I finally started writing my novel this last week, after six months of outlining. (That sounds really dramatic until I confess that I only sat down to outline maybe six times during the first four months; I didn't get serious about it until early May.)
Having hit the fabulous milestone of being done with the outline, I rocketed into writing this week. My goal is to write 2,000 words a week; this week I write more than 4,900! And that was all done on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday!
The downside of this unexpected plethora of words? I was sick of writing by the time Thursday rolled around. I didn't want to touch my WIP or even think about it anymore. So I've ignored it for three days, and I will continue to ignore it tomorrow. I'm pumped to start writing again on Monday, when I will launch into scene 4. It has a very detailed outline so I expect the writing to be smooth.
My other writing-related accomplishment this week was a bit of numerical analysis. My outline is long, but when I was initially outlining I also did a bit of scene writing. So I wasn't sure how my word count breaks out if you look at outline vs. actual writing...
It turns out that the outline is 12,700 words. The finished scenes (1-3) and partial scenes (10 in all) add up to 28,400 words. (Yowza!) I estimate that I have written maybe a quarter of the novel. If that's accurate... 120,000 words when it is done?*
I'd be okay with that.
Happy writing to you all this week. I owe Anna Stewart a post about outlining; one of my goals for the coming week is to write it. (Anna, I have a feeling we are going to be good friends! :o)
*As a frame of reference: Pride and Prejudice is about 122,000 words. Lord of the Files is 60,000 words. War and Peace is 600k.
That's a fantastic result! I don't think you can be blamed for not wanting to touch your writing for a few days after! Good luck for picking it back up this week!
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