Okay, I know to most people 7,000 words is no big whoop, but I'm honestly thinking about crying here.
The last big project I completed was my master's thesis back in 2007 that was 240 pages. I write short stories and poetry and flash fiction and scripts, but I have never finished a novel. I've started several times on diffferent ones, but I always lose interest or come up with another idea and abandon the previous. My writing life was a monument to unfinished work, never amounting to anything.
I finally sat down and said, "You know what, I'm doing this." I took an old idea, repolished it, planned an outline (which I NEVER do) and decided to tackle this and nothing else until it is finished.
I don't know why, but I decided to just write down dialog for the first 7,000 and then go fill in the rest after reaching that magical word count. I think it's enough of a skeleton frame that I can build on as I go. There will be more than 7,000 words of dialog; this was just my own personal goal before I start the next step of writing.
I've got a HUGE road ahead of me, especially since I'd like this to be a trilogy, but I see now how doable it is. It's so hard finding time these days with two jobs, two kids, and one wife (a man knows his limits and when to take just one), but I know that I am going to do this.
God is there with me, just pushing me along, and I am going to do this.
Please forgive the self-serving nature of this unedited, late night, sleep deprived post. I just made the rule that I didn't want to talk to anyone at home about the book until it was finished so as to not set false expectations if it fails. I just needed to vent and say to someone what's going on. Thanks for listening.
The last big project I completed was my master's thesis back in 2007 that was 240 pages. I write short stories and poetry and flash fiction and scripts, but I have never finished a novel. I've started several times on diffferent ones, but I always lose interest or come up with another idea and abandon the previous. My writing life was a monument to unfinished work, never amounting to anything.
I finally sat down and said, "You know what, I'm doing this." I took an old idea, repolished it, planned an outline (which I NEVER do) and decided to tackle this and nothing else until it is finished.
I don't know why, but I decided to just write down dialog for the first 7,000 and then go fill in the rest after reaching that magical word count. I think it's enough of a skeleton frame that I can build on as I go. There will be more than 7,000 words of dialog; this was just my own personal goal before I start the next step of writing.
I've got a HUGE road ahead of me, especially since I'd like this to be a trilogy, but I see now how doable it is. It's so hard finding time these days with two jobs, two kids, and one wife (a man knows his limits and when to take just one), but I know that I am going to do this.
God is there with me, just pushing me along, and I am going to do this.
Please forgive the self-serving nature of this unedited, late night, sleep deprived post. I just made the rule that I didn't want to talk to anyone at home about the book until it was finished so as to not set false expectations if it fails. I just needed to vent and say to someone what's going on. Thanks for listening.
But congrats. Good luck with the rest!!!
