First off – sorry that I missed last week’s post.  I had every intention of writing it on Wednesday, but then I got hit with a horrendous migraine and was out of commission the rest of the week.   But, for the most part, I am back and ready to give you the big news…

I managed my 50,000 words!!! Ok well, technically 50,511 – but still!!! I know what you are wondering….is the book finished? Nope.  Big fat nope…more like just over halfway finished. But that’s not the point! I managed to write 50,000 in (technically) 29 days! That’s right, I got the word count done by Tuesday (the 29th) and thus didn’t have time for this blog post.  I did it!

So now that I have managed to hit my goal…what advice can I give? Well, the important thing is to just write.  There are days that feel like pulling teeth and other days that feel like the floodgates have opened and literally words are flowing onto the page. The last 3,000 words were actually quite hard to get started but once I did – I managed to cross the finish line.

“Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”

–Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft    

Seriously, “shovel shit” is one of the best metaphors to writing your first draft that I have seen.  It is hard, and chances are that your work will still need editing after the fact, but you literally won’t get anywhere until you do it.  I know that when I go back through my 50,000 words – I will cringe.  It won’t be pretty, but I know that I will be able to work with what I have written. Or maybe some of it will be tossed.  But that’s the reality in writing.  

This whole months made me realize that if I really wanted to, I could literally write almost full time while actually working full time.  I don’t think I will aim to 50,000 a month until I am actually able to full time (though if that were the case, I would probably aim a bit higher) but I think a more comfortable pace will be between 25,000 to 30,000 (maybe 35,000 if I am feeling particularly ambitious)

Regardless…the point that I am trying to make is this: there is nothing holding me back from writing – except myself and the excuses I make.

So what’s next? Well, finish the book obviously and working on revisions in either January or February of 2017.

Wish me luck!

Bis nächste Woche!