Extra Innings

If you take a quick gander at the bottom of my page, you might notice that the old word meter has finally, and mercifully, hit the 50,000 word mark. In fact, if you look closely, you’ll notice that the count is actually 50,788 words.

Despite the frosty beverage that the potato man is enjoying, I’ve come to realize that it’s going to take a little more than 50,000 words to finish this novel.

I’m in the home stretch, that’s for sure. But my characters have yet to enter into their final encounter, and after that, there’s still some summing up to do.

Maybe 55,000 words is a more realistic count. Maybe 60,000. To be honest, I won’t know until my characters say “uncle.”

The good news of course is that I’ve started writing again, and although I’ve had a couple false starts in the past months, I think this is for real. I think I’m back on the horse.

It wasn’t easy. When I sat down to write yesterday, all the words came out wrong. It all felt stilted and boring. I’d forgotten my characters and their motivations. I probably still don’t really remember, but I think I can finish this with some grace. And besides, the second draft is where all the smoothing out occurs. I just need to get these last words down.

There’s a story here; I have to finish it. And for the first time in months, I really believe I’m going to.

9 thoughts on “Extra Innings”

  1. I’m glad you’ve gotten back into the swing of things. I quit writing after Nano and I was about to start up again when our ice storm hit. It would have been a challenge to write during all that frustration, but I didn’t find out.

  2. Absolute Vanilla (and Atyllah)

    Go for it! It’s great that you’re getting back into it – I know that feeling of being stuck and the words just not flowing and it’s the pits. Good luck with getting to the end!

  3. Well done Tony. It’s so easy to stop writing, and so darn hard to get going again. That’s my problem all over!

  4. Andrea:

    I never actually started NANO, though I had planned to. Did you do well?

    Scott:

    Thanks! You will, no worries.

    AbV:

    Thanks. I ended up missing yesterday’s allotted writing time, but I’ll make up for it today.

    Akasha:

    Thanks. Yes, you are very right on that count. I have a terrible time of it lately.

    Nurse:

    Thanks. I like the drawing too.

  5. Go for it, Oni! You will make it for sure. And as you do cross that finish line, save some energy. To cheer for me as I take the plunge. 🙂

    Oh and Happy New Year!

    ~ Sury

  6. Whats up Toni?

    Havent been by in a while. Hell I haven’t been by hardly ANY blogs in quite some time to tell the truth. Glad to see that you are getting the itch again and even more so that you are looking to scratch it as well. I guess I am where you were several months ago myself but I am not really worried too much about it. The itch will be back at some point I guess.

    BD

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