The Future

[rowyn]

Another thing on the Master Plan(tm) that I'm supposed to do this month: work out how much longer this puppy's going to be.

It seems capable of expanding indefinitely. As if I write more and more on it but never get any closer to finishing. Rather tiring, really. Still, I think I'm going to stand by my December 2003 date as the rough-draft-completion goal. That'll be another 60,000 words or so. Even with me taking off June.

I'm not going to work on Prophecy in June. The Master Plan(tm) allows for me to take off a month from writing after I've hit 100,000 words. I passed that point in April, and was going to take April off despite the deadline pressure in May. (Which I flubbed anyway, but that's all in the past now.) Anyway, I worked through April, I'm going to keep working through May, on the theory that I'd take June off because my two-week vacation from Toddler Bank is in June. So I wouldn't have to be writing while I was on vacation. Hurrah! This was a huge nuisance for me last July, and I am not eager to repeat it. Fine. I won't. It's not even a breach of the Master Plan(tm).

I've toyed with the idea of modifying the Master Plan(tm), but I've decided not to. If I was going to be writing the rough draft for another year, I'd change that year-end goal, but, heck, I've only got six and a half months of writing to go. (I know I can do this.)

May, I have recently recollected, will be a short month for writing. At 112,500 words (ie, next week) I'm supposed to do my work-on-outline thing. Which I am going to do because my outline desperately needs work. Or I'll stitch together book. Whatever, I'll do something to make me feel more like I have a book on my harddrive, rather than a huge mound of unrelated scribblings. Anyway, I'll only have to do 7500 words instead of my customary 9500 this month. Which means I really need to get cracking this week because I don't want to leave it all to the last mintue (again!) On the bright side, that's only, hmm, 6000 words left this month, I have to do 1500 this week for quota (I've never blown a weekly quota and don't intend to start now), which brings me to 4500 to do in the last week. If I put it all off to the last minute again. Still, that's less rushed than my end of April was, even in the worst case.

And then I'll have a month off to relax and let my muse play around. Poor boy's been slinking around me all morning like a whipped dog. I'm not mad at you, baby, there now. 6000 words and we can both have a well-earned rest.

Comments

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

I was going to comment on your previous one, but... I'm impressed you made it over 100K! So what will you be doing for your vacation?

[rowyn]

Something other than banking or working on this novel! :)

Lut and I are going to spend a few days at an amusement park -- haven't decided if it'll be a local one or the 6 Flags in St. Louis. Other than that, I dunno. I may attend to some of my other projects, or I may just veg.

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Hey, I know you fell short on one of your many guidelines, but I'm impressed you've gotten as far as you have. If anything, I suppose I've had trouble keeping track of your progress, because your goals seemed to have so many special cases. Here is my goal per week, but my goal per year is even higher than if I actually meet my goal per week, etc. I suppose that should make sense, as you presumably will do more than a minimum each given week ... but, I still can't help but think that the progress you've made so far should seem like a major accomplishment.

I'm not going to tell you that you shouldn't feel at all disappointed in yourself. If I did so, I would be such a hypocrite. Were I in your position, if I'd set goals for myself, and I'd met so many of them, but not all ... well, it would be like entering a contest and trying my best and getting 2nd place. I get a trophy to put on the cabinet ... but there's just something aggravatingly imperfect about having a trophy that says "2nd place" on it. There's a part of me that would rather not display it at all. The absence of the trophy would have nothing to say about me, or my accomplishments. There would be no statement to ponder. But the trophy, in my mind, is as much a statement about my failure as about my accomplishment. I did well, but I wasn't the best. There's no telling what the competition was like. If I'd gotten first place, then I would have every evidence required that I'd done the best that could be done. But with anything that was short of first place but enough to warrant a trophy ... it's a testament that implies that maybe, just maybe, I could have done a bit better. Some little part of my mind would be very self-conscious about that.

Part of this isn't bad. It's good to have a drive to do better, to try harder, to not be satisfied. As long as the goal is worthwhile, I want to keep striving to do better. And I want you to keep striving, too. I don't want you to get in the habit of, if you fail to meet a goal, to just accept that meeting goals isn't important. But more importantly, I don't want you to get discouraged; all too often with myself, if I've failed to meet a given goal, rather than turning it into something positive and striving to do better next time ... I give up.

Don't be like me, when I do that! =) You can do it! You can keep going! You can do better! And one way or another, this book is going to be published, and you're going to get recognition for it, and I will get the satisfaction of knowing that Rowyn, my friend, is a real, honest-to-goodness published writer.

I won't accept any other outcome! It's pre-ordained! ;D

[rowyn]

You know what, wuf? You're the best. You really are. :)

And don't worry: I ain't giving up. No way, no how. :)