There’s Always Time for Cake

Why do I always underestimate the time it takes me to complete a task?  On Sunday, I finished the revisions of MAGIC WITHOUT MERCY.

Since I didn’t have to turn in the revisions until the 15th, I figured I’d spend Monday reading through a printout of the book, mark up any errors, then quick as a flash, enter those changes into my manuscript and send it off before midnight.

Wrong.

It took me two days for the read through, mark up, and input.  But, hey, it’s done, and sent, and I can officially cross it off my To Do list until proofs show up.

Which means today is time to start in on TIN SWIFT again.

I suppose every writer has a different way to ease back into a project.  My basic steps are:

• Brew a big, fresh cup of coffee or tea
• Straighten desk space and remove other book notes and etc.
• Find or reprint outline
• Open fresh legal notebook page
• Open draft, check word count, record it on page, do a little math on how many words a day I’ll need to write to hit the deadline.
• Read/skim through a couple chapters to get the tone back in my head
• Read/skim outline
• Have at it

I have a high daily word count goal and a low daily word count goal in my head.  The first couple days back at a book I’ve had to leave to work on other things nets me a low word count.  But each day the word count goes up until I’m humming along at the pace the book will bear. Some books just plain write slower than others, but I’m always trying to push the word count as high as I can.

I don’t think I’ll hit a high word count today, but that’s okay.  Today is my son’s birthday and I must of course take some time out to wish him a happy day.

And eat cake.