5 Things I’ve learned this week about my drafting process:
I’ve added over 10,000 new words to my 82,000 word draft this week, which brings to word count total to around 92,000. Word count, shmurd count, turd count. Honestly, the quality of those words are crap, but I knew this going in, and I admitted it before even beginning.
So here are things I learned this week about myself as a drafter and about the word count:
I will avoid climbing the mountain of drafting like I avoid exercise. This procrastination lasts until I can’t anymore. But, I am also motivated by being held accountable to the external impetus (YOU), so though I procrastinate, I am still writing forward (at the last possible moment).
Once I’m sitting down to write, there isn’t much to get in my way including family or dogs who might attempt to interrupt. You need to go outside to pee, dog? Hold it.
I get really cranky when I’m drafting. Don’t talk to me or I might bite your head off (poor family).
When I get stuck, I follow the Peter Elbow model of writing forward: the freewrite (which means I just word vomit on the page to get myself thinking again. So I have a bunch of words that aren’t even connected to the story but are rather my own subconscious conversing with my conscious self, then suddenly I’m back in the narrative, moving on with the story). Keep in mind, that word count report is padded with a bunch of words that won’t even be in the story.
If the Peter Elbow Freewrite doesn’t get me moving, I know instinctively that it’s because I don’t understand something about the character and the conflict. So my next step is to jump into a character interview. Remember how I said the word count is padded with words that won’t make it into the story. Yes. The character interview is one of the reasons why.
Bonus: Word counts aren’t very motivating for me, but coloring in the calendar I made, super motivating. Posting to TikToc and Reelz has also been fun even if getting the words was slighly torturous. I also feel accomplished when I’ve written something that feels like a keeper or that I realized helped me understand something that will contribute to a scene. Those are gems.
I keep reminding myself that the goal for April isn’t about the word count, even if that’s how I’m holding myself accountable (which means I may relook at how I’m reporting the progress). The goal is to finish the draft of this story. While there’s a modicum of some stuff that will be salvageable in what I’ve written this week, it’s going to take a lot of revision and rewriting to make it useful. On the flipside, however, there is something there to work with that wasn’t there before. I have a trash heap to go through to find what’s usable.
Remind me: It does not have to be perfect. DOWN WITH THE OPPRESSOR (thanks for that, Anne Lamott).