Word tracker

My Works in Progress

Thursday 30 April 2009

The Writing of 'The White Cuckoo'

I've taken two days annual leave to tag onto the bank holiday weekend so that I can get this novel completed by the end of Sunday (3rd May).

I'm expecting the first draft to come out at about 95-100k words, but it might be a little more or a little less.

Well, I'm about to hang up my computer mouse at the end of a solid day's writing. It's now 8.20 pm and I've been writing since 10.30 am, with about a couple of hours off at lunchtime and then time off to cook tea, etc and do the domestic bit.

At the beginning of this session today I'd completed just shy of 70k words and my word count now stands at 77,855 words.

I hit a small problem though. Yesterday, my ornithological adviser (thank you, councillor - you know who you are if you read this blog) informed me that the species of cuckoo that the entire book is based upon has never been seen in the British Isles. It is native of South Africa, India and the southern hemisphere.

I was gutted. I'd been putting all my eggs in one basket and the white cuckoo now appeared to be a white elephant.

Isn't it funny how things happen? I've changed the plot ever so slightly to accommodate the elusive Jacobin Cuckoo's very inconsiderate migratory habits and it's now woven a very nice sparkly thread through the entire tapestry of my novel.

My targets:

Tomorrow (1st May): 85k words

Saturday (2nd May): 92k words

Sometime on Sunday (3rd May): Enter the final full stop with fanfare and a theatrical flourish of the hand.

Monday: I'm having a day off!

10 comments:

DAB said...

Blinkin' e'ck that be a lot of words. Well done. But remember to stop for plenty of tea and cake cause it be good for the old brainbox :) TFx

Marcie Steele said...

Oh Annie, when I read your posts you remind me so much of me! I used to use my leave to get the writing done, especcially at the end of a first draft when you know your mind won't stop until it's finished.

I wrote my first book of the series in 3 months. The first month I wrote 30k, the last 8 days I wrote 34k. I remember the from morning until noon days but more importantly I remember the feeling of writing The End. Well done.

PS I finished my first draft of book two in the series last week. 97k. I wrote that in two months. As I am still ill, when I could concentrate on it, it was a perfect pain blocker!

Like I've said before Annie, we'll never stop until we get there. Good luck! x

Denise said...

Really well done for getting it all done in the last month! It was interesting to see your word count for the day, as I'd been worrying I was going too slowly at roughly 1000 words an hour, but it seems you probably work out about the same. I'm also hoping to get loads done this weekend, though today's day off work is for a morning of writing followed by an afternoon at the beer festival...

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

Well done on the impressive word count, and best of luck for the next few days writing.

I'm not surprised you were gutted about the White Cuckoo, what a pain.

Lane Mathias said...

I am mightily, mightily impressed!

Well done Annie. x

Anonymous said...

I'm having the weekend off. I might do some writing on Monday ;oP

When it comes to getting on with it, in terms of words per day, I'm going to have to quote Meg Ryan's dining neighbour and say: "I'll have what she's having".

HelenMWalters said...

I am in awe Mrs! Your commitment and productivity are amazing. Pesky Cuckoo - glad you've sorted him out x

Pat Posner said...

Well done on all those words, Annie. So glad you found a great alternative for your White Cuckoo
xxPat
Talking of words - the word verification is manky! Good northern word, that.

Annieye said...

TF: Thanks m'duck. I'll pop over to your blog for t'n cake when I've finished my novel.

L-Plate. Sorry you're still not recovered from your illness. I really hope you can start to feel better soon. And well done on finishing the first draft of book two! Yay! We'll drag each other up the ladder, L-plate, I just know it. Us Council girls are made of tough stuff!

Denise: See today's post. You're right we are working out at about 1k words an hour, but I always edit my previous session's work before I start writing.

Debs - The Cuckoo's still there, but he had to have human help to make sure the proverbial egg got laid! How was I to know that the sodding white-breasted Jacobin Cuckoo is the only one not to make it to the UK from Africa in the annual migration? Doh!

Lane - thank you, Laney! My bum is sore with self-inflicted pointy stick.

Captain - Lol. Now - as you're not writing how about some statistics on daily word counts .... might be interesting!

Helen - The cuckoo's a sweetie really. It's just that he's like most men - a tad temperamental and when you need him, where is he? Sodding well sunning himself in south Africa - that's where!

Pat - Thanks. Lol. I hope 'manky' is not an omen. Hope you are OK.

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