So today I've decided that, no matter what, I will have a first draft of a novel completed by my birthday on July 17.
I just looked at my calendar and realized that, with one exception, I have no appointments or scheduled events on my calendar between now and then. So if I can't do a novel now, then probably I just can't do one.
I'm in pretty good shape so far. The total word count on my big novel is 62,541 words as of today. The first seven chapters are in the bag, in the can; in other words, basically complete. That's about 27,000 of those words. I figure the first seven chapters equal about a third of the novel.
However, I started a second novel on April 24. Right now, the total word count is 11,608. It's a very different style of novel, and it will be much shorter than the big novel because the language is very compact. Some of the scenes are only a couple hundred words long.
I figure I can work on both of them simultaneously since they seem to draw upon different sides of my brain. The big novel is very left-brain, whereas the second novel is all about the right.
Bill's Left-Brain Novel,
as of June 9, 2007:
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62,541 / 90,000 (69.5%) |
Bill's Right-Brain Novel,
as of June 9, 2007:
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11,608 / 50,000 (23.2%) |
In order to submerge myself in the chaos of book creation, typically I have to become a shabby recluse. This means paring back email and phone calls to a minimum, keeping distractions such as the Web and other people's books at arm's length, and otherwise cutting off most if not all contact with the outside world. It means I have to remind myself to take breaks for meals, drink enough water, and sleep. I may go without showering or shaving for days. The computer gets left on pretty much 24/7 since I never know when inspiration will strike, or when I might even channel some kind of breakthrough in my dream state. It all sounds rather romantic, but frankly, it's a huge pain in the ass. Stopping mundane life is much harder than it sounds, but so far, it has been the only way I can squeeze out a book. Gah.
I'm a very private person. Normally I would not broadcast this intention to the world, but I need to pull a few levers in order to scare myself into doing this. So I'm putting it out there. It is probably the fear of disappointing some random, possibly anonymous reader I may never meet, that will keep my work ethic from flagging for too long.
I will talk little if at all about the plot and characters of either book. There will be time for that later. Mostly this log is to keep me honest, not to attract a lot of attention or generate advance publicity. In other words, herein lies a record of my progress, not my attempt to create a buzz.
So here we go....
Wishing you a beautiful day,
Bill Brent
[this page last updated: 2007.06.09, 8:25 p.m. Hawaii time]
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