So this morning there was a typing test in one of my e-zines. I took it.
I’m not fast, a little over fifty words per minute.
I thought. How fast does that mean I could write, say a 50,000 word novel. I got out my calculator. Let’s see: 50 wpm, 60 minutes in an hour, 8 hours in a work day=24000 words a day. A book in just over two days!
All RIGHT! I’ve never gotten even a first draft in less than 30 days. This is great.
Wait. Why haven’t I written a book in two days?
Interruptions:
First thing in the morning-Make the coffee so I can sit upright.
Feed the cats.
Clean the litter box.
Email.
Feed the cats.
Clean the litter box.
Answer the phone.
Get the mail.
Pay the bills or call and argue.
Feed cats.
Clean litter box
Repeat
Repeat repeat.
Cook dinner
Feed cats.
Eat dinner and socialize with First Husband.
Clean up.
Feed cats.
Clean litter box
You get the idea. I have cats and a First Husband. How long do those interruptions take anyway? Hmmm. Cat stuff about thirty minutes a day. Not bad. First Husband and dinner, another thirty. May have to cut that one. Email, too long but controllable. Household bills and cleaning. Come on, an hour maybe two a day, and I can use getting up and doing those as ‘exercise’ time.
Plenty of time to get in that writing. And yet of the five manuscripts so far, none of them took only two days. Why?
Well, duh. Drafts. The first draft is never the final one. Always revise. Submit the revision to trusted critique partners. Revise again. Read books on writing. Revise again. Go to workshops. Revise again. Read articles and blogs on writing. Revise again. Ready!!
To submit to an agent or an editor, I’ll need a query letter, a good one. Write a draft. Critique partner goes over it. Revise. Submit. Submit. Submit. Get a request for pages or full manuscript, plus a synopsis. Write the synopsis. Critique partner goes over it. Revise. Send the packet out. Wait. Write another book.
Get back a thoughtful rejection with specific suggestions that resonate. Revise. Back to critique partner. Repeat Repeat Repeat.
My calculator just burned out. I’m at 143 years for one novel. Going to need a that ‘Improve Your Typing’ course.
Kath
