Juiced On Writing

Hard slog today. Over four hours, but this doesn’t equate logically to the amount of words output. I would normally be up to at least the 6000 mark for that many hours spent, but instead I’ve put on a still healthy 4000.

It was like giving birth, though. Something I knew was coming, but really didn’t want to have to go through to get to an ill-conceived reward at the other end. Unlike birthing, however, I must admit that I still remember the pain of today.

Last night our plumbing sprung a leak, so this morning had a major distraction of welcoming a strange emergency plumber man into the home. But at least we can flush the toilet now, without panicking. Lesson learnt – to be comfortable in writing, ensure that you can 1. Go to the toilet anytime you want to, and 2. Don’t welcome strange men into your house. They’re an unnecessary domestic distraction. Both for you, and the dog.

I’ve also worked through a fuzz of a cocktail of paracetomol (plus) and ibuprofen (extra plus) in an attempt to get rid of some abnormal bodily pain. I would suggest that the little known effects of having a monthly hormonal cycle, with added pain, might be something somebody one day may like to study, certainly with a clinical view into the motivating influences for women writers in particular.

Not today, though.

Chris Baty in a newsletter from the NaNoWriMo website, lately profiled a previous NaNoWriMo winner who gave birth to her daughter during the novel writing effort. I certainly don’t want to contemplate ever topping that one.

Although today, giving birth to a novel felt almost as painful as my own memories of giving birth to a real human being. Both of us were wailing by the end of it.

Still, it’s done. I’m through the day, and off to work shortly. My total word count is 10865 today, with the additional 4000 words of this morning. The last scene is absolute crud, and will need a total rewrite, but I’ll save that for a better day. Now I’m going to swaddle the ugly baby that is my own novel, and love it like any good mother should, hopeful of it’s future potential.

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