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Jan. 11th, 2009 02:16 pmToday is definitely the last day of virus. I am so grumpy!
I keep thinking miseries and dramas. That's not the only thing on my mind.
One is that I have an unconscionable number of words to write today, because yesterday was a mixture of being sick and various other businesses. Too many meetings. Not enough health.
I was explaining to Sharyn that, though I say 'words,' it's really blocks of ideas. I know how big a novel needs to be for the premises and the characters and the style and other things (look Ma, all that historiography serves a purpose!) so I have a fairly good idea as to how long one of mine needs to be. That's my word target. It really is just a reminder of how much I need to put in and at what level. Also to make me work harder. And more efficiently: I can imagine an awful lot of rewriting having to occur when wordcount becomes more important than plot arc or character development. I would hate to have to do that extra work. I'd rather get it as close to right as possible the first time. There's enough other editing without having a novel that's 160,000 words long when the story arc really suits something much shorter.
Another (entirely unrelated) notion I keep coming back to is that some people are small and some are not. It's as if they have small hearts or large hearts. Or is that small souls or large souls? Either way, it's sad. The smallness seems to limit learning. I can't imagine life without constant learning.
My brain is only connected to the novel today. All other ideas are random. My body seems to be pretty random, too. Tomorrow will be better.
I keep thinking miseries and dramas. That's not the only thing on my mind.
One is that I have an unconscionable number of words to write today, because yesterday was a mixture of being sick and various other businesses. Too many meetings. Not enough health.
I was explaining to Sharyn that, though I say 'words,' it's really blocks of ideas. I know how big a novel needs to be for the premises and the characters and the style and other things (look Ma, all that historiography serves a purpose!) so I have a fairly good idea as to how long one of mine needs to be. That's my word target. It really is just a reminder of how much I need to put in and at what level. Also to make me work harder. And more efficiently: I can imagine an awful lot of rewriting having to occur when wordcount becomes more important than plot arc or character development. I would hate to have to do that extra work. I'd rather get it as close to right as possible the first time. There's enough other editing without having a novel that's 160,000 words long when the story arc really suits something much shorter.
Another (entirely unrelated) notion I keep coming back to is that some people are small and some are not. It's as if they have small hearts or large hearts. Or is that small souls or large souls? Either way, it's sad. The smallness seems to limit learning. I can't imagine life without constant learning.
My brain is only connected to the novel today. All other ideas are random. My body seems to be pretty random, too. Tomorrow will be better.