So, I feel like a complete idiot now. After months of using an outlined to-do list to help me get stuff done during the week, I finally started making a to-do list for my novel.
What do I mean by that? I mean outlining the novel's events, bulleted and in short sentence form, so that I can keep straight what happens each "day" in the novel. Plus, I can put editing notes in there like "Hey, I need to rename this place" or "Wow, I need character names liek woah." LOL
So now I have an itty-bitty text file called "novel notes," in which I have now scripted the next 3 "days" in my novel. Finally, I might be able to move ahead--part of the reason I was stuck was that I wasn't sure where to go. As I well know from experience, if you don't have the driving directions printed out, you can get lost very easily. Fail :P
Now, WHY did I not think of this about 3 million years ago? *shrug* Who knows? That's how my brain works these days, apparently. xD
Feeling like I've been stuck in snow for the last month. But I finally wrote a bit more (about 1,200 words), and I'm finally starting to move forward in the novel again.
I believe I might be able to move a little faster in the coming days, as well, since I now know the tragic end to my hard drive saga and will likely be getting a new computer, since the old one, bless its heart, may not have much longer to live even if we do get its power port fixed. Being dropped may have fractured itty-bitty pieces in there which we would not even know about till they fried or gave out.
But at last, I don't have to wait in anxiety any longer for an outcome. And perhaps, my novel's sled runners can get unstuck from the ice of waiting and again fly along the snowy plains.
After what feels like months of nothinggggg, finally wrote some more. 1,000 words more, to be exact. And it's absolutely hilarious. :D Nothing like a humorous mini-episode to spur me on to write more. Literally cried laughing writing this part...it's so honest and real and it's something that would totally happen (and it sorta did happen to me, but not in the same circumstances).
Now, to sally forth and conquer the next bit of the story. Maybe if I stop thinking about the "next" bit as being ALL of the awesomeness that's currently jammed in my head, then maybe I can write it before next year. LOL
Can't seem to motivate myself to change much on the story, and it's been this way for almost a week and a half. Hoping that this will change, now that a few of the holiday season's important events have passed.
I'm thinking it's just stress and anxiety that's keeping me from writing, since I'm worried about my failed hard drive being irrecoverable. (Yeah, my hard drive died unexpectly about a week ago and we've had to send it off to a totally different state to see if a forensic data recovery company can do anything with it. Praying they can recover hundreds of dollars in purchased music and thousands of hours of work!)
Anyway, writer's block shall not conquer me forever. This, I know from previous experiences. It might be a week, might be a month or even several months, but I'll get back into writing this. I'm so excited to tell this story still--just got to get off my proverbial butt and do it. XD
YEP! I celebrated finally finishing the part of the book that had been bedeviling me by writing ~5,000 words two days ago. (Who would have thought 3 pages in the last "episode' could trip me up for almost 3 months? Oh wait, wisdom teeth, infection, surgery, medication...yeeeeaaaah).
Now that I'm past the difficult part (literally and figuratively), I feel renewed, and I WANT to tell this part of the story that has been bubbling in my head for months. It's simmered and it's finally ready to come off the stove eye. WOOOOOoooOOOOooooOOOT!
After reading the last 20 pages of my book, I realized I had several errors in continuity, mainly details and strange little forgetful episodes. It's been a tumultuous few months, so I'm not surprised I wrote in a bit more scrambled manner than usual. The backspace key is my friend... :P It's important to read over my own writing--otherwise, you all might end up reading a very odd story in a few months! XD
(And I'm very glad I didn't leave these errors to editing time! Lord knows what the editor would have thought! LOL)
In my last post, I referenced my novel as being at 122,000 words. Checked it this evening before beginning some edits, and I saw that it was just above 125,000. ...This is why I never became a math major. XD
WOOT for 3,000 more words than I thought I had! :D
...Those are the feelings I'm working with as I write this next episode, since I finally have my computer back (still wounded, but able). The main character is wrapped up in a totally new experience, and I keep coming back to the central feeling of awe, wonder, and NEWNESS. Seeing the world through this character's eyes is utterly refreshing.
In other news, 122,000 words. Rar. Fear my keyboard prowess. LOL
With my computer still needing fixing, I've taken to scripting out what is ahead in my novel mentally rather than trying to type it up. The time without the computer has actually helped me get over one of the writer's blocks I had before, and now I feel surer about where the story is going in the next "episode."
What I mean by "episode": in my book, I have mentally divided up the story into chunks based on the settings in which they take place. Each new setting and its individual story constitutes an "episode." What's surprising to me is how much of this next episode I have already nailed down in my head. I know pretty much the sequence and the characters involved at every step in the sequence--unusual for me, a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants writer by nature.
Looking forward to actually typing up this mentally-scripted scene, as soon as I get my computer back! :D
Oh yes I did. 120,000 words as of last week. :D :D :D Continuing to write on the peaceful plot I mentioned last time, but the more turbulent sub-plot will return...as soon as I get my faithful little laptop buddy back from being fixed. :C (I didn't lose any data, but the screen suffered damage after it was knocked from a tabletop Sad.)
In other news, ever notice how when you're thinking out a plot idea, it seems so simple and quick to write, but when you actually go to write it, it takes about 5 pages to work out even the smallest tidbit? Yep. That has been my writing as of late. LOL
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