It’s late, but I really need to write something of my recent thoughts on this blog, so this is going to be a stream-of-consciousness word-vomit sort of post. But please keep reading, it probably won’t be uninteresting.
I haven’t been posting much on this blog recently, but I’ve been thinking a lot about my writing recently–specifically, the practicalities of trying to make this my career, getting serious about it, etc.
In fact, for the past three weeks, it’s been just about the only thing on my mind. I’ve been listening and re-listening to just about every episode of writing excuses, the LTUE mp3s that I recorded, the old English 318 mp3s from last year, and various other talks and speeches on the subject of writing as a career.
I don’t have the time to really explain all my thoughts on the subject, but to sum it up, I’ve been angsting over it quite a bit. Will I be able to break into publishing in the relatively near future, or does my writing need years and years more work? Am I making a mistake to spend my summer just working on my writing? Am I making a mistake to be pursuing this so vigorously as my primary career path? and a whole lot of irrational angsting besides all that. You get the picture.
Well, I’ve gotten sick of doing all this thinking and now I think it’s time to just do it. I heard back last week from the agency in New York–turns out they already have someone, so I won’t be going there for the internship–but that’s actually alright, because it means I can take the summer to really focus on improving my writing.
Of course, if I’m not doing anything else, I need to be treating this like my full time career. The standard thing I keep hearing, at least from the professionals in the local scene, is that the average per-day wordcount is 4k. Depending on deadlines and other projects, that may increase, but the average daily wordcount is 4k. Since I plan on making writing my focus this summer, that’s my goal: 4k a day.
Last week, my wordcount was above 10k, but that’s actually a bit misleading. I wasn’t writing 10k words of new material each day, I was doing a quick mid-draft revision to add in a few crucial characters and scenes that I didn’t know I needed until I got midway through the book. It wasn’t even much of a revision; when I saw places where my writing really needed work, I made a note for later and kept on skimming. I only stopped to rewrite the sections that needed major changes in order to set things up correctly for later.
As a result, I feel that I’ve lost a degree of momentum. Now that I’m through all the old stuff, I’m writing entirely new material, and it’s very hard. I’ve only been skimming the last few chapters and scenes; as a result, when I picked things up this morning, I had difficulty getting into the story again.
I did 3,248 words today–that’s 3.2k words of new material–and by the end, I felt like the momentum was building and I was starting to get back into the story. A couple of weeks ago, when I was still angsting uselessly over the whole writing career thing, I kept feeling like this novel I’m writing is just crap. Now, however, I’m starting to see my faith in it return.
Writing is like that sometimes: the further you are from your story, the worse it seems, while the more you get into the story, the more faith you’re able to have in it. If you don’t have faith in the story you’re trying to tell, you just won’t be able to write it.
I could say more about what I’ve learned from my experience these past few weeks, but this post is getting long. To sum it up, that’s my new goal for this summer: 4k a day, as if I’m doing this full time.
At that rate, I’ll probably finish this novel sometime before the BYU writer’s conference (which I will be attending, at least the afternoon sessions–just registered yesterday). The personal deadline I set was June 15th, after the conference, but I think I can get it in early.
Okay, enough word vomiting. Time to get some sleep.
Are you planning on writing full-time during the summer, i.e. 8 hours a day, 8 words a minute? Or are you going to have to fit it in beside a job or other things?
I’m jealous of you, Joseph. You’re doing everything I know I’d need to do if I wanted to make it as a writer, attending all those workshops, conventions, etc. Your writing is plenty good and you have plenty of drive such that I have no doubt you’ll be entirely successful as an author in the near future.
I’ve been wondering that, too. Wovlerton said it takes a person about seven years from when they start writing to when they get published. Makes me think, “Does seven years start from when I started writing, or when I started writing seriously?” Or from when I decided I wanted to be an author (half-way in between those.)
Hmm… just like with every other question in life, I suppose only time will tell, eh?
@drek — hey, thanks, I really appreciate that. 🙂 I’m undecided as to getting a job–I’ll probably end up doing it, but financially I don’t really need to at this time. As for 8 hours a day, yes, that’s exactly what I’m trying to do. At least, I’m trying to work myself up to that point. Currently, I work out in the morning and take a break for a couple hours in the afternoon, but everything else is writing time.
@Chuck — I have no idea. Didn’t Wolverton break in in first year of doing it seriously? But he was writing for quite a while before he did it professionally. Honestly, I think it’s different for everyone.