For the last month or so I've been rewriting my 2009 NaNo novel ('Lily') for the fifth/sixth/seventh time (honestly, pick a number, it's been through so many drafts and half drafts that I'm dizzy with it). I blogged about my process for rewriting this at the beginning of the month but I'm afraid things have got a little out of control.
The last draft of this thing came in at just under 80,000 words. So I started on the 19th September and happily trundled towards the finish line, trying to write about 2,000 words a day to hit my target. It was tricky but I was managing it and the novel is so much stronger thanks to my additions and small alterations. Everything has been tightened up and I'm proud of it. Except that when I reached 75,000 words the other night I realised that I was still a distance from the finish line. So I checked the last draft to see approximately how many words I had left to go - more like 14,000 than 5,000. I whimpered a bit, realised I couldn't write that many good words in two days alongside a Sheffield trip and other work and decided I needed to adjust my goals.
I don't like the idea of getting behind on NaNo but, I suppose, the beauty of being me is that I'm stubborn as hell. I might start from behind but that'll make me work all the harder to catch up. I'm not sacrificing the chance to make 'Lily' the best it can be ready for submission and I'm not missing out on producing a 2014 NaNo draft with these characters who have been haunting me all year. I'm just not. If I'm going to drown in work, I'll at least be fighting till the end.
See you all again after I managed to get going.
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