Reporting Back: 10,097

Today (technically yesterday since it’s after midnight), I wrote 10,097 words. This is a big deal to me because this is the first time I’ve ever done this with original fiction. And I’d only done it one time with fanfiction. Looking back at the day’s work, I’m surprised by how doable it was. It wasn’t a horrific struggle, it just required sticking with it. I had planned to move between multiple manuscripts if I got stuck on a story, but that proved to be unnecessary, and as a result I was able to finish the novel I was working on. It ended up being a tiny bit shorter than I’d originally planned, but that’s okay. Some parts may get expanded in edits, but if they don’t, the word count I have should be fine. I’m not going to pad the story.

It’s crazy how I’ve stood in my own way and prevented myself from seeing how doable this was. Do I want to do this every day? No. I’m pretty tired. But I’m also running on a bit of an adrenaline high. Though I can’t imagine doing this all over again right now, after several hours of decompressing and then a full sleep, I may be able to do it once more before a break.

So here was what my writing day ended up looking like, for anyone curious about how it played out:

From start to finish my writing day spanned 8 hours and 45 minutes, but that includes the breaks I took.

I started at 5:45 pm. I’d just gotten up (yes, my schedule is THAT fucked up right now. I’ll get it fixed again next week). Tom, me, and my mother-in-law were going to order some pizza but I was determined that I would get my first 1,000 words for the day written before pizza crossed my lips.

The pizza arrived early while I was still writing, and then Tom’s cousin and her boyfriend came by. I said that the universe was trying to conspire against my word count, but I proceeded to write and finish up my 1k before eating or really socializing.

Rude? Perhaps, but dude, I had a mission and nobody told me anybody was coming by. And yes, I did totally just sit right here in a room with 4 other people and ignore them to write my words. I told them I had to finish something up and then proceeded to do so.

I ended up with 1,111 words when I found a stopping place. Then I took a dinner break and socialized for a bit. After Tom’s cousin and her boyfriend left, I dug into another writing session with a 3k goal this time.

A couple of hours later I had an additional 3,096 words. I took another break and then came back for another session that I managed to somehow accomplish in an hour and 20 minutes (I swear I blinked and it was over and I somehow had another 3,182 words.) Another break happened. I had a snack, stretched, checked some email, then buckled down for my final word count, ending up with another 2,708 words for a grand total of 10,097.

I may do one more day of this craziness before I take a couple of days off. Then Monday I need to get to work on edits for Dark Mercy so I can send it along to the copyeditor. I also hope to have the final cover art by Monday to post on my blog.

 

This is a reprint from The Weblog of Zoe Winters.