5,000 Words

Novel Update!

I'm seven days into my novel and already I've got 5,000 words. I've been sticking to my guns and writing at least 500 words a day. There's gonna be days ahead when I know this will be hard, so I'm sticking to it and enjoying this first wave of creativity.

I'm working in standard manuscript format now, so it's a lot easier to keep track of my publisher's word count (Thanks Sheila!) and to save me time doing it later. I'm also trying to redevelop the good habit of two spaces after a period. After being on the internet for so long, it's easy to fall back into bad habits. I still like one better, but if the industry standard is two, I'm not going to argue with them. They're the ones I'm submitting too. It will just take practice. Maybe I'll come to see I like using two spaces, hahaha.

Current Status:
Words: 5,000
Pages: 22
Chapters: 3

Along that same line, I'm currently following my favorite writer's advice:

"If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot."
(King, "On Writing", 145)

So here's what on my reading plate:

- Four Past Midnight, Stephen King
(Just finished "The Library Policeman")

- The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Two: The Golem's Eye, Jonathan Stroud
(Can't say enough good things about this series. Absolutely fun to read and humorous the whole way. Bartimaeus has to be one of my favorite narrators.)

- The Elements of Style, Strunk and White
(Basic writer's toolbox item. I'm enjoying revisiting this one.)

What I want to grab at the library:
- Brian Jacques
- New mystery author
- Dean Koontz
- Kingdom Keepers
- Whatever's new in the YA section
- Horrors, I might even pick up "Twilight" just to learn from its mistakes.

Here's hoping next week will be good too.