Monday, February 19, 2007

Promises, promises (+498)

Distraught over how much I have been allowing my work to interfere with my writing lately, I am hereby making a public promise to myself to write at least 500 words each day, no matter what. I plan to ratchet up the word count as each of my projects come to a close.

I started today, and while they weren't a particularly good 500 words, there they are on the page where I needed them to be. The idea is that if I write them I can always edit them later, which is similar to the point of NaNo, which seems today like a better idea than it did yesterday. It was a pain in the ass, but there's no denying that I learned a lot of lessons from it.

I'm guessing I have about six weeks left of on-site dayworking. After that the pages should start to pour out of me like a big pourey metaphor involving a liquid of some kind. Like I said: I'm not writing very well today.

Just letting y'all know that I'm still writing my novel, in case you were wondering. Letting you know that, and I also seem to be better at keeping promises I make here on my Moon Toppley blog than the regular real-life promises I make to myself.

You have a way of keeping me honest, Blogreader. I treasure that about you.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

WTG. Glad to see you working on the novel again :-)

Caroline said...

Go mr moon topples (the).
Go GO GO!
That was my attempt at cheerleading, just incase you missed my subtle moves.
Glad you're writing again and don't let the nasty/evil moneywork get you down (says she who has moaned continuously for weeks).
x

Leesa said...

It is sometimes hard to stay motivated when more immediate commitments seem to scream for attention.

The Moon Topples said...

Liz: Yes, and it occurs to me that I missed anothe Friday coffee with the racers as well. I'm very unfocused, it seems.

Caroline: Excellent cheerleading. And my new promise is more about not using work as an excuse to not write than anything else. 'Cause I'm lazy like that.

Leesa: True dat.

Anonymous said...

The blog world is filled with understanding souls, Mr T, so we will be here to support you as you succeed and fail and succeed again.

At the same token, we are a helluva cheerleading crew (case in point, Caroline's "GO GO GO") and we applaud your gumption. Go man go!

Anonymous said...

I read the otherday on strugglingwriter's site that Terry Pratchett used to make himself write 400 words per day every day. So you are one-upping a guy who has like forty-something novels under his belt.

Rock on, Moontopples!

Oh, and a belated thanks for running your contest. It was a great deal of work, but we all appreciate it.

The Moon Topples said...

GT: You're a less convincing cheerleader than Caroline, but I appreciate all the support. And thanks for letting me know my gumption was showing. I had no idea.

CaveyB: It has long been my intention to put Mr. Pratchett to shame. I didn't know he did 400 per day, but if Neil Gaiman says it, I believe it.

As for the contest, no sweat. I was happy to do it.