Happy Insecure Writer's Support Group Wednesday. Thank you again to Alex J. Cavanaugh, the creator of the group. The first Wednesday of every month is dedicated to this group of supportive writers. If it's something you're not familiar with, then please click on Alex's link above for more information and to sign up!
Another month has flown by and I'm taking a moment away from my writing cave to give an update on my current manuscript. I just passed 50,000 words in Archanum Manor, which feels substantial, but it's obviously taking longer than I had hoped. So I actually averaged 500 words a day this past month, not the 1000 I was pushing for. The important thing is just to keep writing, so I won't come down on myself too hard.
One reason for my lower than expected word count was hitting a major snag in the story. I came to the edge of a river that was quite difficult to cross. I could see the opposite river bank with no idea how to get there. Building the bridge cost me time with writer's block and rewrites. But it did finally get built. I've been writing that bridge for the past week and a half, and I can successfully say that I've reached the other side of the river and ready to continue down road leading to Archanum Manor.
Now I'm getting close to the biggest scenes in the book, which is both exciting and terrifying. I need these scenes to live up to the key scenes in previous books, with the hope of actually surpassing them. This will be an important month as I bring the series to a close. I don't expect to be done by next month's IWSG's post, but I expect to be close. Here's hoping.
I'd like to leave you with a song I just added to my Archanum Manor playlist, one I've been obsessed with over the past week, listening to it repeatedly while writing the interactions between Oliver and Desiree. It has the beautifully sad tone of an Elliott Smith song. Sit back, turn down the lights, close your eyes, and let Joshua Radin pull at your heart strings for three minutes while I get back to work.
At least you built a bridge rather than give up.
ReplyDeleteIf those scenes don't come off with a bang while you're writing them, just add dynamite when you do the revisions.
right now I'm stuck on a the bank of the river too in my book and I think I have to rewrite the whole thing! ah well, all hoping for it to be cool when finished :) good luck.
ReplyDelete50,000 is a great word count to be at. That's always the count I strive to pass. Once I do, I feel better.
ReplyDeleteI love the analogy about the river and bridge. Good luck on that big scene!
I LOVE Joshua Radin. Found him on my Iron & Wine station on Pandora. Great music. 500 words a day is better than 0 words a day. So congrats on being persistent. And you built your bridge, you word architect you! Many people would've given up or tried something else but you pushed through. Awesome. Keep going and you'll get to the end of that book!
ReplyDelete500 words per day is pretty good. I like the river visual. Happened to me in my current WIP and I had to finally go back and dump about two chapters and rewrite a bunch to make it to the other bank.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, Michael. 500 words a day is nothing to look down on. It's a helluva lot more than I've done. Thanks for your visit, even though I hadn't gotten yesterday's post up yet! Lovely song. I've never heard of him. Thanks for the introduction.
ReplyDeleteI'd say building the bridge is a major breakthrough. You're nearly there!
ReplyDeleteCrossing that bridge is definitely tough but once you're across, it's such a relief.
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