Pacing Myself

Most of my June blogs will (probably understandably) be process blogs... I am writing a novel in 30 days—or at least the bulk of one, so it seems understandable that that is ABOUT all I can hold in my noggin at a time. The first issue, when LOOKING at the writing, but not actually STARTING is... how fast do I really need to go? Yes, I need to average 1667 words a day all month, but there are some things I know about myself and my schedule, that... were I a THINKING person (debatable, yes.) I would take into account. See... I am not a sprinter. Honestly, I don't even WANT to be... My Freshman roommate (college) could be a daily party girl then cram... not me. I was a daily party girl, sure... but I had to spend a few hours EVERY DAY keeping up on reading and homework. Work hard/play hard... SAME DAY. So I have to consider that... NOT capable of cramming... no all-nighters for me... And what else?


The Evil Day Job

Monday through Friday from seven to five, I am COMMITTED. Oh, I hear you... I check in here... I read a couple blogs... but that is the stuff of BREAKS. The reality of it is THAT is a time unavailable for a WriMo. I need to be able to commit it to doing the job that pays.

Additionally, I am ALSO committed to blogging daily. I have some guest bloggers scheduled, but that STILL takes time to coordinate. So I think I will call my early morning, PRE-work, SHOT. That is my blog time.


What's left to write?

About two hours between work and bath on my COMPUTER (provided the blog is under control) and maybe 90 minutes in the tub. (see, I'm not the only one) PLENTY of time. But I should chop that tub time in half for PLOTTING—all that planning stuff that has to happen if I am going to have a coherent thing when I get done... So about 2.75 hours for writing on any given weekday. There WILL be exceptions (the water polo banquet the 8th for instance) but hopefully THAT day, I can plan not to plan... or something...

Weekends I have more time (though not a ton more—nobody in my family has, as yet, volunteered to do laundry or bathrooms just because I want to write all month *hmph* but ideally I will at LEAST get another hour in.

And then there is NOVEL stuff...

I also know for a fact that I go faster at first. Set up is EASY. Early character interactions are EASY. It is all about laying out the facts. Mid-novel things get MUCH harder. So I should PLAN for things getting harder, yes? See how smart I am? *cough *

Seriously though-- the 50% - 75% part of the book are particularly hard for me... always HAVE been (except LEGACY, but that was build up to the next book) So I need to plan the SLOW DOWN... when each word costs more effort (and time)

With all that in mind I have plotted my word count goals... in spite of being able to do MORE on the weekends, I am doing a 1667 goal for weekdays for the first 2 weeks, with a 2500 per day on the weekends added on. My REASON, is after the halfway mark, I allow to slow that pace a little... I also am planning for my neighborhood picnic, on which I will write a little in the morning, but will have consumed too much BEER for the afternoon to be worth much (this the 18th)... but my last week, weekdays, I am only expecting 1000 words a day from myself. This pads both for DIFFICULTY and... finishing the darned thing if it will be significantly longer than 50K words (which surely it will)

So that is the plan... and that's my story and I'm sticking with it!

And so I will end, not with the mojo, intended to inspire writers, but with my GRAPH--you heard me--the GRAPH is the finale!  HA!

Needs some work on resolution, but you should be able to see that weekends bump on what I am expecting, and the whole darned thing slows down at the end.  I will try to make it clearer before I post it with progress... how's that?