, slow down, and get a clean first draft that only needed revision, not a major rewrite. But it doesn't work for me. Maybe I can learn to write cleaner eventually, but for now I have to go with what I have.

But all that aside -- if that's what you really want to do, go for it. But if it doesn't work, don't be afraid to admit that it just doesn't fit your process. I'd like to be Sheila, too, or Zette, but it ain't gonna happen.

--bonnie

Re: word count isn't everything

[eimarra]

Point taken.

Thanks.