While living and working in Edinburgh in 2008 I set out to write one million words in 366 days... but only managed 800,737.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Status Report: Week Eleven

So this week I cracked 200,000 words. This did not give me a sense of achievement or increase my happiness.

Why?

Where are these 200,000 words now?

A fair chunk are suspended in amber on this very blog. Occasionally someone will google “George Harrison All Things Must Pass” or “Rorschach Tests Steven Hall” and read something I threw words at. But.

I really really really want to dive back into a novel. Not Novel A. I’m done with that for now. I vow not to touch Novel A again in the 00’s.

[Serious Question: what will we call the decade 2010-2019? The Teens? No thanks. The person who comes up with the best alternative may just be suspended in amber on Wikipedia… I think this is something to aspire to.]

Which leaves Novel B. Or Novel C, which does not exist, even as an idea.

I watched ‘Awakenings’ (1990) on TV yesterday and it got me interested in Novel B again. There’s brain damage in Novel B, you see (but no parts for Robin Williams or Bob DeNiro).

I also read that Jermaine Clement wrote a cover blurb for Duncan Sarkies’ new book. This made me feel like writing a book was an okay thing to do in 2008

But.

I find it hard to write long, continuous narratives while working a day job. My new job is good, relative to other day jobs I’ve had and could have, but still. Good jobs take more energy than bad jobs. I can’t think about brain damage and the Wellington Visual Arts scene while I’m occupied (damn occupations).

I admire writers like Nigel Cox who had day jobs and never begrudged the world for the financial realities of being a novelist. I don’t want to begrudge the world. I just want to write another novel. I don’t even care if it gets published (I don’t clench my teeth nearly as much now that I’ve let that balloon drift out of sight… Another balloon man will come in time).

I am a book-shaped person in a credit card sized world.

That’s all.

I am going to Norway for Easter. Before then I am going to get books by Oliver Sacks M.D. out of the library. After Norway, I am going to blog less, review less stories on Zoetrope, write less flash and short fiction, and work on Novel B.

For serious.

Week Eleven – The Stats

Weekly word count: 16,920 (lowest weekly haul to date)

Average: 2,417 words per day (compared to 2,662 last week)

Most productive day: Sunday 16 March, 4,254 words

Least productive day: Friday 14 March, 316 words (this is not a typo… work drinks etc)

Year-to-date: 213,417



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