Monday, August 23, 2010

Interesting realizations

What happens when you keep blogging and only check if you get followers? You forget to check for comments. So... I sort of only replied to my comments today. Very very sorry.

But... that was far from my only realization since my last blog...

On checking with my gran (the author, for those that didn't read my earlier posts), that the generally accepted word count for a standard format novel is between forty and eighty thousand words. My western falls in that category. 

The reason why this is so profound is that I recently wrote nine thousand words of the western in one day. So the book that is my sideline and thing to do when my epic stalls might turn out to be the one that is submitted first. 

So, the reader may ask, how did that happen? 

In short: I have no damn idea. I just decided I needed to write that afternoon. The western called me more that my epic, so I decided to write one chapter. At the end of the chapter I wanted to see what happens next, so I wrote another. And another. And another. And... you get the point. 

It was such a productive and fun writing session that I'm almost scared to face the disappointment when I can't repeat it. Maybe I sound silly, but it's true. I spent eight hours non-stop typing (well except for sustenance and... you know... those breaks.). No discipline was involved, since I never felt like I had to force myself to write something.

Luckily I know that if I keep working at it, my muse will smile down on me and I will get to go through it again. 

Of course, there was this tiny detail that I was supposed to spend seven of those hours studying. 

My reaction to coming out of the story at midnight? Panic? Distress? Regret? None of the above. I grinned at my miraculous achievement, brushed my teeth and went to sleep. I haven't written anything except the blog since and that was OK, because my creative side was purring. It ended up creating extra time for me to study although it did cut into my sleep. And...

If I did badly, I got sixty percent, but I have this sneaking suspicion that I have a distinction coming my way. So Yay! 

So the biggest realization I leapt to was that life falls right regardless of whether you worry about it or not. Just don't forget to study ;-P

2 comments:

  1. A Happy Muse makes me a Happy Writer. I love when you sit down at the computer and write chapter after chapter after chapter. It puts you on those clouds so high, like no one can knock you off your game. Brilliant isn't it? I think so.

    Way to go for the studying... lack of sleep? Well sleep is overrated anyhow isn't it? LOL

    You have an adorable blog!

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  2. Exactly! Sometimes it feels like I float on this happy energy for hours. It's so difficult to explain.

    Sleep is totally overrated, but just as I get used to not sleeping, I fall asleep. I still have to crack that one.

    Thank you for your complement. :-) I'm still trying to find my way around my brain on here, so if you have any tips on how I can improve the blog, please let me know.

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