Hooray! I did it. I completed the insane writing challenge from Chris Baty’s inspirational book, No Plot? No Problem? A Low-Stress High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days.
I started on July 2, 2008 and I finished yesterday (July 31, 2008) with a total of 51 951 words. Break out the champagne! I even managed to finish at the cottage, with guests, by getting up at 6:00 and writing while the others slept in. I got a laptop for this challenge so it was very pleasant to sit on the deck and watch the sun rise over the lake whenever I paused to make up more lies, er, plot twists.
Here are the final statistics. I record them here in case you are mildly interested and in case, at a later date, I no longer believe how much I have written in approximately two hours per day:
- 492 KB of data
- 258 typed pages in 12 point type
- 51 951 words
- 23 chapters
- 1732 words written per day (51 951 divided by 30 days)
This will be my last writing challenge of the summer. I have done the 3-day novel contest over the Labour Day weekend but I don’t function well on little sleep. I found it gave me stiff, burning wrists and made the first day of school, which is the day after Labour Day in Canada, too challenging.
What next? Well, I have insisted to everyone I know that this novel may be and probably is extremely crappy. The only thing I know for sure is that it’s mine and that I won’t be editing it soon. My next project is to finish the musical play for the upcoming school year. The theme is “The Invisible Girl” and I am still collecting ideas. If anyone reads this post and has any good song suggestions or reading suggestions around this theme, I can add them to my research list. Every little bit helps!
I hope you’re having a great summer. It’s the season for books on the beach after all.
Happy reading.