Sorry for the silence. I have a plot line that is taking a little more research than I anticipated so I’ve been bogged down trying to get it all done and still get some sort of word count. Thank goodness I decided to give up my Lone Ranger JANO and extend my personal deadline to something more manageable for me.
I’m a fits and spurts writer. Is that the term? Fits and Spurts? Sounds gross. (It’s getting late and I’m sleepy. <g>)
Anyway, I write a lot for a couple of days then tiptoe through the tulips for a couple. No, I’m kidding. I usually research, work on plot lines or uh, do other real life things like eat or clean. And now that I’m hoping to upgrade my critique offerings to two chapters a week, I have to stop, go back and polish chapters into second drafts.
I want to be the kind of writer who pushes out four or more chapters a week, but two seems to be my stopping point. Since my books run around 20 chapters, it really isn’t all that long if you think about it. Works for me. 🙂
Sometimes I love the research part of writing and sometimes, it frustrates me because I’m actually wanting to “do” the writing. But, I’ve found that fresh, new ideas come from research so I can’t really complain. I have a lot of great research books, but I find myself going on-line quite a bit as well. I’m always careful to compare notes from different sites, too. Not everyone with a research site has done their research. Snort.
To the right and down, there’s a pic of some of the shelves in my office. I may be personally responsible for keeping Writer’s Digest Book Club in operation for years. I also find a lot of great books in bargain bins and book sales. I might put together a list of my favorites.
“Basic research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.” Wernher Von Braun