ROW80: Update – Deletions and Sticking Points
The first half of this week has been eventful to say the least.
Monday: I hit a wall on Monday. It Hurt. I had been on a run of over 1000 words a day and then suddenly, just as I had hit that 1000 word target the 'wall' appeared. It was large, and solid and didn't budge. I spent most of the day trying to either scale or tunnel under the wall, and at the end of the day went to bed with a headache after banging my head against the 'wall' for so long.
Tuesday: Thanks to some very helpful and most appreciated Twitter conversation I decided that I was going to have to go back and make some changes. The scene just wasn't coming together in my head as I wanted it to be. I could see it, but actually tying it all together was not possible. It would have been too wordy, I could have written an entire novel (or two) just based around this one scene, and there were too many flaws with how the characters moved. So I deleted the scene. 10,000 words gone in the push of a button and a click and drag on the mouse.. I do plan on re-using some of the text as there were a couple of interactions and exchanges that I liked so it is not a total loss, but even these will need modification when I get to them. I managed to get 750 words written by the end of the day which I was happy with and I now feel much better about the direct the book has taken. I am back on track
Wednesday (Today): Well today didn't start as I had planned. My daughter was up a lot in the night and so I was knackered when the alarm went off at 5. Coupled with the fact that the kids (2 of the 3) were awake not long after 5:30 I only managed to get a couple of hundred words written this morning. I did however have a great vision – and one that is feasible to write this time – for the layout of the city. Without giving too much away think Jack and the Beanstalk. At the top is the Castle – the ultimate destination of this group and meeting point for all characters and plot lines – and the leaves on the stem are the four levels of the city, sticking with the four horsemen theme for each level. I am happy and feeling good about the way things are going once more. Glad I overcame the hurdle so easily and without too much hair pulling or grumpiness.
Ont he whole I am happy with where I am. The deletion was painful but the only real solution and it has made my writing stronger. I am actually proud of myself that I noticed it and actually made a change, whereas before I would have left it and tried for weeks or months to write the story back into shape. I call it personal growth and a good lesson learnt. 
