Stats

My husband, out of curiosity, wanted to know how many words I had written for Book 2. Last time, I kept an Excel file going with the chapter titles, number of pages, word count per chapter and the running total. I didn't think about doing it this time. I just kept writing and writing and writing.

So, because he asked, and curiosity got the best of me, I did the same exercise for this book. I started it on October 5, 2009. From then to yesterday (when I did it), I'd written 71,905 words and about 266 pages. There are 10 completed chapters and several started or in progress ones. Some of the started ones will likely be melded into another chapter because they are scenes that I've seen and needed to be sure to include and aren't stand alone chapters. It's just been over three months. Wow! I didn't think I'd written that much.

This made me look at my book calendar. My book calendar is where I outline my story and what needs to be done, what major events I've written or still need to write. I filled in the other pieces that I hadn't yet and figured out where on the dateline things fell. I was really surprised to see that I do have a large chunk of stuff done. I didn't think of it that way as I was writing. As I said, I just write...

I did get distracted the other day. I got reading something and couldn't put it down. It was a few hours of reading, and I really enjoyed it, but I felt bad that I didn't get a chance to spend time with my characters. Have I mentioned before how much I love my characters? Spending time writing and with my characters is something I struggle with when I think about reading books. I want to continue with the habit of writing everyday, even just a little, and I'm afraid if I get into reading a book, I'll be put in a tough position to choose. I don't want to have to pick between someone else's characters and my own. At least right now, when I'm in the middle of a story. It's already tough to be sure to write here, when I could be working on my book.

It's Friday. Lunch is almost over. My students are laughing, working on the computer, eating lunch, throwing stuff away and I should look back over the last thing I wrote in my book. I love the weekends - although this weekend, I have a commitment for my "real" life that I have to do, so that will be less time to write. But that doesn't stop me from thinking about my book and brainstorming/daydreaming about it while the workshop that I'm chaperoning is going on. The other part of my weekend will be great - writing, hanging out and talking about my story with people that I've shared this with. I'm excited!