Okay, so here’s an update. Since I began this daily writing task one week ago I have written 4,239 words on Totem. Yippee! And not a one on HOC. Not so yippee. Tomorrow hubby is working a 12 hour 7a-7p shift, so I have 12 full hours (okay it’s Saturday…let’s be realistic…I’m not likely to be up before 9…so 10 hours) in which to do some serious work. I will likely start out with another 500+ on Totem, as that has been the WIP which has flowed most easily in the last week. And despite the road blocks I’ve encountered, I’ve been able to push through them and get my word count for the day, even if I don’t know what’s coming next. I need to apply the same principle to HOC. So once I knock out my daily work on Totem, I will be sitting down and starting on HOC. I left off with my hero having to deal with some emotional crap having found out all the stuff the heroine has been through in the ten years they’ve been apart–and he’s blaming himself for it (which is stupid, but that’s what he’s doing) because he figures if he hadn’t been an idiot and left ten years ago, none of it would have happened to her. So I gotta figure out exactly what to do with those emotions for him–that has been the big road block for me–these are important points that can’t just be glossed over because it affects their relationship. I STILL don’t exactly know what I’m going to do with it–other than the fact that the heroine is going to lay into him for being an idiot when she finds out he’s blaming himself–I may just speed that scene up and leave myself a note to bridge the gap somehow–just so I can move on with the plot and the arrival of the first trophy/clue in our killer’s game. My ambitious goal tomorrow (between cleaning house and making yet ANOTHER run to Walmart <God help me>, and before dinner with neighbors) is to FINISH the chapter I stagnated on–deal with Collin’s emotional junk and introduce the arrival of the trophy. I know where the story goes from there. Wish me luck!
The GOOD news is that every day I sit down to write, it gets a little bit easier (I zipped through my 500 words today in round about an hour or less), even when inspiration isn’t at it’s finest. I’m slogging through and what’s coming out isn’t crap. It’s not Shakespeare, but it’s decent and has enough potential that I can edit it later. I’m not worried so much about editing this thing on the first draft (and by this I mean Totem). I have often (rightfully) been accused of retreating to editing rather than moving on. In the case of HOC that’s somewhat been necessary as I’ve drastically changed the nature of the plot and so I had to go back and lay the foundations for the plot changes in the beginning. But that is DONE (mostly), so no more retreating. Advance! Advance! Seize the day! Carpe diem! Oh…for heaven’s sake Get on with it!