Last Tuesday, just as my scheduled post was ready to go, I received an email saying that someone had recommended my blog. So a big shout-out to to The Threaded Shillelaugeh for doing so.
I must confess that I rarely venture onto my Reading feed, although I do receive email notifications when certain accounts create a new post. I’ve now saved my Reading and Subscriptions pages prominently on my Favourites bar. I first need to weed out the inactive profiles, and I”ve already jettisoned an overactive account that posted every few hours and dominated the feed.
But there’s another reason I haven’t been reading as much lately, and that’s because I’m currently going through the most productive period of writing I’ve experienced in a long time. I’ve reached the point where I’ve been writing deep into the night, which is highly unusual for me. Thursday was my longest session; I was up until 3am, and I only canned it because I was exhausted and needed to work the following morning. I was nowhere near finished the text.
To find the last time the words flowed so freely, I need to go back to my earlier attempts at the now-defunct National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, where the challenge was to write 50,000 words in a month. That said, I’ve discovered I write best when I do it episodically because my natural concluding point is in the region of 2,000 words.
I was already penning my fourth story in a nine-part series, and then an idea struck for an extra chapter of an existing 25-part series. The first in the series was intended as a one-off, then I thought it wouldn’t have more than four parts, and then I declared it would wrap up around 20 parts, and I’ve shot past that.
Because it features an ensemble cast, it’s proving easy to think of new plot points related to the central premise. So easy, in fact, that I’ve around 3,500 words, which is already double my normal stopping point – and there’s much more to follow. Fortunately, there’s a natural cliffhanger in the plot to keep readers gripped until the 27th chapter, which I fully expect to contain another 3,500 words.
With that series, I’ve had to make up a retrospective notes document to keep the main action consistent.
A few days ago, for instance, I thought one character was four years older than another, when she’s actually six years older. In another case, I forgot whether two other characters had been given a surname. This is published on a writing website, so I’ve now asked my fellow writers whether they recall one being given.
With the newer series, I’ve made a point of creating that notes document early, which has been a terrific move.
I don’t know exactly how I’ll feel once this writing kick is over, but I expect I’ll start going to bed at a reasonable hour again.
Gavin Cameron 