March 6, 2009
I just passed the halfway mark in my current novel tonight. In other words, I finally reached 50,000 words in this 100,000-word project. So things are moving forward in spite of my recent doubts and concerns. It’s worth taking a minute to remind myself how far I’ve come with this book, and how much I’m looking forward to writing the rest of it. Though I think I’ve kept up a fast pace with plenty of intrigue in the first 50,000 words, the second 50,000 will really smoke. Everything’s leading up to the big finale when the heroine learns all secrets, saves herself, and saves the world.
It’s been quite a different experience writing this novel from writing my last one. That one was just 65,000 words long, a far cry from 100,000. Writing for a longer length is forcing me to be more conscious of pacing…expanding the scope of the novel to fill 100,000 words, adding details of character and incident to flesh out the full length, yet still keeping things moving briskly. Never letting the reader drift. Even when I’m writing a slower scene, keeping it interesting, forcing it to advance the plot directly in some way. Every novel is an exercise in structure, of course, but this one has been moreso than others for me. It’s been a challenge.
I’m just glad I got through my moment of doubt yesterday and kept writing today, so I could reach the halfway mark and write in this post about where the book is headed. The best thing I did to get things rolling was to hit the pool. I got into a good trancelike state while banging out my lengths and was able to make some breakthroughs on plot points that had been holding me up. Once again, swimming saved the day for me.
Now for today’s travel photo. This one’s a shot of me in Tijuana, Mexico from 2004. See you tomorrow!
Tijuana, Mexico, 2004
