Hooray for Deadlines!

Only 3 days (counting today) until the day I wanted to be finished the first draft of my work-in-progress, and I’m doubtful that I’m going to make it. That’s because, in the process of getting my character to talk about her situation (thanks to Andrea V.  for your suggestion), my plot has expanded to create more interesting events than the ones I had originally planned. Yay!

I’m still going to attempt to meet my self-imposed deadline. I’ve found that it’s been a good motivator for me. Plus, it helps me remember that this is only a first draft. Polishing, rewriting, going back to fix things—that’s all going to come later. I have ideas for more novels and I don’t want to spend forever getting the story down (like the 2 or 3 years I spent on each of my first couple of novels), especially when I know I’ll be changing things during revisions. So, hooray for deadlines (but also for having the flexibility to be able to break them if necessary, so I won't be up 'til midnight Wednesday scrambling to finish my novel).

How Flexible Are You About Your Writing?

Even though I like the momentum that builds from writing everyday (or trying to), I find that writing in small pieces makes for a disjointed novel. I try to forget about this problem during the first draft, but it’s a constant battle: Please, let me actually get some writing, any writing, done today vs. This section has to fit with the storyline.

I have to remember to be more flexible. Writing anything is good, not being strongly tied to where it should go is better. It reminds me of one of my favourite games, Bananagrams, where you connect words you make from letter tiles. If you’re flexible about moving around letters in your crossword to help use up tiles in your hand, you’re more successful. In writing a novel, it helps to remember you can move (or even cut) a section or scene if it works better for the story. Just try it, I say to myself. If it doesn’t work, try something else. Be flexible.