Yesterday, on the 7th day of National Novel Writing Month, I went over the 10,000 word mark in my 60,000 word novel. I’m just 2,000 words shy of being at 20% complete. Yay me!
There is a little voice inside me that hisses, “But you should be at 16,000!” You see, I did not write on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and it’s been bothering me. I had a very jam-packed Friday and Saturday and Sunday I just recovered (and gorged myself on a Game of Thrones marathon and put bone meal on my irises). Because, as I always hate to discover, I am a mere mortal and I can’t drive 8 hours in a day, then write 2,000 words then clean the whole house then do 3 loads of laundry. Why?!? I don’t know. I have a hard time accepting it but it’s the truth.
Writing isn’t linear like that, of course. Although I didn’t write things down I used the long drive to dream up new scenes, one of which came out onto the page effortlessly on Monday when I finally got around to sitting at the computer. Also, I had an experience that unlocked a scene I’d been wondering about. While in a little shop in a tiny town in Maryland – which I would have never found had it not been for the fact that I had to cry, “Uncle” and stop driving in the pouring rain at 10:00 at night on four hours’ sleep – I found a dainty little sea glass necklace almost exactly like one I’d been imagining one character in novel # 2 would give another. So… wow! Not a waste. And yet the perfectionist in the belfry does not know how to shut up. So this is me, outing her as the nagging little harpy she is.
I have a dinner planned tonight and another book promotion appearance this coming weekend, so it’s possible I won’t hit 14,000 words this week either. But you know what? I know this whole book is already alive in me, and that getting it onto the page is just a formality. So, hush, perfectionist. No need to yell at me so I’ll get it done. I know you mean well, but I’ve got this.
