Early in the writing process for this novel, time passed very quickly. Running on caffeine and process ignorance, I spent as much time figuring out my story line and included characters as I did writing. It felt busy.
Since cutting an extraneous group of characters and finalizing the story, time has slowed. It’s different writing what you know is needed than it is shooting from the hip. Surprisingly, it does not feel as productive.
The alarm goes off at 4am, I get up, sit at the computer and pick an initial scene that sounds interesting. I may bounce around, tightening up language and strengthening paragraphs in other scenes before settling on one scene as my focus. Then I write until 5:30am, usually getting 1,000-1,200 words down.
By the time I shut everything down to prepare for work, I feel like I accomplished nothing. The day started at 36,000 words done and finished at 37,000 words. Most of the novel remains. Wash, rinse and repeat.
The thing is, I still love the process in spite of feeling unproductive. Now I wish I’d decided to pursue this goal years ago.