Update 39 - 30k in a draft

My draft is at 31,042 words. I’ve crossed the 30k mark, which is about half a novel in length. I’d hoped to hit 30k by May 26th, but my pace began to stutter stop. Sometimes life gets in the way, but it only takes me about an hour to do around 1000 words. 1000 words a day is the habit I’ve been trying to develop. I think I’m averaging closer to 500 words a day with the days I miss.

My partner finds it very impressive I’ve hit thirty-thousand words. It is a kind of accomplishment, even if the accomplishment is nothing more than a poorly regurgitated retelling of someone’s fantasy world. It has to start somewhere.

One of the best pieces of writing advice I ever read was this:

“Your first draft is always shit.”

It sounds like a put-down, but is not. Your first draft is always shit. No one sits down and cranks out something like ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ or ‘House of Leaves’ in six months. Even the first draft of those stories varied greatly from what was eventually published. The problem is, aspiring writers are mostly a pretentious and romantic bunch. They (or we) have this idea in their head that they are going to sit down in perfect conditions and piss excellence from their finger tips into the word document. As you can see from my sloppy piss-finger analogy, not everything you write is going to be a gem.

I’m proud I’ve gotten the draft this far. I will get these stories published.

That being said- I try to remember what I am capable of. I know I can do better on average than 500 words a day. I know I’m a better writer than I give myself credit for. I know that I’m going to tell this story. And I know that means I have to write more consistently, and better.

The act of coming home from 8-10 hours at the office, only to sit my ass down at my home desk and type for an hour to 2 hours, is wonderful. I’m serious. Getting my 1000 words for the day feels like spiting in the devil’s eye to me, and I love it. It’s that feeling that makes me still sit here and plunk away at the keyboard, even when it’s the last thing I feel capable of doing.

I’m difficult to kill, if nothing else.

I’ll update on the draft again when I hit 60,000 words, or when I finish this first story.

If you’re reading this, thanks for taking the time to do so. This is an atom in the sea that is the internet. But it’s an atom where I talk about things that bring me genuine happiness, where I can share my dreams and get used to not putting myself down. Seriously, if you’re reading this, I appreciate you taking just a little sip of my life.