Writing is Hard Work

I’ve been doing a lot of writing. On the days when I get everything done, I do about 1,800 to 2,000 words. On a really crazy day, I did around 3,500, because I wrote an entire newspaper article in one sitting. That was a lot.

I have written between 60 and 70,000 words for my non-fiction book, generously equivalent to a 200-page book. For all those words, my story is not half written. I have written all of this in the last three months with a couple week-long periods with little writing. I have a lot of work to do before the book is ever published.

They say that once you get 60,000 words into a book, you start to wonder about the project, or have some doubts. This number is definitely a milestone for me.

This is the largest number of words I have ever written in three months. In the year I have spent working for the newspaper, I estimated writing 70,000 words. Over three years of publishing the magazine, my entire writing combined could equal that amount as well. Before I started this book, and before I got Lyme’s, I did not think I was capable of writing this many words, keeping at a project day in and day out.

In my non-fiction book, I am working chronologically from when I was eleven years old. So far, I have written myself until 13 years old. I have some chunks for the years after that, but mostly not. I have now written myself to where I got stuck two months ago, and now I have to push through the barrier, which takes more time that just pounding out the words. I definitely feel the difficulty that comes from a halfway or third-of-the-way point in a book. Keeping up for this long, and reaching this halfway point feels exhilarating. I know I have the hardest part yet to come, but I can do it. I hope to get the first draft of the book done by 2024, which I think is totally possible.

To celebrate, I have two new additions to my desk: a ceramic bluebird in my fern which watches me as I struggle to put words on paper. I also listen to a recorded rain shower as a motivation boost. Writing is work, but writing can be fun. I feel both depending on the day.

Comments

Wordy Benefits

I think writing is really a good idea. I do it all the time and nearly every day. Scratch that. I write every single day, even if it is just copying a Bible verse. There isn’t a day I don’t pick up a pen or tap on my keys to string coherent letters together. But different kinds of writing produce different results. When I write for my newspaper, I am presenting new-to-me facts in a way that is (hopefully) understandable and interesting to the reader. I do not include my opinion in the articles as far as I know, and I am not basing much or anything of what I write on my personal experience. While my writing ability has dramatically increased in the last nine months of writing for the newspaper, I am not ashamed of the first articles I wrote, since there isn’t any opinion. When I work on the magazine, I have a specific genre to stick to. I am not teaching, but I am, to my best ability, sharing what I have learned and what I think about it. Because Deep Encouragement is about en

Adulting

I’ve never lived away from home before, but now I do. I like a tidy room, but leftover breakfast dishes sometimes get in the way. I enjoy cooking—in fact, it’s my job—but groceries won’t find their way to my fridge, unless I go to the store and buy them. A walk outdoors greatly improves my day, but the clock seems determined to run out of time. I need clean clothes, a tidy bathroom, and a nicely swept floor, however, there seems to be more important things to do half the time. A few “non-essentials” creep into the space between my shifts and writing deadlines. Things like eating healthy food for my body, working out, having relational contact with other humans, and reading. All these things "don’t matter," they just affect my everyday life. Other extremely important things like to fill the place of all those “non-essentials," like wasting my time, preening my toenails, and other “essentials”. The hardest thing to remember, now

A Week in Retrospect

Highlights from each day this week. Saturday: I worked with Mom in the garden, pruning tomato plants and hauling off weeds. It was companionable to work together. Friday: I made Swedish apple pie for the first time and really like it. Flour, spices, sugar, leavening and egg are mixed with chopped apples and baked. It is a sensible, yummy desert. Thursday: I started another book project, which is really fun. It will be writing about my current life as fiction. Wednesday: Enjoyed my tidy room and a painting mom propped on my bookshelf. I hadn’t known where to put it, and the bookshelf was the perfect place! Tuesday: Worked on minimalism article for the newspaper and got rid of a few more things out of my room. Monday: I went to a Sacred Harp singing with a friend. It was a totally new experience and fun at the same time. I sang alto and eventually figured out how to sing with the 4-shape-note system. I’d definitely go again

Jubilee's Jottings

Search This Blog