Well, it took me until almost the 11th hour, but I made it.
This year I managed to stay above par almost the entire month. I built up a four day buffer.
I lost it over the Thanksgiving break.
- Pies (from scratch, mind you)
- Turkey Day
- Very Challenging Homework
- My Best Friend’s Wedding (in reality, not the movie)
If I hadn’t lost about three days, I would have finished sooner and maybe made my stretch goal of 55k. I might even have recovered if the Thanksgiving weekend didn’t happen to be the last weekend in November. Usually we get a few days beyond it to catch up. But hey, that’s how life goes sometimes.
I’m happy to have made it, my ninth year attempting the challenge. I don’t have nine wins, but six is a very respectable number. And my losses have taught me even more than my wins.
This year I learned more about my limitations. Sure, I can churn out 2500+ words in a day without a problem. But I can’t sustain that rate for more than two, maybe three days. I just don’t have the stamina. Or maybe my imagination-foresight just doesn’t extend that far ahead. I need time to mull over what scenes come next and how to approach them. I have a little buffer of fore-planning and when that runs out I have to recharge for a day or so. My output after that is quite slow. This lack of planning is almost always a root cause for when my writing is slow. I just haven’t laid the groundwork yet. I’m not confident of where I want to go.
GISELLE as a document is interesting. The first third is all present and accounted for. The second third has a big gap dead in the center. The third is all kinds of messed up, with missing chapters and half chapters and I’ve lost sight of Ali’s main thread. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
I have seven and a half chapters to write before I hit the end. Then I’m going to do a read-through and try to piece in what goes in the holes while I’m still in drafting mode. Then it goes into a drawer for a solid month. I probably won’t get back to it until February or March. Hopefully I won’t want to tear it apart.
And still, I need a new title! I’m hoping something comes to me upon finishing the first draft.
By frankieleon on Flickr Creative Commons