Greetings interneters! My name is Bishop, and this is the first in my continued efforts to catalog my journey through writing. Shall we begin with introductions?
I have a B.A. in English from an honest-to-goodness university, with a concentration in British Literature. I am still unable to find a job with the title of "British Literaturer" so I currently work in the field of Information Technology, one of my other passions. This job is unique, in that it gave me a laptop and a ton of downtime. My coworkers spend this time shopping online or some-such, but I opt to spend it writing, as I did back when I was in college.
On December 6, 2013 I began a novel. This wasn't new to me, I'd begun a hundred novels and they are cataloged on my home computer in a file marked "OLD CRAP." Because there are no two more accurate words for those novels. None ever got to a finished point, and most were just horrendous in one way or the next. But on December 6, I started something new. Something original, in a world that I built inside my head.
Forty-three days later, I finished the novel. It clocked in at 105,000 words, by far the longest writing I'd done up until that point, and the quality was far better than all of my other attempts. It was still garbage, so I began the extensive editing process. I cleaned up the prose and am still working on it to this day.
But that's not the end of the tale. Literally, it was book 1 of a series, because I loved the characters so much that I wanted to know what else was going to happen to them. I am currently in the middle of book 2, and loving every minute of the misadventures of my characters more and more. I had found the secret.
No, there's no universal secret to writing, everyone has to find their own way. I had found mine in a goal. 2,000 words, everyday I work, without fail. So, Monday through Friday (And one Saturday a month) I use the downtime I have at work to write. 2,000 words, without fail. I keep track as I go and I don't stop until I'm done. If for some reason, work gets too busy or I am unable to complete my 2K-A-Day at work, I finish it at home.
I'm going to catalog--here on this blog--my continued efforts. Complete with how many words I write each day, I'll shoot a post onto this blog and hold myself accountable for what I work on.
Someday, you'll see my books on shelves.
PS: Today I wrote 2143 words.
Bishop
No comments:
Post a Comment