This blog keeps me in touch with WDC. Jamesdillingham.com keeps me in touch elsewhere. |
Well, I finally got to the 100,000 word mark that was the target for my book. The problem is that the end is running away as fast as I am chasing it. Here's the deal...I have never written a book before. My thinking was "I need 100K words so I must start wrapping up the story at around 80-85K words." Turns out I was wrong. I'm taking bigger and bigger chances and the story is getting more and more exciting. I know I am getting to the end but for every 1,000 words I write, the end moves about 500 more words away. So this puts the end of the story at around 105K words. I say all of this as if words are important - and while the quality certainly is, the quantity is rather arbitrary. Yesterday I took the "beat" tour in San Francisco. I stood in the alley named for Jack Karouac (On the Road). On one side is a bookstore called City Light (legendary) and on the other is a bar called Vesuvio's. I could see someone like Heminway sitting upstairs there as he both pounded the typewriter and the bottle. All very inspirational. So now I continue my 1,000 words per day. Interestingly, now that I'm writing without fear, the limit keeps me from going all day rather that a distant limit I established to make myself write. I love to write. j |