Saturday, November 7, 2009

Other people's enthusiasm

I got home from an exhausting day at work to find Mom waiting for me in the side yard. She looked so smug that I thought she'd done something crazy--bought that moldy house on Dogwood Road, maybe, or bought tickets to the Nutcracker even though she knows I loathe ballet. It just turned out that she'd passed the 25,000 word mark on her nano book while I was at work. I bought her a used copy of No Plot, No Problem on Thursday and it's revitalized her book. She talks about it all the time, in between asking me how my wordcount is going.

Not so good, actually. I've been sitting in front of the computer all evening, trying to dredge up enough enthusiasm for my own nano book to do more than type a few lines between tower defense games. I've managed to inch past the 12,000 word mark, but it is not going well. I'm bored bored boredboredbored with this story. I want to go back to Bell-Men.

I just have 38,000 words to write. I can do that on my head. Maybe if I remind myself how sweet it will be when I surpass Mom's wordcount and BEAT HER TO THE FINISH LINE.

11 comments:

Anne Spollen said...

Dangerous if you are bored. HOw will the readers feel?

Why not go back to the Bell-Men?

K.C. Shaw said...

Because I'm bored because I don't want to write at all. If I said, "Heck, I'll just write Bell-Men," an hour later I'd be thinking, "This is boring. I'll just play more tower defense." I just have to soldier through.

Of course, if my boredom doesn't evaporate as soon as I get past this section, I may go back to Bell-Men after all. I'll see how it goes.

Fox Lee said...

That's right: Tap into some healthy family competition : )

Cate Gardner said...

Competing against someone or something (usually the word count I've set myself) usually works for me. From the things you've included in this book, I very much doubt its boring.

Jamie Eyberg said...

Your mom is in this for blood.

K.C. Shaw said...

Natalie--Maybe if I can write 10,000 words today, I stand a chance of catching up and beating her muahahaha!

Cate--I'm terribly competitive, fortunately. Or maybe unfortunately. And actually, the book is probably a lot more fun to read than it seems right now.

Jamie--She smirks at me whenever she asks about my wordcount.

Strange Publications said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Aaron Polson said...

One of those "who am I logged in as" posts, I'm afraid. ;)

I can never judge a manuscript in the writing of it. Time will tell.

As Cate said, I can't imagine all those fantastic elements equally a very boring book.

Danielle Birch said...

All that smugness probably isn't helping your word count either :)

Am sending some inspiration your way.

K.C. Shaw said...

Aaron--Well, I think my interest level will pick up as soon as May actually meets the dragon. Although I don't know what she'll do then.

Danielle--Thanks, I need all the inspiration I can get! :)

LMEighmy said...

LOL! One of the women in our writing group asked me if I'd reached 45K yet. I said yes. She told me to shut up! :P

Keep writing. You're doing great! :)