Monday, March 05, 2007

Progress Meter

I have to confess that while writing today I kept taking sneaky peaks at the progress meter.....and then I would smile and type on some more. Seeing it I now think I can finish this damn thing. It is not impossible. I have already written over half. I am not bad. Even if the writing is crap not everyone can put that many words together. You see I am trying to keep those crows of doubt at bay and the little progress meter reminds me that I have come so far. Thank you progress meter for your services to my sanity.

17 comments:

Rose Red Art said...

I know how you feel! Seeing the word count meter go up is fantastic! Every step means you're that much closer to finishing it. My word counter defintely keeps me on track!

Zinnia Cyclamen said...

Sounds to me like you're doing great. Maybe you'll win the Great Novel Race! And I am in awe of the way you manage this level of output AND comment on lots of blogs - one area where I'm seriously falling down at the moment.

Unknown said...

Yes, I was lost when the zoduko went down...nothing to judge my progress by. How we get attached to silly things.

Thannks Zinnia. I doubt I will win as I am not trying to but I have set myself a tough deadline for this month as the kids then go on holiday for nearly a month and very little will be written.

I tend to check blogs when I am at an impasse in my writing which clearly happpens frequently. Just think of how much more I could be writing if I wasn't commenting on blogs!!!!

hesitant scribe said...

Liz - you've hit the nail on the head! As well as blog reading, and commenting, I find myself checking emails and listening to Radio 4, but the word counter really does work wonders. I'm only at the beginning still, but it's great to see that band of colour increasingly bit by bit!

Well done on your progress too! You'll be there before you know it :)

Unknown said...

Lisa....this morning the words don't seem to be there?????I might need to plot??? Heaven help me, I'm not good at that. I took a ten minute lie down to try anf thinking what was going to happen next.....and then I thought I might jump ahead and write the big scene but I have never written out of sequence before????

Nichola said...

'Sanity'? Must remember to look up that word on dictionary.com.

Glad you're feeling better Liz - yep, I am rather attached to my progress meter too - my mood improves as the line moves Eastward! ;)

Thanks again for your good wishes on my blog. I get ratty as hell when I get a migraine but I'm beginning to feel better now. Let's see if I can get anything done today through a haze of painkillers and visual distortion!

I've never written out of sequence before...unless you count that work I did years ago where I kept jumping back and forward in time and eventually readjusted all the chapters so the book was told in chronological order...but if you think it would freshen up your writing, why not? Trying something new might be the kick up the word processor you need!

Unknown said...

Nicola, in the end I didn't write out of sequence......chicken I think but my letters and diaries came back into the story of their own accord so maybe I do need them to tell the story. time will tell.
glad you are feeling a bit better:-)

hesitant scribe said...

Liz - on writing out of sequence - that's entirely how I work! I've tried writing in sequence but it just ends up like 'and then, and then, and then'! I tend to write the scenes that come to me - you can always go back and fill in the blanks.

NoviceNovelist said...

Thanks for visiting my new blog - it's good to have company and know others word count as fiendishly as I do!

Unknown said...

Lisa, I can see how it would work and also how it could help a work but I'm scared stif od it. In my last book the pace was too even and I think if I wrote out of sequence this might solve that problem but yet I hold back because so many 'unplanned' things happen when I write.......maybe tomorrow???

Unknown said...

welcome to the croud IsablleM. Thanks for stopping by :-)

Lucy Diamond said...

Wow, Liz - I am so impressed by your progress. 55,000 words is amazing in just a couple of months. Well done. You're an inspiration!

Unknown said...

But Lucy I am not writing five other books like youself. You are an inspiration! I just have this one on the go and rewirtie of August Rock.........must finish this very rough first draft of A Cornish House by end of March!!! Kids go on hols and nothing is written!

Rose Red Art said...

About Writing out of sequence.... When I was writing my first book I wrote it completely in sequence but for my current WIP I'm jumping all over the place.

I think I prefer jumping about as if I get a good idea for a bit nearer the end I write it there and then so I don't forget it.

But everyone is different! As long as you want to write, however you do it is cool.

Jenny Beattie said...

Liz

You are doing brilliantly. I'm in awe of the fact that you can write in sequence. I've started up again today, and have to resign myself that I have a totally higgeldy pickledy attitude to writing and start in a different place all the time. Attention span of a gnat, maybe ;)

JJ

Unknown said...

From the sounds of all of you I am one of the few who writes in sequences........hmmmmm. Well today is another writing day and maybe I will try but I somehow feel I will lose the plot so to speak. Although I know my ending and have a few key scenes in mind I only find the linking bits as I write along....if that makes sense. Yet as I mentioned I was critizes for my pace being too even in August Rock so I conciously trying to shake things about a bit in the wip. Write out of sequence....maybe my new matra but then I might not come back and writing the less interesting linking bits.....

feywriter said...

Where did you get the nifty word count meter?