I set myself a challenge for January to write a short novel in just one month, something loads of writers have been able to do during the November National Novel Writing Month. I’m always in the middle of finishing a project that late in the year and have never tried this challenge.
As they like to say in Romance Writers of America, Multi-published author Dean Wesley Smith has advised all along to write in spurts during the day (or night), and not to rely on finding large blocks of time to write. But I was one of those writers who always thought I needed a one to three hour block of time. And it has worked for me so far.
But I want to write more so I tried this challenge. And it worked.
This challenge I just completed showed me I could work better if I followed Mr. Smith’s plan. I ranged from one hour to two hour stints and from 500 to 800 words during the mornings, and then I made sure I made the rest of the word count during the day or at least before bedtime.
Now I know that I can set a word count destination for the month, divide it by the days of the month and figure out how much I have to write each day, AND THEN DO IT any way I can. I’ve got a rough draft for a short romance novel cooling its heels in my files and am on my way to finishing the next Boo Done It mystery this month. That’s two books already (rough draft only, however).
It will work for you, too.
WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: Volunteers in the African Bush (Memoirs from Sierra Leone) edited by David Read Barker. Before She Dies by Steven F. Havill. Wounded by Lindsay Buroker.
Photos by Roxanne Rix.