Friday, August 26, 2011

Time Flies When You're Not Looking

For the past week, I've been alone in the house. My husband went down to Atlanta for some training and is expected home today.

I anticipated a great many writing hours during his absence. But days creep up on you quicker than anything, don't they? I was lucky to get 1000 words written this week (although I'm grateful I got that many!).

Of course, two of the days were spent with my off-spring, and I'm not complaining. I love spending time with them. Then there was a class I had signed up for and am struggling immensely (I'm beginning to think the class was a mistake!), so that's also taken up some of my time. Then there's the book series I'm reading (and reading and reading and reading). Well, you get the idea.

Those five days of being alone boiled down to maybe five hours of writing. Heck, I get that much time in when he's home.

But I did realize why I'm struggling with my current WIP. I'm still basically world-building. Trying to figure out what my character can and can't do – what will and won't work. With Book #3, my world was already created from writing Books 1 & 2, so I didn't have to think of anything but my characters and their story.

So, yeah, I'm happy with those 1000 words. It means I'm starting to get a handle on things. The story is moving forward. And scenes are starting to form in my head (something that was missing earlier).

Do I wish I had my world figured out earlier so I could have taken advantage of the quiet week? That would have been great, but I have a feeling it wouldn't have made a difference. This story will get written at the rate it wants to. Right now that rate is slow (at least, slow for me).

4 comments:

DL Hammons said...

Writing at your own pace is a luxury aspiring writers can enjoy, but just think how that will change when you become published. I'm willing to make that sacrifice though...aren't you? :)

Stacy McKitrick said...

Hi DL!
Yeah, I'm definitely willing to make the sacrifice of being published. But then, I'm hoping it's in my series, which will be a whole lot easier for me to write at this point. Of course, once I'm done with Book 4, I'll basically have another series set up (if I wanted) to work on. So maybe it's all good!

But I'm beginning to see how working full time and having ANY kind of health issues can really slow things down. I hate it, too!

Todd R Moody said...

I know the feeling Stacy, I feel like I'm getting better at actually writing when I have time, but just as often I find something better to do. Good luck on your new WIP! =)

Stacy McKitrick said...

Thanks for the luck, Todd. I think I'm going to need it. :)