I appreciate the congrats on the progress I’m making but feel I must clarify my word count goal. Not because I’m neurotic (well, I am, but not in this instance) but because if I read about another writer churning out 1k words/day, every day, I might feel a bit intimidated if I was already in a shaky place.
Now, I know plenty of you out there produce many words every single day, but I’m not one of those writers. I’ve learned that if I write too many words in a session, I’ll often get off track and then have to spend lots of time just getting back to where the story is solid again. I prefer the slow, steady route. When I had the great fortune to study with Marilynne Robinson for three weeks, she advised me to write two pages a day. Two good pages.
For me, two good pages are often much more difficult than ten or fifteen marginal pages.
But back to my clarification: I’m working on about the fourth draft of this book and while I had to trash a bunch of stuff that ended up serving as placeholder words (hat tip to the wise![[info]](https://i0.wp.com/p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
idaho_laurie for the perfect term/concept) and write all new stuff, the closer I got to the ending the more I was able to utilize from the previous draft. So in that context you can see I haven’t cranked out anywhere near 22k words. However, I’ve moved 22k words closer to the end of this much more solid version of my story. And that makes me very happy.
Tracy Abell 
Sounds good to me!
LikeLike
Me, too! And that’s why it’s nice sharing the journey with other writers who absolutely get It.
LikeLike
I write like you, Tracy–two pages a day tops! If I try to do more, it just goes wrong. Congrats on your progress!!!
LikeLike
Yep, it too often just goes wrong. Or south. Or somewhere I don’t wanna be.
Thanks for the congrats!
LikeLike
You’re making some serious progress.
I’ve tried the “gush the words out” method and ended up with a huge pile of unusable scrap. I like to write slowly so I can get my words right. On a productive day I may write two, possibly four, good pages.
LikeLike
You’re so polite: unusable scrap.
I had to read that twice because I was sure it said crap. Nope….scrap, it is.
Four good pages would be like a tiny miracle in my world.
LikeLike
You’re making some serious progress.
I’ve tried the “gush the words out” method and ended up with a huge pile of unusable scrap. I like to write slowly so I can get my words right. On a productive day I may write two, possibly four, good pages.
LikeLike
Yep, it too often just goes wrong. Or south. Or somewhere I don’t wanna be.
Thanks for the congrats!
LikeLike
You’re so polite: unusable scrap.
I had to read that twice because I was sure it said crap. Nope….scrap, it is.
Four good pages would be like a tiny miracle in my world.
LikeLike