Writing Through ~ Progress Report

I've had a terrific day! I'm feeling optimistic about the future of my writing for the first time in a good while. Here's why. I followed the suggestions of my fellow bloggers, Taryn, Teresa, and Magdalena, and successfully shut out the nagging of my internal editor and simply wrote today. Yay! It felt good. Although, I do admit there were a couple of times when my old fear--of getting too much on the page that would have to be fixed later--reared its head. I ignored it and moved on and just kept writing.

When I called it quits for the day, I checked my word count, then did the math and discovered I'd written just shy of 4,000 words. So, I went ahead and wrote a couple more lines to reach that 4K mark. I worked through one entire chapter and started on the next. I'm still amazed and excited about what I accomplished.

I'm not naive enough to think I can keep up this pace every day. There are other things that demand attention, like the family and home. But I know now that it's possible for me to get on with it at a much speedier pace than I've been going--if I just do it. And if I do occasionally have a day ( like today) I can devote almost entirely to writing, then cha-ching!

I promised to list the pros and cons I found to this method, so here they are.

Con = all the pages I wrote today are very rough, even rudimentary in places. I would never let anyone see, much less read them.

Con = when I finish the manuscript, it will take a great deal of time to revise and polish to my satisfaction.

Pro = I'm getting the story down on the page very quickly and not agonizing over details.

Pro = If I decide to change a section I've already written, it's no big deal to delete and rewrite because at this stage I haven't spent endless hours working on it.

Pro = Even though I'll end up with a very rough first draft, how much easier and faster is it to go back and fix something that's already written than to sit and stare at a blank page? We all know the answer to that one. ;o)

Pro = I found that my thoughts flow much more smoothly than when I stop for 15 minutes or 2 hours to figure out the exact right word choice and so on that my very high-strung I.E. has always demanded up til now.

As you can see, the pros outnumber the cons, which actually surprises me. To be perfectly honest, I figured I would fight this tooth and nail. It's always hard to break the cycle of years and years of habit. But I found out today that I can do it!

In closing let me just say, "It's true, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and an old dog can learn new tricks." And now, if you'll excuse me, I must go do a happy dance with my little yellow friend.

Devon