2,014 words today. Had to do some kung fu on the manuscript today but I’m in a much better spot this evening.
Sadly, I didn’t get on the bike today. I spent a lot of time writing, though. I wrapped up some more of the just-in-time research I mentioned yesterday and got that shored up. Then I had to re-loop the last couple chapters to fix a few details here and there.
As I was fixing those details, it triggered me to write a scene in the middle of those chapters that helped me break through the current rough spot. It involved introducing two new characters that I didn’t create until now. The story took a very dark turn, and I don’t know how I feel about it yet…but I’m trusting the process.
A few minutes before I wrote this, I finally finished my loop and arrived at the place where I left the story.
To give you a sense of the work I had to do, I left off on Chapter 7. I had to loop back to Chapter 5. Chapter 7 became Chapter 8 and I had to write a new Chapter 7. Then I had to loop back and stitch everything together, cleaning up things that were no longer needed.
I also discovered that I wrote myself into a bit of a proverbial corner, so I had to backtrack a bit and delete about 300 words and then start again. I gladly threw those words out as they were fine before I did the fixing, but no longer needed.
Hopefully these descriptions aren’t too cryptic…suffice to say that this is the sometimes messier part of writing into the dark (and in one draft).
I just have a quick loop to tomorrow of the current chapter, which shouldn’t be too bad, and I’m ready to charge forward. I can actually see a lot of what happens next. So we’ll see how tomorrow goes, but my internal GPS indicates that I’ll be on smoother roads starting tomorrow. We’ll see if that happens.
I broke my streak of getting on the bike, but today was necessary. 2000 words is still a fantastic word day. I had to slow down today so I can fly tomorrow.
I’m actually looking forward to getting back on the bike tomorrow because I know that I’ll be able to write without worrying too much about what’s behind me.
This is one of the things you have to accept when writing into the dark. You stop a few times more than you like, but as long as you trust your creative voice, you’ll be fine.
Onward!
PROGRESS TRACKER
Words: 2,014 (all by hand)
Calories: 0
Miles: 0 min
Time on bike: 0 min
TOTAL
Words: 15,562
Calories: 500
Miles: 15.0
Time on bike: 300 minutes (5.0 hours)
