Pacing Problems

No, I'm not talking about sagging middles or books that are great for combating insomnia. I'm talking about the l-o-n-g stretch between the day you being writing on page one and the day you throw up your arms and run around the house screaming with joy because you have finally finished the book from hell (all books are books from hell at some point in the writing process).

Yep, I made a tactical error yesterday.

I'm writing a new story. 85-95k words. It's going to take me a while. I must pace myself.

Did I? No.

I've been writing my butt off for the last week. It's going well, I'm having a blast, I write more. Then yesterday, I blew it. I was on the road all day, didn't get home until after five in the afternoon. What did I do? I decided I would still make my daily quota (un, hello? My daily quota requires me starting to write by 8am!). Wrote my butt off until late, late, late. Couldn't form a coherent thought anymore, but I made my quota. Decided I was a goddess and worshipped myself for a while. Went to bed being very impressed with my discipline.

Work up this morning completely fried. My brain is totally useless. I've written about a third of my daily quota and I'm giving up. I still have two hundred and fifty pages left to write. I can't crash and burn this early!

I know better. I know I can't go this hard at the beginning of a book, but I did it anyway. Sigh.

So I'm now taking the rest of the day off guilt free. Read the new Christine Feehan vampire book. Eat some food. Ride the stationary bike. Play some ping pong. Refresh and rejuvenate. Lesson learned.

Until next time. Sigh.

posted by Stephanie Rowe @ 2:49 PM