First Drafts

Sometimes, when I face a first draft, the daunting, bridge-less white gaps of story, I feel overwhelmed. I think, this is the worst part of writing. This is the conjuring. Every word, every sentence, an angry miracle.

Other times, the empty spaces feel like possibilities and I marvel in them. I send strands of story as far as I can. I circle them into messy, tangled nests that I hope will one day become functional.

I often count words and days. I wonder when I'll reach an end. I make deadlines. I think if I can finish a draft before this but after that, I will be on track to get here so I can get there. Because if I don't get there I'll never be anywhere and who, in their right mind, would want that?

I add. I divide. I carry the one. I try to understand how long it will take to finish.

Finish.

Finish.

The old chant.

So much of my creative life, measured in the completion of words, rather than the actual practice of finding them.

Today, I thought, this is the best part of writing. The actual, well, writing. The wandering and wishing through a story I didn't know I knew. The waiting for words, however agonizing.

I think there's certainly something to be said for completing a work. For thumbing through the pages of a printed manuscript. For being able to say, I did it.

But, today, I feel even more satisfaction as I sit with all the words ahead of me and say, I'm doing it. 

Daily Word Challenges

When I first started writing seriously towards publication (back in 2008) I used Inkygirl's Wordcount Challenge. My goal, every single day, was to write 1000 words. 

If I didn't meet my daily goal, I would simply pick it up again the next day. This is how I got through every first draft I've ever written. 

As life changed, as I shelved novels, slugged through revisions, and juggled multiple manuscripts, I made lists, instead, concentrated on chapters or scenes, switched my mind on and off from one project to another, and the daily word goal disappeared.

Now that I'm a few thousand words into a current rough draft, I think of the Wordcount Challenge. I think of its simplicity, its malleability, its guilt-free calories. 

So, I'm pledging 500 words a day for this rough draft because that is what I can handle from 9-10PM each night after the little one falls asleep. And if I don't meet the goal one day, I'll pick up again the next, and if the weekend is full of sun and family and friends, I'll pick it up again on Monday. And so it goes.

Sometimes, novels feel daunting, bridgeless and river-wide. But if I think of it in 500 word sips, it feels manageable. It feels more like joy. 

If anyone wants to play along with me, let me know (you can challenge yourself to get anywhere from 50-1000 words, whatever works for you.)  It's always more fun to do it together.

 

Draft One?

Every day, I sit and write 1,000 words of my novel (it should be noted that some days are more productive than others) and when I'm done, I e-mail the document to myself, with the subject line: Rabbit Island Draft One.

Every day it grows. Slowly. But it grows.

Rabbit Island Draft One, I type, attach, and press send. And there it is in my inbox.

Tonight I typed, attached, pressed send, and just looked at it. I wanted to cry.

Rabbit Island Draft One.

WILL IT EVER BE FINISHED? WILL IT EVER BE DRAFT TWO? I wanted to shout.

Nope.

Rabbit Island Draft One.

But, little by little, it grows...