Writing, Editing, Reading – The Climb #976

Monday 25th October 2021

Today was another busy day.

I’ve got a lot to write, a lot to edit and a lot to read.

I managed to do the first two.

My problem is that reading takes time, and I think I really need to do these outlines as I read the books I’m learning craft from. There’s also a temptation to skip bits in order to execute fast. I think that’s a mistake. By all means work fast, but don’t take shortcuts.

However, a lot of this preparatory work seems needless. I need to write the story in several different ways, write various sample chapters, blurbs and just about everything. I get that the idea is to ensure you really understand what the story is about, but at the moment, this feels like overkill.

So I’m really fighting to skip those parts, saying I already understand them. To do that would be to possibly ignore some key part of the craft that this outlining book details. Plus, I promised myself I would try this process. I committed, and when I did so, that also meant the bits that might seem a bit redundant.

I keep thinking back to that time in the summer where a good word count day was ruined by the fact that I’d caught up with myself. I knew the next major beat, but in having so many characters and character arcs, weaving the scenes became a challenge, and I needed to stop and take stock.

I don’t want to do that.

So I’m hoping this process will help with that, even if I have to write this story 50 different ways.

Speaking of Word Count, I’m finding my count rising. I managed to write over 7500 words today, and edit 10k. I might want to go over those 10k quickly tomorrow because I’m still getting the hang of integrating software into my editing process.

My aim is to get 80% accuracy on a first pass, rather than 100% and attack stories in waves rather than try to get them perfect in a single draft. Of course, if I could do that, I wouldn’t complain.

So whilst I still have a load to do and this week will not let up with how busy it is, today went well.

I’m thinking I can push my word count higher. I think just under 10k might be my limit before quality starts to drop. Up until that point, my only erros seem to be just typos and the odd clunky sentence. But I lose a lot of writing time as I’m still terrible at backspacing half a sentence because I typoed a word and have a need to correct it there and then. I’m getting better but it will take practise… something I will have plenty of opportunity for this week.

I still keep feeling I’m going to crack and burn out at some stage, but I think I have enough diverse projects I’m juggling that if one becomes a bit laboprious, I can swap to another for a time.

All of this is a product of understanding myself as a writer and building processes that suit the way I write. I just hope this new outlining method, despite the shaky start, proves to be a major leap forward to ensure that my developmental edits are kept to an absolute minimum.

Fingers crossed.