I wrote 2,279 words today, so I gained a little (very little) on all of that lost ground. I am fairly happy with what I’ve written, but I know it’s going to take a lot more rewriting than usual to make it good enough to make me happy. Partially that is because I am writing my first novel. I have never written any one single piece that was longer than a few thousand words. This one is close to 60,000 words, well over 10 times the previous record. It is much harder to maintain a certain narrative tone, not to mention sustain a plot, for this long. When I finish the first draft, I will go back and treat each section like a separate short story. Maybe that will help me fix the flaws of this version. The other barrier I have to writing my best is that I am dictating a large portion of my daily output with something called Dragon Naturally Speaking Software. I have it installed on my dad’s laptop and I carry it in the car and I use all of that otherwise wasted commute time to get some writing done. It’s not ideal, but I am not sure how much writing I would be getting done without it. It is funny when I look down and see that I have been yelling at other drivers, though. Tonight I saw this line in the middle of my paragraph, “Don’t mess with me, buddy!” That is not something one of my fantasy characters would say. 😉
Anyway, tonight’s tally is 2,279 words and this month so far is 6,345. I am still 6,155 words behind schedule. I better get cracking!
