A Good Writing Day
Happy NaNoWriMo day, or whatever those lovely people call this day. Me? I’m not doing NaNo, as usual. But I have been writing up a storm, also as usual. I have a self-imposed deadline of December 16 for the first draft of my current WIP, which now has a title I (sort of) like: Chloe Green in the Grimoire Garden. What do you think?
Most days, I write about a thousand words. Not so much on weekends, more when inspiration shows up. Yeterday was a good writing day – 2.5 K.
But there are so many ways to measure a good writing day, aren’t there? I mean, come on, is word count as important as finally figuring out how to make a tricky plot point work?
Yesterday, my son asked how the writing had gone. I didn’t bother to tell him how many words I’d written – he doesn’t care about numbers outside of video game scores. “Awesome Possum,” I answered him, in Texan Middle-Grade Boy Language. “I got to use the words ‘explosive diarrhea’ in this chapter.”
“Awesome,” he agreed. Then a pause. “Can you work ‘spontaneous human combustion’ in next week?”
Why, yes. I thought, sensing another good writing day on the horizon. I think I can.
How do you measure your good writing days? Word count? How you feel at the end of the day? By the number of empty candy wrappers around your chair?
Cool Stuff: For those of you who don’t aspire to use words like “explosive diarrhea” in your children’s fiction, check out Cynthia Leitich Smith’s blog post on Picture Book Month – also November! And then go buy some picture books for all your nieces and nephews. Heaven knows they don’t need any more toys. 🙂
11/02/2011 at 12:09 am
I remember my brother and sister-in-law going through this weird fascination phase with spontaneous human combustion in the 80s. They would bring it up all the time at family dinners. They were always finding some article or watching some TV special about it. Totally freaked me out as a kid. I just knew I was going to burst into flames one day. As an adult, I have to admit, I kind of share their weird fascination. You should definitely work it into your book.
11/02/2011 at 1:51 am
You KNOW I will. Probably not an integral plot point, but dialogue? Definitely. 🙂