1970 words today. I hope everyone had a great holiday today. If you have kids (or grandkids), I hope that you were able to find a way for them to enjoy the season and forget about COVID-19 for a day or so. We definitely did that.
Folks, I’m officially in a rough spot. I said two days ago that the GPS was heading me toward a rough spot. I’m there now, which means I’m squarely around the 25-30% mark of the book.
REASONS FOR THE SLOWDOWN
#1: HOLIDAYS. Part of the slowdown is the holidays and the fact that I’ve only been able to get on the bike once on Xmas Eve and Xmas Day. That’s to be expected, and the fact that I got any words at all is pretty good.
#2: DOT CONNECTING. Story-wise, I’m at the part where the hero and the villain meet for the first time (although the reader is already familiar with the villain), and I’m finding myself spinning my wheels a bit as I “connect some dots” between the two storylines. This is requiring more looping because I’m discovering things in later chapters that require me to go back to loop through early ones.
#3: JUST-IN-TIME RESEARCH. I had to stop quite a bit today alone to get some basic facts right. For example, I had the fun idea to have the main character use an electric skateboard to get around his neighborhood and go to work, so that required watching a lot of YouTube and lurking on eSkate Reddits and FB groups. This character detail is something I never would have known before I started writing.
#4: SCREW-UP. I screwed up my research in my most recent chapter. I went with my gut and didn’t verify something when I should have; now I have to fix it. Not the story, but the setting. I set the chapter somewhere that didn’t work logically given where the hero lives in the city.
I have to fix this before I get back on the bike. When I’m on the bike, I like to move forward and know that what’s behind me is solid. So my dictation sessions may be further reduced tomorrow, which is too bad, but as I’ve said all along, I’m not going to do this sloppy. I’m going to do it right.
GETTING BACK ON TRACK
I estimate that I’ve got a bumpy two or three chapters before things start taking off again, probably 3000 or so words before the bumps start clearing out. Until then, the key is to keep chipping away at the issues I mentioned before and keep writing and showing up. Once I get through this rough spot, I should have pretty clear skies for a while because from what can see ahead, the story really ramps up in a dramatic way.
My ultimate hope is that everything will start coming together cohesively once I get to around the 20K mark. At my current pace, I’m on track to hit 20K or so by end of the weekend, maybe sooner depending on how quickly I get through the current rough spot.
PROGRESS TRACKER
Words: 1970 (666 in session 1, 1304 written by hand)
Calories: 50
Miles: 1.5
Time on bike: 30 min
TOTAL
Words: 13,548
Calories: 500
Miles: 15.0
Time on bike: 300 minutes (5.0 hours)
