“They speak Catalan on Majorca, and we’re not going to figure anything out from a distance,” Dane said. “Besides, I think that part of the Mediterranean is being inundated with monsoons at the moment.”
“Of course it is,” I muttered as I entered the room. “Is there anyplace in the world where I can sit in the sun in a bikini for a week and try and bake away this chill?” I was beyond broke now that I wasn’t working anymore, but I’d max out my credit card for a reprieve from the rain. Anyway, with the way things were going in the world, civilization as we knew it might not survive to the end of my next billing cycle.
***
I’m keeping with the habit of posting six sentences from my WIP each Sunday from whatever I’ve written in the previous week. Stay tuned for weekly snippets from The Unseeing.
Now that I’ve started my next novel I’ve been logging a bit more information about my writing than I did the last time. Whereas before I only kept track of word count by chapter (and only to see how much I was cutting during editing) now I have a spreadsheet made up where I’m recording all kinds of useful information on my daily writing habits. Word count, time of day, location, which scene I was working on, it’s all getting documented. And I’m starting to notice some patterns.
While I try to write whenever I have a bit of time, I’m far, far more productive in the evening than I am in the morning. Literally twice as much. And trying to write in the afternoon, when my kids are home, is pretty much pointless. I also get a lot done – A LOT – if I go and sit in a coffee shop alone for awhile. (I did this last night and wrote more than 2,500 words in about two hours, which while not impressive for some, is a lot better than my average, especially when there are people to watch and eavesdrop on). That doesn’t mean I’m going to give up writing in the mornings or when I also have to entertain the littles, but I am going to go easier on myself from now on when I feel like I should have gotten more done.
I also notice that my chapters (all three of them so far) are shorter in this book than they were with the last. They averaged just about 5,000 words in The Unravelling, but in the Unseeing they’re just over 3,000. I’ll have to write a little further before I can see how this affects the pacing, but so far, I like it.
And, some early numbers are in:
Not too shabby for seven (non-consecutive) days of work! I wish I’d kept track of all this info before so I could see if I’m keeping pace with last time. I would guess I’m going faster. Having an outline is helping to keep me organized a lot.
If you’re at all interested, this is what I was listening to at the cafe last night while I was writing:
Poor Callie and Matthieu. Most of the time I think she’d be the one singing it to him, but then I’ll listen to it again and change my mind.
I’ve got six sentences scheduled to post tomorrow. Enjoy and happy weekend!
