8 1/2 pages
I got 8 1/2 pages written yesterday, which, for me, is phenomenal. It might not sound like much compared to more prolific writers like Laurell K. Hamilton or Nora Roberts, but for me it's freaking fantastic. I've been known to write 8, 10, 15 pages in a sitting, but that's usually at the end of a book, when things are really coming together & my deadline is looming large. Otherwise, I consider 2-3 pages per day good progress.
But lately, I've been tearing up the AlphaSmart. I don't know what it is, but this story is going so well. It's MISTER & MISTRESS, my first continuity for Silhouette Desire, so I'm doubly nervous about doing a good job. And a part of me...that really big, neurotic, paranoid part of me...is petrified that if things are going this well, I must be doing something wrong. But I keep reading over my synopsis, referring back to my bible, & I think I'm dotting all my is & crossing all my ts. Plus, I can always keep an extra close eye on the flow of the entire book when I go back to revise & polish.
But lately, I've been tearing up the AlphaSmart. I don't know what it is, but this story is going so well. It's MISTER & MISTRESS, my first continuity for Silhouette Desire, so I'm doubly nervous about doing a good job. And a part of me...that really big, neurotic, paranoid part of me...is petrified that if things are going this well, I must be doing something wrong. But I keep reading over my synopsis, referring back to my bible, & I think I'm dotting all my is & crossing all my ts. Plus, I can always keep an extra close eye on the flow of the entire book when I go back to revise & polish.
So what it is that's helping this book move along so well? Is it that I love the story? I do. As soon as I heard the highlights of the plot & found out my heroine would be a sexy ex-showgirl with chunky blonde highlights in her hair, I knew I was going to have a blast writing about her. But I tend to love all my characters & stories, & still, none of them have ever seemed to flow this well this early on.
Maybe it's that I've adopted a new routine. For the longest time, I would wake up at 8am & be in bed by 10 or 11pm because Angel needed his pills, I needed my sleep, & if I didn't go to bed early, then I knew I'd never be able to wake up the next day. But I'm a nightowl at heart & I was never really tired at 10 or 11pm, so I'd go to bed, then toss & turn half the night, still waking up groggy in the morning. Lately, I've been waking up at 8am (for the past two weeks, it's been 6:30am, then back to bed, then up again at 8am because Angel needed two sets of pills, but--God willing--I'm done with that now) & going thru my day. I get a lot done in the mornings & early afternoon, but it's not usually writing. Then when I do sit down with my AlphaSmart, I'll write until I get tired & either my brain slows down or my eyes start to droop. And that may be 1 or 2 in the morning.
It's working so much better for me. I no longer feel guilty when the bulk of the day flits by & I've gotten little to no writing done...because I know I have all night to work, if I need it. And because I do need a certain amount of sleep, I sometimes take a nap in the middle of the day. Sounds lazy, but judging by the amount of writing I've been getting done lately, it's paying off. I've also noticed that I can get a huge chunk of pages done in the matter of just a few hours, whereas it used to take me all day to eke out even half that much.
It may not last forever, but for now it's working darn well for me, so I'm going to keep at it.
