Well, that's not completely true. My confidence was somewhat bridled before I started typing today. But not after today's word count!
DAILY GOAL: 1667 (If I write this number of words per day for 30 days, I will have a 50,010 word book. Which is about 4,000 pages. Trust me, it's gonna be War and Peace on lots of roids.
TODAY'S WORD COUNT: 2400
Surplus/Deficit: +733 (!)
Money. I am putting that extra 733 words in the Jim-eral Word Bank. If I fall short any day, I am at liberty to draw from the surplus in the J.W.B. account. Thus, my account standing is:
J.W.B. account: 733This would probably be a good time to let everyone know that in writing a novel in such a short length of time, I'm not really aiming for pure Sha-ka-speare to flow forth from my fingertips the entire time. This will be as Anne Lamott says, your quintessential 'shitty first draft.' Therefore, I will probably not be posting excerpts from the book every single day. When I feel good about something though, I'll put a bit of it up there. And please, don't ask me what the book is about, because as this point, I'm not really sure myself. Try as I might to suppress such feelings, I can feel an urge to put monsters or time travel in it somewhere.
[Sorry to interrupt! The picture above and to the left shows my work station. The one below and to the right is a face that I hope I won't be making too much over the next 29 days.]
Seeing as this is the first day, however, I feel like I need to put some of what was written. Here goes:
"These things are not supposed to come back. But it did. Like an old friend lost, like an adopted child finding biological parents because it needs to know where it came from, the journal found him. Tattered, torn, no longer pregnant with pain, but with mystery and smears and the words of a person he did not recognize, words profound, and also embarrassingly stupid and naïve. The most important pages missing, on a madman’s porch, exactly where he said it would be: “I’ll leave the journal wrapped up in a plastic, blue, New York Times home delivery bag. I’ll put the bag on a cabinet by the front door, right next to the rusty bombshell.”
If you need help, consult the orange book. Note the progress chart behind my head. Now it's time for me to put a gold star next to today's date. I may not make another post until Sunday, as I'll be traveling to my friend Sarah's wedding tomorrow, but I'll try. Stay tuned.
6 comments:
I imagine that writing a novel requires one, the author, to drink copious amounts of beer.
When you're ready for that you know who to call.
No, not Ghostbusters.
Go team Jim!
Dani is in a cheerleader's outfit with pompoms and everything.
James, I am most proud of you and I like the little tid-bit excerpt, add a dragon and your done! haha jk but seriously, I'm bookmarking this page and checking it as much as i can.
"Jim's team is the best
Better better than the rest
he will kick some literary ass
with lovely words and lots of sass"
<3, cat
Jim,
I feel honored that you even thought to include me in your list of friends, after all... I am the mother of a friend, making me a very old person!
I will be reading your blog daily but not posting often... after all, this only takes valuable time away from your novel... time you should be using to write instead of reading this! When you are done I will be delighted to read it!
zinnia
p.s I pledge to try to keep Gabi away from you!
Count me in! I've never needed an excuse in the past to tease you mercilessly. Therefore, the fact that you are requesting that we do so is a dream come true.
Good luck, Jimbo! You can do it.
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