too cold to sweat

[ksmith]

I started strong on this 70 Days thing, but it's been rocky lately. Tired. Not an evening writer. Sick of this damned scene that just doesn't want to get writ.

Said it before, that I thought I had figured it out. Well, I think I have figured it out. But I'm at the stage where I write 100 words and it feels like a thousand, which I think has to do with the fact that I'm inserting this scene a sentence at a time, then checking the flow. Should just settle down and write it. But I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open now, so, sleep, pathetic word count or not.

I need more day in my day. I also wish this MacBook black keyboard wasn't so damned hard to see in low lighting.

Comments

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

That reminds me of something Annie Dillard says in the writing life (if you've not read it, do--I find it inspirational, if only because I think, ok, it's not just me). Anyhow, she talks about that grinding to a halt when your lizard brain knows something isn't working and you have to fix it. That's why I am so sympathetic right now. I'm hoping I don't hit one of those in this book. I'm a linear writer, so if I discover a major flaw, I do have to go back and fix it. I can't write anything new until it's fixed (I know some people can write scenes out of order and stitch them together or recognize the change and mark where it has to happen and just keep going, and I have never managed that trick.) But if there's one thing you do know for certain, it's this: it's happened before, you've made it through before, and the books have turned out really well. So. Painful as it is, you know you can do it. Right? Well, I know you can do it, if that's any help.

Di

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Linear writer. Oh yeah.

I was so desperate to get things underway when starting ENDGAME that I did write scenes out of order. It did help me build momentum. I even managed to use a little of it. But when you're a Linear, what you write builds upon what you've written, and unless that foundation is solid...

Yes, I've worked through it before. I know I can do it again. But it's such a wasteful process, and I keep hoping something flips at some point so that it changes. I'm hoping that the fact that my editor gave me comments on the wip synopsis, leading me to rework just the sort of issue that would have had me tossing 200 pages and starting over, provides the momentum for that sort of flip.