Am I the only one who is happy that it’s a new week? (It is here in Cairo anyway!) We had an incredibly busy weekend – which primarily revolved around taking my children to Halloween celebrations and my daughter to various extracurricular school sporting events. I just sat on the sidelines and cheered her on as she kicked butt but I’m exhausted! She’s only seven so I assume that if her interest in sports continues, her schedule will only get busier and more arduous.
Great. I’m going to have to go into training just to keep up with her!
I didn’t do any writing over the weekend. Not one word. But I did spend some time thinking, and for me that is an important process. I like to know where I’m going next before I keep blundering on. I’m like that in real life too. I like maps and planning out my routes. I hate getting lost.
So, I’m perhaps halfway through my WIP and I ended up psyching myself out end of last week by checking my word count. My daily writing goal has been fine. I’m referring to my overall word count. I have an idea how long I’d like this story to be when it’s finished, but I seem to be zipping along just a little too quickly. And since I’m the sort of writer who likes to write tight and clean the first go round, the idea that I can add to it later isn’t comforting. I want to get it right, NOW.
Hence the thinking (and plotting) time. I have an inkling of what I need to do, how I can approach the word count issue – without diluting the main story with unnecessary chit chat. In other words, more show and less tell. Now the hard part starts – sitting down and doing it.
Of course, there is something to be said for getting lost. Sometimes it can be great fun to let the characters take a detour down a dark alley and see where it comes out. My character Aurora is fairly strong-minded. I’m sure that she has a few ideas of her own on the whole issue.
