You can call me the “Comeback Kid”, if you don’t mind. I pulled myself up by the bootstraps and came back with a writing vengeance in week 8. As you may recall from my report in last week’s post, there was a whole week’s writing deficit that I needed to make up in week 8. A daunting task to say the least, but doable (because I was able to get it done). I’m happy to report that I’m currently on track as of the beginning of week 9. Woo hoo! But, I’m going to let you in on a little writing secret that allowed me to accomplish a double completion of my word count goal.
Okay, I cheated a bit, but not really. Here’s what I mean. Several months ago, I had initially started a very rough manuscript for my first book. Got over 10-WORD pages completed (single-spaced) and then abruptly stopped. I’m not even sure why I stopped writing on this manuscript in the first place. I’m thinking it was possibly because of the direction the book was going at the time. I’m sure that many writers can relate to starting a book with the best intentions in mind and a specific vision that they’re wanting to forward. However, an unforeseen crossroads sign comes into play that creates a distinct fork in the road, resulting in a total change of the initial direction that is being traveled upon. I do believe that this is the account that ended my first manuscript and created the impetus for me to start on the new one. So, the reason I said I cheated a bit is due to the fact that some of my old work has miraculously morphed into my newly developing work.
There is definitely something positive to say for “not recreating the wheel”. I was able to incorporate content that started out in a completely different path and redirect it to fit seamlessly into my work-in-progress to-date. Sometimes, it pays to save things that may be easy to dismiss as irrelevant, especially creative works. You never know when they might come in handy later on down the line. And, I’m one of those individuals who can occasionally see the future potential in artistic attempts that are temporarily set aside. Because I chose to salvage my earlier work and recycle it into my current book, this is what happened. Instead of finishing up chapter 1 and making a huge amount of headway into chapter 2, chapter 1 quickly transformed into 5 chapters with a quickness. I have 5 different chapters that I was able to work on this past week. It makes me feel somewhat accomplished to even be able to type that actualization… I have 5 chapters currently going for my first book. Wow!
Up until this past week, it almost felt like I was pulling the book along, but week 8 felt like the book was actually leading the way and dragging me along for the ride. It’s like the writing was taking on a life form of its very own. And sometimes, all I could do was observe in amazement at how things were organically unfolding. The mechanics of the writing process are a wonder to behold. All in all, this comeback week was a very productive one. I managed to GET WORK DONE and even get ahead of the game by a smidge. If I can keep this momentum up, then I believe I’ll be in a good place to meet the completion of my manuscript next month. The journey has been sweet, even with all the back-and-forths, ups-and-downs, and side-to-sides. I’m learning that enjoying the process is just as important (if not more important) than the outcome at the end. Here’s to my on-going writing education.
Oh, and a little side note… I was able to share a video dedicated to “The Road to Authorship” with my YouTube audience as well. I would love for you to subscribe to my YouTube channel and join me on this platform as I will be talking about personal and professional development, goals, and life improvement changes in incremental steps. It’s going to be proactive and fun and quite applicable to those of you who have some upcoming writing goals or just plain old goals in general. Take a look at my latest video and tell me what you think.
degreesofmaternity.com 