Time, Space and things
This post is about how I monitor what I write.
Big on my personal horizon is managing time. Many years ago I said (to myself) when I get the opportunity, I'll sit back and work out what it's all about. I've tried that. It's taken me to many places that don't exist (and some that do).
As you study, other things creep into view and priorities change. You find you have things to say and time is running out.
I measure my work; not in a qualitative sense but purely as the number of words put into narrative form. When I decided to start writing, I ensured that I monitored overall progress. I still do. I've seen splendidly extravagant figures quoted for levels of output - I've no idea how authentic these are; I like to produce around 600 words per day. Once I'm up to speed that figure can get higher.
My first novel didn't start as a novel; rather it began as follows:
I'd had some writing software sitting on my shelf for several years and decided once and for all to test it. 'Three chapters' I said to myself, 'then we'll see what it's all about'. I had no idea what a realistic level of output was. My literary background amounted to a big fat 0; the 0 you get when you fail your English Language 'O' level. That didn't seem a bar to me; all I had to do was put one word in front of another until I had enough. Just like walking. Easy. Some back of a fag-packet calculations suggested that it might come to a few thousand words.
Starting from word zero on 04/05/09, I got to word 8,000 on 21/05/09. My chapters were getting a bit long but that didn't matter; I now had data from which I could determine my level of output. It seemed the most natural thing in the world to monitor my activity - I have a manufacturing and accounting background! I was producing at about 500 words per day.
Accounting Heaven!!
- I didn't know where it was going, but that's another story -
A bit of mental calculation told me that if I could up my daily wordage rate to 600, I could get to 60,000 words before the Premiership Season began.
Why's that significant? Well I was a season ticket holder with Burnley Football Club who had just been promoted from the Championship to the Premier League.
Why 60 thousand words? I read somewhere that Robert E Howard's sole Conan novel Conan The Conqueror came to that amount. My Sphere edition of it ran to about 200 pages; so it seemed a respectable target to have.
How I write is an entirely different matter.
Big on my personal horizon is managing time. Many years ago I said (to myself) when I get the opportunity, I'll sit back and work out what it's all about. I've tried that. It's taken me to many places that don't exist (and some that do).
As you study, other things creep into view and priorities change. You find you have things to say and time is running out.
I measure my work; not in a qualitative sense but purely as the number of words put into narrative form. When I decided to start writing, I ensured that I monitored overall progress. I still do. I've seen splendidly extravagant figures quoted for levels of output - I've no idea how authentic these are; I like to produce around 600 words per day. Once I'm up to speed that figure can get higher.
My first novel didn't start as a novel; rather it began as follows:
I'd had some writing software sitting on my shelf for several years and decided once and for all to test it. 'Three chapters' I said to myself, 'then we'll see what it's all about'. I had no idea what a realistic level of output was. My literary background amounted to a big fat 0; the 0 you get when you fail your English Language 'O' level. That didn't seem a bar to me; all I had to do was put one word in front of another until I had enough. Just like walking. Easy. Some back of a fag-packet calculations suggested that it might come to a few thousand words.
Starting from word zero on 04/05/09, I got to word 8,000 on 21/05/09. My chapters were getting a bit long but that didn't matter; I now had data from which I could determine my level of output. It seemed the most natural thing in the world to monitor my activity - I have a manufacturing and accounting background! I was producing at about 500 words per day.
Accounting Heaven!!
- I didn't know where it was going, but that's another story -
A bit of mental calculation told me that if I could up my daily wordage rate to 600, I could get to 60,000 words before the Premiership Season began.
Why's that significant? Well I was a season ticket holder with Burnley Football Club who had just been promoted from the Championship to the Premier League.
Why 60 thousand words? I read somewhere that Robert E Howard's sole Conan novel Conan The Conqueror came to that amount. My Sphere edition of it ran to about 200 pages; so it seemed a respectable target to have.
How I write is an entirely different matter.
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