I feel a little as if I’ve been through a tumble drier of late. So far, January’s been a crazy month. I’ve had a lot to do at work, more so than usual and a lot more admin work which is my death and I’ve had my 5 month evaluation on which the decision will be made on whether I’ll be re-employed again or not. It wasn’t bad as evaluations went, but I still hate being weighed and measured.
My work is stressful, even though on a day to day basis I don’t work as hard as someone who spends all their time sitting in front of their computer. I only see about four to three clients a day but it’s draining and the distances that I have to cover to get to them is murderous, espesually with the amount of rain that we’ve been getting.
I’m not complaining naturally, I remember very well where I come from and ‘the waitress days’ are never far from my mind.
But, I’m tried and it’s taking its toll on my writing.
The Project has taken a stumble. I feel like someone who’s just let a whole bunch of fishing line fall down and roll away from them. I’ll have to go back about 9000 words to try and fix what I messed up. I’m not a happy camper, but it’s all about learning isn’t it?
Meanwhile, I’ve become totally addicted to Cyanide and Happiness comics. I’ve already read over 1000 of them.
This one in particular is one of my favorites.
Procrastination is great.
writing a book
Update: The Project
I am still busy with my project, now approximately 18,000 words into it. Wring have slowed down a bit, but I expected it. For me, the first chapters are always the easiest because my stories are still simple there. Plain. I introduce some characters, give the readers a few things to think about with the main character and introduce a theme which I try to drag through right to the end. My themes have ranged from things like “This character can’t do maths,” to “the dead never leaves us,”. It all depends on my mood really.
I’m pleased with how things are going, but I’m starting to realize that I need to do some serious planning. Or, not planning but mapping certainly. The thing is that, this story is not just about the story. The theme actually plays a very big role in this and I need to accentuate that without repeating myself too much.
At the moment, I’m repeating myself too much.
But, things are flowing. I have a nice set of characters, my main characters are established (sort of) and I have already picked a proverbial scapegoat. Because, my stories won’t be the same without a little bit of unfair treatment.
And, my main character surprises me, which is a pleasant thing. I have worked with the same characters for so long that there are very few surprises for me. This one is different. She has a mind of her own.
It’s good and so far, I hope the writing is as well. 😉
The Project.
So, I’m doing something that I haven’t done consistently in years.
I’m writing original fiction.
It’s not a short story. It’s not fan fiction. It’s not a fly by night decision.
I’ve been planning this for years.
It’s a strange sensation, working with characters and a world which is my own. I’ve dabbled in short stories over the past couple of months, but none had the history and backbone of my current project. And, it certainly didn’t have my stamina to back it up. But, I’ve decided (inspired partly by Aheila) that it’s time to take my hands out from underneath my but and work on something that’s my own. I can do it, I know I can.
And, I most certainly want to.
I want to have something that’s my creation. Something that I can use to try and attempt to walk this long road of ‘getting published’ on. And, I have to write this story. It literally came to me in a dream and it has not let go ever since I woke up that morning. So, this year, I decided to make it part of my writing goals. I’m still going to carry on writing fan fiction, because really – I have quite a lot of readers and I’m not quite willing to sever myself from that line of feedback, but I’m going to start to work on something that I can take home and put my own stamp on as well. It’s time to put all these hours that I spend in front of my computer to good use…
What I’ve decided is to give myself a short goal. Write a minimum of 1000 words in this story per week. That would amount to 52000 words in the year. That’s not a lot, but it’s a start and, I know myself, it will get more as the time progresses. So far, I’ve already written over 5000 words in it, technically 10% of where I should be and 2.5-3% of what I want for it in total. The goals aren’t unreasonable and that I believe is the key to potential success.
The biggest mistake that people make when attempting any project is to set their own standard too high. If you keep striving towards an unreachable goal you’ll never get there. So, take a step back and do something that you can. It’s almost like wishing to run a marathon. You can’t leap away and run 50 miles in a day. You have to start small, short. If you don’t, then you can injure yourself and never run again.
So, that is what I’m trying to accomplish with this. Even if it never goes anywhere, it’s a plan and it is mine. And will be mine when it’s finished. J
Let’s see where this goes shall we?
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