3-day 2007: Day 2

Last Update: 12:14am

Seven People, A Dog, and A Child Who May or May Not be God

21,096 / 23,000 (91.7%)

12:14am (21096 words; 91.7%)

.

Okay. It's time for bed. I is sleepy.

.

There are two ways to look at today's final word count. On one hand I reached the 20,000 mark, which is the really important thing. I finished day two at least two thirds through the story. On the other hand, I only wrote 8000 new words today. I was supposed to write 10,000. I stopped 2000 words before my actual goal for today.

.

But that isn't a terrible thing. This is nice part, the reward, if you will, for yesterday's productivity. I hit quite teh wall today, and that took time. I think I have almost all of the issues cleared up, and it should -- should -- be more or less clear typing from here on out. My goal for tomorrow is to hit 30,000. Only 9000 words. I can do this.

.

Unfourtunately I got tired in the middle of a scene. Hm. Susan had advised me to go to bed, but I was stubborn and wanted to write more. I wrote a scene and a half. The first one was short and easy, but the next is one of the most important scenes in my story. I got tired. I know I can't finish it right now and do it justice. This means I'm going to wake up and the first thing I'm going to have to do is kill one of my characters. That may not be pretty. I think I can do it though. He'll get a better death if I'm well rested than if I try to write it now. My fingers and my head aren't quite coordinated right now. I tried to write "blew" in my story, and that was the word in my head, but "blue" came out of my fingers. They only half got it. It's time for rest.

Good night!

.

9:02pm (18479 words; 80.3%)

.

It is coming out veeeery slooooowly. Susan has just past my word count. She's getting very excited up there in her updates. I'd really like to speed this up a knotch. Oh I got a little distracted looking at Xena Warrior Princess on Wikipedia. Don't ask.

.

I was totally lulling to the Decemberists. I turned them off. I'm going to try writing without music for a bit. Sometimes that gives me focus. If it doesn't work, it'll either be something a bit faster or another power ballad moment.

.

Oh -- and Blogger's being a bitch. To me, anyway. I don't know what I've done to be undeserving of spaces between paragraphs. I will win! *inserts dots*

.

6:34pm (17756 words; 77.2%)

.

So I was having a little bit of a plot crisis. I knew I only had so much more to write, and I was worried about needing to insert filler. So. I asked myself -- WWJWD?

.

What would Jeanette Winterson do?

.

I added a scene of filler. It's entertaining filler though, so I don't feel too bad. What I wanted most to avoid was "And then they sat in the boat. It was hot. The water was pretty though. Someone coughed. We hoped we'd be rescued soon." That wouldn't have been good. I know there are other parts that I've already written that people will think are filler. I don't think they are, but I also don't think I can give a hugely good reason why not. Just accept it. At least this scene I wrote has some personality.

.

It's coming along all right. I had a couple hours of despair, but I think I'll be okay. Oh, and I've decided how it's going to end. That's a relief to have figured out. Hmm... I still don't know how that one character is going to fall out of the boat. We'll see.

.

4:23pm (15804 words; 68.7%)

See last post. Ditto.

2 renditions of Total Eclipse of the Heart, and a phone call from Susan and I think I'm about ready to go. I bring up the word document. Put my hands on the keyboard. Change my mind. I smell too bad to write right now. I'm going to have a shower, then I'm going to eat bugles and write SOMETHING.

3:10pm (15804 words; 68.7%)

"Golly," says you. "Beth forgot to update her word meter."

"Sorry," says I. "Beth hasn't written any more words."

Okay, I think I'm there. I think I hit the blasted wall that I feared I was going to find. I'm about where I was at 9pm day 2 last year. Well that doesn't be do me any good if I don't come up with anything for the next six hours.

I had brunch break after my last update, and now I don't know what to do. I have a couple of scenes in mind, but they're not ready to come out yet, and there's a detail (small but important) for one of the most important scenes that I'm going to write that I don't know and it's driving me crazy. That's the scene that isn't going to happen for at least another 5000 words, and I'm obsessing over it because I don't know how one of the characters is going to fall out of the boat! I have another scene in mind, fairly insignificant, which can come soon, but I'd prefer not next.

Also, I don't know how the story is going to end. Yesterday I tried not to think about that too much, but now I'm half way through it and I feel like I should probably be ready to start thinking about that and I have no idea.

I think I'm about to do it -- I think I'm going to bring out The Power Ballad. At very least it should calm me down so that I'll be able to think at normal speed again.

1:57pm (15804 words; 68.7%)

I just wrote a fairly imporant scene. It involved the poem I mentioned in my last update. I feel like today is maybe moving a little slower than yesterday, but it's only two o'clock and I've gotten to 15K so I'm happy.

I'm going to have to stop for food soon. I guess that's okay. I need a little bit of a thinkie break anyhow. I don't exactly what to write next. I still have a number of scenes I intend to write, but I need one of them to not happen for at least another 5000 words.

Things are going well. Day two music, as it turns out, is Sarah McLachlan. I'm doing the solace album right now. It's working well. I seem to remember this album being a part of last year's 3-day as well.

11:20am (13667 words; 29.4%)

Well that kind of sucked -- changing my word meter from 130% to 59%... you see I added another 10000 words to where I finished yesterday. I'm not going to ask that I meet yesterday's word count, only that I make 10,000 again. Anything more than that is gravy.

As you can see, I've just started today. I woke up about 10:30, and made some food and stumbled into the computer chair. I wrote the rest of the scene that I had thought I'd finished last night. Though it seems premature, I'm about to take a break, though it isn't exactly a "break" per se... It will be absolutely on task, but not situated in front of my computer. You see, I have to write a poem. We all know how I feel about my poetry, but that's okay, because it doesn't have to be a particularly good poem -- in fact, if it's kinda crappy, that's even better.

Happy wishes to all for the day!