Counting the Days

There is a certain part of the book when you realize that there are only a few chapters left until you are done.  (Fair warning, a certain red-head may be at this part of her book.)  Ahem, as I was saying: 

When you are a writer and you get to this part of your book, you sit down with your calculator and start crunching numbers to figure out, realistically, how quickly you could actually be finished with the first draft. 

Well, at least it starts out realistic.  "Assuming the nice and steady 500 words per day during the week that got me here, that gives me 2,500 words per week.  I seem to be averaging around 1,500-ish words per chapter, and I think I have about five chapters left.  So in about three or so weeks, I will be finished."

Then you sit there and look at the calculator a bit.  And then you think, "Hm, if I can write 1,000 words four days a week, that means I can get 4,000 words a week.  That would have the rough draft done in two weeks."

Wouldn't that be nice?  Two weeks!

Then you pick up the calculator again.  Okay, so if I work through lunch and then work at home in the evenings, maybe I could get 2,000 words per day.  If I could do that for just five days, I would totally be finished!"

Five days.

Then your realize, "If I call in sick, I could work for eight hours straight.  I could have it all FINISHED in one day!"

Just eight solid hours!  How hard could it be?

Then you check your email...and Facebook...and Twitter.  You get some chocolate, and try to remember the name of that movie from the late seventies that ends with the shot of people standing on the back of a giant sea turtle.

Suddenly two weeks sounds just fine.

Or maybe the three week option...that one was good, too. 

The Painful Side Effects of Writing

Let me preface this by saying that I do not mean to Method Write.  For those not familiar with the term, it is taken from the idea of "method acting."  Basically, the writer uses various techniques to create in themselves in themself the thoughts and emotions of their characters in order to write more lifelike scenes.  Again, I did not mean to do this...

But I realized recently that, while my character was coping with rationed food, I had unintentionally dropped ten pounds.  What the heck?!  Ten pounds in two weeks.  Seriously.

Then last night, after writing some serious abandonment scenes for a character of mine, I ended up having a series of increasingly disturbing dreams centered around abandonment.  Go figure.  I recently read someone-or-other said something-or-other about Make it worse for your characters because it will show the reader what they are made of.  So, I have been busy making it worse. 

I guess that my subconscious picked up on that and decided to make my dreams get worse and worse all night long. Thank goodness for my cat, who woke me up with an awkward poke as if to say, "There, there, human...you can shut up now."

Imagine this without the creepy horse head, and with the dreamer having short red hair,
and a big black cat on my chest instead of an incubus...well, you get the idea.

Maybe it is "Character Karma."  (I don't think so, since I just made it up.)  But what if all the bad things I do to my characters will be revisited on me...?  Okay, I am not going there.  Even the thought of that freaks me out.

Ahem, where was I?

Oh, right...so, I am ten pounds lighter, I am sleep deprived, and my cat thinks I am a nut case.  I do, however, have nearly 50,000 words to show for my efforts, and I am pushing 300 pages!  I am in the home stretch.  (Knocking on wood.)

I have two beta readers reading now, and another beta reader in the wings waiting for me to finish before she starts reading (this will allow me to have staggered feedback and, hopefully, keep the progress moving).  In case I have not mentioned it lately, I love my beta readers and I can't wait to get more feedback.

In the meantime, I might stock up on Ambien...and vegan chocolate...and really good bread...to help counter these painful side effects of writing.