Where the hell have I been, you must all be asking yourselves. LOL, I’ve been asking myself that same question. But I had to leave town for a couple of days last week for family business, and I admit it threw my whole schedule off. Plus, I went belly dancing and had to spend several hours trying on different outfits, seeing which fit my aging, saggy body the best. And I had my OVRWA meeting on Saturday which meant I was forced to spend the day playing with knights and armor. (Poor, poor me!)
These things are important, and I have always been a proponant of having other creative interests besides writing, especially ones that include some sort of physical activity. The body must move between bouts of sitting hunched over the keyboard. Stretch. Breathe. Dancing is my preferred exercise of choice. Find something to do you love, or else it becomes a grind and you will never keep up with it.
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard authors say they have gained fifty pounds, killed their back and wrist muscles, or developed diabetes or some other physical ailment because they spend all their time writing. (Granted that is their choice, but it’s not mine.) Get a life! Get out and play, have fun, dress up. Belly dancing lets me work up a sweat, dress like a gypsy queen, and move like a seductress. What more could one ask for? My husband and I also take ballroom dance class on the weekends, and I’m heading there in just a few minutes.
So, you ask, what were my stats for the week? Not wonderful, but not horrific. I did manage to get 2,192 words, about half my goal. But that’s okay, it’s still progress, and this coming week is clear sailing. I also spent a lot of the down time running plotlines, character motivation and other big manuscript ideas across my mind, fine tuning the points as I progress through the book. Yes, I have to go back and change some parts of the beginning to match, but I can do that later.
THE BEGINNING DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT TO MOVE ON! Memorize this line and repeat it frequently. You can go back and change the beginning to match during the re-write. Keep moving forward. Keep the draft flowing.
I actually worked for 3 1/2 hours, $35, and since I wrote one day at home, I only spent $5.04 in snacks.
So the grand total so far is: 13, 188 words. $190.84. = $0.014 per word which will cost me $1,302.36 to finish the book at this rate. Whew! Making progress.
