As I said in every post so far, I’m going to have one post per day here for the “ghost” novel writing process that I was hired by a New York publisher to do. I am now aiming for 10 days to finish this novel, which I said was the goal at the start. I can give ZERO hints about the content of the book, so please don’t ask. I am only talking about the writing process and my day around the writing process.
I will add to this post at different times during the day right up until I head to bed so you can follow the process. At the end of each post I will add up the daily word count and project word count. You want to see what a professional writer’s day is like, I’ll put a post up here every day until this book is done.
If you are new to this, I would scroll back and start reading from Day 1 and read the comments under all the days so far. There is a ton of answers to questions. And the questions have been great. Thanks, everyone!
Here is how I ended Day 7 post, which was not a good day at all, at around 4:30 AM this morning…
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Day #1… 7,625 words
Day #2… 7,734 words
Day #3… 7,059 words
Day #4… 5,070 words
Day #5… 7,786 words
Day #6… 7,116 words
Day #7… 3,005 words
Total so far… 45,385 words.
Day 8: Entry 1
5:30 PM… Rolled out of bed by 1:30 PM today and was in here with my breakfast bars by 2:00 PM. I managed to get some of my e-mail and stuff done here, but then got called away into business meetings with a business lawyer and then I had lunch with Kris and stopped up at WMG for a time. Now back here.
I’m going to do a little more e-mail and such and then shift over to the writing chair and get going on the book, work to have a good day if not a great day on it. Yeah, I know, starting late today, but it’s Friday night and I’m old and got nothing better to do but write. (grin)
Day 8: Entry 2
7:15 PM… Well, I’m back on a roll again. In two sessions with only a few minute break between them, I managed almost 2,500 words in just under two hours. Now that’s rocket speed for me. (Pent up typing I guess.)
And in the middle of it my subconscious tossed in a nasty plot twist that will take some pages to resolve, but I guess my subconscious was telling me I didn’t have enough book. (grin)
Who knows, I just trust the process and try to stay out of the way.
I’m sure all of you out there are having a good Friday night. Watching a person like me write would be like watching paint dry. Only way watching paint dry would be fun would be with a lot of booze, some loud music, and lots of great friends. And the wet paint would have to be on someone you find attractive. (grin)
But I’m here alone, I don’t drink anymore, and my oldies station is turned down low. Kris is buried in the new Smokey Dalton novel, so she’s living in 1970. So I think I’ll live for a time longer in the book I’m writing.
That said, however, the sun is streaming in over the Pacific right now, making this office far too bright for a night person like me. So I’m grabbing the cat and heading for a nap. Back later…
Day 8: Entry 3
9:30 PM… Fed, nap, and watched the news. Ready to fire again. Now just have to shift Walter White Kitty from napping on my writing chair to napping on this internet chair and I can get writing again. No writing workshop homework tonight, so just straight back to writing…
Day 8: Entry 4
11:30 PM… two sessions since 9:30 with a quick run to the store between them. I managed another 2,000 words bringing the total to pretty close to 4,500 so far today.
Interesting as I was headed to the grocery store around 10:15, it felt like when I would head out to the casino about that time of night on a Friday night. Over the years that was my favorite time to play since the rookies were drinking and getting tired and were tossing money around like it was something they didn’t care about. I would come in, join the table, and take their money for a few hours and be home by three in the morning.
Felt weird going out like that again and not going to the casino.
On the book side of things, I finally figured out the ending and climax. Yeah!! About 18,000 to 20,000 words left to write, so pretty much on target and I think the climax of the book and the ending will take in that word range to write.
I actually was starting to get a little worried earlier as my subconscious stuff in a nifty plot twist which felt like it would take a lot of words to write. The very LAST thing I want is a work-for-hire novel being one word longer than what they are paying me for.
So now off to a break to watch a little television, then back for more words. I will report in a couple more times tonight.
Day 8: Entry 5
2:30 AM… give or take… watched too much television tonight. Not sure why, just felt like it on a Friday night. More than likely because I figured out the ending and now I’m bored. Sigh…
I’m still just under 5,000 words for the day. Better get going so I can finish this thing on Sunday. Get it turned in on Monday.
Day 8: Entry 5
5:30 AM… give or take… got tired an hour or so back and gave up and went back to watch bad television. So didn’t turn out to be a great day, just an okay day.
Day #1… 7,625 words
Day #2… 7,734 words
Day #3… 7,059 words
Day #4… 5,070 words
Day #5… 7,786 words
Day #6… 7,116 words
Day #7… 3,005 words
Day #8… 7,473 words
Total so far… 52,858 words.