Inching Along

I have to be better about updating the blog.  I'll try to make it a Friday thing, to record my progress.

There is just so much information out there about writing, so many things to keep track of.  It reminds me of learning to play golf.  I would swing the club at first and the damn ball wouldn't move.  Now I write but the story is not what I want it to be.  I assume that it's normal for a writer to be unhappy with their writing.  Even the greatest golf players never are satisfied with their swings.

Yet that's the point to which I want to get.  I want to be able to create a scene the way a golfer swings a club.  It appears effortless, but in reality it comes from many many years of training one's muscles to correctly guide the club.  There are very distinct elements to a scene in a story that can be quantified.  The chapter is like a hole and the novel is like a round of golf.

The immense focus necessary to accomplish a good novel, or a good round of golf is unbelievably hard.  I am not stupid enough to think it will come naturally.  However, there is one thing of which I'm sure and that is that whenever asked I can't wait to go out to the golf course.

The problem is a game of golf takes 4 hours--to say nothing of the prep time to get to and from the course.    So it is with writing, time is fleeting and sometimes non-existent.

I'm about to hit 30,000 words written.  The story has taken shape and the theme is one of fate and inevitability.  Things happen the only way they can happen.

The round of golf ends and then you can start another one some other day.  The 1st write ends but then you have to go back and fix all the problems.  And there's the difference.  In a golf game, I am quick to forget those swings that didn't work because every swing is different, every hole is different, every round is different.  You can always wait for the next great swing and take joy from it.

In writing a novel, the scenes are never forgotten and usually affect the other scenes.  They have to be good all the way through.  The advantage I have though is that I can go back and change the scenes in the rewriting process.  Perhaps that's what makes this better.

I have added a spreadsheet to help me keep track of my writing.  I planned for about 6000 words a week. I am hoping my upcoming spring break will open some time but I doubt it will.