Writing: What I'm Working On (Shhhhh...)

I haven't been talking much here (or anywhere) about my current Work in Progress (or WIP, as us professional author types call them). But don't let that fool you into thinking I'm not writing :-)

I have been busy catching up with the non-fiction (articles for next year's Llewellyn annuals, my regular column in Witches & Pagans Magazine, stuff like that), and trying to keep up with the garden, which sucks a lot of time in the summer. But I'm also about a third of the way through the next novel. It has already made one trip to my agent Elaine Spencer for comments and input, and been revised in response. I've finished a full outline and I'm at the point where I'm going to dive back in and finish this sucker.

So why haven't I been talking about it, you ask? Is it that bad?

On the contrary....it's that good. Seriously. I am LOVING this story. Elaine is LOVING this story. Lisa, my critique partner and Judy, my first reader/editor all LOVE this story. I am more excited about writing it than I am anything I've written in ages, even though it is in many ways a tougher manuscript to work on, and much slower going than usual. [That's not bad--each book is different. This one uses language and layering differently than any of the others, which is part of why the pages are going more slowly.]

One of the reasons I haven't mentioned the title or any specifics is because we haven't seen anything like this out there yet, and I don't want to give away the idea. (It's a tough world, publishing. Very competitive.) But more than that, I guess, I just don't want to jinx it. Not quite ready to share. But when I am, I promise you'll hear about it here first.

In the meanwhile, I'll just keep updating the word count and talking about the garden, jewelry, and putting up cute pictures of my cats. Thanks for your patience.

500 Words a Day

I have been fighting to make anything that resembles progress on the new novel (yes, the title and theme are still a secret...I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you). Not because I don't like the story--in fact, I'm more excited about this one than I have been in ages. Which makes the lack of progress even more frustrating, really.

Mostly summer is just not a great time for me to write. There are too many other things going on; the shop is busier because of tourist season (yay tourists!), the garden and yard demand constant upkeep, and so on. (Also, a number of folks in my life are in crisis, and they're not people I can say "call me back later, I'm writing" to when they call and interrupt. Not if they really need me.) And I haven't been sleeping well for various reasons, which tends to turn my brain to mush. Well, more mush than usual, even. Yadda yadda yadda.

Usually, when I am in full-on writing mode, I average about 1,200 words a day (at an average of 300 words a page, that's about 4 pages, although it can vary). On a good day, I can double that. This week, I'm averaging about 500 words a day. That's right--less than two pages. *headdesk*

But I'm still making myself sit down every night and do whatever I can do. Even if it is only 500 words.

Here's why:
If you write 500 words a day every day, after 180 days you will have 90,000 words. That's a novel, folks. So even at only 500 words/day, you can finish two books a year. TWO BOOKS.

Obviously, that's not taking into consideration things like editing and revision. But still. 500 words/day = TWO BOOKS A YEAR.

So if you write, don't let the slow days discourage you. Remember: BICHOK: Butt in chair, hands on keyboard. Or my particular version... BICHOKNOL (Butt in chair, hands on keyboard, NOT online!)

Now go write 500 words, then come back here and tell me you've done it :-)