The Dark Lands Week 8

May 2nd, 2009 by 801red

Today was the 56th day in a row I have made my daily writing goal. Writing this book has now become the longest sustained writing period I have had since probably the age of 21. Even at 21 I don’t think I was very good at hitting a set goal everyday. I just wrote whatever I wrote.

I picked a 1,000 words a day goal because I thought I could do it but also because I know that I am the type of person that does better when I see tangible results. At a 1,000 words a day I quickly started piling up pages. It was satisfying to print out chapters and watch the stack grow.

About chapter 8, I stopped printing pages. I didn’t need to see the stack grow, I knew it was growing. I hit 62,800 words today, which means that I am about 7,000 words ahead of where I should be. This has happened mostly because I don’t always stop at 1,000 words, sometimes going over 100-200 words in a day. I also had a couple days where I really wanted to finish a section and wrote 2,000 words instead of 1,000.

I have spent a lot of time this last week working through the end of the story. I know that I am just about there. My rough guess is that it will wrap up at about 75,000 words (5,000 more than my original goal). Then I get to start editing. I think I might have to add a few character sections to tighten up the story but I won’t know until I read it.

I have to admit that I have surprised myself a little in this process. I really tried to approach this novel with a clean slate. Throw out some of my old bad habits and just write everyday. There has only been a few days that I really didn’t feel like writing. I was happy when I forced myself into the chair and wrote. I told myself no excuses and I haven’t made any.

Other than those few hard days this has been the most fun I have had writing anything. No over analyzing. No editing while I am still writing. No worry about how good it is. Just writing and having fun creating. As I near the end of this book, I am excited that all I can really think about is finishing the editing and starting the next book.

I may not get published but I plan to be prolific!

This week’s preview from the novel:

Josh braced for the impact. The larkin’s hand thrust forward and then exploded into a mist of blood. The larkin looked at the end of his arm and was shocked to see that his hand was no longer there.

Josh and the larkin looked down to see what was left of the hand lying on the ground. The larkin released Josh and turned around. Bolo stood there smiling grimly.

“You seem to have misplaced something,” said Bolo.

Bolo’s hand shot forward and stabbed at the larkin. The larkin twisted out of the way and the knife nicked off the top of it’s shoulder. Blood began pouring out. The larkin bolted past Bolo and ran straight for Rex.

Rex put up his hands as the larkin leaped and drove him to the ground. The larkin’s blood was everywhere. Rex kicked out but the larkin had him completely pinned.

“I shall end your service to the shadow,” said the larkin.

The larkin leaned in and bit Rex’s neck. Rex screamed and the larkin jumped off fleeing into the woods. The boys watched it retreat, leaving a trail of blood.

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